How to 'write' a bass solo?
- Thread starter Hickey_
- Start date
Hmmm...Since the pros havent answer, let this noob contribute a bit so that the rest can contribute.
You can look into few types of bass solo.
1. Slap bass solo
2. Tap bass solo
3. Melodic bass solo
4. Chordal bass solo
5. Combine all of the above
Diff techniques are useful also to express what you want, e.g. harmonics,pinch harmonics, bending, dynamics, hammer ons and etc.
A simple way to "write" a simple bass solo is to just play the melody.
When you internalize the melody, you can occasionally add the chord.
Understanding the Diatonic chords and scales will help you. You can read up on Motif and phrasing as well.
Also when you play thru chord changes, the tune that rings in your head can become your solo.
If you just want to just solo in a song, can listen to the thread where they ask for intro of solos..
If you want to be soloist than listen to people like:
1. Michael Manring
2. Victor Wooten
3. Stuart Hamm
4. Jeff Schmidt
5. Oteil Burbridge
6. Dominique Di Piazza
7. Jeff Berlin
8. and etc
You tend to play what you listen to.
Cheers,
Ben
singaporean
New member
use pen and/or paper .
hahaha. That's nice.
'Understanding the Diatonic chords and scales will help you. You can read up on Motif and phrasing as well.'
Whats diatonic chords, scales? And motif and phrasing? What are these? ):
those are theoretical terms..
diatonic chords are chords built on a particular scale.
motifs are short musical ideas, say a couple of bars. many composers tend to vary those motifs to create extended phrases of music.
but as you can see, i sort of know the theory stuff, but could anyone elaborate on how all this can be applied?
btw, thanks for your input benjso28!
diatonic chords are chords built on a particular scale.
motifs are short musical ideas, say a couple of bars. many composers tend to vary those motifs to create extended phrases of music.
but as you can see, i sort of know the theory stuff, but could anyone elaborate on how all this can be applied?
btw, thanks for your input benjso28!
lester_music
New member
think of a tune, then put it on the bass....
Another way is to play what you sing. Of cos not everyone can do that but can try singing the notes and finding it on the bass.
Chris Kringel definition of the following:
Motif - Little melodic or rhythmic idea that you can build on to create a full-blown solo. The motif is an inherent part of the solo. A place to call home and go back to, it also gives the audience a musical idea to connect with. A motif can either be rhythmic, melodic, or a mix of the two.
Phrasing - Can be like practicing little solos or fills over a groove while simultaneously working on your timing and execution. Start by breaking down an idea into a riff or groove, then add fills every few measures and finish with a return to the groove.
Can watch some youtube guitar vid where blues player do quite a bit of the above. Check out Scott henderson as well.
Don't just listen to bass player when you wan to learn solo. Can listen to horns, sax, guitar, piano and any other instrument.
Also, ask a friend to play thru a simple chord change like G C D.. and hear the tune in ur head. Than try to execute it out.
Try playing melody like wat victor wooten did for Amazing Grace, Norwegian Woods, Overjoyed and etc.
Diatonic chords in a C major scale = Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Bm7(b5)
Cheers,
Ben
Chris Kringel definition of the following:
Motif - Little melodic or rhythmic idea that you can build on to create a full-blown solo. The motif is an inherent part of the solo. A place to call home and go back to, it also gives the audience a musical idea to connect with. A motif can either be rhythmic, melodic, or a mix of the two.
Phrasing - Can be like practicing little solos or fills over a groove while simultaneously working on your timing and execution. Start by breaking down an idea into a riff or groove, then add fills every few measures and finish with a return to the groove.
Can watch some youtube guitar vid where blues player do quite a bit of the above. Check out Scott henderson as well.
Don't just listen to bass player when you wan to learn solo. Can listen to horns, sax, guitar, piano and any other instrument.
Also, ask a friend to play thru a simple chord change like G C D.. and hear the tune in ur head. Than try to execute it out.
Try playing melody like wat victor wooten did for Amazing Grace, Norwegian Woods, Overjoyed and etc.
Diatonic chords in a C major scale = Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Bm7(b5)
Cheers,
Ben
crazyguy106
New member
There are several approaches to playing bass solos. I like to try to imitate a horn solo when I play a bass solo (that's when it comes to jazz).
There are two main camps when it comes to bass playing when it's solos. The rhythmic/groove based vs the melodic based. Of course they're not independent and exclusive, but instead a mixture of the two. People like Marcus Miller is highly groove based, using same few notes and using same few grooves but varying it slightly each time and using tone, accents and placing of the notes to create tension and move around. The groove camp was mainly started by Stanley Clarke. Meanwhile, Jaco kinda started the melodic movement. Of course they were not the only ones but these were some of the key players in the movement. Melodic movement is using the harmony, so knowledge of chords and transversing them well is super important. This belongs more to the horn players' solo. Wooten is a mixture of the two depending on when he wants to do what he wants. Most listed by benjso are melodic save for Stu Hamm (though his GHS solos were highly melodic).
If it's a single chord vamp solo or a single key centre solo everything becomes somewhat more dependent on your ability to constantly create new ideas with a particular scale. Useful things like arpeggios, movements in thirds and fourths, chromatics and bebop scales can help you a lot if you're doing a jazz type, if not for most cases it can be mainly movement around the scale. For vocabulary for each genre a lot of listening is quite required.
Usually what you have to note is that you have notes which are emphasised in the chords as well. For jazz it's usually the 3rd and the 7th. So accenting them and placing them on harmonically strong points like the 1st beat of the bar will help you. It's 1, 3 or 7 to play safe unless you're in transition. However for rock it's more about 1, 3 and 5. Pop pretty much so.
Hard to explain online really. But one of the best ways to learn is to listen... As said by benjso. Not just bass players' solos. Guitarist lines, saxophonist lines, keyboard lines. They can shape YOUR solo to be different. Though I would recommend first playing the melody of the song before going into it. And if possible have a way to play the chords underneath you (ie use a recording or band in a box or whatever you can) so that you can hear which notes fit and which notes don't. And from there you can increase your vocabulary and find out what sounds nice. A lot of trial and error and learning from others.
Hope this helps.
There are two main camps when it comes to bass playing when it's solos. The rhythmic/groove based vs the melodic based. Of course they're not independent and exclusive, but instead a mixture of the two. People like Marcus Miller is highly groove based, using same few notes and using same few grooves but varying it slightly each time and using tone, accents and placing of the notes to create tension and move around. The groove camp was mainly started by Stanley Clarke. Meanwhile, Jaco kinda started the melodic movement. Of course they were not the only ones but these were some of the key players in the movement. Melodic movement is using the harmony, so knowledge of chords and transversing them well is super important. This belongs more to the horn players' solo. Wooten is a mixture of the two depending on when he wants to do what he wants. Most listed by benjso are melodic save for Stu Hamm (though his GHS solos were highly melodic).
If it's a single chord vamp solo or a single key centre solo everything becomes somewhat more dependent on your ability to constantly create new ideas with a particular scale. Useful things like arpeggios, movements in thirds and fourths, chromatics and bebop scales can help you a lot if you're doing a jazz type, if not for most cases it can be mainly movement around the scale. For vocabulary for each genre a lot of listening is quite required.
Usually what you have to note is that you have notes which are emphasised in the chords as well. For jazz it's usually the 3rd and the 7th. So accenting them and placing them on harmonically strong points like the 1st beat of the bar will help you. It's 1, 3 or 7 to play safe unless you're in transition. However for rock it's more about 1, 3 and 5. Pop pretty much so.
Hard to explain online really. But one of the best ways to learn is to listen... As said by benjso. Not just bass players' solos. Guitarist lines, saxophonist lines, keyboard lines. They can shape YOUR solo to be different. Though I would recommend first playing the melody of the song before going into it. And if possible have a way to play the chords underneath you (ie use a recording or band in a box or whatever you can) so that you can hear which notes fit and which notes don't. And from there you can increase your vocabulary and find out what sounds nice. A lot of trial and error and learning from others.
Hope this helps.
yeah by adding the 7th, you can sound pretty jazzy. I like 9th chord as well.
So let say when ur guitarist play a G7 chord, you can improvise or solo using the notes in the chord which is G B D F. You can also mess around using the G Major Pentatonic Scale.
Some will ask u to try G Mixolydian Scale.
Or simply press just the 3rd which is the B note or the 7th which is the F note. To sound more like a solo, avoid pressing the root note which is ur G,
btw, Dominant 7 use quite often in blues.
If you like Jaco's stuff, his instructional vid is available on youtube.
I quite like Stu hamm's 2-handed tapping.. works like a piano..
For stanley, also check out his use of open string.
e.g. try pressing the 13th fret on the G string (G#) than just whack the open E string.. you get a nice E chord.. :d
victor is very rhythmic, and yes can be real melodic as well.
Can also check out Flea's master vid where he did some open D string stuff, give similar flavour as Marcus Miller's Blast.
Someone said that playing solo is like telling a story. intro, main, ending.. can explore on that as well.
Bassist loves to play in E.. so try hit the open E string and play within the E minor Pentatonic... Get the idea?
Cheers,
Ben
So let say when ur guitarist play a G7 chord, you can improvise or solo using the notes in the chord which is G B D F. You can also mess around using the G Major Pentatonic Scale.
Some will ask u to try G Mixolydian Scale.
Or simply press just the 3rd which is the B note or the 7th which is the F note. To sound more like a solo, avoid pressing the root note which is ur G,
btw, Dominant 7 use quite often in blues.
If you like Jaco's stuff, his instructional vid is available on youtube.
I quite like Stu hamm's 2-handed tapping.. works like a piano..
For stanley, also check out his use of open string.
e.g. try pressing the 13th fret on the G string (G#) than just whack the open E string.. you get a nice E chord.. :d
victor is very rhythmic, and yes can be real melodic as well.
Can also check out Flea's master vid where he did some open D string stuff, give similar flavour as Marcus Miller's Blast.
Someone said that playing solo is like telling a story. intro, main, ending.. can explore on that as well.
Bassist loves to play in E.. so try hit the open E string and play within the E minor Pentatonic... Get the idea?
Cheers,
Ben
swenseng
New member
Well from what i've observed from Indonesian greats (R & G people you can back me up on this), you can improv a solo by going about a theme, constantly thinking about what it is you're focusing on.
Kinda like writing a short story, and putting in emotions with a play of dynamics. Using events in your imaginary story to spice up your solo and make it more interesting.
However, might i add this would be after having a thorough knowledge on your scales and modes as well as techniques
Kinda like writing a short story, and putting in emotions with a play of dynamics. Using events in your imaginary story to spice up your solo and make it more interesting.
However, might i add this would be after having a thorough knowledge on your scales and modes as well as techniques
come up with a riff that complements the chord progression.
if you know your scales and the chord progression play the notes centered around the chord tones with nonharmonic tones as passing notes only. then flow with the dynamics. if it's high then play the higher notes. feel the music...play your bass like reading poetry.
if you know your scales and the chord progression play the notes centered around the chord tones with nonharmonic tones as passing notes only. then flow with the dynamics. if it's high then play the higher notes. feel the music...play your bass like reading poetry.
Hope so too. Haha. Im stuck with my playing as well. And im trying to improve so yeah, just asking around. But i just think that jazz is the most awesome thing that can happened on a bass. ):
Hmm.. maybe can explore walking bass? Check out some talkbass threads.
alanchia
New member
unless you meant solo like this (melody + chord)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmy0RL3HEf0
the score+tab is available, the the info panel in the youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmy0RL3HEf0
the score+tab is available, the the info panel in the youtube.
