This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he recommends a method book that breaks down the walking bass lines of jazz legend Paul Chambers.
Contents
The Method Book: “The Music of Paul Chambers”
This is a book that analyzes the walking bass lines played by jazz bassist Paul Chambers — one of the most influential upright bassists in jazz history, best known for his work in Miles Davis’s classic quintet.
It covers 7 real tunes, including:
“So What”
“If I Were a Bell”
“My Funny Valentine”
a 12-bar blues
For each tune, it breaks down exactly how Chambers approached the walking line in detail — plus genuinely deep-dive analysis, like the percentage of each bass line that starts from the root, the 3rd, the 5th, or a tension note.
It also includes a list of albums Chambers recorded on, along with background on his life and career.
One heads-up: it’s entirely in English, and there’s no tab notation — standard notation only.
So it’s a bit of an advanced pick, but if you’re a fan of Paul Chambers’ lines, or want to get a feel for the bass sound underneath Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue” or “Relaxin’,” this book is well worth tracking down.
A book like this gives you the analysis — but actually absorbing that vocabulary into your own playing in real time is exactly the kind of thing a teacher can help speed up.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.