Freaking out over audition, post the hardest songs you know.

[shatner]

Donna Lee should be more than sufficient. Depending on how many pieces you have to play, you could play a very straight classical piece on bass to show something slightly different. I did Donna Lee and a Bach Cello Suite.

I would say not to bother with Giant Steps unless you already have some experience of playing it. It takes a while to make the solo sound natural over that progression and they will prefer hearing a natural and free melody over a simple rhythm changes to a confined solo over a tricky progression. I also like the suggestion of trying a ballad. The guys watching you will be experienced and very good, mature musicians that won't be blinded by pointless flailing. A beautifully phrased melody over something like My Funny Valentine will go down just as well as bebop.

However, If you are just wanting to find something freakishly difficult then the sky's the limit. There's a whole world of pieces on other instruments that will be incredibly difficult on a bass. Also, it depends on what you mean by difficult. Technically tricky? Rhythmically tricky? Harmonically tricky (for improv)? If you want to go down the rhythm road then take a look at any modern contemporary classical piece and stick it on bass Conlon Nancarrow, Brian Ferneyhough etc. Frank Zappa stuff is always good for rhythmic complexity.

 

[BassChuck]

Your question makes it sound like your intention is to "wow" the panel with a technically difficult piece of music, and if that's what is required for the audition, the go for it. But just about every legit music school that I can think of could care less about how "hard" the tune is that you're playing. What they want to hear you play is MUSIC. Most people don't consider a tune like "So What" technically difficult, but try playing it with the level of musicality that Miles or Trane did - that's the difficult part, and you can't master that by training your fingers to play lightning-fast 16th notes.

Instead of freaking out trying to learn new music, why not play pieces you already know, and concentrate on the things that will probably REALLY impress the panel - good sense of time, phrasing, note choices, melody, maturity in playing, etc...

Yes. Read this post over and over and over.

As for the most difficult song to play... here is it:

A note on beat one and a note on beat two, followed by 2 measures of rest and a note on beat one. No rhythm section, no metronome, just you and your ability to keep a tempo on your own.
There are players with a lot of fingers, but the really hard stuff is the things that sound so easy. Try to play 16 quarter notes in a row and swing like Ray Brown. I mean really try that. If you can do that and walk through a typical blues set of changes you'll be miles ahead of people who can (kinds) play through "Portrait of Tracy" etc etc. Next step would be Rocco's line on "What Is Hip?" If you can that, you can be trained to do anything.

 

[Swicked]

Bump

 

[FretlessMainly]

What about putting together an original arrangement of 'Round Midnight - melody with bass counterpoint? There are plenty of excellent Monk tunes. Try Brilliant Corners, Little Rootie Tootie, or to completely blow your mind, check out Danilo Perez' take on Evidence and Four in One (yes, at the same time). You wanted difficult!

 

[Milestones]

What about putting together an original arrangement of 'Round Midnight - melody with bass counterpoint? There are plenty of excellent Monk tunes. Try Brilliant Corners, Little Rootie Tootie, or to completely blow your mind, check out Danilo Perez' take on Evidence and Four in One (yes, at the same time). You wanted difficult!

I like the idea of doing Thelonious Monk. Most people don't audition with his pieces and they're great. It's better to stand out than be good, but of course it's best to stand out AND be good. Playing Donna Lee is not a good idea because chances are they've heard plenty of bass players audition on that piece. In fact, don't do any Jaco for that reason. I second the Wayne Shorter recommendation. "Fee Fi Fo Fum" is a great tune and challenging to play over.

Another advantage to picking tunes that nobody else plays is that it shows a level of maturity and taste that many students entering college don't have. Audition panels are very interested in this and often give it as much thought as the actual performance, as long as your performance is solid.

Don't be nervous about being self taught. College, despite what they tell you, is not some Holy Land of higher learning - it's a business that wants your money and in exchange offers education. You won't learn anything in college that you can't learn from going to the library and playing your instrument in the real world with good players. Good luck with the audition!

 

[baileyboy]

"China Grove" and "Funk 49" are the two hardest I play regularly.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Your question makes it sound like your intention is to "wow" the panel with a technically difficult piece of music, and if that's what is required for the audition, the go for it. But just about every legit music school that I can think of could care less about how "hard" the tune is that you're playing. What they want to hear you play is MUSIC. Most people don't consider a tune like "So What" technically difficult, but try playing it with the level of musicality that Miles or Trane did - that's the difficult part, and you can't master that by training your fingers to play lightning-fast 16th notes.

Instead of freaking out trying to learn new music, why not play pieces you already know, and concentrate on the things that will probably REALLY impress the panel - good sense of time, phrasing, note choices, melody, maturity in playing, etc...

That's pretty much what I thought when I read the OP. This however jumped out, too:

So in like two months I'm going to be at an audition trembling before a panel of people who will in short decide my future.

IMO that's a dangerous way to view any kind of audition. That's a lot of power you're giving over to people you have no control over. Nobody is deciding my future for me but myself. It's my choice to prepare however I choose to prepare, work as hard as I choose to work, and put my feet where I believe my feet should be. If I don't get whatever it is I'm shooting for, then I have still have choices. I can blame the people auditioning me, I can get down on myself and consider myself a failure, or I can believe that whatever it is I wanted wasn't actually what was best for me and move forward confidently in an altered or different direction.

The reason I post this is because of the amount of fear you seem to have regarding the whole thing. It sounds to me like it's pushing you to do things that sound self defeating. Learn a whole bunch of new challenging songs in 2 months, when there are one's you feel you've already gotten down? You're also making assumptions for the people auditioning you. They'll think Portrait of Tracy is predictable? And you want to work on the HARDEST song a community of bass players can think up? If you intent to master the hardest bass song we can think up in 2 months then I don't think there's a whole lot this bass school is going to be able to add to your future. A short course in self promotion will probably even do you better.

Anyhow, best of luck with it all. I don't mean any of the above to be biting or snarky (in case it came off that way). Just trying to be helpful. The short version of the above would be, "Chill dude. Work at perfecting what you have, and know that all will be great whether you pass the audition or not."

My opinion.