If your “Billie’s Bounce” head doesn’t swing on the bass, look at your fingering. Play it the wrong way and it sounds like you’re attacking the instrument. Meanwhile, when you listen to Bird play this melody, or any great jazz musician, they’re playing it with so much freedom and so much flow that it sounds like it’s just coming out of them.
Billie’s Bounce is Charlie Parker’s blues in F, and to me it’s the most common tune in all of bebop. That’s the tune I use here to show how to play bebop on the upright bass. This lesson is about fingering, in both hands, because that’s what makes the melody flow.
Play the opening of the Billie’s Bounce head closed
The first part of the melody is pretty standard, except for one thing: I don’t use the open string there. Most people play it with the open string, and it’s kind of hard to swing that way. We want it to sound flowing, and the way you get that is by playing it closed.
I know I always advocate for open strings. In this case, you want to play it closed, because it’s part of the melody. It’s a special example of where we actually don’t use the open string, so that we swing harder and create the rhythm this melody needs.
Use open strings to get around the neck
The very next thing I do involves an open string. I use the open D to get up the neck. The alternative fingering sounds like you’re pillaging the instrument. It’s the opposite of flowing. Using the open D, it’s much easier.
Then there’s the triplet. Some people play it in a spot where it’s impossible. I have a lot of chops, and it’s impossible for me. So here we use the open strings in a different way. We use the open string to get up the neck, so that we can play the A-flat. It’s so much better.
So in this head, you skip the open string where it would get in the way of the swing, and you use it where it gets your hand up the neck.
Start your eighth notes on the second finger
Now the right hand, which is actually super important. Quick question: what finger do you want to start on when you’re playing eighth notes? If you said the second finger, that’s right.
Start on the first finger and it’s very awkward and very uncomfortable. All you have to do to change that is start on the second finger. That’s it. If I’m walking a fast bass line and start on the first finger, it’s impossible. If I start on the second finger, it’s so much easier. It literally makes all the difference in the world.
We’re not just going to start on the second finger and alternate, though. If you play electric bass, which I’m sure some of you do, you’re familiar with the idea of raking, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do in one part of this head. I could start that spot on my index finger, but if I want to play it fast, it’s awkward. Instead, I rake with the second finger, the middle finger. That might feel awkward at first, because you’re raking across a massive amount of string, but it’s actually way more efficient.
Often, the right hand is the thing that creates the rhythm and the flow.
Cole Davis
The left hand is necessary to assign the right fingerings. But once we’ve got that down, chances are the right hand is the thing that lets us play with more phrasing, musicality and flow. I’d argue the right hand is even more important for that. The left hand gives you the technique.
The one exception: descending from the G string
For most of the lines in this melody, you start on the second finger. That’s a general rule with most eighth-note lines. There’s one place it changes.
When you’re descending from the G string, that’s the only time you start on the index finger. In that spot, the second finger, which is efficient in every other scenario, becomes inefficient. It’s too much. So you start with the index finger, and for the last part of the head, you go right back to the second finger.
Other than that, every line starts on the second finger.
Stuck at fast tempos? Check which finger you started on
This is a really important thing, because you’ll find yourself playing lines and wonder why you get stuck. Have you ever been playing really fast, with fast quarter notes or eighth notes, and all of a sudden you get stuck? I certainly have, and I’ve been on tons of gigs.
The way to fix that is to be conscious of the second finger and start on it. Sometimes when I get stuck in those faster situations, I say to myself, “Okay, what finger am I starting on?” Most of the time, it’s the first finger. So I switch and start on the second finger. Same thing with eighth notes. The only way to play really good eighth notes is to start most of your lines on the second finger.
Here’s a way to practice it today, on the same blues changes:
- Walk an F blues fast. Start every bar on the second finger, then alternate.
- Land the skips on 2. Even if you do a little skip, make sure you end up back on the second finger.
- Ask the question. The moment you feel stuck, ask yourself what finger you’re starting on. If it’s the first finger, switch.
- Then try the head. Play the Billie’s Bounce melody with the same rule, and only start on the index finger when you’re descending from the G string.
If you want to walk these changes too, there’s a Billie’s Bounce walking bass line page to start from. My full lesson on the head is Billie’s Bounce (The Bebop Bassist).
And if bebop is where you’re headed, have a look at Bebop for Bass: The Paul Chambers Approach. Start tonight with one chorus of F blues and your second finger on every beat one.
