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I had a bad day, and don't know what to do about it

Jaycat

Jaycat

Supporting Member
Sep 8, 2018
411
843
#1
In the winter, I play electric bass in an "Americana" jam on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday was our first jam of this season.

I can pretty much take a solo whenever I want. Yesterday, that didn't go so well. My first solo was spot on, but after that, it was kinda hit and miss.

I found myself getting lost in the songs and even on the fretboard, which is very disconcerting.

I'm not sure how to address this. Double down on practicing? Shrug it off as 'just a bad day'?

Am I being too hard on myself? The songs are not difficult, but there were some I hadn't heard before.

Perhaps I shouldn't solo on a tune I'm not familiar with? I do think it would be a good idea to keep the solos simple. (I tend to get carried away and perhaps overly adventurous).

Your thoughts are welcome.... Thanks!
 
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#5
One of the things I've realized lately is that on some days I've only got about 20 minutes of musical creativity in the tank -- after that's used up the best I can do is stick to the key and stay within the chord patterns. I don't know if that improves with more practice, or it's the limit of my physical or mental abilities.
 
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#6
Jaycat said:
In the winter, I play electric bass in an "Americana" jam on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday was our first jam of this season.

I can pretty much take a solo whenever I want. Yesterday, that didn't go so well. My first solo was spot on, but after that, it was kinda hit and miss.

I found myself getting lost in the songs and even on the fretboard, which is very disconcerting.

I'm not sure how to address this. Double down on practicing? Shrug it off as 'just a bad day'?

Am I being too hard on myself? The songs are not difficult, but there were some I hadn't heard before.

Perhaps I shouldn't solo on a tune I'm not familiar with? I do think it would be a good idea to keep the solos simple. (I tend to get carried away and perhaps overly adventurous).

Your thoughts are welcome.... Thanks!
Click to expand...
How often do you sit down and study other solos, from bass or any instrument? Have you transcribed many bass solos?

It can be really helpful to pick an artist you like and study numerous solos to find the things that player likes to do. How do they approach certain chord changes, what are their favorite licks, etc. That puts some tools in your toolbox so when it's your turn to solo you can say to yourself "I know a cool way to approach this ii-V change that I lifted from George Benson" or "I transcribed some Victor Wooten solos and even though the band was playing one chord, he used the same substitution to give his solo some natural movement. I could apply that here."

If you asked any other instrument about soloing, transcription would be a natural part of the process of developing language and skill as a soloist, but it's a process I see a lot of bass players skipping over, then they wonder why they're lacking the same ability other instruments have to solo.
 
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#7
Jaycat said:
In the winter, I play electric bass in an "Americana" jam on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday was our first jam of this season.

I can pretty much take a solo whenever I want. Yesterday, that didn't go so well. My first solo was spot on, but after that, it was kinda hit and miss.

I found myself getting lost in the songs and even on the fretboard, which is very disconcerting.

I'm not sure how to address this. Double down on practicing? Shrug it off as 'just a bad day'?

Am I being too hard on myself? The songs are not difficult, but there were some I hadn't heard before.

Perhaps I shouldn't solo on a tune I'm not familiar with? I do think it would be a good idea to keep the solos simple. (I tend to get carried away and perhaps overly adventurous).

Your thoughts are welcome.... Thanks!
Click to expand...
By next Sunday, the only person that will remember that it happened will be you. On your own, go over the chord changes of the particular songs that were the stumbling blocks, and devise some sort of melodic framework to fall back on, based on the usual basslines.
What tunes are not structured with the usual I-IV-V variants? Deal with those first. Does this overall stuff sound like Workingman’s Dead or American Beauty material at all? What would Phil do?
 
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#8
You can't have too much ear skills IME, and that can always be improved.
After learning 1000 songs or so, many new ones start to sound more familiar – and you get better at processing the ones that aren't.
IME it's not imperative to take solos all the time. (I always joke, go ahead & give me more if we have a lot of time left & we're running out of songs. Otherwise, I'm fine either way. If we're short on time & have tunes to spare, I'm happy to stay in the support role & let the treble people earn their money.)
 
#14
So it was your first time playing with this band since last winter and it wasn't perfect? Okay. You had a bad day. It's rehearsal # 1 in almost a year. It would be more surprising if it was perfect. If it becomes a pattern or doesn't improve maybe start looking into what's wrong. Otherwise it sounds like you just had a bad day.

Micro: Hit a bad note? It happens; you can't un-play it; the song keeps going; keep playing.
Macro: Had a bad day? It happens; you can't un-play that rehearsal; go to the next one; keep playing.
 
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#16
Jaycat said:
In the winter, I play electric bass in an "Americana" jam on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday was our first jam of this season.

I can pretty much take a solo whenever I want. Yesterday, that didn't go so well. My first solo was spot on, but after that, it was kinda hit and miss.

I found myself getting lost in the songs and even on the fretboard, which is very disconcerting.

I'm not sure how to address this. Double down on practicing? Shrug it off as 'just a bad day'?

Am I being too hard on myself? The songs are not difficult, but there were some I hadn't heard before.

Perhaps I shouldn't solo on a tune I'm not familiar with? I do think it would be a good idea to keep the solos simple. (I tend to get carried away and perhaps overly adventurous).

Your thoughts are welcome.... Thanks!
Click to expand...
I salute you for going there. Some days, things are awesome and others not so much. The point of taking an improvised solo is that you're taking a musical risk - it wouldn't be a risk if it was perfect every time. There's always a balance to be struck between either holding back and playing something boring that doesn't add any value, or taking it way out there at the risk of not being able to find your way back or crashing the song into a wall.

So, good on you! Take it in stride and grow from the experience!

Some unsolicited advice from Vinnie Colaiuta: "Thought is the enemy of flow".
 
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#20
bholder said:
Always remember where the chords are behind you while you're soloing, and stick to chord tones during less comfortable / familiar spots. All I've got at least.
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I remember BL insisting I take a solo on an unfamiliar tune and the guitarist berated me saying my solos were terrible because of too many chord tones... I was still figuring out the changes. I'd rather not solo on unfamiliar tunes.
 
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