You’re five choruses into an F blues, all of it below the open G. You’re playing jazz language, in time, with lines that are clear and consistent, and you’re already bored. If you’re bored by your bass lines, everyone else will be too. I realized this when I was listening to Ray Brown, and if you’ve been looking up Ray Brown bass lines, that’s the place to start.
Quick answer
His bass lines follow the form perfectly, to the extent that they become the form. He played in two-bar phrases, and every two bars has a cadence from beat four to beat one: a half step, a whole step or a five-one. And he never does four of the same thing. He always varies the bass line.
I spent a few months analyzing and dissecting several of his bass lines, and they follow the form perfectly, to the extent that they become the form. Here’s what I found in them, with links to my Ray Brown lessons and transcriptions.
What’s the Ray Brown formula for walking bass lines?
Sort every bar two ways. Is it chromatic, moving by a half step or a whole step, or intervallic, where the interval is anything greater? And is it below the open G or above it? Ray Brown never does four of the same thing. Break that monotony, even with two chromatic bars and two intervallic bars, and it’s instantly a beautiful bass line. The full method is in the Ray Brown formula for walking bass lines.
How does Ray Brown use cadences?
In his bass lines, every two bars has a cadence, from beat four of the phrase to beat one of the next. There are three ways to make one: a five-one, which is called the amen cadence, a whole step, or a half step. The cadence doesn’t have to land on the root, either. Resolve by half step to the third and it’s still a cadence.
Those two-bar phrases give form and shape and clarity. The reason all the singers loved him, so much so that Ella Fitzgerald married him, is his two-bar phrases. A horn player can play whatever they want when they know the bass player’s cadences are always going to be there.
He doesn’t only cadence on beat one. One of my walking drills, one, flat seven, five, one, comes from Ray Brown, and what’s really cool about it: the cadence is on beat four. He was really interested in creating cadences all the time, and that’s a lot of why his playing was so powerful and strong.
People call him a meat and potatoes bass player, as in he plays the right stuff.
That’s so far from the point and so far from who he was as a bass player. He was a poet on the bass.
Cole Davis
How do Ray Brown’s triplet fills still swing?
Look at his line on a live “Lady Be Good,” from a performance on YouTube, and right off the bat you’ll see something completely different from four quarter notes in each bar: all these triplets. The main reason they work is that even inside all the fancy stuff, he’s still following the rules of a great bass line. He’ll play a fill and then wait until the next bar to resolve it. Take out all the fills and what’s left is a perfect textbook bass line.
Ray Brown, the great master of triplets, always used the open strings when he played triplet fills. A couple of the fills he plays all the time are delayed resolutions. In one of them the resolution lands on beat three, which makes it even more impactful.
Does a Ray Brown bass line swing on its own?
I think it does. When I was transcribing a Ray Brown bass line for an assignment at Juilliard, I was also teaching at a public school in Harlem, and every time I played that line, it swung. So I printed it out and gave it to an 11-year-old student to sight read on a cello, just plucking. Even that was swinging. The bass line isn’t the only thing that determines the swing, but I’d argue it’s the main thing.
That doesn’t mean he holds one exact tempo. Put his “Have You Met Miss Jones” from We Get Requests into a tempo tracker and the number changes every beat, and it still swings. The numbers are in Ray Brown on Have You Met Miss Jones: time vs feel.
When drummer Aaron Seeber and I played in that style for The Locked-In Bassist, I wasn’t necessarily thinking about playing on top of the beat. I was thinking about pushing the time and taking full responsibility for the music. We were thinking about putting the time in one place, because to me that’s a characteristic of those records, especially with Ray Brown. When we played like the Kind of Blue band, with Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, it was looser, and the notes were a little longer.
How can you practice like Ray Brown today?
- Learn the tune the Ray Brown way. Sing the melody and play the root. It cements the form in your brain, and it doesn’t matter how good your pitch is.
- Write out an F blues with the formula. Mix chromatic and intervallic bars, above and below the open G, and never four of the same thing.
- Mark every cadence. Check that each two-bar phrase ends with a half step, a whole step or a five-one from beat four to beat one.
- Drop in his drill. Play one, flat seven, five, one in a bar and hear the cadence land on beat four.
If you’re newer to walking, start with my guide to walking bass lines and come back to this.
Records to start with
- We Get Requests (Oscar Peterson Trio). “Have You Met Miss Jones,” the line I put next to a tempo map.
- “Lady Be Good,” live. The triplet-heavy performance I break down, from a live video you can find on YouTube.
Ray Brown lessons and transcriptions
- Ray Brown: Have You Met Miss Jones, Time vs. Feel. His line from We Get Requests, next to a tempo map that moves every single beat.
- Ray Brown: Have You Met Miss Jones. Where the swing in that line actually lives in the notes.
- Ray Brown: Long Ago and Far Away. A line so simple you’d think you could have written it, until you try to play it that clearly.
- Walking Basslines on Upright Bass: From the Beginning. The 1-3-5-7 method behind how Ron Carter, Paul Chambers and Ray Brown built their lines.
- The Locked-In Bassist. My course with Aaron Seeber on drums: how to lock in with any drummer who counts it off.
Write out one F blues tonight with a cadence every two bars and no four bars of the same thing. Then play it, and listen for the form.
Go deeper
Ray Brown: Have You Met Miss Jones, Time vs. Feel
Ray Brown’s line on Have You Met Miss Jones, transcribed, next to a tempo map that moves every single beat.
FAQ
Was Ray Brown a meat and potatoes bass player?
He gets called one, as in he plays the right stuff, but that’s so far from who he was. He was a poet on the bass. His lines aren’t about insisting on the time and playing the right stuff. They’re beautiful lines with variety, form and flow, organized in clear two-bar phrases.
What is the Ray Brown method of learning tunes?
Sing the melody and play the root. It cements the form in your brain. The only explanation I’ve come up with is that the brain is closest to your voice, so singing the melody is closer to your brain than just playing it. It doesn’t matter how bad your pitch is. The point is that it really works.
Did Ray Brown use open strings?
Yes. The great master of triplets, Ray Brown, always used the open strings when he played triplet fills. Triplets work based on the momentum of the open strings, and that’s why they work so effectively. One fill he plays all the time starts up in thumb position and uses the open strings to get back down to half position.
Does Ray Brown play on top of the beat?
When I play in his style, I’m not necessarily thinking of playing on top of the beat. I’m thinking of pushing the time, pushing the music and taking full responsibility for it. You can play behind and have that same intent. To me, putting the time in one place is a characteristic of those records, especially with Ray Brown. It’s the more polished studio sound.
What made Ray Brown so good with singers?
His two-bar phrases. They give form and shape and clarity, so a singer or a horn player knows the cadences will always be there and can depend on you. The reason all the singers loved him, so much so that Ella Fitzgerald married him, is those two-bar phrases. His playing was so clear and so strong.
