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Bass Soloing Tips

#21
Jake of Bass said:
The point about singing when soloing on bass is that it can be hard to translate what's in your head to the instrument. Singing helps this process by guiding you to play what comes a lot more naturally with your voice - melody. I used to solo with little phrasing; then I started focussing on phrasing and sometimes singing a line in practice then duplicating it as closely as possible on the bass immediately afterwards. Once you get the concept of phrasing and melody, your solos will take so much more musicality.

Hope that helps.
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+1
Well said.

Bassists (& guitarists) tend to play a lot of licks or fretboard patterns. Solos played that way will work - they'll be in the right key and may look & sound flashy, etc - but they won't be very original or authentic.

By singing, you can free yourself from the limits of what you know about your instrument and find your own musical ideas. Then you can learn to express those ideas through the bass. That's the journey we're all on ...
 
#22
Jim Nazium said:
+1
Well said.

Bassists (& guitarists) tend to play a lot of licks or fretboard patterns. Solos played that way will work - they'll be in the right key and may look & sound flashy, etc - but they won't be very original or authentic.

By singing, you can free yourself from the limits of what you know about your instrument and find your own musical ideas. Then you can learn to express those ideas through the bass. That's the journey we're all on ...
Click to expand...

That's so true. We tend to learn scales as patterns, and then we solo it sounds more like a bunch of scales and patterns than music. But when you sing you pretty much never go up and down a scale, you sing with a feeling of music. Therefore "singing with your bass" can free up your playing and make you think in terms of music, instead of fretboard patterns and shapes.
 
#23
wow, great posts by everyone about the singing, ive really never tried it at all. i was making some basslines with my gf a while ago and actually the best one we wrote was the one she made up singing a melody then i transfered it to bass. pretty cool stuff.

also, i was asking about starting on the one. i know its nt right or wrong to do it, i was just wondering if you guys could give some explanation of how or when you could start a phrase on something other than the one while playing in a certain key or progression. if that questions makes sense? thanks
 
#26
Playing a solo should mean something. It should be your speech, it should be your painting, it gives you a chance to express yourself.

There are alot of great suggestions here, particularly the singing. Alot of your stuff can get more lyrical and musical when you start to sing over it. Also, don't stay in one scale / place / idea too long. Short phrases that you repeat, with different rhythmical variations can be cool to listen to. Just playing one note and accenting it over different places on the groove is one idea. Octaves is another, chords, arpeggiate the chords, etc.

There's alot of things to do. The tricky part is learning it, and to do it well.
 
#29
regarding not starting on the one or the root:

next time you're soloing, start your solo on beat 2, with the first note being the 3rd of the chord you're in. as long as there's a song surrounding you (ie not solely a bass) it'll probably sound pretty cool.

then, start your next phrase on 3, with the seventh. then the + of 4 with the fifth. then.........

basically start in different parts of the bar and try to avoid beginning and ending phrases on the root.


also, carole kaye is a big proponent of using chordal intervals (arpeggios etc) rather than scalar intervals (going up and down scales) when soloing as it sounds more interesting. i tend to agree. scales are still good, but they're better when played in the context of chordal movement.

and + 3001.3 to singing cuz singing is awesome. it's definitely the best way i've found to develop your voice (pun intended).
 
#30
Singing is great, i've recently began singing along have been totally suprised at how much more melodic they are.

But! To even be able to sing a solo you have LISTEN. You cant become a good improviser by reading a book, you have to listen to what the greats are doing, what a solo should "sound like". The next step would be transcribing so you can see what they are doing over chords.

So once again, singing is great but you have to know what to sing...so LISTEN!
 

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