Soloing

[JuliusGroove]

I've been hitting the Jazz lately and my walking lines are fine, however my soloing isn't up to scratch at all.

Obviously I know it takes years of practice but just wondering if anybody had any advice in the area of note choice and moreso phrasing?

All advice greatly appreciated

[BassBus]

Start by using chord tones. That can help you focus on specific notes, 1, 3, 5, 7 or b7.

Janek Gwizdala is always a good resource for this kind of thing.

http://youtu.be/7d5t8t0Y-zU

[tinyd]

Geoff Chalmers has a ton of excellent lessons - they're most about DB but his soloing lessons apply just as well to BG:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoverDoubleBass/videos

[No lust in Jazz]

For me chord tones only put you in tune with the piece and can become sterile and dull without a little garlic to spice things up.
It's important to have something to say in your solo too - soloing requires thought, melody structure - much like all music.
If constructing a solo I aim to sing the part in my head and convert it to notes later. If pointed at, as in you now,I try and build something - I have a lexicon of licks that I can use and having listened to many players over the years I'm convinced that this is generally what happens.
Above all practice and have a laugh.

[Hector]

It's a good idea to work on just one tune, and turn it inside out. Take a tune you like and understand it in every way - this understanding makes the next tune you shed easier, and the skills you learn transfer to lots of other tunes. Here's a few things you should be able to:

1. Play a 2 feel line through the changes whilst singing the melody.
2. Play the melody whilst singing a 2 feel line through the changes.
3. Work out your chord-scale options on each chord individually and practise scale/arpeggio fingerings for each chord separately.
4. Learn (transcribe!) some language over various bits of the changes. Especially important for getting nice phrasing/feel.
5. Play a continuous arpeggio line - play only arpeggio notes for each chord, and play the closest available note from the next chord when transitioning. Try and use the full range of your bass.

[Bilbo]

All of the above is massively important but, at the core of your learning is the need to LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN. Stepehn King, the author, always says that, if you want to be a writer, you need to read; a lot. When I say listen, I don' trust mean putting some sounds on whilst you peel potatoes. I mean REALLY listen. Transcribing is a great way of focussing in on detail and that is why most teachers advocate it but writing the notes on the page can be a distraction if you forget to listen. If I want to transcribe a solo, for instance, I can quite easily import it into Transcribe software, slow it down and write out the notes. The fact is, however, that there is NO music in the written notes themselves and it is important to PLAY the solo you have transcribed, not necessarily at the speed at which it was originally played but in a way that lets you explore the phrasing etc.

There are so many details that you need to explore in addition to the harmony, melody and rhythm. Use of space, dynamics, playing ahead of and behind the beat, beginning a solo, ending a solo, building a solo, thematic development, where to start a note and where to end it etc etc. All of this takes time to develop as you learn new concepts and start to incorporate them into your playing. You will learn more from listening to soloists who do not play your instrument as this will force you to think about the notes and the music as opposed to the bass.

An exercise to start you off: Find a solo you love (the shorter the better and preferrably with very few 'fast/clever bits' that will trip you up - part of a solo is perfectly acceptable. You will benefit from every bar you learn), listen to it several times preferrably to the point where you can sing it, then either write it down or learn it by rote so you can play it. Then repeat the exercice 1,000 times

Regarding the 'fast/clever bits'; when you are starting to learn, it is always easy to get distracted by the intense bits of solos where the sixteenth notes flash by like s*** off a stick. The fact is that 'fast/clever bits' are only ever slow bits speeded up. If you focuss on learning stuff slowly and well, the 'fast bits' will come. It is the musical version of 'look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves'.

[Hector]

Great advice from Bilbo. One way of thinking about it is that you can't fool yourself with improvisation - you have to have your hearing on the right level, it has to get into your head before it comes back out through the bass. It helps to sing everything you play.

[Bilbo]

Yes. The playing what you are thinking thing is very important. Wiggling your fingers will get the attention of some adolescent fan-boys (some well into their 80s ) but will not fool any real Jazz afficianados. Your solos need a context and understanding how Jazz works is an important part of understanding how to get something creative going.

A great example of this is Branford Marsalis's soprano solo on the tune 'Sister Cheryl' from Wynton Marsalis's first LP. (It is available on SPotify so you can have a listen). If you listen to the performance, Wynton Marsalis opens his solo with a three note phrase. This phrase appears throughout Wynton's solo and throughout the subsequent solos of Herbie Hancock and Branford, sometimes as a rhythmic motif, sometimes as a quote. The most wonderful bit for me is the way in which Branford uses the closing phrases of Herbie's solo (around 3.53) to define the main motifs throughout his own solo to the point where the final phrases 4.57) almost mirror Wynton's like bookends. Also, listen to Herbie's comping and the way in which this informs and is informed by Branford's soloing. It is so beautifully done. If you spend time with a performance like this, you will start to get a sense of the ways in which good Jazz is layered and how every note is informed by every other.

[DaveFry]

Advice for note choice and phrasing when soloing ?

Forget the instrument .
Just practice singing it . Sing to yourself walking down the street , in the bath , whatever . Make it up as you go along.
Once you have experience in tuning into your own creative flow in the moment , then pick up the instrument and play what you are singing .

It is so simple it takes a lifetime . But it is free . And rewarding ;

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f29a1RL2ly0[/media]

[DaveFry]

Further thoughts ;

Note choice .
Try this fiendishly simple exercise at 3:43
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPKG3_YjXXI[/media]

Phrasing .
Singing is the quickest method to find one's own natural phrasing . We have to punctuate with breaths !
Listen to Louis Armstrong's playing phrasing versus his singing phrasing .

Playing a solo ...
is Play . Like a child at play . Simplest is best . Light-hearted play .

[bagsieblue]

[quote name='DaveFry' timestamp='1423165721' post='2681740']
Further thoughts ;

Note choice .
Try this fiendishly simple exercise at 3:43
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPKG3_YjXXI[/media]


[/quote]

I like the look of this exercise but not sure that I understand fully if somebody could help please.

For the next note being either a half or full step up or down (4 choice) is that for every quarter note in a progression in sequence.
Meaning that on a chord change you don't jump to a chord tone from the 'root of the moment', so whilst playing through chord changes the next available note (for the purposes of the exercise) must always be either a half or full step up or down?

Would appreciate if someone could spell out how this applies to say practicing over a ii V I and/or a I VI(altered) ii V turnaround

[Bilbo]

The notes above and below tend to be leading notes so you would play them on the off beats, leading into chord tones on the 'on' beats. The idea of strong beats and weak beats is another thing to think about but take you time and let things develop at a natural pace. Too much stuff too quickly means that stuff doesn't really get absorbed.