Big Band Bass Guide: How to Read the Part, Catch the Hits and Lock In

Your first big band folder can look like three different arrangers wrote your part. One page is slashes with chord symbols over them. The next has every note written out. Then there’s a bar of accented rhythms marked “Ens.”, a first and second ending, and “D.S. al Coda” at the bottom of page two. Here’s what all of it means if you play bass in a school, college or community big band, plus how to lock in with the drummer, how loud to play, upright vs. electric, and how to prepare a chart before the first rehearsal.

What’s on a big band bass part?

Big band bass parts vary a lot in how much they spell out. Bassist Jeff Campbell’s book How to Play Bass in a Big Band (Advance Music) describes three kinds: parts where the arranger notates every pitch, rhythm, articulation and nuance; parts with a written walking line plus chord symbols, so you can read the line or make up your own; and parts that switch between written sections and sections with only chord symbols.

His clue for telling them apart is the chord symbols. If they’re there, the arranger generally trusts you to create the part. If they’re not, the written part is integral to the arrangement and has to be played.

The performance notes printed in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington scores say the same thing. Rhythm section parts without chord changes are played as is or with a little embellishment, and parts with chord changes are improvised. They still want the written passages learned, because they help you understand what your part is doing in the arrangement.

One catch with newer Essentially Ellington charts: chord changes are printed on every rhythm section part so students can follow the form, and the notes leave it to the director to make clear what’s composed and what’s improvised. If a written line has chords over it, ask. And one notation fact worth knowing: bass sounds an octave lower than written, on upright and electric alike.

Walk, time or in 2? Reading the feel markings

Campbell’s list of what else to look for on the part: the type of groove (swing, bossa, waltz and so on), two-beat, walk, “as is”, and the dynamic markings. Perhaps most important, he says: listen to the ensemble, the rest of the rhythm section and the soloist, and always look ahead to what’s coming next.

Under slashes, walking in four is the default. When an arranger wants a half-time feel, two notes per bar, they write “in 2” under the slashes, arranger Evan Rogers explains in his big band arranging series, and the tempo marking usually says “in 2” too so the drummer knows. Half notes are often used to hold back, he says, and moving into four gives the chart drive.

You’ll also see “time.” Rogers defines playing time as playing a beat or groove that fits the style and context, and Stanislavski’s drum examples have the bass and drums keep playing time under the band’s figures. In a swing chart, time from the bass means walking.

You get some say. Campbell lists times it’s appropriate to change a written part: moving a passage up or down an octave, simplifying a part so it swings better, leaving out a passage to thin a unison line, walking where the part says 2-feel, or playing in 2 where it says walk. The conditions: respect what the arranger intended, and talk it over with the bandleader or the rest of the rhythm section.

When you’re in 2, leave space. In his lesson on Paul Chambers’s two-feel on “Bye Bye Blackbird,” Cole Davis hears a lot of bass players filling in between every note, and he wants the notes to ring out instead. His reasoning:

Being responsible for the time means that you have to own your part.

Cole Davis

Being responsible for the time, he says, doesn’t mean you have to play everyone else’s parts. He also leans on what he calls the big four: beat four at the end of a four-bar phrase, which gives a two-feel its movement. There’s more on that in Paul Chambers’s two-feel on Bye Bye Blackbird.

Kicks, hits and ensemble figures

Big band charts are full of figures: accented rhythms played by one section or the whole band. In Beginner’s Guide to Big Band Drumming (Hudson Music), Anthony Stanislavski separates section figures, played by one group like the saxes, trumpets or trombones, from ensemble figures, played by most or all of the band in rhythmic unison and often marked “Ens.” Arrangers also call them kicks and hits.

Catching them starts with the drummer. Stanislavski writes that it’s the drummer’s job to set up and catch the figures so they’re clear to the band, and that a clear way to do it is a snare or kick drum note on the beat before the figure starts. Listen for that setup.

Drum parts also show where the bass fits. Stanislavski’s examples include ensemble figures written over a bass rhythm at the bottom of the staff, where the bass and drums keep playing time under the band, and a bass line that plays time while also catching the ensemble rhythms. When the ensemble and the bass rest on the same beat, he writes, the drummer should rest too. Your rests are part of the figure.

On your own part, rhythm notation (slashes with stems) means play exactly that rhythm. Rogers says it tells the player to very strictly play that rhythm and nothing else.

How a figure reads

• Ens. The band’s figure, written above your staff as a cue.
• Setup The drummer marks the beat before the figure.
• Time You keep walking under the band.
• Catch The figure is written into your part, so you play it with the band.
• Rest The band and the bass stop on the same beats, so the drummer rests too.

Made-up example drawn for this guide, not taken from a published chart.

Match the band’s note lengths. Stanislavski calls the difference between short and long notes one of the most important things to understand in a drum chart. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s notes on playing Ellington say quarter notes are generally played short unless marked otherwise, and notes longer than a quarter note get their full value: a half note on beat one is released on beat three. They also say all rhythmic figures need to be accented.

Cole hears this even in small groups. In his lesson on Jaco Pastorius’s line on Weather Report’s “Night Passage,” he points out that Jaco plays the hits: “All of these hits go with the melody and they go with what everyone’s playing, so it almost sounds like a big band chart where everyone’s playing together.” (The full breakdown is in Night Passage bass line.)

Road maps: repeats, D.S., coda and solo sections

Most big band charts, Campbell writes, are an orchestrated version of a song form, usually AABA, ABAC or a blues. Each time through the form, the arranger gives the instruments melody, supporting parts or improvised solos. Knowing the layout, he says, helps you keep your place and anticipate what’s coming next.

The road map signs

• Repeat signs: play the section between them again. With first and second endings, play the first ending the first time through, then skip to the second ending on the repeat.
• “2x only”: play that music the second time only.
• D.C. (da capo): go back to the start of the piece.
• D.S. (dal segno): go back to the sign.
• Al Fine or al Coda: after the jump, play to the word Fine and stop, or play to the “To Coda” mark and jump to the coda.
• First endings after a D.C. or D.S.: traditionally, you skip them.
• Coda: the ending, also called the outro.

Big band words you’ll see and hear

• Head: the melody chorus.
• Soli: a harmonized passage for two or more instruments playing the same rhythm.
• Shout chorus: the final ensemble passage of most big band charts, also called the out chorus or the sock chorus.
• Break: the rhythm section stops for one, two or four bars, very often while a soloist improvises.
• Stop time: a regular pattern of short breaks, usually filled in by a soloist.
• Vamp: a repeated two- or four-bar chord progression.

Follow the map

• 1 Play the intro.
• 2 Play the head, which starts at the sign. Ignore “To Coda” this time.
• 3 Solos: repeat as many times as the director calls.
• 4 Shout chorus, ending with D.S. al Coda.
• 5 Go back to the sign and play the head again until “To Coda.”
• 6 Jump to the coda and play to the end.

Made-up layout drawn for this guide, not taken from a published chart.

Solo sections are where a chart’s length changes from night to night. Rogers suggests marking the repeat with something like “Take 63 for solos,” with the first time through reserved for just the rhythm section and the soloist, and the backgrounds usually starting the second time around, often marked “backgrounds 2nd time” in the parts. David Berger’s notes on Ellington’s “Riding on a Blue Note” suggest opening that chart up for solos by putting repeats around letters E through H, with the written backgrounds played once or even twice depending on how many solos there are and how long they run. And the publisher’s description of Doug Beach’s chart “Luck of the Draw” says its backgrounds may be played as desired and should be cued. When a chart works that way, watch the director.

The band also changes size under you. Campbell points out that almost every big band arrangement has room for improvised solos, and that’s where the big band texture turns into a jazz trio or quartet. The bass has to support the volume and power of the full band and also the more intimate, interactive job of accompanying a soloist. Behind a piano solo in one of the book’s charts, he writes that it can be tempting to play too busily, and that the soloist should have the leading voice.

Lock in with the drummer without following every fill

In Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ellington notes, the drummer is the de facto leader of the band: the drummer establishes the beat and controls the volume of the ensemble. The bass drum is feathered, played softly on each beat, which the notes say provides a very important bottom to the band. Rogers describes the bass as the link between the drums and the piano, playing the foundation of the harmony and providing the rhythmic pulse.

None of that means you follow every fill. Cole Davis, who made The Locked-In Bassist with drummer Aaron Seeber, puts it this way:

Everybody always talks about how the drummer is responsible for the time. That’s not really true. Everybody’s responsible for the time.

Cole Davis

So many times, Cole says in the lesson, the groove is lost because somebody, usually the bass player, drops the tempo when the drummer plays a fill. It was his own problem coming up: the drummer would play something, he’d get distracted, and it would take him four, eight, sixteen bars to find the time again. His answer is independent time. While Aaron plays a blues full of fills, Cole stays put: “I’m hearing the pulse in which the fills are being played but I’m maintaining my own pulse.” A big band gives you fills around the band’s figures too: Stanislavski’s book has a whole section on ensemble figures with fills.

To build independent time, Cole has every student walk a chorus of any tune unaccompanied and see if it feels good. “If it doesn’t feel good to you, it won’t feel good to anyone else.” There’s more in How to Lock In With a Drummer.

Work on it as a section, too. Wynton Marsalis’s coaching advice for Essentially Ellington directors calls the rhythm section the heart of the band, because they play all the time, and suggests separate rhythm section rehearsals if you can get them.

Feel changes are a spot to rehearse on purpose. In his Essentially Ellington rehearsal notes on “A Night in Tunisia,” Reginald Thomas, professor of jazz piano at Michigan State University, says it’s vitally important that the tempo doesn’t change when the groove switches to swing, and has the rhythm section go back and forth between the two feels, anticipating the transition, to make sure the time is steady. On that chart, he adds, the bass is the first instrument to deal with the groove, and reading the rhythm will only get you so far.

Berger’s notes on “Riding on a Blue Note” flag two more: the tendency to rush syncopations, and the seams, the last bar of one letter and the first bar of the next, where the ideas in the arrangement change and shifting gears can take your attention away from keeping the beat steady. He also quotes Ellington’s definition of swing: when the music feels like it is getting faster, but it isn’t.

How loud should the bass be in a big band?

The Essentially Ellington notes say the rhythm section’s primary function is to accompany, and the bass should not be as loud as a trumpet. That, they say, leads to over-amplification, bad tone and limited dynamics. They also say to stay away from monitors, because monitors give a false sense of balance, and that balancing the band is the conductor’s job.

Their rule for this music is to keep amplification to an absolute minimum. In the best halls, almost none should be necessary. In a mediocre or poorly designed hall, the bass and piano may need a boost, and they recommend miking them through the house sound system, which should give a much better tone than an amplifier.

Quiet isn’t weak. Among the reasons Marsalis gives for weak rhythm sections is bass players not pulling sound out of their basses, and he says instruments must be played percussively, not loud, but with rhythmic attitude. In his notes on “Riding on a Blue Note,” where brushes and acoustic bass and guitar let the horns play softer than usual, Berger warns not to confuse lack of volume with a decrease in energy and intensity, and he saves the volume for the end: “We don’t get loud until the shout chorus.” On the shout chorus, Campbell’s advice is to stay out of too high a register, so the bass gives the ensemble a strong foundation.

Upright or electric in a big band?

It depends on the chart. Rogers’s defaults as an arranger: swing, jazz and ballads are played on double bass, and rock, funk and Latin on electric. For Ellington’s music, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s notes say an acoustic string bass is a must. Rogers also says an 8va marking is fine for electric bass but should be avoided for double bass.

If electric is what your band has, walk anyway. “People don’t realize that walking has a home on the electric bass,” Cole says. “It’s not just upright.” One great thing about electric walking, he says, is that you can play really simple and it will sound great, and simple walking lines can sound even better on electric than they would on upright. (Three lines to start with: jazz walking bass on electric.)

How to prepare a big band chart

1. Listen to the recording, many times. It’s the first item in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s notes on playing Ellington: there are subtleties that elude even the most sophisticated listener at first. Reginald Thomas tells bands to find as many recordings as possible, not only the reference recording. Cole’s lesson on Jack the Bear, which Ellington wrote for Jimmie Blanton, shows why: it’s easy to read past a detail on the page, and “if you really listen to what he’s playing,” Blanton leaves a pause between the E-flat and the A-flat.
2. Map the form. Find the song form, the rehearsal letters, the repeats and endings, and every D.S., To Coda and Coda. Write the road map at the top of your part.
3. Mark every feel change. Walk, 2, Latin, swing. Practice each switch without moving the tempo, the way Thomas has rhythm sections go back and forth between feels.
4. Find the figures. Mark which ones you play and which ones you walk under, and practice the seams between letters.
5. Sort written from improvised. Learn the written passages. Walk the chord-symbol sections. If a written line has chords over it, ask the director which it is.
6. Check your register on the shout chorus. Not too high, so the bass stays a strong foundation for the band.
7. Learn the solo changes. Walk a chorus of them unaccompanied and check that it feels good.
8. Clear changes with the leader. Moving a passage an octave, playing in 2 instead of 4, cutting a passage: Campbell says to discuss it with the bandleader or the rest of the rhythm section.

Big band bassists to study

Campbell’s advice is to study the way professional bassists design their parts in bands like Count Basie’s, Duke Ellington’s and Woody Herman’s. Some places to start, from his listening list of big band shuffles (where he asks you to listen to how each bassist builds lines that fit the drummer’s shuffle beat), Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ellington library and Cole’s own lessons:

• Jimmie Blanton with Duke Ellington: Jack the Bear, and “Chloe (Song of the Swamp),” arranged by Billy Strayhorn and recorded October 28, 1940, in Chicago.
• Eddie Jones with Count Basie: “Blues in Hoss’ Flat,” on Live Roulette Basie (1962), and “Alright, Ok, You Win” (1956).
• Chuck Andrus with Woody Herman: “Cousins,” on Woody Herman: 1964.
• Richard Davis with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra: “Groove Merchant,” on Central Park North (1969).
• Wynton Marsalis’s short list of bassists who swing, for rhythm sections to study: Jimmie Blanton, Paul Chambers and Ray Brown.

FAQ

What do slashes mean on a big band bass part?

There’s one slash per beat, and you make up your own line from the chord symbols. In a swing chart, that means walk. Slashes with stems are rhythm notation: play exactly that rhythm and nothing else.

Do you have to play the written bass line in a big band?

If there are no chord symbols, yes. Jeff Campbell’s rule is that a part without chord symbols is integral to the arrangement and has to be played, while chord symbols mean the arranger generally trusts you to create the part. Newer Essentially Ellington charts print chord changes on every rhythm section part so students can follow the form, so if a written line has chords over it, ask the director whether it’s composed or improvised.

What does “in 2” mean on a bass part?

A half-time feel with two notes per bar. Walking in four is the default under slashes, so arrangers write “in 2” when they want the two-feel, and the tempo marking usually says it too so the drummer knows.

What does D.S. al Coda mean?

Go back to the sign (D.S. is short for dal segno, and segno means sign), play until the “To Coda” mark, then jump to the coda and play to the end. Traditionally, you skip any first endings after a D.S. or D.C.

Should you play upright or electric bass in a big band?

It depends on the style. Arranger Evan Rogers expects double bass for swing, jazz and ballads, and electric for rock, funk and Latin. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s notes say an acoustic string bass is a must for Ellington. If electric is what you have, walk anyway: as Cole Davis puts it, walking has a home on the electric bass.

How loud should the bass be in a big band?

Not as loud as a trumpet. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ellington notes say that leads to over-amplification, bad tone and limited dynamics. They recommend miking the bass through the house sound system in a poor hall rather than turning up an amplifier, and staying away from monitors.

Should the bass player follow the drummer in a big band?

In Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ellington notes, the drummer establishes the beat and controls the band’s volume, but that doesn’t mean following every fill. Cole Davis says the groove is often lost when the bass player drops the tempo on a drum fill. Keep your own pulse, hear the pulse the fill is in, and share the time.

Keep going

• How to Lock In With a Drummer: Stop Following and Share the Pocket
• Jack the Bear Bass: How to Play Jimmie Blanton’s Part in Tune
• Walking Bass for Beginners: A Professional Line From Four Notes
• Drummer Rushing or Dragging? What the Bass Player Should Do

Sources

• Jazz at Lincoln Center, Essentially Ellington: “Riding on a Blue Note” score (2011-12), with “Notes on Playing Ellington” and rehearsal notes by David Berger.
• Jazz at Lincoln Center, Essentially Ellington: “Chloe (Song of the Swamp)” score (2022-23), with notes by David Berger and Christopher Crenshaw.
• Wynton Marsalis, “Coaching your ensemble”, Jazz at Lincoln Center.
• Reginald Thomas, “Rehearsal Strategies: A Night in Tunisia”, Jazz at Lincoln Center.
• Jeff Campbell, How to Play Bass in a Big Band (Advance Music): sample pages and book page.
• Anthony Stanislavski, Beginner’s Guide to Big Band Drumming (Hudson Music): sample pages.
• Evan Rogers, big band arranging series: The Rhythm Section (Part 1), The Rhythm Section (Part 2) and Solos and Backgrounds.
• Devin Hart, Introduction to Music Theory and Rudiments, “Repeats” (MacEwan Open Books).
• LearnMusicTheory.net, High-Yield Music Theory, Vol. 1, “Repeat Signs and Repeated Sections”.
• Doug Beach, “Luck of the Draw” chart description (eJazzLines).
• Cole Davis, Better Bass Lessons videos and course lessons: “How to Lock In With Any Drummer,” “How Bass Players Should Listen to Drummers” and “Stop Following the Drummer” (with Aaron Seeber), the Paul Chambers “Bye Bye Blackbird” lesson, the Jimmie Blanton “Jack the Bear” lesson, the Jaco Pastorius “Night Passage” lesson, and “3 Jazz Bass Lines That Sound Incredible on Electric.”