Confirmation

[lkbass22]

Hi, I pretty new here. I've been playing bass for about 4.5 years and but i've only been playing jazz for the last year or so. Currently my teacher has me learning the tune confirmation. I've mostly been soloing over it by breaking it down into central keys for each section. I was interested in what approaches to soloing over this tune's rapid fire changes you guys might use/suggest

[Billnc]

Everyone mentions Donna Lee. I found this one trickier. To be honest I think it might be early for you. BUT take whatever your teacher tells you and procede very slowly. Do what he says as a ballad version of Confirmation and pick up speed as time passes. It's no longer rapid fire if you slow it down and speed is not the goal.

[Rudreax]

Can't say any specific ideas...I'd find a recorded version of someone else soloing over the changes and transcribe to see how a pro got through it.

[jonnyonbass]

Hey lkbass22, I'm impressed that you're eagerly trying to solo on it and looking for some ways to go about it!! Also noticed how you mentioned breaking down into "central keys for each section". Very astute. The changes for 'Confirmation' are basically the same as a bunch of other tunes. The beginning has the F6 |Em7b5 A7| Dmin7 |cmin7 F7| Bb7 | phrase. Super common blues motive for that time. Personally, I tend to think of that whole phrase as a Dminor7 scale (while keeping the changes in mind as they go by, and adding in available notes). I usually use chromatic passing tones to cover 'accidentals' rather than changing from one "chord scale" to another with each passing chord. If you try to hop from one scale to the next corresponding with the chord changes, you run the risk of getting bogged down in "the changes" and sounding mechanical. Better to find a common scale and feel out the other changes. In fact, don't even worry about the changes. A sax player buddy of mine once told me. "When you solo, let the changes happen underneath you and you just soar above all that. I dunno, worked for me.
The B section is pretty much Cmin to BbMaj7 to Ebmin7, Ab7, DbMaj7. Not that hard to wrap your brain around when you break it down. It's only hard to play b/c they played it at 300+bpm. "Blues For Alice" is a very similar tune and you can play that one as a ballad (or slower anyway)

[jweiss]

Here's a relatively straightforward approach to Confirmation in terms of soloing. It's kind of an AA'BA' form, so I'll just focus on the first A and the B section.

A Section changes (from Real Book Vol 1, 6th edition):

| F6 | E-7b5 A7 | D- | C-7 F7 |
| Bb7| A-7 D7 | G7 | C7 |

First three meaures are in F major, so you can use F major over all three. But I prefer to play F major for measure 1 and then play the minor ii-V to D minor explicitly.

Measure 4 is a ii-V to Bb major, but we go to Bb7 instead in measure 5 (like a blues). So measures 4-5 could be Bb major pentatonic, or again you can explicitly outline the ii-V in measure 4 and then play Bb mixolydian or Bb blues over measure 5.

Measures 6-8 are a return to F major (iii-VI-II-V; technically the II or G7 should be Gm7 to be in F major, but not a big deal)). Outline the chords explicitly or play F major.

It's worth emphasizing that Measures 1-3 and 6-8 are in F major, while measures 4-5 are in Bb (major/mixo). This is a good way to start off in terms of improvisation.

B Section changes:

| C- C-(maj7) | C-7 F7 | Bbmaj7 | Bbmaj7 |
| Eb-7 | Ab7 | Dbmaj7 | G-7 C7 |

First measure is C minor. With the second half of the measure having C-(maj7), C melodic minor is a good choice for the whole measure.

Measures 2-4 are a modulation Bb major. Play the chords or play Bb major.

Measures 5-7 are a modulation to Dbmaj7. Play the chords or play Db major.

Measure 8 is a ii-V taking us back to the home key of F major and the beginning of the final A section.

The key to bebop tunes like this one, which are played at a reasonably up tempo and have lots of changes, is to know the changes COLD. You should be able to walk the changes from memory at 220 bpm before you even think about soloing eigth note lines at say 120 bpm to start.

Hope that helps,

Jeff

[kesslari]

Jeff - great post, thank you for breaking it down that way. The idea at the end, about knowing the changes COLD, is well stated.

[jweiss]

You're very welcome, I'm glad it was useful.

[lkbass22]

Thanks for the responses and thanks jeff for breaking down the song so clearly.

[jweiss]

No problem, post back if you have questions.

[251]

Learn to play the melody if you haven't already done so. The transcription in the Omnibook is 3 pages, 24 staves & Parker is riffing on the melody all the way, doubling notes, adding fills, playing over the bar ... Great if you can play that way but, I can't usually solo on bass like a reed player, especially if that's what I hear in my head. FWIW, Jaco played Donna Lee as a performance piece, not a spontaneous exchange with musician's on a stage! He probably could have but he didn't.

What I hear in my head is my trusted Music Tutor, Dan, saying; "Simplify, simplify". Write out the changes 4 measures to a line. Notice the 1st chord on each line. This is a 16 bar blues with many substitutions. Look at Parker's accidentals & notice how few are tonic to the chord. He is going so fast they all sound like approach notes. Play it as a ballad & you are bound to hate it! So relax & start playing simple ii/V patterns (seen Aebersold Vol 3?) over the chromatic changes until you begin to hear simple melodies in your head. Transcribe & practice those short melodies so they just flow out of your hands as muscle melody. BTW, this takes more than a few weeks.

The transition from baseline to solo is the beast, so play a variation on the bassline you've been locked into, for the 1st 8 bars or more. Transition into a simple melody like an enclosure (e.g., III, V, IV) & a rest that covers 2 bars. Build on that for a chorus or more & simplify the harmonic tempo of your playing as you go into the last A so that you can play a bassline for the last 2 bars of your last chorus. FWIW, I've ben working on this for years with mixed but ever improving results. Structure in a solo is harder, for me, than building with Lego's, Tinker Toys, Erector Sets or molecules. (I've tried all 4, also with mixed results. lol)

The concept is a simple enough. You already know doing anything like that above 180 ain't easy. So expect to screw up & use those wonderful episodes to learn to play through your mistakes. You can even learn to repeat the mistake to suggest you did that on purpose! It's an old Be-Bop trick that still works.

Deal with 1st things 1st. How will you transition from Bassline to something more melodic. How will you transition from melodic to bassline so the band knows you're done 'cause, if you're like me, you ain't gonna look up from the fretboard to give some visual cue. At least, not this month.

I use Band In A Box to practice tunes like this. It's a quirky relic of a program but is gets the job done & entering the changes is butt simple. Once upon a time, there was a BIAB OmniBook file set in the Yahoo Groups BIAB Files section but, the music industry forced it's removal as their way of fostering our growth & insuring great music will be played for millenia to come. (oww, tongue in cheek, I bit my tongue).

Now the hard part. Go find a bunch of musician's who can play this s**t. That's real fun!


Hope that helps, 8-)

[Danny Fox]

I learnt Charlie's head for confirmation, it's well worth doing. The prog is great for soloing over too