This is lesson, DB-17 Playing Parisienne Walkways Melody on Bass, and is a continuation of my journal of things I have learned as an adult double bass student.
I have wanted to post a lesson about some simple melodies that you can play on the double bass so I decided to just post something that interests me. And at the moment I am into the late Gary Moore….an incredible blues-rock guitarist. I absolutely love Gary’s performance of Parisienne Walkways. The intro to Parisienne Walkways contains the hook and while at first due to the passion with which Gary plays it appears complicated or difficult, by analyzing it you discover that it is actually quite simple.
The song’s tonality is Am and begins with three downward glissandos of A, E (from the octave on the A and E strings) and C (on the E string). The melody begins on E or the 5th of the Am scale and descends to F or the 6th (two steps below the root A) and then repeats the pattern by returning to the E above the root briefly but begins the downward series of notes by dropping one step and starting on D and going down to E below the root. It repeats this pattern until it lands on C below the root A and finishes as it started with the three downward glissandos of A, E and C before going into singing the first verse.
After the three glissandos at the beginning, start playing with your 4th finger at E on the G string.
The basic melody written out in bass clef is show below.
Watch The Video Lesson
