I feel I'm not progressing.

Sleeq · #1 04-21-2011, 01:04 AM

I've been playing for 11 years now... went through many bands, as frontman too.

I've had many young/beginner students.

But I feel I am not moving forward in my playing... nothing new to showcase.

I'm trying to get into jazz soloing, and when I watch videos I feel I'm so far behind because I didn't learn these things early on.

I'm not a shredder and i don't want to be (I'm a blues guy) but it would be nice to have those skills to be a more rounded musician.

Any tips?! Thanks!

fearceol · #2 04-21-2011, 05:18 AM

I don't think there is any short cut to learning jazz than hard graft and practice. How are you on music theory ? From playing blues, to jazz soloing is a big jump, which wont happen over night. Carol Kaye has some very good, and reasonably priced, tutorials on jazz. Might be a good place to start. If you are unsure which tutorials to get, send her an email, outlining your level, what you want to achieve, etc, and she will advise you.

The Official Carol Kaye Web Site

Russell L · #3 04-21-2011, 05:34 AM

I've been on a plateau for many years, until recently. What moved me forward is playing more at home. I don't know if you can call it real practice, though, since I'm not particularly studying anything (except learning new songs for the bands I play with). I've just been enjoying getting in there and finding a groove I like and jamming on it for a long time until I get the feel going. Maybe let it evolve into something else. I've become more loose-feeling in my hands, and something odd happened...I actually began to hit some sounds sorta like slap. I can't "make" it happen, though, but just have to "let" it happen. that is, I can't analyze it yet and say what's happening. It's not that I want to know how to slap, I don't, but it was just interesting that it came along on its own, naturally. Could've been anything, though. I'm waiting to see what comes along next, lol.

If you don't know theory, learning the basics will change your music life, and you will explode into improvement, I promise.

TripleDouble · #4 04-21-2011, 05:48 AM

Try learning the arpeggios over the entire fretboard to a blues tune with jazz chord II-V7 substitutions, and learn to walk a bassline with a sense of "Quarter note melody". Modal jazz tunes like So What or a modal/blues like Footprints are great for practicing your sense of melody with arpeggios and modes. Also, try listening to non-bass playing soloists and transcribing, or even just interpreting their phrases in a way you can play them musically. Doesn't have to be the most complex stuff, a good melodic solo with just a little salt n peppering of flash for excitement can go a long long way. Players who I like to "borrow" from are Miles, Grant Green, Jimmy Smith, Hank Mobley and Freddie Hubbard's stuff from the 60's when he was being of oh so funky.

There's an amazing interview with Bill Evans on Youtube about how he approaches playing and the creative process, and to paraphrase him, he says something like "Don't just approximate playing jazz, fully invest yourself to tackling the actual problem, and cultivate your own ideas". He said it took him about 15 years before he could speak the language fluidly. I'm certainly still working towards this myself...

HeadyVan Halen · #5 04-21-2011, 06:08 AM

They will hate me for this but...Listen and play...know your theory and all that stuff but you can't (atleast I can't) think of music as notes as I can as sounds..sounds cliche, yes I know, but it works.

Joe Pass (guitar reference) said he only thinks in terms of major and minor chords. Now if you know your stuff, you can reach outside that 8 note box known as an octave, and hit some sounds that are more 'sophisticated' than others, but as long as they relate to the home Key of the song it'll work.

Intrevals and phrasing is where it's at.
Ron Carter's Walking Bass Lines, really opened my mind as to how phrasing can change the whole complextion of a tune. He is a master at making the simple sound complex and more importantly GOOD..

And lastly, the secret weapon is Practice and time. Quality Practice + Continous Practice = Getting better

slybass3000 · #6 04-21-2011, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleeq

I've been playing for 11 years now... went through many bands, as frontman too.

I've had many young/beginner students.

But I feel I am not moving forward in my playing... nothing new to showcase.

I'm trying to get into jazz soloing, and when I watch videos I feel I'm so far behind because I didn't learn these things early on.

I'm not a shredder and i don't want to be (I'm a blues guy) but it would be nice to have those skills to be a more rounded musician.

Any tips?! Thanks!

I think you just put the finger on the right spot. You need to get out of your usual routine and explore new material and music.

Scales and arpeggios are great place to start but practice them regularly and find good fingerings and build some endurance and speed while doing it. Practice some grooves and rythms. You can check out my book at the address on my sig as well.

Good luck,

Sly

James Judson · #7 04-21-2011, 06:49 AM

Take some fingerstyle guitar lessons. Great finger exercises and learning to "imply" a simple bass line while dancing around the melody.

Go see a really good band and "steal" chops or learn what not to do as a bass player.

Recently I watched a really good bassist and came away with:

1. I need to do more with less work.

2. I need to leave more space for other musicians to work from.

u84six · #8 04-22-2011, 04:53 PM

My recommendation: do a 15 minute strenuous warm-up every day (or before you play) which includes 1 "learn the notes on the fretboard" exercise, 1 "improve your fretting hand technique" exercise, and 1 "improve your fingering technique" exercise. After that, go directly to learning jazz songs and don't worry so much about theory.

I'm in the same place you are, and I've concluded that this is the path I must take. I've been playing for over 20 years, and I've got a few bad habits that prevent me from improving.

You just need to work on the things that prevent you from advancing to the next level, and it's usually left/right hand technique and fretboard. Theory will come when learning the songs.

Remember, music theory came from the songs, the songs didn't come from theory. A lot of people think the latter and that is wrong.