Bass solo over slow C minor groove

[Redhotbassist]

Hi Guys, here is a short video of a clip of todays jam practice session, the tune i was jamming over is in C minor, its all very rough and improvised so somethings may not be 100 percent but thats the beauty of it right?

hope you dig it, please leave a comment with your thoughts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0Xq-nMIRmo

Thanks.

[Redhotbassist]

Please keep in mind that this was recorded with an iPhone 4!

[Art Araya]

Beautiful playing Bill. Very melodic solo, pretty phrasing, etc...

Are you using light gauge strings?

[jmattbassplaya]

Sounds good! Could you explain what you're doing in the legato bit starting around 24 seconds to 30 seconds? Also, what's your main emphasis of your solo? Are you throwing in some modal changes or specific accidentals? Thanks!

[Redhotbassist]

Originally Posted by Art Araya

Beautiful playing Bill. Very melodic solo, pretty phrasing, etc...

Are you using light gauge strings?

Thanks! the string gauge i'm using is '40-120' i used to use 35's on the G, but recently felt like a change and to go back to the standard sort of gauge!

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Sounds good! Could you explain what you're doing in the legato bit starting around 24 seconds to 30 seconds? Also, what's your main emphasis of your solo? Are you throwing in some modal changes or specific accidentals? Thanks!

Its hard for me to explain what exactly i'm doing as i'm not a huge theory buff (yet) more of an ear player.. so all i can say is that i've learnt my minor scale and arpeggio's (all over the neck, in different shapes and positions) and used my ear to find my phrases and lick's! hope that makes sense

[GokceKacmaz]

nice

[Tupac]

Your vids are awesome man. How do you mute when playing fingerstyle like that?

[Redhotbassist]

Thanks Tupac, what do you mean by my muting? left or right hand?

[thatbassist863]

I know that backing track, it's on that Practice Tracks CD. Can't remember if it the jazz or the blues CD, but I've played to track a lot. It's a great groove! I think I'll revisit that track today. Nice solo by the way.

[Redhotbassist]

Hey man, yeah it is! from the Blues 'Practice tracks' cd! called 'Nighttime groove in 4/4'

it really is a beautiful little minor thing to groove and phrase over :-) glad there are other people out there using that cd! its a great thing!

[thatbassist863]

Have you tried the jazz Practice Tracks? There's some really nice tracks to play over on that one too.

[Redhotbassist]

Originally Posted by thatbassist863

Have you tried the jazz Practice Tracks? There's some really nice tracks to play over on that one too.

Yeah man, i've got all the practice-tracks albums! there is some really nice tunes on that jazz one! will look into uploading one onto the Youtube channel in near future

[thatbassist863]

Cool! Look forward to it. I'll have to put something together so everyone can check it out. Was playing over a couple of tracks earlier and came up with some descent stuff. But everything I play is only descent at best. Guess its the perfectionist in me, lol.

[NYCbassist]

That's really cool stuff. I have one question: You seem to be doing bends on the strings but they are silent. Is there any reason for it? It just seems like a waste of energy and unnecessary wear to the frets. Please don't take the question as negative criticism. I honestly don't know and I am by no means a solo bass player. Just curious.

[Redhotbassist]

Hi NYCbassist, Thanks for watching man, i'm only bending the strings i'm actually playing with my left hand, if you see a string slightly bent it is probably because my thumb (on right hand) is rested on it, hope that cleared anything up

[NYCbassist]

Originally Posted by Redhotbassist

Hi NYCbassist, Thanks for watching man, i'm only bending the strings i'm actually playing with my left hand, if you see a string slightly bent it is probably because my thumb (on right hand) is rested on it, hope that cleared anything up

I got ya. I had fallen into a bad habit of "always" bending and actually had to break myself of it. My drummer was videotaping everything we did and called me out on it and I didn't have an answer. Now I never bend and I concentrate on just pushing straight down on the strings. I know there's a need to bend but not for the music we play. Keep up the good work

[Redhotbassist]

Yeah man, i'm not really bending but giving the note 'vibrato' a bend is more of a note pitch, where the vibrato gives it a nice singing sound! if you're playing low root notes i wouldn't advise any bending, only slight vibrato on something but only if you feel it needs it..

[Steve Clark]

Great playing. I subscribed to your YouTube channel and will be watching/listening and learning. Great tone, note choice and phrasing. I love that every note is clear. I tend to stumble as I do what you are doing. Inspiring. Makes we want to convert one of my 5 strings to a high C

[Redhotbassist]

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

Great playing. I subscribed to your YouTube channel and will be watching/listening and learning. Great tone, note choice and phrasing. I love that every note is clear. I tend to stumble as I do what you are doing. Inspiring. Makes we want to convert one of my 5 strings to a high C

Wow, thanks Steve for the kind words, and thankyou for subscribing!

Just so you know, this bass is actually BEADG and has no high C! if thats what you meant

Would definitely love to own one of those though! maybe in the future hopefully

[troy mcclure]

I totally enjoyed it.... your phrasing is great, really interesting not choices....makes me want to practice.