Jazz Bass Guitar: From Fundamentals to Feeling the Groove
Learn to play jazz bass guitar the right way — from walking basslines and chord tones to improvisation and playing with a real jazz feel. Built for beginners and intermediate players ready to step into the jazz world.
Perfect for: Beginner to intermediate bass guitarists with basic fretting and plucking technique who want to learn jazz — including players transitioning from rock, funk, or blues, and music students looking to expand their genre fluency.
Stop Just Playing Notes — Start Playing Jazz
Jazz bass is one of the most expressive, intellectually rich, and downright fun roles in any band. But it's also one of the most misunderstood. Most bass players think jazz is just "harder" — more notes, faster tempos, complicated theory. In reality, great jazz bass is about listening, space, and conversation. This course teaches you exactly that.
You'll start with the foundations that every jazz bassist needs: understanding the fretboard through a jazz lens, navigating chord changes, and building your first walking basslines. From there, you'll move into the vocabulary of jazz — the rhythmic feel, the ii-V-I progressions, the blues, and the ballad — until you have a toolkit you can apply to any standard you encounter at a jam session or gig.
What Makes This Course Different
This isn't a theory lecture with a bass in the background. Every concept is taught on the instrument, in a musical context, with real jazz standards as your practice material. You'll learn how professional jazz bassists think about a chord chart, how to make creative choices in real time, and how to hold down the rhythm section while leaving room for the soloists to breathe.
Who This Is For
Whether you're a rock or funk bassist making the leap to jazz, or a brand-new player who wants to start on the right foot, this course meets you where you are. By the end, you'll be able to sit in at a jazz jam, play a full standard from start to finish, and — most importantly — sound like a jazz bassist.
What you'll be able to do
- Construct a solid, musical walking bassline over any standard jazz chord progression
- Identify and target chord tones (root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) across the entire fretboard
- Understand and apply ii-V-I and I-VI-ii-V progressions in all 12 keys
- Play the 12-bar jazz blues with authentic phrasing and harmonic awareness
- Comp and groove effectively alongside a piano, guitar, and drum kit
- Use approach notes, chromatic passing tones, and enclosures to create melodic basslines
- Read and interpret a lead sheet / chord chart the way a professional jazz musician does
- Perform at least two full jazz standards confidently from start to finish
Curriculum
5 modules · 15 lessons
Your teacher
John Kunes
Hi, I'm so glad you're here. I've been playing bass guitar for over 15 years, and jazz completely changed how I hear and feel music. When I first tried to make the jump into jazz, I was overwhelmed — the theory felt intimidating, the records sounded impossibly cool, and I didn't know where to start. I spent years piecing together lessons, transcriptions, and jam session experience into a method that actually works for bass players. This course is everything I wish I'd had when I started. I'm not going to drown you in theory for its own sake — every concept we cover will immediately make you sound better and feel more musical. My goal is simple: by the time you finish, you'll have the vocabulary, the ears, and the confidence to walk into any jazz situation and hold your own. Let's get to it.
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