I gotta say that i picked these up the other day and they are both great. The Rufus Reid book tells about everything that the Double Bass Jazz Player should know. But Im having the hardest time playing out of the Chambers Solo book. I mean i can read music "ok". I work on it like everyday, i just wondered when you guys learn a solo, do you listen to the recording or just play it straight off the sheet? I think im gonna have to get a recording cuz i suck. To tell ya the truth i dont like learning solos but I have to for this thing im trying out for. Alright thanks alot

Merry Christmas

I think that it's all good. If you're working on transcriptions, certainly listen to what was transcribed. Many transcriptions have errors and you'd never know unless you work on the whole excercise completely. Also, there are nuances that just can't be written down and you'll miss all of that if you don't listen to the original source. Transcribing things yourself is a better excercise, so I would recommend getting the recordings of the stuff that you're working on and use the pre-transcribed version as a reference to double-check (is a Juzek and double-Czech?) yourself.

Aside from these things that are required for the tryout, in a general sense I recommend that students transcribe things that grab their attention, and then not necessarily the whole solo, and then not even necessarily write it down. I instead suggest that they take the parts that they like, figure out how it's put together, and then internalize the idea and put it through the keys (twelve at last count), and then forget about it.

My feeling is that you exercise what's weak. If you're a great reader, but lousy transcriber, you should work on learning solos from the recordings.

If, on the other hand, you can learn from recordings fine, then work from the transcription.

Of course, in all cases, it's worth listening to the recording with transcription in hand to check for errors. That will help both skills.

W.R.T. playing something in all keys, I actually do Cb/B, Db/C# and F#/Gb as separate keys even though they're the same notes. Why? because I do think differently about those keys. I do the same thing on my scale work. I start at C# and go to Cb, meaning that I'll be doing 15 scales rather than just 12. It might just be my tiny little brain at work, but that's what I seem to need to do.

-dh

Hey you are right. Do your own thing. I think the best way to learn a solo you should learn the solo your self, from the CD or record.you will remember it better that way.Oh"" learn solo's form sax player's Guitar,any one that you like.Good Luck.

Originally posted by lonnieplaxico
Hey you are right. Do your own thing,but i think the best way to learn a solo ,you should learn the solo your self from the CD or record.you will remember it better that way.Oh"" learn solo's form sax player's Guitar,any one that you like.Good Luck.

So, Lonnie, what are you up to now? I remember you from Jack DeJohnette's band; I'm really jealous of you for that;)

Hello Marcus:)i hope you are fine.Im doing the band leader thing right now,losing money but it's worth it.You can Check out my new CD at my website.
WWW.LONNIEPLAXICO.COM

Lonnie has also been working with Bobby DeNiro and Marlon Brando in the Cinematic world. The name of the film escapes me, but it came out last summer, and Mr. Plaxico has a close up, something Mr. Brando did not have, as the seemed to only shoot him from the neck down for some reason...

oops, I meant neck up.


You know.....cause brando's fat.

Yeah, Brando Got Back (and Front, and Side, and...) but hey, he's Brando....

Originally posted by Robert Sabin
Lonnie has also been working with Bobby DeNiro and Marlon Brando in the Cinematic world. The name of the film escapes me, but it came out last summer, and Mr. Plaxico has a close up, something Mr. Brando did not have, as the seemed to only shoot him from the neck down for some reason...

The film was The Score. While it may have been a by-the-numbers heist film, it was a good by-the-numbers heist film.

-dh

GroovyJazz
I've got portions of the PC book, and I was in the same position as you. Some of it is tough to read cold. In my case, having the recording (Tranes's Blues) was immensely helpful. Actually, it really went a long way toward improving my reading because I was able to see how things were written out (triplets, notes tied over bar lines).

If you really want to improve reading and soloing I suggest Marc Johnson's book 'Concepts for Bass Soloing'. In this case, it's almost a necessity to have the recording. Some of the things he plays are crazy.

My current instructor has been working through the Chambers book himself and he told me it took him a YEAR :eek: to nail the first solo in the book. He said the others went faster and faster because he started understanding Chambers' style so the more solos he learned the easier the next one was.

The Rufus book was frustrating to me because without a teacher it leaves too much unexplained, especially in terms of walking line construction and soloing. What's good about it is that if you just work through all the exercises he provides you will have an awesome command of the fingerboard and solid intonation. I still pull it out to kick my ass every once in a while.

Though it isn't a bad book by any means, I always found the solo ideas in Rufus Reid's "The Evolving Bassits" to be much too root oriented. I haven't had a chance to look at the Chambers book. I definately agree with previous posts that a lot is lost on the written page as far as solo transcriptions go.

-Chris

Rufus' book had many hidden nuggets for me. Repeated viewing over time yielded new, valuable ideas.

(No-one ever says that about my posts.)