Today I played through some jazz ballads that come up often at jam sessions.
Contents
Jazz Ballads That Come Up Often at Jam Sessions, Pulled From a Standard Fake Book
My criteria for “comes up often” is simple: over roughly the last year of jam sessions, did I either play it myself, or hear another player call it?
· Body and Soul
· A Child Is Born
· Everything Happens to Me
· I Fall in Love Too Easily
· Left Alone
· Misty
· My One and Only Love
· Polka Dots and Moonbeams
· When I Fall in Love
· When You Wish Upon a Star
Those were the ones that came up the most.
I Played a Jazz Ballad Bassline
Here’s the bassline for “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Walking Bass on Jazz Ballads
The main thing to keep in mind when playing a ballad is:
stick mostly to solid root playing, with the image of really letting each note ring out and sustain.
Ballads tend to be slow, and it’s tempting to add a lot of movement, but try not to disturb the mood of the tune — let the melody stay front and center.
Other Things to Keep in Mind for Ballads
Always Use the Same Chart as the Other Players
If you’re reading off a chart, make sure you’re using the same edition as the other players.
Different publishers can have different chords here and there, even within the same tune. It’s not unusual for a Real Book and an app like iReal Pro to disagree on the changes in a few spots.
Ballads are, by nature, slow.
Because you’re often holding down the root for a full bar at a time, any clash caused by a chord discrepancy is going to stick out a lot more than it would at a faster tempo.
Knowing When Not to Play Is Also a Skill
When a ballad opens with just piano comping under a sax quartet or similar, the bass doesn’t necessarily need to come in right away.
For example, on an A-A-B-A tune, you might leave the first two A sections to piano and the front line only, and have the bass enter at the B section instead. That kind of restraint can add real dynamics to the performance.
And if you happen to miss your entrance on the first A, don’t panic and don’t make a face about it — just hold steady and wait calmly for the next A or B section. (Speaking from experience. More than once.)
Hopefully this gives you something useful for your daily practice.
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.