• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

how do you count measures while soloing!?

thehangingmist

thehangingmist

Dec 14, 2007
6,367
302
New Delhi, India
#1
i am preparing some exam pieces which have short solo sections. usually i have to jump back to the main riff or another passage right from my solo and theres no que really. since this is an exam piece i need to know a full proof method as i can screw it up

while am soloing i know where the one is, but i cant keep a track of the number of measures. do you guys count while soloing or leave it to gut instinct and a lot of practice?

edit: exam piece involves playing along to pre recorded backing tracks

edit2 : sorry i think posted this in the wrong sub forum! mods please help
 
#2
Memorize the form! Then when you are playing, if the other players are good, they will typically give musical cues (good drummers will fill into a new section, etc.) and it helps to keep your ears open and listen for the changes from piano, bass, guitar, etc.

The more you practice soloing the more second nature it will become.

Good luck on your exam!
 
#3
varunkapahi said:
i am preparing some exam pieces which have short solo sections. usually i have to jump back to the main riff or another passage right from my solo and theres no que really. since this is an exam piece i need to know a full proof method as i can screw it up

while am soloing i know where the one is, but i cant keep a track of the number of measures. do you guys count while soloing or leave it to gut instinct and a lot of practice?
Click to expand...


Have the drummer or vocals give you the que to stop.You don't have to count anything.
 
#4
shadow_FIX said:
Memorize the form! Then when you are playing, if the other players are good, they will typically give musical cues (good drummers will fill into a new section, etc.) and it helps to keep your ears open and listen for the changes from piano, bass, guitar, etc.

The more you practice soloing the more second nature it will become.

Good luck on your exam!
Click to expand...

bluewine said:
Have the drummer or vocals give you the que to stop.You don't have to count anything.
Click to expand...

edited the op. am playing to backing tracks not real musicians. i am trying to take cues from whatever is recorded in there but the measures are a bit odd as in

3x4 measures of 4/4 (the riff is 3 bars of 4/4 and it repeats 4 times)
then 4 measures of 3/4
and 3 measures of 4/4 again

after which i jump back to the main riff myself. here am trying to take the 3/4 part in my solo as a cue after which i count all the beats to come back on time
 
#10
I just thought about this today because I just had to write a solo part. I rarely count while playing, but since I know the number of measures or cycles in which I have to fit the solo, I craft the part to fit that space exactly. So as I practice it, I may have to count the cycles (or overall chord progressions) at first (in my case 8), but then once I know it I'll know where I'm at because in a solo I'm not playing the same thing over and over - the solo doesn't repeat itself, or if it does it has a different inflection or intensity in different places. hope that makes sense. Now if you're planning to improv the whole solo, then that's a different story and you'll need another cue or have to practice it to where you can instinctively know the length of the space.
 
#11
to me it's a matter of telling the story with your instrument. you know roughly where you are going and have perhaps some parts of the solo that you know really well, and then improvise perhaps a bar or 2 in between.

so it's like this

solo intro
improv 4 bars
solo outro


that way you always have the same intro and the same ending ( which to me are the most important parts of the solo. intro because if it isn't interesting people will stop listening. outro because this is where you play your outmost best)

think of the intro and outro as themes to lead you in and out of the improv.

counting to 4 when you know where the 1's are - is no real big deal.
 
#13
i think you should make way too much out of it, panic, then run out of the room screaming ;)

if you can feel the one, then all you have to do is memorize the form and you should be fine. i think you're making way too much out of it, and you'll probably do much better than you think you will.
 
#15
Since it seems you know the form, memorize your solo, or two or three. Can you transpose to another key if they spring that on you? Honestly, you've gotta feel it in the music as well as count it if you're new to soloing. Practice!

And good luck! You'll do well if you go into it with confidence.
 
#17
Lowest End said:
By feeling it.

No sarcasm. I played sax for years and that was kind of how I learned, and now that I'm just playing bass, that's how I continue to play. I never count unless there's some weird off-time thing.
Click to expand...

I'm with lowest end here. (he is the lowest end after all :)) I can't get how people count this stuff out, and still put feeling into their solo. Kudos if you can, but for me at least (and TBH, I believe it should be like that for everyone) feeling is where it's at.

Listen to a David Gilmore solo. I cannot believe he counts his out everytime.
 
#18
This comes down to the best advice a musical director ever gave me: play the songs, not the notes or measure on the page.

If you count the measures while you're soloing, your solo will suffer and it will sound like your counting where you are. The teachers will catch on to that.

If you know the song, you won't get lost, and you'll know exactly where you are by listening to your backing track, whether or not the musicians on the track cued you in or no.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back