I don't even know what that means. Are you suggesting that these pioneering folks had no influences to listen to and sprang from the womb fully formed without needing any other influences? If so, I can assure you that's not the case.
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Advice On Bass Soloing?
- Thread starter Deoindra123
- Start date
I'm sorry but I have to strongly disagree with this statement. Transcribing solos by Jaco, Wooten, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, or whatever players/genres you enjoy, is an essential step to becoming a master soloist.
An analogy is if you want to become a great public speaker/orator. Can you learn how to do that by practicing your spelling and grammar? Of course not, you must study the great speeches by Lincoln, JFK, MLK, etc. if you hope to master this art form.
Don't take my word for it. First enjoy this lovely Stevie Wonder song:
Does it sound good because: A) Victor has a solid theoretical understanding of all the scales, chords, and modes, or B) Victor loves this song, has listened to it a thousand times, and has learned every note?
Not sure how you can label the process of learning the song over which you want to solo a "shortcut" and "very bad thing." If you are instructing the OP that it's possible to learn to solo like Jaco/Victor/etc. without learning any Jaco/Victor/etc. solos, I think that is seriously misguided advice.
Transcription is one approach and a very valuable one but it's not essential. If you want to sound like Jaco and Victor sure learn their solo's but it's not essential to gain mastery over the vocabulary.
Jaco himself, if you're to believe what he says, didn't transcribe solo's.
Meanwhile, the very first song that came out under Jaco's name was "Donna Lee," which he learned right off the original recording.
I have learned one thing from this thread.... if you work as hard and become as accomplished as Victor Wooten you can someday play in the rain under an easy-up canopy to about 35 people. All kidding aside, if there was a short cut I would have figured it out as I always take short cuts. Since I continue to take short cuts, I can not solo. As Jeff Berlin would put it learn everything, get really good and then play.
I'm a fan of Victor wooten, wayman tisdale, larry graham, Jaco Pastorius and lots of others! But when I see them solo its like wow i wanna do that! I know how to improv a little bit but want to be really good at it till i master the technique! Any advice or what scales should I learn? Thanks 4 all help!
It is a lot of work. There is no magical trick to it. The bass guitar is just a tool, don't be caught into playing bass related thing, play music !!!
You also need to train your aural imagination ... like a painter or a scultor who sees the end result even before they started.
When you start to reuse lick from someone else it is like repeating exacly what someone else said and act like it is coming from you when in fact you are quoting ... This bring us back to your aural imagination ...
I'm a fan of Victor wooten, wayman tisdale, larry graham, Jaco Pastorius and lots of others! But when I see them solo its like wow i wanna do that! I know how to improv a little bit but want to be really good at it till i master the technique! Any advice or what scales should I learn? Thanks 4 all help!
I remember sking my guitarist about this very thing, he told me to stop trying and just keep playing everyday and listen to alot of different types of music. I like listening to trance, house, bossanova, flamenco, classical, hip hop and dubstep, even though i play reggae, rnb and rock primarily. Its amazing how these ideas trickle out of you.
Just yesterday i improved a reggae bassline that was based off of black sabath's - war pigs.
sometimes ill write basslines based on bossa nova chord progressions or a really slowed down bossa rythym that im playing unconciously as reggae.
The more information your brain has to draw on the more creative you get.
Thats why i suggested listening to more music, trying to cover the songs will help you bridge the gap between whats in your mind to what your getting out of the fret board. With time youll be able to play exactly what your thinking. And you'll start thinking in terms of notes pitches and chords.
Its gonna shock the hell out of you when this happens, and it will make your band mates and listeners think your some kind of virtuoso.
This advice is tried and proven. Mozart himself used to do this, he studied Bach and listened to and mastered every known style and genre of music that existd in his day.
Jimi Paige is also notorious for doing this.
Learning more music theory is the short cut method to this. If you understand how harmony works you'll be able to recognise tendencies that will help you compose things easier. I would tell you to be carefull though dont use musical rules as rigid rules. Some chord sequences do work well and as a result will sound boring or mediocre because everyone uses them, there are usually other less common chords that will also work, but arent as commonly used. Using those can really transform the feel of a song and make your listeners get really interested in hearing more.
- Oct 2, 2006
- 183
- 1
- Disclosures
- Endorsements; Yamaha, Fodera, Aguilar, TC Electronic, Peterson, Zoom
In my opinion it's a combination of Listening, exposing your ears to new things, figuring out what they are, applying the ideas in your own way, training your ear, interval recognition, understanding Chord Tones and approach patterns.
But at the end of the day if you want to get serious it's hard work. There is a system to this.
But at the end of the day if you want to get serious it's hard work. There is a system to this.
i dont want to hear the player that thinks transcribing is a shortcut. the fact is the majority of musicians arent born with the ability to phrase and construct coherent solos without ever transcribing. academia will get you "right" note choices, but theme development,arc,feel,phrase construction etc can be more abstract. odds are your "art" sucks if youre only going off of what you read in a book. i see this with my guitar students all day long. theyll learn everything i give them but refuse to put in the time transcribing. their solos are ********
Or the music don't touch their heart so they don't have any feeling, any emotion so it feels like there is no soul. It is like in classical music, you play music someone else wrote, and there is a lot of cue written but ultimately if you have no emotion you may play it perfectly it will be boring. This is why a symphony will sound different with a different conductor but the same orchestra members.
Also many people says music is like a language ... well ... do you learn English by transcribing someone else conversation ?
- Oct 2, 2006
- 183
- 1
- Disclosures
- Endorsements; Yamaha, Fodera, Aguilar, TC Electronic, Peterson, Zoom
To me it's simple, learn harmony, train your ears to recognize interval relationships, practice in a systematic creative way, learn licks or phrases and rewrite them using the same techniques, develop your technique so you can play what you hear, write solos and melodies with one or 2 ideas.
It's work but if you are organized and patient you can learn anything if you put your mind to it. There are no short cuts just better ways of practicing and focusing and also finding the balance making sure you don't over do it. Our minds also need space and time to absorb
It's work but if you are organized and patient you can learn anything if you put your mind to it. There are no short cuts just better ways of practicing and focusing and also finding the balance making sure you don't over do it. Our minds also need space and time to absorb
One thing to keep in mind is that bass solos always sound better with a band then they do alone, especially slap. Playing alone, slap solos tend to be very complicated to compensate for lack of drums. But if you add drums, the slap lines can and should be much simpler.
My source is that I play by myself a lot.
My source is that I play by myself a lot.
