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Bass Solo Rant

#65
slappers dept.

Mr. Jonas Hellborg with Sir John McLaughlin

who the Dickens is Bill?

about the melodic range of a standard bass

Dario Deidda, a real master

Dario playing "Gloria's step" by the late Scott LaFaro

Dario live solo at 8:18

My conclusion: the bass left since twenty or more years ago a single supporting role and can definitely take center stage, occasionally; everything can be done and it will be surely good if done with good taste, spirit of cooperation from the other members of the band and technical competence. Music is supposed to be about taste and cooperation, not about competition ;) V.
 
#68
bumperbass said:
:mad:

HA HA! It's NOT your thread, Mr. Lovejoy. lol
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After reading a post of mine that he didn't like, One_Drop went into a thread I made and made a snippy comment. Then he made another one in reply to one of my posts in this thread. I told him I don't want to fight and to please stop, then he made the response you responded to out of the blue. I'm really not in the mood.
 
#69
i teach a lot of bass players at The Collective School Of Music, and unaccompanied bass solos, or more accurately put, bass solos where the rest of the band folds their arms and looks at the bassist with an "entertain me, big guy" look, is something I talk about quite a bit. I would think that the bassist, if he wants, should be able to ask for some help during his solo. But if that is not in the cards, the answer is to rise above it and woodshed until he can play a solo that will astound everybody, including the band members. Bassists, right out of the gate, have a sort of solo stigma; as soon as a bass solo comes around, most of the audience rolls their eyes up and either starts a conversation with whomever they're sitting with, or go to the bar and order a drink, or leave. I've seen this a million times. The answer is to give the audience something to really connect with and want to listen to. And therein lies the difficulty. If bassists keep playing boring, lousy solos, that tradition will certainly continue. It's completely up to us who play bass to reverse that trend.
 
#70
pointbass said:
Simple communication with your fellow band members, letting them know you'd like some chordal/rhythmic support during solos, will solve all of these problems. I've never had an issue getting some backup after I asked for it.

The guys I play with all know my preferences, and I know theirs .... just speak up, it's not that hard ;)
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+ infinity

Can't believe nobody else has acknowledged this yet, because it's right on the money. In my band, we always start by spending time writing/talking/refining solo sections so that we have a solid foundation that sounds rad and that the soloist is comfortable with. In live situations, sometimes we'll go in a bit of a live direction, but only if the solist takes us there. It's all about communication and listening! You can get anything you want by asking!

In other words, that grand evacuation we're all used to during bass solos is a result of either the bass player WANTING it to be that way, or because she/he never thought to ask for or write anything different.


Kwesi said:
THIS is how you support a drummer who is soloing. The band is quiet but that's because of where this is being recording from. You can be damn sure that the audience hears them loud and clear backing up their drummer!

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Thanks as always, Kwesi, for the props. Playing with Chino...I feel like the luckiest bass player in the world.
 
#71
the answer is to rise above it and woodshed until he can play a solo that will astound everybody, including the band members.
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+1!!! I would only add that this does not necessarily mean playing 100 notes per second: just listen to a solo taken by charlie Haden that with only a bunch of beautiful notes means it all, maybe just in a couple of dense choruses.
 
#73
Kwesi said:
Faulknersj, THANK YOU for this thread! I have been wondering this since practically the first day I picked up the bass. This crap annoys me to NO END! There's no real reason for the entire band to basically drop out on a bass solo. Worried the crowd won't be able to hear the bass? Either turn up the bass volume or have the band play quieter. Alternatively, EQ the bass differently. When the other players drop out like that unless it's planned to set up hits or something (which it almost never is) you're essentially stopping the music entirely. It ruins the atmosphere that the music created up until that point and leaves the bass player to fend for himself without a soundscape to play off of. People who perpetuate this, stop it. It's lame.

/rant
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I couldn't agree more, I think it really ruins the forward momentum of a song when everyone drops out when the bass solos. I actually ask players ahead of time that I don't want them to drop out, to keep playing maybe at a slightly reduced volume. It seems like a bass player could do really well to have a volume pedal or clean boost on hand so he can keep up volume-wise. You need to have some volume on tap if you want others to play with you while you solo because usually, you are not the loudest on stage to begin with.

I am sort of from the jam-band school of soloing (no, not noodling for hours). I like it when the whole band can listen to what the bass player is doing and respond appropriately by feeling resolutions, and increasing or decreasing volume/intensity together. This has worked in rock/funk/blues situations for me in the past.
 
#74
I've come to the point that when I solo I'd just rather the guitar not even play. When he does he seems to completely loose his mind as if he's never played the song before and has no idea what to do. When he does try to comp I find I'm having to outline the chord changes so he doesn't get lost rhythmically and harmonically! It just gets frustrating.

No support role/ability is what it seems.

If I'm not playing they totally just loose the groove.

This came to my attention one day when I wasn't able to make it to a rehearsal and the next time I saw everyone was right before a gig and both percussionists and the sax player came up to me and the first thing they said was "rehearsal was terrible last night. We couldn't play most of the songs without you".

This got me thinking. I can't imagine any tune that we play that I would need to rely on any other player in order to perform. Each song I can play the Bass lines, chords and melody. As well, I have at least two versions of each song at the ready to play depending on the feel of the event. With that said, I'm prepared and I know the songs!
And if ever there is some type of technical glitch where others can't play all of a sudden I can keep things moving on.

So of recently, I've been "hanging back" a lot and forcing the rest to get the groove going. Sneaky, but it's starting to work! I always wondered why if I didn't start the songs things seemed to go down hill quick...

So overall, you might be in luck that they just don't do anything. But you can get them to in the long run by discussing with them that it would be nice if they play the supporting role as well.

Good Luck!
 
#76
Mr. Lovejoy said:
After reading a post of mine that he didn't like, One_Drop went into a thread I made and made a snippy comment. Then he made another one in reply to one of my posts in this thread. I told him I don't want to fight and to please stop, then he made the response you responded to out of the blue. I'm really not in the mood.
Click to expand...

No problem. Boring day here, I suppose. No harm meant.
 
#77
Mr. Lovejoy said:
After reading a post of mine that he didn't like, One_Drop went into a thread I made and made a snippy comment. Then he made another one in reply to one of my posts in this thread. I told him I don't want to fight and to please stop, then he made the response you responded to out of the blue. I'm really not in the mood.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've orchestrated a cunning series of posts of randomized snippiness in various threads, meant to subtly undermine you and drive you mad over a period of exactly 92 days. Unfortunately, your Kung Fu is stronger than mine and you have unmasked me and my evil plan.
 

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