Killer Joe - Walking Bass Etude

This is a preview lesson from john’s online course,
Jazz Bass Vol. 1: Building Up.

In this lesson, John Goldsby teaches us a walking bass line etude based on the jazz standard Killer Joe. It includes some really cool triplet drops in the style of the great Ray Brown.

Killer Joe was written in 1960 by Benny Golson and is a classic tune that is featured in jam sessions all over the world. It’s one that all jazz bassists should know and in this lesson, John shares how he approaches it. The original recordings of the tune are at the bottom of this page.

So you can hear how the etude sounds in context, John is accompanied by Jamil Sherif on piano and Caroline Boaden on the drums. Big thanks to them both for their superb playing.

Learn with John Goldsby

Lesson Resources:

In this video John references the following recordings of Killer Joe.