Bow in Jazz

[Alex Scott]

Hi,

I really enjoyed your bowed stuff on Puttin' on the Ritz. Do you have any advice for how to incorporate this stuff into a bass player's arsenal?

Do you practice patterns and stuff with the bow, or where do you start?

Thanks, love your sound on this album.

[Lynn Seaton]

Thanks for the kind words about the CD Alex. I recorded it with the Shure Beta 56 mike. There is another thread on this forum that has a picture of the setup. For bowing, I worked out a few bebop heads and standards. I tried several different variations of bow strokes, slurring, accents and focused on what that did to articulation. I would sing a passage and decide what was short, long, slurred, detached, etc. Then I would play it on the bass trying to get the same articulation that I heard. The tendency to avoid when playing jazz with the bow is to play non-stop full bow strokes. That does not make for good phrasing most of the time. I did not practice patterns, but many people find them useful. I did take a few "licks" from different soloists and learn them in a few other keys which is almost the same thing. Play through some pre-transcribed horn solos with the bow and listen to the recording and try to match the articulation.

[Alex Scott]

Thanks a bunch, your Moanin' track really has me wanting to put in some work with the bow.

Hope to see you at the convention.

Alex

[Flo'Daddy]

I noticed in my own arco/jazz studies that starting with the up bow on the strong part of the beat helps to articulate the swing of 8th's. It took a little getting used to, since this is contradictory to the classical approach, but it seemed to sound much better.

Is this what you recommend? I was simply going on intuition and sound....

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Lynn Seaton]

A swinging soloist has a great variety of syncopated accents, phrase beginnings and endings. Starting with an up bow on the strong beats all the time will make the 1/8 notes have too much accent on every up beat. This will make your swing feel too much like a "horse gallop". A variety of bowings including starting on the upbow, downbow, detached, slurred, multiple up and down bows in different combinations will give the best results. Try learning a Charlie Parker bebop head and experiment with different bowings to come close to the way he phrased it. I did this and it really taught me a lot about how the different strokes affect the phrasing and syncopation. Notice what is accented in his lines and recreate that.

[Menacewarf]

Great advice.
Am I right to guess though that you are suggesting this with an assumption of some proficiency?

I would love to try some bop stuff arco but something doesn't sit well about working out 'Ornithology' arco when I spend all my time trying to get good tone coming from scales and arpeggios.

Or is it never to soon to be getting more musical?

[Lynn Seaton]

It is never too soon to be geting musical!!!!! As important as scales and arpeggios are, they are only a part of the process. Practice the scales and Arps of Ornithology and work on the head, walk a lot and solo on it too. Write an etude on the changes. Transcribe a solo from any instrument and some walking basslines that someone else played on it.