Melodic playing

[Raynier]

Well top o the afternoon talkbass. Recently I've been called upon to take solos with a few of the bands I play with and it's all technical stuff. Where would I start learning to play melodically?

[Basshoofd]

Learn chord tones, learn the standard scale for each chord-type, learn different scales to play over each chord-type, imply other chords over the chords beeing played and listen to great players to add some ideas to your vocabulairy. That should get you started...

[HolmeBass]

Chords and arpeggios - angular solos with larger intervals
Blues scale and modes - smoother legato solos with smaller intervals

The biggest difficulty is using space. Don't try to play too many notes. At the same time, eventually you want to ramp up excitement, motion, and tension, then you might need to play a bit faster. Use the melody of the song if it's strong and well known. These are all things I try to keep in mind and work on myself.

[Jools4001]

As well as the above...Listen to other melody instruments and vocal lines. Think in terms of counterpoint, think in terms of what you might sing...

[Dogbertday]

guide tone lines..... (long topic but it works)


also make sure you know and can execute all scales and arpeggios in your solo section in time.... also play permutations on the arpeggio (1357, 1375, 3157, 3175, 5137, ...etc etc adjust scale tones as appropriate)

[Thaos627]

wow those r the most longwinded answers ive ever seen. playing melodically isnt difficult. i usually just play major scale but add a bebop domanant 7th to it. major wwhwwwh making AM A,B,C,Db,Eb,F,G with bebop add in the Gb and use it as a walking bass line.

would you believe i use that in a punk band?

[loopus]

Learning to play chord tones over common progressions is very useful (Ed Friedland has a nice book on soloing that emphasizes this approach).

Singing licks as you play them is a simple way to give your solo a natural, "vocal" phrasing (look up for some George Benson, Oteil Burbridge or even Nathan East)

Getting ideas from melodic players in different styles is great too (I personally like Maceo Parker, Slash, Eric Clapton)

Jazz soloists often use the head (main melody) of a tune as a guideline, embellishing it and sometimes tweaking it beyond recognition, so that the improvisation keeps a familiar, song-related vibe.

[tangentmusic]

Like loopus above said. Just play the main melody to the song and improvise it a bit.
It doesnt need to be some crazy lead guitar-like solo, just tasty.

[MalcolmAmos]

A major bass solo ideas - YouTube
Leave some space for the melody.

[JTE]

Uh, the key to playing melodically is to incorporate melody into your music life. Don't focus on the bass line, learn melodies. Sure guide tones, extensions, scales, etc. are components. But the best way to get melodic is to learn great melodies, and dig into phrasing. Cop stuff from great melodic artists. That could be songwriters like McCartney (with or without John Lennon), the American Songbook type writers like Jule Stein, Lerner/Lowe, Hammlisch, etc. etc. or it could be great melodic soloists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Bird, Miles, Roy Eldridge, Coltrane, etc.

Cop what they do, and then analyze it to learn the nuts and bolts- see where they use chord tones, where they use chromatic passing tones, how they play with the rhythm, how they choose melody notes against the bass motion, etc.

And the all-time best way to learn to play melodically is this, though it's long winded and hard.

Record the progression over which you are going to solo. Lock your bass up in its case or in another room so you can't even think of touching it. LISTEN to that progression over and over and over and over again. For a long time. Just listen, don't analyze. Then after you've got the sound and feel of the section firmly entrenched in your head, sing what you think a good solo would sound like. SING it, don't worry about what notes it is, whether they're from a specific mode or not, whether they're diatonic or chromatic, nothing. Just sing the music in your heart. Record what you sing.

NOW and only now get your bass out. And learn EXACTLY what you sang. Not just the notes, but the dynamics, the phrasing, the way it pushes the beat here and drags behind here, etc. Get that exact thing out of your bass so it sounds like you're singing through your bass. Then, after you've gotten it down so you can play it, analyze it.

Then do the whole process over again...

John

[Mike in Chicago]

Learn the vocal line...take it from there.

[FretlessMainly]

Originally Posted by JTE

the key to playing melodically is to incorporate melody into your music life.

Yes, yes. Put another way, incorporate music and melody into your entire life. Grooves and melodies are constantly going through my head. Driving down the highway, passing a clothes washer or dryer, a pot of boiling water or someone chopping down a tree - everything suggests a rhythm and from that you can create a melody.

The beauty of this is that you don't need to know the rules right off the bat because your brain already knows them in terms of all the music you've already heard in your life. So just take a simple rhythm and whislte, hum or sing a simple melody to it. Once you get used to thinking this way, take some simple meoldies and learn them on your bass.

Of course, going much further with this does require some basic understanding of music theory (generally scales and intervals as they relate to chords), but the composition of the melody is in your brain already. You've just got to nurture it to come out by thinking musically every chance you can.

[Groove Doctor]

Originally Posted by JTE

.... the all-time best way to learn to play melodically is this, though it's long winded and hard.

Record the progression over which you are going to solo. Lock your bass up in its case or in another room so you can't even think of touching it. LISTEN to that progression over and over and over and over again. For a long time. Just listen, don't analyze. Then after you've got the sound and feel of the section firmly entrenched in your head, sing what you think a good solo would sound like. SING it, don't worry about what notes it is, whether they're from a specific mode or not, whether they're diatonic or chromatic, nothing. Just sing the music in your heart. Record what you sing.

NOW and only now get your bass out. And learn EXACTLY what you sang. Not just the notes, but the dynamics, the phrasing, the way it pushes the beat here and drags behind here, etc. Get that exact thing out of your bass so it sounds like you're singing through your bass. Then, after you've gotten it down so you can play it, analyze it.

Then do the whole process over again...

BRILLIANT!!! Sing and Develop your inner voice, then supplement that with theory, etc. Incorporate that theory into your singing/soloing as soon as you can to reinforce it while it's still fresh. Judge yourself on how easily you can play what you sing, not what you know.

I'd rather a simple expressive line using 3 different note pitches that speak to me than an avalanche of mayhem. LOL.

[blakelock]

Originally Posted by Thaos627

major wwhwwwh making AM A,B,C,Db,Eb,F,G with bebop add in the Gb and use it as a walking bass line.

would you believe i use that in a punk band?

not surprised at all. the more i listen and learn about music, the more i'm seeing how 95% of the musical kingdom is the same just presented with different styles.

and to answer the OP, learn chord tones and scales. once your comfortable with these forms, you'll be able to relax and feel the music. keep an ear on what your doing (tension, release, variations in timing, ect.) and after all that, don't be afraid of notes not in the scale! just enjoy the dissonance and move on!

[bassybill]

Listen to beautiful melodies, and learn to play them. It will all rub off. Let this get you started...

John Barry (1933-2011) - The Midnight Cowboy Theme - YouTube

[NoiseNinja]

If you can sing, try to make up small melodies all the time... Try to hum a melody to the tune you are to play a solo in, now copy it on bass.

[251]

Learn the melodies of the tunes on which you will solo. Why make this harder? You don't have to play unison with the lead players.

It won't be hard to do variations on those melodies. I suggest you begin by simplifying the melody of the moment, embellishing as the tune goes on & ending with 2 to 4 bars of bass line to send an audible signal that you're done.

[Raynier]

Thanks guys this will really help considering I end up playing the lead and solo parts more then I should

[MalcolmAmos]

[quote=251;11539959]..........simplifying the melody of the moment, embellishing as the tune goes on & ending with 2 to 4 bars of bass line to send an audible signal that you're done.[/QUOTE]
Yes that is seldom mentioned. Take the lead playing the melody, embellish all you want and then give the lead back playing the melody. Going back to the melody alerts the guys you are ready to send the lead somewhere else.

[dougjwray]

I love JTE's suggestions.

I would add this:
Being melodic involves giving the listeners something they can grasp the first time, and doing that can be helped along by thinking of the solo as a little story, with a clear structure.
For example: You can try restating the melody at the beginning, moving away from it and/or embellishing it, and then moving toward a climax, typically one that leaves you in a higher register.
Exhibit A: Stevie Wonder's masterful harmonica solo on "For Once in My Life."

Stevie Wonder - For Once In My Life - YouTube

I'm not saying that you have to follow THAT formula, but you'd be surprised how you can communicate once you start studying and emulating the "architectural" strategies of great soloists.

It's amazing how many discussions of soloing discuss only scales and chords and ignore the storytelling angle.