Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[steubig]

Very cool information, thank you for sharing.

But seriously, everyone that’s played jazz on any shape or form have lifted Parker licks and lines.
I still do it when I wanna get out of a rut.

for me, it’s not the lines, it’s the *harmonic information.”

 

[steubig]

re "soloing"

i have a few non-jazz strategies that i think have helped me with "jazz" soloing:

1. improvise a folk song or learn a folk song's melody and then improvise on that (consider charlie haden)
   
2. learn a movement from a bach cello suite and improvise on its motives/ideas in between sections (before repeats or a obvious cadences). i knew the fourth suite pretty well, so i' do the courante, play the first section, improvise, play the repeat, improvise, play the second section, improvise, etc.
   
3. play a completely free melody (slow is better/harder, ime)
4. improvise "it the style of" a genre or a motive that you like (i've done mozart, dejent, little ditties i've made rhythmic cells, etc.)
5. play "emotions" (happy, sad, etc.)

imo, this get you into playing lines and gestures and deepens how you hear "on the instrument." doing it away from chord changes will help when you get to the changes.

fwiw, for jazz harmony, one thing i've done is steal liberally from parker (and other) tunes' melodies and analyzed how they work over the changes. (i'm not big on learning other people's solos, for good or bad)

yeah i quoted myself to make an addendum:

i think what i’m after when i practice this stuff is idea propagation and developing melodic gestures and harmonic strategies/knowledge, which i feel helps me with all the other aspects of music i’m attempting.

jazz, in and of itself is not the end-all, be-all for me.

 

[lordradish]

re "soloing"

i have a few non-jazz strategies that i think have helped me with "jazz" soloing:

1. improvise a folk song or learn a folk song's melody and then improvise on that (consider charlie haden)
   
2. learn a movement from a bach cello suite and improvise on its motives/ideas in between sections (before repeats or a obvious cadences). i knew the fourth suite pretty well, so i' do the courante, play the first section, improvise, play the repeat, improvise, play the second section, improvise, etc.
   
3. play a completely free melody (slow is better/harder, ime)
4. improvise "it the style of" a genre or a motive that you like (i've done mozart, dejent, little ditties i've made rhythmic cells, etc.)
5. play "emotions" (happy, sad, etc.)

imo, this get you into playing lines and gestures and deepens how you hear "on the instrument." doing it away from chord changes will help when you get to the changes.

fwiw, for jazz harmony, one thing i've done is steal liberally from parker (and other) tunes' melodies and analyzed how they work over the changes. (i'm not big on learning other people's solos, for good or bad)

Those are all helpful. One thing that's helped in the past is just learning the damn melody, and then treating the solo as slight variations on that.

I'm friends with one of the top bassists in Vermont. He's been working on a major Broadway show for the last five years. I saw him back in town for a recent gig of mine (of course, getting me nervous), and we got together to hang. He wanted to know all about effects, as he's not that familiar with him. So in this session, I spent about two hours explaining various effects to me and then he answered pretty much every question I've had about jazz bass playing. I mentioned the soloing thing and he said one approach that sometimes works in more trad jazz is just sort of treating some of the solos as 'walking plus". Meaning, just going a bit further in what you'd normally do in a support role, but embellishing it and bringing certain elements to the forefront. That make sense to any of you?

 

[lordradish]

for me, it’s not the lines, it’s the *harmonic information.”

My brain still hasn't gotten to the point where I understand a lot of that. Harmony(or rather, understanding the mechanics of it) has always been a weak-point of mine. Similar to having a weak math-brain, for me.

 

[lordradish]

jazz, in and of itself is not the end-all, be-all for me.

Oh, not for me, either. I just think if I'm going to pick a popular art form as a playe, that's the one I relate to the most, more than rock or other kinds of stuff nowadays. It holds my interest in ways that other genres simply don't.

 

[steubig]

Those are all helpful. One thing that's helped in the past is just learning the damn melody, and then treating the solo as slight variations on that.

I'm friends with one of the top bassists in Vermont. He's been working on a major Broadway show for the last five years. I saw him back in town for a recent gig of mine (of course, getting me nervous), and we got together to hang. He wanted to know all about effects, as he's not that familiar with him. So in this session, I spent about two hours explaining various effects to me and then he answered pretty much every question I've had about jazz bass playing. I mentioned the soloing thing and he said one approach that sometimes works in more trad jazz is just sort of treating some of the solos as 'walking plus". Meaning, just going a bit further in what you'd normally do in a support role, but embellishing it and bringing certain elements to the forefront. That make sense to any of you?

the "walking plus" thing is pretty trad and was never my thing.

but it does remind me that using space is really good. (imo, bass players, to quote miles, "should take the damn horn" out of their mouth.) wayne and miles were experts at that. mingus is a good guy to listen to.

My brain still hasn't gotten to the point where I understand a lot of that. Harmony(or rather, understanding the mechanics of it) has always been a weak-point of mine. Similar to having a weak math-brain, for me.

imo, it means looking at the notes in the melody. if you look at donna lee or confirmation, there are some fun things he does over the chords—and a lot of it ends up being melodic sense rather than "good harmony." the head to freedom jazz dance is really interesting in terms of how harris pushes what he does over one chord to some real extremes.

 

[JES]

Loving the soloing advice. I agree that melody is the thing. That is all.

 

[Buzzment]

Anyone here have the Red Panda Particle 2? It's my latest pedal and I'm having a blast with it for adding stereo textural glitchy and pitch soundscapes..

 

[lordradish]

Anyone here have the Red Panda Particle 2? It's my latest pedal and I'm having a blast with it for adding stereo textural glitchy and pitch soundscapes..View attachment 5395739

Yeah, I have one, have for a while. Like to smear it and get some cool textures out of it.

 

[Starthief]

Tensor is the Red Panda pedal I miss -- especially fun inside a feedback loop with a spring reverb and filter/EQ.

 

[Buzzment]

Yeah, I have one, have for a while. Like to smear it and get some cool textures out of it.

Cool.. I've only explored the first 5 Delay modes so far,all be it scratched the surface with them.. liking the variety within the modes.. Looking forward to exploring the 3 pitch modes and expert mode as I start to master it...

 

[Buzzment]

Tensor is the Red Panda pedal I miss -- especially fun inside a feedback loop with a spring reverb and filter/EQ.

I was going to get a Tensor but as the Mood 2 covers similar ground I decided to get the Particle as I was lacking glitchy/Pitch choppy textures on my pedalboard to add another layer to my soundscapes and pads....BUT who knows I may get a Tensor at some stage because as you can see I have a soft spot for Red Panda!!

 

[Bob_Ross]

What's a 4-string?

I joke but I have played nothing but 5's and 6's for the last 25 years. A four just feels downright WEIRD to me now.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before: I have been playing six string bass since 1988… And yet every time I pick up a four string, it feels like home. Possibly because for 14 years prior to 1988 I only played four string bass, and those were the formative years? :::Shrugs:::

now I couldn’t solo myself out of a wet paper bag

^^^This. I am a huge fan of simply waving off the solo on the bandstand; in other words, I politely decline.

but when I do have to solo over jazz tunes with a crap-ton of changes, I almost never think about the notes I am playing in relation to the chords flying by.

Rather, I think about creating melodies and then listen to where my phrases wind up in relation to those chord changes sonically… And then very quickly move around a little bit if I want it to get more In or more Out.

It’s basically the trying-to-forget-everything-I-know-in-the-moment approach.

 

[steubig]

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before: I have been playing six string bass since 1988… And yet every time I pick up a four string, it feels like home. Possibly because for 14 years prior to 1988 I only played four string bass, and those were the formative years? :::Shrugs:::

similarly, i played 4-string for 15 years before settling in 6-string; where we differ is that the 4–string is doable in a pinch (3-4 times over 39 years), but feels really foreign and limiting.
different strokes.

^^^This. I am a huge fan of simply waving off the solo on the bandstand; in other words, I politely decline.

i decline a lot—band leaders choose some really bad times for bass solos—but i also just take over at times and go for “soloing” as a counterpoint or answer to the melody in an out head.

yeah, people love me.

 

[JES]

So here's another drone, this time with a Loudest Warning panel that I borrowed from a new friend (he's borrowing my Easel Command in exchange). Jury's out on whether / what I'd order but today's experiment is to create and mix as many oscillators as possible. In this case, it was the two existing oscillators, the smooth/stepped generator as a triangle oscillator, both sides of the dual transient generator, and the filter in self-oscillation. Then I ran it through the analog delay, which has a cool feature where the filter for the bucket brigade can be voltage controlled, so you get some nice "analog" aliasing happening at longer delay times.

Also repatched some audio mid-patch just because I thought I could without the Eurorack ka-thunk.

Not the most musically interesting but fun woodshedding and the aliasing is cool. Now I must go practice piano.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

So here's another drone, this time with a Loudest Warning panel that I borrowed from a new friend (he's borrowing my Easel Command in exchange). Jury's out on whether / what I'd order but today's experiment is to create and mix as many oscillators as possible. In this case, it was the two existing oscillators, the smooth/stepped generator as a triangle oscillator, both sides of the dual transient generator, and the filter in self-oscillation. Then I ran it through the analog delay, which has a cool feature where the filter for the bucket brigade can be voltage controlled, so you get some nice "analog" aliasing happening at longer delay times.

Also repatched some audio mid-patch just because I thought I could without the Eurorack ka-thunk.

Not the most musically interesting but fun woodshedding and the aliasing is cool. Now I must go practice piano.

gritty, i dig

 

[monsterthompson]

Finally trading a few things in at perfect circuit. Gonna build up some store credit to buy more things to trade in at some point in the future

 

[JES]

Well done. I have thought about trade-in to avoid selling hassle. Will be curious to hear how you like it.

After a Dr appt today I stopped by the local synth store. Everything is SO TINY now. Little knobs, almost no space in-between them, crowded interfaces. I think of the Intellijel Cascadia as tiny and compared to lots of other synths it was positively palatial. Of course Moog and a few others still have nice layouts (including my Take 5).

Definitely old man yells at cloud territory for me.

 

[monsterthompson]

Since noting exceeds like excess, I'm considering using my Perfect Circuit credit to get a new interface. There's a lot of "almost but not quite" devices out there, and this premium solution is beyond my needs, but possibly worth going over the top for.
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Arturia - AudioFuse 16Rig

Anyone familiar with this behemoth?

 

[lordradish]

Well done. I have thought about trade-in to avoid selling hassle. Will be curious to hear how you like it.

After a Dr appt today I stopped by the local synth store. Everything is SO TINY now. Little knobs, almost no space in-between them, crowded interfaces. I think of the Intellijel Cascadia as tiny and compared to lots of other synths it was positively palatial. Of course Moog and a few others still have nice layouts (including my Take 5).

Definitely old man yells at cloud territory for me.

Jeez, you ever see the tiny panel window on a Minifreak? I wanna find an adhesive magnifier for it.