Carving the line

[violinoscar]

Does anyone ever get to the point where you are not thinking chord changes but actually carving the line instinctively. Charlie Parker once said "First learn your instrument, then the music, then forget all that and play"
Is this at all possible on the bass (Comping), when others are depending on you to be there on the money with the changes?
If so, how does one arrive at this point? I can acheive this playing a solo (on violin or guitar), but on bass it all seems like a constant mathematical maze, landing on the root, or whatever applicable note, on the money, all the time. Will I ever be able to trust myself to do this instinctively?

[Marcus Johnson]

Yes.

[Marcus Johnson]

Sorry, just kidding. It's really going to be different with everyone you play with. Ed Fuqua has talked a lot here (wisely) about playing in the moment. In addition to that, immersing yourself in a lot of listening, so that you develop a sense of chord movement, and where the tonality is most likely to go, will help you to get to that sense of flow. You know that old saying, you acquire technique in order to eventually abandon it. It's really one of the sublime pleasures of playing for awhile; when it starts to click with most of the people you play with, it's just fun. If you can learn some harmonic stuff on another instrument, like piano or guitar, it can help immensely.

Lots of reps... lather, rinse, repeat. At some point, you'll get it.

[TimoMetzemakers]

+1 to everything Marcus said.

Originally Posted by violinoscar

but on bass it all seems like a constant mathematical maze,

And I'd also like to add: relax! If you clam a note, but keep banging out quarter notes, it's not going to be the end of the world. In fact, there is even a good chance that nobody will notice.

IMHO, your priorities should be: 1. Never, EVER, lose the form. 2. Play with good time and a good sound 3. all that's left, note choices, etc

TBDB's own Pete Coco has written a great article about what really matters when you walk. Check it out!

Timo

[Ed Fuqua]

If all you're trying to do is plug notes into chords that they are "supposed" to work over, if all you are trying to do is "remember" how tunes go, it's going to be VERY VERY HARD to get to that point.

If, on the other hand, you are playing notes that are part of a line that you hear internally with enough clarity to play those notes on your instrument, all of a sudden your line takes on meaning and intent. You aren't just playing gibberish, you hear something, you play something.

[Pcocobass]

Originally Posted by TimoMetzemakers

+1 to everything Marcus said.

TBDB's own Pete Coco has written a great article about what really matters when you walk. Check it out!

Timo

+1 to Marcus and Timo. Thanks for the plug, Timo.

I would like to add something:

I have personally experienced this on different levels. We all have those gigs where you go on auto pilot and play your stock stuff, just to get through. For me, these gigs are usually with sh*tty musicians, or at coctail hours, catered events, etc. (not to say that all of them are like that, but you get my point).

But, there have been some gigs where I knew I was operating on a different level; in other words, I just knew what notes to play and everything flowed without thinking. I think these were the times when I sounded the best I ever have.

Also, these gigs were all with great musicians who made it easy to detach from the technical stuff and concentrate on making music. Now that I think back, they were all with amazing drummers. (For me, if the drummer sucks, it's hard to do anything musical even if the other cats are good, because I'm so concentrated on keeping the band together, but I digress....)

[TimoMetzemakers]

Ed's reply made me think of two more things. First, in order to start hearing bass lines (as opposed to solving puzzles), it might be a good idea to start transcribing. Just take a line played by one of the great ones, listen to it until you can sing it, and then figure out how to play it. This will force you to use a different mental process than "um, Dm7..., let's see... D F A C..., now G7... G B D F... ok how do I connect the dots?", and it will be a real eye-opener (or maybe an ear-opener ). I remember transcribing Ray Brown's bass line on "Do nothing till you hear from me" on the Duke Ellington duet album, and it changed everything for me.

And what's more, Ed's REALLY learning a tune thread gives another very thorough answer to the original question (How does one arrive at this point?). I just printed it out and taped it to the wall of my practice room, by the way.

Timo

[violinoscar]

Thanks for all the help; As always, I am encouraged along my way. Big thanks!