Basic soloing...melody

[jjbb123]

Hay Janek...
Big fan of your music and groove!
Quick question on soloing (i know it's really not a quick question subject!)

Your soloing is ureal and actually melodic. I'm a pro musician and have been for some time...but a very "pocket" guy and play just the song. I can solo enough to get by when the time comes...but I lack the jazzier licks that you are so good at.

My question: If you're playing a basic funk/jazzy groove in say Aminor...and the solo comes up. Most of us would just solo around in that Am pentatonic scale formation. Where is the first place you would go off the top of your head. You obviously dont stick to that "box" that I would. Modes? Scales? Trying to get out of this rut that I'm in. Any info would help.

I have the facilities to pull off faster..complicated things...I'm just lacking the knowledge of where it all fits in.

Thanks

[dataBASS5]

Originally Posted by jjbb123

Most of us would just solo around in that Am pentatonic scale formation. Where is the first place you would go off the top of your head. You obviously dont stick to that "box" that I would. Modes? Scales? Trying to get out of this rut that I'm in.

Subscribed! I really want to hear the response to this question.

The more I learn about bass the more I realize I don't know anything at all. I'm NOT as competent in the arena of soloing as I know I should be. I'd hate to tell you all the time I wasted at the beginning of my playing not taking this stuff seriously.

Taking his "box" concept to an even lower level, I've been known to memorize solos that I liked and try to make them fit in whenever I'm called upon to do so--how embarrassing!

So, c'mon Janek--iron sharpens iron, let's hear your thoughts!

[janekbass]

well the basis of anything I do with music is melody. At least I hope it is. Sometimes I'm more successful than others, but the concept behind whatever I'm playing is melody. Some of these melodies I play are long and complex, and sometimes they're short and simple. The basis of these melodies comes from vocabulary in the language of improvised music. Just like when you were learning english as an infant from your parents, you assimilate vocabulary from listening to music now as an adult. It's really becomes as simple as this: the more you listen, the more you're going to soak up. And then it's up to you to be creative with that information and make it into something original, and something you can call your own.

You have to get to a point where you're not conscious or musical grammar so to speak. No more modes, scales, any of that crap. You have to speak through the instrument. And the only way you can do that is if you have something to say. and having something to say comes right back to language, and how much you know about that language. You don't think about using verbs, adjectives, pronouns etc etc when you're talking to someone. And it should be the same with music no matter what you're playing.

Easy,

Janek

[jjbb123]

Thanks for the response Janek. Means a lot that you take the time.
I'm 30 years old now...been playing for a long time. By the time I was like 23 I was touring with Members of Prince's band all over. It was almost like I was playing too much bass to have the time to really learn how to play the bass! Completely self taught...wish I would have learned more theory.My feel is there and that's what I think gets me work.

However....I spent some time just last night listening to one of your podcasts and was trying to figure out a line you were doing up and down the neck as a warm up/drill. Almost sounded like an arpeggio ascending then descending followed by some 5ths. Too fast for me to figure out though. It sounded like one of the scales/licks I'm looking for to get used to other ways to play the scales. I get stuck playing in these pentatonics up and down and I think that's where I lack the "jazz" solo feel.

Is there any way to document what it is you may have been using as that warm up?

[Zombbg4]

If you've listened to any of Janek's live tracks I'm sure you've notice him scat singing while soloing. I asked a question a while back if he sings the note he plays, or plays the note he sings, the latter being his answer.

So like he said, its not about what mode to or scale to jump on, but what is in your head. You can sing anything in your head, right? The next step is getting it to come out through your instrument. Learn what modes, scales, chords, and intervals sound like and go from there.

[janekbass]

I think that scales, and the intellectualization of music in general points us in the wrong direction when we're talking about improvisation. You should start trying to think about it more like language, and about how you learnt language as a child. You learnt from listening to people around you, assimilating that information, copying that vocabulary, and then starting to use it with your own thoughts as your command of the language grew.

Improvising with music is no different. Me explaining to someone that a certain scale is 'x' or a certain arpeggio is 'y' doesn't help that person to play music, it just helps that person to theorize about music. Instead, I would prefer to recommend something to listen to, something to transcribe, and hope that whatever it is inspires the person to continue the process themselves. I always just make suggestions about what to transcribe, but stress that the more something inspires you the more you're going to learn from it. THere's no point working really hard on something just because some other musician or teacher told you that you had to. The more you come at it from a place of being inspired by what you hear, the more you're going to retain from working on that material.

Easy,

Janek