Starting Jazz....trying to play better

kynoch · #1 08-06-2007, 02:14 PM

I have played for a number of years now and I have played in many different kinds of bands....I have always been an ear player with VERY little theory.

I wanna take my bass playing to another level.

I wanna get into Jazz (Because I LOVE IT and wanna play it)

I have got Ed Friedlands book "Building Walking Bass Lines".

I have a 2 hour Practice slot.

I usually warm up with some chromatic scales, Major & Minor scales.

What else can I do in this time to get me playing more Jazz understanding my Bass better and playing with more knowledge.

up to this point my practice has basically involved working out songs and understanding what certain bassist are doing.

Can anyone give me some tips??????????????

anon_6j591b0 · #2 08-06-2007, 04:38 PM

Check this thread out:
REALLY Learning a tune
Practice All The Things You Are every day for half an hour using this method, listen to lots of jazz and you'll improve faster than you might think.

Audiophage · #3 08-06-2007, 06:18 PM

Learn Theory, it'll help your ear.

thesandman · #4 08-06-2007, 08:52 PM

1. Play along with your jazz cd's
2. Check out Jamey Aebersold's play along series.
3. Check out www.musicdojo.com
good luck!

steve66 · #5 08-06-2007, 09:08 PM

Check out ask a pro forum. Todd Johnson has a series call the Jazz gym. That will get you started.

To get really good at jazz is to immerse yourself in it and listen to it everyday. Listen to all the standards and transcribe them. Get out to see some jazz bands play, and gig as often as you can. Learn to read music, study theory, learn the melodies of the song as well as the walking bass lines. Learn to improvise through chord changes. Dont give up !

Bruce Lindfield · #6 08-07-2007, 03:09 AM

Get a teacher.. a Jazz teacher!

basskopf · #7 08-08-2007, 01:38 AM

kynoch, get the real book, bass edition. loaded with many jazz standards. find a few tunes you like to play, download the mp3 from itunes and play along. painful and slow at first, but fantastic training. link to the book at amazon uk, i am sure it is available in the US too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Book-Ba...6558600&sr=8-1

by the way, ed friedland also has another title, "jazz bass" which i highly recommend.

basskopf

anon_6j591b0 · #8 08-08-2007, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basskopf

kynoch, get the real book, bass edition.

If you buy a bass clef fake book of any sort you'll regret it once you get out and start playing with others....sharing a book is common. Reading melodies in treble clef is actually easier than dealing with a bunch of extra ledger lines or 8va's anyway.

basskopf · #9 08-08-2007, 07:44 AM

of course, i don't agree with jeffbonny, otherwise i wouldn't have made the suggestion. the book costs around $30, not too big an investment. any decent bassist should be able read BOTH bass and treble clef, but above all the clef that was written for your instrument. jeffbonny, if you had the book you would realize that the melodies are often written an octave lower for the bass, precisely in order to avoid the extra ledger lines.

i still strongly recommed you get the book kynoch. that way, you'll be able to pick out the tunes you like most and start in on them right away.

basskopf

Standalone · #10 08-08-2007, 08:23 AM

A fakebook or three is the best investment you can make towards actualy playing jazz with others.

Do be careful as it can wind up as a crutch once you get rolling--- I know after playing DB in a band regularly for almost two years now, I'm ashamed to still be peeking at the chords for tunes that I should know backwards and forwards and upside down by heart. Shame on me!

Anyway, get a fakebook, and start playing with others-- try to find some people who are at a slightly higher skill level than you and you will always be pushed to improve to their level.

Me, personally, I answered an ad in Craigslist for an upright bassist, and showed up to audition with the upright that I'd owned for ten years but never learned. I faked it well enough and they let me stay on. Now I'm taking solos!

manicbassman · #11 08-08-2007, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basskopf

kynoch, get the real book, bass edition. loaded with many jazz standards. find a few tunes you like to play, download the mp3 from itunes and play along. painful and slow at first, but fantastic training. link to the book at amazon uk, i am sure it is available in the US too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Book-Ba...6558600&sr=8-1

by the way, ed friedland also has another title, "jazz bass" which i highly recommend.

basskopf

+1 on the Ed Friedland "Jazz Bass" book...

http://edfriedland.com/books.htm

ISBN: 0-7935-6517-0

WJGreer · #12 08-08-2007, 12:56 PM

In addition to learning the changes to 10 or 15 important standards, I highly recommend learning the heads. It's by far the best way to establish an intuitition as to what notes sound good over what changes, and why.

In fact, this IMO is a primary reason why bass players are rarely good soloists. Since we concentrate on roots and transitional notes across changes, we don't think much about counterpoint and harmony. As beginners, our solos often sound very scalar, and we sit on roots and fifths too much. Our horn player friends, on the other hand, start out learning heads, so when they start to solo, they can begin by embellishing upon the head itself. It's a great way to start.

Best luck!

basskopf · #13 08-08-2007, 02:34 PM

will, i couldn't agree more. i try to learn the melody on each new tune i play for just the reason you mention. in one of jaco's well known interviews, available on youtube, he recommends that bassists ALWAYS learn the melody as a key to understanding the song.

anon_6j591b0 · #14 08-08-2007, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by basskopf

jeffbonny, if you had the book you would realize that the melodies are often written an octave lower for the bass, precisely in order to avoid the extra ledger lines.

I've seen it and am unimpressed. I have (and I just counted) twenty-one fake books and this thing is a novelty item that didn't ever appeal to me because:
A) If you have to play a melody on a gig or at a jam and someone drops a lead sheet in front of you it WILL be in treble clef so just learn to deal with that.
B) for sight reading bass clef you're better off getting whatever bass, trombone, cello, bass clarinet or any other bass clef music you can get for cheap in the bargain bin....you just want fresh UNFAMILIAR stuff to plow through on a regular basis.
C) your first investment should be a regular C Real Book. Yeah it has tons of mistakes but it's still the single most used jazz fake book. A strong argument can be made for the three New Real Books published by Sher as being the first ones to get though as they are more and more becoming what people use and they are very accurate.
D) like I said already what are you gonna do when you're the only one who brought a fake book and it's in bass clef?...it kinda bones the tenor player. It's just not a very versatile tool.

+1 on what Standalone says about fake books being crutches too. Using them to learn songs so you can play them from memory is the idea to try and stick to. I remember seeing a great player backing up a famous singer he'd been playing with for several years feel uncomfortable without the charts in front of him....it's an easy one to get caught up in.

WJGreer · #15 08-09-2007, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffbonny

A) If you have to play a melody on a gig or at a jam and someone drops a lead sheet in front of you it WILL be in treble clef so just learn to deal with that.

C) your first investment should be a regular C Real Book. Yeah it has tons of mistakes but it's still the single most used jazz fake book.

+1

kynoch · #16 08-11-2007, 10:56 AM

Thanks Guys.....I have loads of jamie's MP3's so i should try to get to work on that ASAP....I find it really tough though....it isn't flowing yet....but I guess that will come in time. Thanks!!!!!!