Walkdowns & walkups: What is the theory behind it?

[chomper76]

I've seen a lot of material on Walkdowns and walkup between chords, but the ones I have found only show notes to play. There is no explanation about the choice of notes.

Are they simply scale notes out of the key the song is in that rest between the chords?

[Davis Webb]

Usually scale notes landing on a 3rd, 5th or tonic of the next octave.

[chomper76]

Thank you!

[jseth]

No offense to Davis, but I wouldn't say that at all...

Walk-ups and walk-downs are merely ways to connect one chord with another... to that end, basic diatonic theory will give you most of the clues about which notes are going to work for you...

For instance, if I can ascertain that a song is in the key of Gmaj, and I want to do a walk-up to the D chord (which is the V or fifth degree of the G major scale), I know to include the notes A, B, C and then D... I know I can use the C# note as a brief stepping stone, but only as a brief one...

If I wanted to walk down to that same D chord (again from the G), knowing the song is in G would tell me to use the F# note, and NOT the F note... and so I'd play F#, E, to D; I could use both the F natural note and the Eflat note, but I would realize that I'm going "outside" the norm... so I would either avoid those notes, or use them briefly, perhaps in a chromatic run to the target note...

Learning Basic Diatonic Chord Theory really helped my music a lot; to understand the "why?" of my favorite songs... why they sound the way they do, why certain chords "work"... lets me know where a song is going, even if I have never played it or heard it before...

I heartily endorse learning that stuff! It will ROCK YOUR WORLD!!!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by chomper76

I've seen a lot of material on Walkdowns and walkup between chords, but the ones I have found only show notes to play. There is no explanation about the choice of notes.

Are they simply scale notes out of the key the song is in that rest between the chords?

Hi chomped...

It's a matter of connecting the dots. The starting chord often determines the start of the pattern, and the next chord's root is usually the target note.

Simplest walkup/down runs are notes from the scale which transition from the present chord to the one you will land on, timed to land on the target note just as the chord changes.

A good dose of old timey country will give you a feel for those.

There are much more complex walkups/downs which interject parallel intervals and use chromatic notes (out of scale) to connect the chords.

Hope this helps...

[chomper76]

Jseth,

So to see if I have the correct understanding, I would play the notes of the scale between the chord root notes? So in a major key I would use the major scale formula, and if it is in a minor key, I would use the minor scale formula to determine the notes?

[chomper76]

For a simple example, say between Am and C in the key of Am, I would play A, B, then C between the chords?

[jseth]

Originally Posted by chomper76

For a simple example, say between Am and C in the key of Am, I would play A, B, then C between the chords?

Yes, that is one way to do it... it all depends upon what sort of minor sound the song has... in your example, it sounds like the song is in the key of C, the relative minor being Amin...

Depending upon the "feel" or the type of music/sound that you are wanting, there are additional notes to the major scale that work well...

If you are playing a blues in E, then one does NOT use the notes of the Emaj scale, as they are going to sound...wrong... you don't want to be playing the maj7th or D# note when playing a blues in E...

So, you have to determine "what" sound you are after while you "connect the dots"... trusting your own ear is a great way to go... and what lj said, listen to a bunch of old time country (and blues, etc.) and you will hear a bunch of different walk up's/down's, and not all of them will be "notes in a row"...

There are a lot of ways to skin this particular cat...

[Davis Webb]

Walkups sound bad if you just randomly pick notes. Resolve on some part of the triad, usually the tonic. Its not that complicated. At the end of the day JSeth said,, play what sounds good. If you are using weird intervals, to me that's not a walkup, its a parallel bass line.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by chomper76

For a simple example, say between Am and C in the key of Am, I would play A, B, then C between the chords?

Yes, that's the most obvious and direct way.
Likewise, vice versa, from C to Am, you'd insert a B on the way down.
Depending on how much time between the chords, and how much you want to emphasis the B, this is often extended to a transition chord, such a G/B, or Em/B.

But the basic rule is: diatonic notes (ie from the key scale), usually approaching the chord root from one scale step above or below.

A slightly more advanced rule (for more bluesy/jazzy effects) is: approach chord tones by half-steps.

Obviously with Am to C, the B is already doing this, a half-step up to the root. But if you were going from Am to Dm, instead of running A-B-C-D, you could try A-B-C-C#-D, or A-C-C#-D. The "chromatic" (out of key) C# adds a jazzy/bluesy effect.
Even more jazzy/bluesy would be to come down to D from the E of Am, via Eb. IOW flattening the 5th of the Am to get to the root of Dm.
Normally you'd only introduce a chromatic note like this on the very last beat of the previous chord (and resolve it properly by half-step) otherwise it will probably just sound "wrong".

And you can do it on to other chord tones too. Eg, going from G to C, you can run up from D (5th of G) to E (3rd of C) via D#. This is quite common in blues and country as well as jazz. Half-steps below the 3rd of a major chord always have a "blues" effect, and should usually move straight up to the M3.

One common (in fact cheesy and old-fashioned) effect is to walk up to the root of the V chord from the 3rd of the I (or to root of I from 3rd of IV):

 G           D
------------|---------
------------|---------
------------|---------
------------|0-------
----2--3--4-|------------
-3----------|---------

That works in whatever key you might find those chords. Obviously one of those walk-up notes is chromatic, but it doesn't matter which.
And while it can be cheesy, it was done to great effect in the outro to Hendrix's "Hey Joe", through all 5 chords of the sequence.

[chomper76]

JonPR, thank you for that great explanation.