Bebop Time Feel

[bassist_lewis]

I'm working on Donna Lee (just the head at the moment) and I can't seem to get the feel right. Whether I play it straight or swung it doesn't feel quite right when I play along with the Charlie Parker recording. Anyone know more about Bebop than me?

[Caz]

I'm not really good enough on bass to give advice from a bass technical point of view.. it's a second instrument. Musically, Charlie Parker's phrasing is where most of the beauty is, I'd recommend slowing it down until you can really get into his feel and duplicate it when playing along then gradually speed it up, even going a bit past the original tempo. You could forget the bass at first and just sing along, or even tap the rhythm, before taking it to the bass. A lot of blues and history has gone into what he's playing so don't worry if it doesn't fit into a binary definition of straight vs swung.. forget about all that, just keep listening to get 100% into what he's playing, that's all it is.. absorbing, internalising and replicating.

 

Software like Amazing Slow Downer lets you loop sections and slow them down, even a couple of bars at a time, then work up the tempo. If you work on smaller chunks and really internalise how he's playing, like a couple of bars at a time, it'll pay off when you join it all together. Just bear in mind if you're doing this and slow it down a lot, there tend to be 'gears' of swung 8ths feel... so slowing down recordings with uptempo swung 8ths will very likely have a different feel to how it'd actually be played if it was a tune at that slower tempo. And give yourself enough time, Dave Liebman recommends around 50 hours per transcription, being able to sing it perfectly alongside the recording then play it.

 

Good luck

Caroline

[Guest]

Bebop phrasing is neither swung nor straight but is somewhere in between. As a starting point try to sound the first note of a pair long and the second note short. Over-exaggerate this at first, playing dead straight 8ths notes, then gradually being in a touch of swing. You’ll hit the right feel pretty soon.

 

The other important point is phrasing - Charlie played a saxophone, which is much better at creating beautiful lines and phrasing via breath, so pay attention to legato (long) notes and phrases, and the staccato (short) equivalent. 

 

Try singing parts first (doesn’t matter how bad you are as a singer). It really gets the phrasing into your head. Then try to “sing” through the bass.

 

Finally - Donna Lee has a lot of chords and is an odd melody as it starts on beat 3, so it has a backwards feel. Make sure you genuinely know the part off by heart as it’s easy to kid yourself you’ve got it when you’re actually scrabbling for notes.
 

[Bilbo]

In a lot of bebop, the feel is achieved by the soloist playing straight 8ths while the rhythm section swings. The tension this creates can be the magic ingredient and maybe what you are looking for. 

[CJPJ]

Funnily enough, I was just watching this! 

 

 

 

[gyrus]

On 09/02/2022 at 12:10, bassist_lewis said:

I'm working on Donna Lee (just the head at the moment) and I can't seem to get the feel right. Whether I play it straight or swung it doesn't feel quite right when I play along with the Charlie Parker recording. Anyone know more about Bebop than me?

 

I can only share my approach. What I do is I play the chord changes against a metronome in a much slower tempo. Then, gradually build up on the speed. I would recommend that you make the clicks of the metronome sound good before increasing the tempo. Make it swing... and enjoy the journey! When you reach the target tempo, play with the recording. Good luck!

[WishICouldWalk]

I think it's pretty tough on the bass because the note on the beat needs to be nice and long so you have to be on it with your fretting hand fingerings and shifting. I try to play softly with the right hand to smooth out the sound. Definitely a WIP for me. Check out Dario Deidda on YouTube. He has bebop down.