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Finally pushed myself to go to the jazz jam


julietgreen

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Since the demise of my regular slot in the rock band, I've been dabbling in a bit of mainstream jazz and latin stuff - trying to get a handle on walking bass but not finding anyone to give it a go with me. Actually, I did, but after saying they wanted me to play with them, they then wrote back and said they had no drummer so it was a no go. Hmmm. Anyway I went along to play bass at the local jazz jam. Very low key, low stakes stuff. Turns out that night there was nobody else on bass, so I had to cover the whole evening straight from the chord charts. On the strength of that I got asked to be the 'house band' the following month, do a dep on a gig last Sunday, to be the bass at the next jam and to join a jazz band as bassist. Shows you can fool a lot of the people some of the time.

To be fair, I know the repertoire inside out - but as a listener, or a saxophonist. I'm less secure with all the walking bass patterns - I'm sure the low riders in the audience are cringing. But the drummer at the dep gig said how much he enjoyed playing with me - so there's that.

I think the point of this is that I got over the imposter syndrome for a moment and made myself just do it.

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Great story! We all had to start somewhere and you’ve started well. Irrespective of what walking lines you play your biggest contribution will be the constant tempo you maintain to support the drummer, just slightly pushing the pulse. There’s a whole world out there to be explored and enjoyed. Have you got access to iReal Pro? That’ll give you all the chord sequences you’ll need.

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You already know the tunes and what horn players want to hear .
Now your own voice/style will emerge of itself the more you do it .Experienced players will know and encourage that .
Jazz isn't a competition , it is PLAY .
Bravo .

 

The bass player is the true person behind the wheel . 55:55 :

 

Edited by DaveFry
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22 hours ago, peted said:

This is an awesome story and totally what I'm looking to acheive.  Can you let me know what resources you used to pick up the knowledge for constructing walking basslines?  Any pointers?

Some pointers in OP;s thread from two years ago :

 

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18 hours ago, acidbass said:

Kudos to being able to sit through 2 hours of self-indulgent soloing from the melody players! Jazz and Blues jams are notoriously noodley :)

This. I have tried and tried to enjoy Jazz and I love some of the big band stuff, but the noodling small ensemble playing just leaves me cold. My jazz playing brother in law recommended Kind of Blue as one of the classics of the genre. It may be, but it was still just guys noodling and showing off as far as I could hear and at no point have I thought "Wow, that was a great band performance" 

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On 06/10/2019 at 08:58, peted said:

This is an awesome story and totally what I'm looking to acheive.  Can you let me know what resources you used to pick up the knowledge for constructing walking basslines?  Any pointers?

Ed Friedlands book is a good start 

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19 hours ago, acidbass said:

Kudos to being able to sit through 2 hours of self-indulgent soloing from the melody players! Jazz and Blues jams are notoriously noodley :)

That's one way to look at it, but as a bass player you get to choose what to play over the chord changes and to work with the other rhythm section players to keep things interesting.

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As for self indulgence, what is more self indulgent that a spotty teenager telling me about the trials and tribulations of his inane and predictable love life? Or a string of clichés posing as lyrics that read like a string of Facebook memes posing as wisdom? Or playing three chord songs and being promoted as the most exciting 'new thing'?

 

Self indulgence is a matter of perspective. 

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39 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

As for self indulgence, what is more self indulgent that a spotty teenager telling me about the trials and tribulations of his inane and predictable love life? Or a string of clichés posing as lyrics that read like a string of Facebook memes posing as wisdom? Or playing three chord songs and being promoted as the most exciting 'new thing'?

 

Self indulgence is a matter of perspective. 

I reckon this thread is at risk of going the way that any thread about jazz does...

Music is entirely subjective and where one may hear unstructured noodling, another may infer a beautiful and melodic piece that challenges conventions with every chord change. (I'm the latter).

Jazz is no better or worse than any other genre, it's just different.

Back to the thread, this has inspired me to pop along to my local jazz jam this month. I'll let you know how I get on (badly, I imagine).

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Great to hear such a "good news" story @julietgreen.
I've been along to quite a few open mic nights & jams (not many Jazz ones, admittedly)
They can be pretty awful at times - BUT, they can also be good fun, and they can help you meet / network with other musicians


Yes, some of the attendees / other musicians can be complete @****'s -but there are also good folk at such events too
You never quite know who or what you're going to get - so it's worth trying an open mic / jam or two now & then - especially if & when a band or project has folded....

Don't ever worry about "winging it" or "Fooling some of the people, some of the time" - it's all a learning process - even if the lesson has taught you not to do it again! ;)

Nice story, and it's nice to know that other musicians enjoyed your playing too.
Best of luck with it :)

Edited by Marc S
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3 hours ago, Bilbo said:

If you think Kind of Blue is just noodling and 'guys showing off', you really aren't getting it, are you? It is the least noodling Jazz album of all time. :lol:

You could argue that if its something you have to "Get" then the musicians are failing spectacularly to get the musical message across. I get most music.

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1 hour ago, mikel said:

You could argue that if its something you have to "Get" then the musicians are failing spectacularly to get the musical message across. I get most music.

Up to a point, but people who don't like jazz are usually pretty definite about it. Almost anyone can 'learn' to appreciate jazz, but there's no reason why anyone should do so if they're not bothered. If you don't like Kind of Blue, chances are that you're not going to like most music that's played at jazz jams or gigs.

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I think it is something that you have to 'get' in the same way that, say, dance music is. If you listen to dance music without understanding that it is to dance to, the you are likely to have unmet expectations. If you think 'melodies' can only be played using crotchets and quaver and that you cannot play spontaneously and melodically with sixteenth notes, then you are not going to hear the melodies and could interpret it as 'noodling'. There are noodlers out there, undoubtedly (count me in, for starters), but most definitely no-one on KoB.

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