lyrical bass playing

[fountain boy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmQ3Z...eature=related

non scalish, but lyrical/melodical bass playing is a real art, which has been so elusive to me, thus far.

any tips?

[James Hart]

lyrical/melodic playing comes from having something to say with the scales you know.

A tip would be to play to loops... single or two chord vamps to start.

[Chris K]

There's no argueing about taste, so please keep liking that video, but I do not think too highly of the lyrical qualities...

Check out this one instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsvdkMbz_qA

As for tips, developing you melodic ear is absolute must. Just play lots of simple melodies by ear, like children's songs. You might even sing along.
After that, play/sing bluesy phrases like those guys on the videos, over a few chords only, just like James said. Then move on to more complex stuff. Good luck.

[BlakeJustBlake]

Since the bass is not widely recognized as a primarily melodic instrument, try looking into how other instruments do it and apply it to the bass. Couldn't hurt? Or I guess it could if it taught you poor technique, but, you risk that with a lot of things that are indefinite like that.

[JimmyM]

actually, looking to other instruments for ideas is a great way to help you learn how to play melodically. also, it takes a good deal of trial and error at first until you develop some taste about yourself. as always, jazz lessons and music theory are the shortcut to learning melodic playing.

[fountain boy]

Thanks for all the tips, but i have a more specific question. From 4:08 to 5:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myHjp...eature=channel

how is Marlowe targeting the E G A B D E notes, to make the chord/scale tones sound lyrical like that?

All things being diatonic in this video, i understand that Marlowe is playing a E minor Pentatonic scale (E G A B D E) while being in the key of C major, with the E minor being the 3rd step of the C Major scale. But, as he's targeting the E G A B D he's surrounding those notes in a certain backwards pattern, that starts on the G string (the E note on the g string) moves all the way back wards until he's on the E string, then comes back forward again to have a really nice lyrical contour to his lines, that i see all soloist's/lyrical players play in this manner, but seem to always stop short of explaining clearly what they are doing to achieve this.

Does anyone understand this question and can walk me through & enlighten this concept of targeting chord tones/scale tones in this manner?

[JimmyM]

he does a lot of sliding up to notes and using vibrato, which helps make it sound more lyrical. plus he just plays with a lot of confidence that only comes from having a few years of solid practice every day for 3-4 hours under your belt.