Bass Improvisation

[rottenramone]

http://www.joncleary.com/video/jc-wugb042807.html

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wow. the guitarist looks like he's gonna eat his telecaster after the song.

 

[Bassman250]

I think alot of musicians (even for myself when I started out) have no idea to go when they reach the improvisational crossroads of their musical life.

We all wonder where to goto after determining the key of a song. Well, to use an analogy, you can see your improvisational message as water flowing down a pipe. The kind you find in sewers (not to say your improvisations are crap!) you know? And to have a good, strong pipe to channel the strong currents of the water, you need to have focus, and purpose as a channel for your improvisations.

To strengthen and construct the pipe for your creative waters, you need to define the rules and structures around your message. For example:

1) The theme of the piece. Are you going to improvise within the theme of the piece?

2) Are you catering to any audience? If no, then you will have more freedom in not letting your ego and flashy side dominate.

3) Are you going to play what you can play or what you might not be able to play?

4) Are you alone in communicating your message or are there are other musicians for you to respond and communicate to?

After you are able to answer these questions (and im sure there are many more questions you can ask yourself), you will have abit more focus and will be able to move away from "ohh i have to make my solo bluesy" or "gotta throw all the notes not discovered yet in music at my audience for this solo". Not that these in themselves are bad... but I believe there has to be solid musicianship, fundamentals and direction behind all these methods.

I reccomend Kenny Werner's "Effortless Mastery" for those interested in attuning to the spiritual side of music and to think like Bill Evans or Miles Davis when it comes to improvising. Really good read.

Godbless,
Clarence

Very good post. I recommend that too.

 

[pf]

Yeah. I took a pic of him besides a grand piano. He is the same width as the grand. hehe...:mrgreen:

wow. the guitarist looks like he's gonna eat his telecaster after the song.

 

[visa]

damn this is an old thread

 

[maikalikong]

Bass improvisation

Hey all,

First of all a shout out to my bass bro, Visa, whom I met at the Sheehan Bass CLinic last year.. How's it going bro? And secondly I agree with him that it's indeed a damn old thread... Haha..

Anyway, I've been playing bass for like 6 years now and throughout these years I just I developed my own style of playing. I've also studied many bass greats like Sheehan, Wooten, Louis Johnson, Jaco, etc and I learnt alot from each of their style..

To me improvisation is not about hitting all 7 notes that fall in the key of the song but the notes you choose. Of course choosing is not easy but I always look at it this way; There are only 12 available notes for you to choose no matter what key you're in. 7 are in the key and 5 are not. So what does that tell you? It tells you that 7/12 (58%) of the time you will have a chance of geting the right note compared to 5/12 (42%). So why worry about getting it wrong? Even if you hit a so-called 'wrong' note there's always a right one waiting to the right or left of that fret. So just embrace the moment and go for it! I think mistakes should be the last think on your mind when it comes to improvisation. Well of course you have to know your stuff like your scales, modes, arpeggios, harmonics, etc so you have everything at your fingertips when you play.

My former bass teacher used to tell me that it's expected for a guitartist to solo in a song but when the bass solo comes along, all other instruments stop playing (probably only the drums will be going on) and all head will turn. Haha.. And I believe it's true.. Happy playing!!

Cheers,
Bird