This week we are going to work through Autumn Leaves for our walking bass line. This tune is mainly made up of a – ii V7 I – in major and a – ii-7b5 V7 i – in the relative minor.

In measures 19-20 the Eb7, and Db7 are tri-tone chord substitutions. Without those substitutions the chords would be as follows |E-7 A7 |D-7 G7 |. When the tri-tone sub is removed it makes the key movement easier to see in these two measures.

The melody is also diatonic to the major or relative minor keys respectively. For example in measure 7 the C# and D# are included in the melody which reference the leading tone for the key of E minor. The only part of the melody that isn’t diatonic occurs in measure 16 when an A# note is played. That note is being used as a lower approach tone to the very next note being played, the note B.

Bass Clef Play-along

Bass Clef & Tab Play-along

PDF’s

There are supporting PDF’s for this post in the Bass Toolkit Area.

Hope you enjoy playing this Walking Bass Line.