This is such a wondeful subject. There’s these two things that I’ve come to think about bass lines and bass players. It rings true for me, but might not for you… nevertheless.

1. No one plays roots like a bass player. When guitarists, pianists, saxophone players lay down the roots, they do just that: the root on the first beat. It gets boring really fast. Bass players can play roots in the sweetest possible way: approaching it from above or below, chromatically or diatonically. Embellishing it with phrasing, vibrato, adding fifths, sevenths… even when they are playing “simple”, players like Ron Carter, Patitucci, McBride or Peacock can convey lots of emotion “only playing roots.”

2. What bass players consider “the root” is sometimes far removed from the written chord changes. Bassists listen to the melody and the harmony. Sometimes they opt to use a different root than written. Or using tritone substitution or alternative turnarounds. I seldom hear a bass player play I-VI-II-V even if this is what the charts say. They prefer I-bIII-II-bII or they go! I-bVII-bVI-V or bII And they have a lot of other turnarounds at their disposal.

Ever tried to play a tune (without analyzing) written by a bass player, like 3Views of a secret or Goodbye Porkpie Hat or Wisteria (George Mraz)? The changes are really hard for harmony players, but sound great and bass players hear the harmony.

Bass players know which root suits the melody and harmony best. And it just might not be the root that soloists or accompanists are thinking of.

An example that really blew my mind was the bass part Harvie Swartz plays on Body and Soul (Steve Kuhn ballads). I struggle to understand it, but it is just so beautiful. And the piano is not limited by it in any way. It just helps to add color to the tune. In the first A he sticks to the written chords, but already by the second A Harwie Swartz is imposing his own roots and hopefully you’ll hear the solo and the ending melody, it will blow you away.

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