a bass line that moves steadily in a rhythm contrasting to that of the upper parts; in jazz, a walking bass usually moves by steps played on bass or piano, with each note usually having the duration of a quarter note
Walking bass
Related Dictionary Terms
Voice leading
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Theory
Voice leading focuses on how each line moves, not only on the chord labels. Good voice leading often favors: small interval m…
Viertel
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German
a quarter note see Note Values
Acciaccatura
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Italian
Grace note; crushed note, written with a diagonal line through the note hook or flag
Ballade
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thirteenth , fourteenth and fifteenth century formes fixes, a strophic piece, each stanza having an initial repeated section…
Basso ostinato
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ground bass, a pattern repeated several times over in the bass line to accompany one or more ever varying upper parts
Borrowed division
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a term used to describe when a note is divided into an unusual number of smaller notes, for example, when three quarter notes…
Canon
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a musical form in which a (second, third, fourth, ….) line starting later than the one before it matches it note for note but…
Changing notes
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non harmonic notes; two notes, one that leaves the chord note by a tone or semitone, then leaps to the next non harmonic note…