Reviews

Customer Reviews of the Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines series includes classic jazz song forms The Blues in 12 keys, Rhythm Changes in 12 keys, Standard Lines, Daily Warm Ups for Bass Guitar, Walking Bass Lines for Guitar and more. 

An excellent book that focuses on learning by playing the changes and internalizing the patterns. Steven Mooney presents you with the basics of how to play through ii-V7s, or diminished chords, or some other topic, and then gives you plenty of exercises that feature the patterns and cadences the bass player will actually encounter in playing through the standards. Working through Mooney's books on the blues, rhythm changes, and standards is a great way to learn to play jazz bass.

I bought Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines books I, II, III & IV. They are all fantastic. The bass lines sound great. The concept of having the facility to play tunes in all 12 keys is fantastic and Steven Mooney's instruction is invaluable. Highly recommended!

An "Absolute must have" Hands down!! The series delivers on how to walk the walk and talk the talk -Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines, Book 1: Walking Bass Lines- The Blues in 12 Keys Upright Bass and Electric Bass Method [Paperback], and all of Mr Mooneys Series. Prepares any bassist to compete in the highly competitive music business as a Jazz Bassist. My hat goes off to you Sir, your text should be reguired reading for any aspiring bassist.

A Masterpiece, " A Must Have" for any aspiring Jazz Bassist or Jazz Pianist. Once again ,Mr Mooney delivers!! Clearly outlines the language of our jazz harmonic foundation. Demonstrates how to "walk the walk" and "talk the talk"

"A must have". The Rhythm Changes in 12 keys ensures preparation for the mastery of the jazz language.Particularly,the Bebop and beyond language. Bar none, Mr Mooney clearly lays out how to walk the walk and talk the talk!!

An "Absolute must have" Hands down!! The Constructing Walking Bass line series delivers on how to walk the walk and talk the talk -Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines, Book 3: Walking Bass Lines- Standard Lines in 12 Keys Upright Bass and Electric Bass Method [Paperback], and all of Mr Mooneys Series. Prepares any bassist to compete in the highly competitive music business as a Jazz Bassist. My hat goes off to you Sir, your text should be reguired reading for any aspiring bassist.

Dans la lignée des 2 premiers ouvrages toujours aussi clair et bien présenté - cet ouvrage comme les deux premiers permet de mettre en application les acquis et connaissances expliquées

La suite logique " rhythm changes" étant la grille que tout le monde doit connaitre - bonne suite et mise en application du premier ouvrage

Achété par curiosité cette ouvrage permet de mettre en place les bases avec facilité et donne des idées pour la suite ( pas de tablature - lecture obligatoire)

Quatrième ouvrage de la série ce livre complète agréablement les éléments des 3 autres
Bien écrit et facile a utiliser

I bought three of Steven's books - this one, "rhythm Changes", and "Jazz Standards" - and they are all excellent. Lots of introductory method books show what to play in a single measure to get from one chord to the next, and that is a good place to start. But the next step is to create a line that is melodic and interesting over the whole song form. That's what these books do really well. The underlying theory is clearly presented, and the transcribed lines show how to put the theory in a useful musical context. Well worth the price.

I bought three of Steven's books - this one, "Blues in 12 Keys", and "Rhythm Changes" - and they are all excellent. The theory of bass line construction is clearly presented, but more importantly (to me) there are enough examples to put the theory in a musical context. Getting from one chord to the next is only the beginning; a really good bass line has a theme that is developed over the whole form of the song. The examples in these books are really good for that. I feel like my vocabulary has gotten bigger and my lines are sounding much better already, and I'm barely halfway through the book.

If you are an absolute beginner this book might be too challenging, ~  for an intermediate player (or a brave beginner) there is a lot here that will really help you get to the next level. For less than the price of one private lesson, it's a no-brainer. Buy it.

I bought three of Steven's books - this one, "Blues in 12 Keys", and "Jazz Standards" - and they are all excellent.

Lots of introductory method books show what to play in a single measure to get from one chord to the next, and that is a good place to start. But the next step is to create a line that is melodic and interesting over the whole song form. That's what these books do really well. The underlying theory is clearly presented, and the transcribed lines show how to put the theory in a useful musical context.

If you are an absolute beginner this book will be pretty challenging; ~  if you have some basic familiarity with walking bass lines and want to take your playing to the next level, this is the book for you. Well worth the price.

I am highly recommending Steven Mooney's method for Constructing Walking Bass Lines Book I The Blues in 12 Keys, Book II Rhythm Changes in 12 Keys and Book III Standard lines which I purchased mid July and I am eagerly awaiting Book IV. If you can read music a little bit or read TAB, this is the Method for YOU. 

Steven's approach is masterly crafted to ensure that you are playing strong Bass Lines right out of the Gate in all Twelve Keys with numerous exercises to reinforce each and every concept whether Theoretically and/or Harmonically in a very Comprehensive and Progressive approach including clearly written directions of the various concepts for the thoroughly written out exercises. As we all know, we all learn by doing. Steven's method provides numerous exercises to keep each and every aspiring Bassist enthuse about Learning and Creating Walking Bass Lines.

I have worked with literally over twenty different method books and Steven Mooney's approach is definitely the best of the best that I have worked with. It is very player friendly throughout and it is masterfully crafted! In addition to a lifetime's work going into creating these books more importantly is the willingness to patiently share this knowledge with others that makes all the difference and Steven should be very, very proud of that accomplishment.

In addition I am truly having the time of my life with these books and I have only just begun!!! So many varied exercises to reinforce the concepts, techniques and sight reading among others! 

Moreover, it is a lot of FUN! Steven SHARES the Mysteries of Understanding and Creating Melodic Walking Bass Lines. I personally find it challenging to stay away from his books but I know I should actively be working on Simandl, Ray Brown, Rufus Reid, Harvey Vinson, John Goldsby, Chuck Sher, Ed Friedman, Bunny Brunel, Bob Magnusson, James Jamerson and Jamey Aebersol methods as well!!! 

Enjoy! 

"Standard Lines" is the 3rd installment of Steven Mooney's "Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines" series. Here's hoping it is far from the last. The book details many techniques that are a revelation to the aspiring bassist, and a good review for the advanced musician. For example Part 1 starts, innoculously enough, with the subject "How to Construct the Triads off the 
major scale". Mr Mooney walks the reader through that subject detailing both the notes for the triads used and a nicely done example. Mr Mooney also goes into depth here by explaining chromatic approaches walks up and down. In the next section, we find the Scalar approach, which details the technique for the bassists usage of using scales as a foundation as opposed to triads. 
Part 2 outlines the use of Symmetric and Melodic Minor scales. Diminished and Whole tone scales are covered for the avid reader. Part 3 covers Be Bop Scales. Is Hip Hop the grandchild of Be Bop? Someone should answer that burning question, but I don't expect Mr. Mooney to do so. He applies himself quite well to the serious subjects at hand. Part 4 is Jazz Bass line examples over Standard Jazz Chord Construction. In this section we find exercises for the bassist that are both challenging and therefore interesting for all bassists. 
Mr. Mooney's latest book is a must read for all of us who ply the "Dark Strings". I keep opening all three of his books for education and fun playing. I'm sure you will also.

I am currently learning upright bass and learning to read music - this is the perfect book. I have created the chords behind the exercises in GuitarPro and it has really helped me to get a good understanding of jazz bass lines. I have looked at many books out there, but this really is the best I've come across.

Recommending both Book 1 (The Blues in 12 Keys) and Book 2 (Rhythm Changes in 12 Keys) as a pair for building a firm foundation in learning how to play Jazz bass lines: 

The 12-bar blues and "Rhythm" changes (coming from "I Got Rhythm") are two of the fundamental building-block progressions in Jazz. Together, they form a basis for understanding much of Jazz. These progressions, or portions of them, are used again-and-again throughout the Jazz repertoire. Yet, it is nice that so many variations are given on the basic A-part of the Rhythm Changes progression, since that is the way it really gets played: not just the same lines repeated over-and-over. 

I am particularly pleased that all the examples are completely written-out note-for-note; whereas in many books by other authors, an example will be given in one key with the other keys being left up to the student to figure-out! I always found that to be extremely frustrating. 

Writing-out all the bass lines instead of just the chord symbols lets the student learn the actual melodic motion of bass lines in the way that they are really used. The use of scale-type phrases, chromatic lines, occasional wide interval leaps, and rhythmic variations (such as quarter-note triplets and dotted-eighth/sixteenth notes) ...in full context... really puts it all in proper perspective. It shows how those devices are actually used! That's the stuff people learn-from through specific examples! Then once the student becomes familiar with it all and gets the hang of it, he or she should be able to call on these ideas in increasingly improvisational and hence musical ways. 

The books will be very useful in learning these specifically important Jazz progressions in every key, which practically every Jazz teacher tells me I should do! Many years of Jazz music-theory training gives me enough insight to recognize that the given examples will be very useful tools in gaining a good grasp of the melodic nature of walking bass lines. Additionally, the appearance and lay-out are comfortable to look-at, which makes it all easier to read; and I like the Jazz fonts!

"Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines, Book 1, The Blues in 12 Keys: A Comprehensive Guide To Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines for the Double Bassist and Electric Jazz Bassist" is a complete 12-key guide to techniques and devices used to construct walking jazz bass lines in the jazz tradition. 

Part I, the Blues in F, presents exercises and techniques known to help create robust jazz bass lines, moving forward while retaining a solid rhythmic, harmonic foundation. Part 2, The Blues in 12 Keys, expands further the lessons of Part 1, providing previous techniques and devices used in professional level bass lines in all 12 keys. The practical and ambitious aim of "Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines" is "to give the aspiring bassist a solid grounding in understanding how to construct walking Jazz Bass lines and support a melody and or soloist (p. 97)." The Book concludes with sage advice, "Listen to as much music as you can, Listen to the masters (p.97)." 

Included is full notations with enharmonic chord symbols for more than 150 choruses of jazz blues lines in all 12 keys, using the whole register of the instrument. "Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines Book 1" is an invaluable resource to the aspiring jazz bassist, with potential for learning teaching and great practical application. 

First of all, the title is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, there are transcriptions of 
Blues in all twelve keys. The transcriptions are 3 to 5 pages each. But what 
the beginning to intermediate bassist will find most usefull are the 33 pages, 
at the beginning of the book, demonstrating the various devices that Jazz 
Bassists use to construct effective bass lines. The Advanced player will 
welcome the books interesting exercises to use for keeping the chops up. 
Steven Moody, the author, guides the reader through exercises including 
Chromatic Approaches, Dominant 7th Chords, Harmonic anticipation, 
Voice leading tones, and Tri-Tone Substitution. Mr. Moody's book gives 
clearly written directions of the various techniques,followed by bass clef 
progressions that detail the examples. All the examples are interesting 
and go beyond the usual straight 4 beats to the bar that unfortunately fill 
up many of the books that I've purchased. I can see that this book will end 
up as dog-eared and ragged as my copy of Simandl, from repeated use.