Bass solos. Well, do you?

[Sixgunn]

I generally hate solos of any instruments outside the context of songs, however I love playing "The Real Me" by The Who so I guess my choice is number 4

You?

 

[Marial]

But of course.

 

[arbiterusa]

No solos. You want to show off your skills? Like OP says, do a song like "The Real Me". You could pull the guitar and drums out of that and just have John playing and Roger singing and it would still kick ass.

 

[elgecko]

I generally hate solos of any instruments outside the context of songs, however I love playing "The Real Me" by The Who so I guess my choice is number 4

You?

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I take it you don't play jazz.

 

[Sixgunn]

I take it you don't play jazz.

I have

 

[RED J]

Beethoven played with a pick Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Aberdumbie]

Hate them. I prefer to keep the groove strong for everyone else to do their thing.... One night we were soaring. Everything was awesome. Great crowd, great groove.. The universe was aligned. We were playing Sandman (America) and the danged guitar player announced a bass solo. Ten years on the road and suddenly we have a surprise bass solo. I suppose I pulled it off but I never forgave him for that.

 

[plankspanker13]

Options 2, 3, and 4 all apply to me, depending on the gig. Some power trio gigs can even border on #1. I am Geddy Lee (NOT!!!!!!!)

 

[Rudreax]

Context, context, context is what matters. If the context is right, any instrument can take any kind of solo and have it fit the music and please the crowd while being awesome.

 

[spade2you]

I had one song long ago with a bass solo. Worked well for that song.

 

[saltydude]

Just when we're messing around learning new tunes and the guitarist haven't learned the solo yet. It's kinda fun to throw something experimental in there.

 

[rufus.K]

Sometimes I over play a turnaround here and there.

 

[blastbass]

Would prefer not to but one of the tracks in our set has a short one, nothing embarrassing, thankfully.

 

[lamarjones]

One song per set max. I use effect to keep it in a more traditional range as well, and keep it quick, rhythmic and funky. Basically a souped up rhythm part, I used to try for some melodic stuff but didn't like how it affected the groove. Just me. I've heard some amazing melodic solos, and even more stuff that SUCKED!!!!!!!

 

[RJC1811]

I went with "Wank fest" but the reality is a few solos, sometimes with the drummer, when called upon. I didn't see that option.

I'm not talking about extended solos over multiple choruses, just take my 4, 8 or 12 bars and back to the groove. Sometime if the band breaks and it's just me and the drummer I'll play the same groove of the song and just funk it up, add some fills and we play off each other. The crowd seems to love it and it's a break from the usual.

We're working on a version of Mile's "All Blues" and they want me to take a couple choruses... we'll see.

 

[BassChuck]

I generally prefer not to. I can do a chorus of blues or some other tune if need be, and when I do jazz gigs I'll survive 2 or 3 solos in the evening. Not a concern really.

 

[trevcda]

I went with number five. My improvisational skills are virtually non-existent and nobody wants to hear a medley of my "lick". That said, I will learn a solo line within a song and play it with all I've got, but me doing a bass solo, while the rest of the steps out for a smoke, isn't going to happen. As far as solos in general go, I hate playing in a group (or watching for that matter) that insists on having everybody solo on every song. If you're trying to kill time, learn more songs. There's nothing worse than watching a full dance floor start checking their watches and vacating the floor because your ego needs stroked. That and the forced golf clap after the third or fourth solo, because they feel obliged to clap, not because they want to. If I'm watching this go on from the audience, I'm moving on to the next venue. Everybody gets a ride? Make mine a cab.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Damn skippy I do... Even if I have to step on the guitarist's neck....why not? I don't think a bass player has to solo to impress, But I enjoy hearing them...and loooove playing em.

 

[Joybass]

I try to carry the song together with our drumster 95% of the time. The remaining 5% I try to frill things up in a modest way.

 

[jamro217]

Been in musical situations more than once where the sparse instrumentation virtually demanded active bass parts. Not really solos, but could be if the singer suddenly stopped.