Is there a name for this common bass line?
I've heard this bass line in a number of songs, including Billy Joel's "Piano Man", "One Day More" from Les Miserables, and "Rambling Through the Avenues of Time" by Flight of the Conchords. It's certainly a useful line: downward moving major scale, with a simple II-V-I at the end, and it's used in a variety of styles. Does this bass line (and maybe the associated chord progressions) have a name?
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It's often called the "lament bass." It's common in classical and pop music. Both diatonic and chromatic descents occur and there are various harmonizations. One version is common in Flamenco music. Some examples:
"Hit The Road Jack" Ray Charles
"Dido's Lament" Henry Purcell
"32 Variations in C Minor" Ludwig van Beethoven
It's been a popular construct for the last few centuries.
A descending walking bass line, four in a bar. Walking bass happens when the notes are going up or down in a scalar fashion. They don't continue ad nauseum, because when there's a change of harmony, they'll often jump to the root, and then continue.
Walking like this means there's usually two notes from the prevalent chord played. Good players will make those on 1 and 3 when possible. A nice touch is to use the ?9 of the next chord on beat 4 (or 4&) of the bar leading to it, as with the second to third bar on the same chord would mean finishing bar 2 on root, then starting bar 3 on root again.
It's the intro to Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me.
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