Improvisation v.s. memorization

[funkalicious101]

when it comes to solo bass what do you do?

do you memorize everything you are going to play completely and then record it?

or do you improvise during the recording and then memorize that after?

[Steve Lawson]

90% of the time for me, when I'm recording, it's the latter - most of the tunes on my records are 1st or 2nd take improvs, that i've then had to go back and learn to play live.

On the new record there were a couple of more composed things - Behind Every Word took quite a while to get right, and the final version is very different to how it started out. Scott Peck was an improv that I'd recorded in 2005, which a friend reminded me of when it came time to do the record, so I went back and learned it. Deeper Still started out as an improv, but it took me LOADS of takes to get the damn thing in tune!

on Grace And Gratitude, I think the title track was the only one that was actually played more than once. So the ones of that that I do live are the ones I've been able to learn - I'd love to play 'The Space Between The Silence' live, but i've NO idea how I got most of the sounds on it!

I'm getting more into more structured composing though, especially with the arrangement possibilities presented by the Looperlative.

cheers

Steve
www.stevelawson.net

[funkalicious101]

ok thanks for the input. im terrible at remembering solos and long melody lines so its a huge reassurance that other people, especially ones as impressive as yourself, improvise and then memorize.

thank you again

[Miles Berry]

In my stuff, I remember the different riffs, but there is no arrangement for any of it, I just put the parts wherever it sounds good. I also don't record any of it and im not a professional musician. But when I hopefully do start recording it, I will at least have some transitions memorized along with the different sections.

[Michael Manring]

I like to experiment a lot with the concepts of, and relationships between pre-composition and improvisation. In fact, sometimes I don’t think I can tell if I’m improvising or not! For the most part, I find I feel more comfortable having a pretty good idea of what I’m going to do in the recording process, but I do really enjoy just pressing record and seeing what happens sometimes too. I guess I’d say I strive for a balance.