Voice Leading

[bassist_25]

Hey, I was wondering if anybody here incorporates a lot of voice leading into their playing, whether you're a guitar player, bass player, or keyboardist (I assume most keyboardists do a lot of voice leading).

I've been trying to incorporate more voice leading into my playing, especially on walking lines. I'm still conditioned to grab the root on the 1 though. In some styles of music, it just seems like you have to be playing a stable interval (either root or 5th) on the one, so voice leading proves to be somewhat of a challenge. Voice leading was easy back in the good ole' days when I was a pianist. All I had to do was think of which inversion shape I wanted to use and then presto. I didn't even really have to think about in which direction the intervals were moving. On bass, I not only have to think of the individual intervals, but also what direction I'll be going in after that. You also have to constantly be thinking about the harmony while you're doing it. And by thinking of harmony: I mean thinking of harmony in the BIG PICTURE, like how is this supporting the melody and what notes I'm I using to outline the harmony.

How do all of you approach voice leading? Guitar players: Is it a challenge coming up with different chord inversions?