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I want to learn a solo...suggestions?

M

motorcityska

Apr 10, 2007
4
0
Redding, CA
#1
I would really like to learn a solo, just is case, you know, someone asks me to show off :D

But anyways, I'd like something that hasn't been done to death. I don't really want to learn Donna Lee, or Punk Jazz, or Slang or a Vitcor Wooten piece.

I would appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks y'all!
 
#2
Many solos are written out. Tablature is one way, but another is to get a chart and play along with it. Gives you ideas about how players create their sound, use the chords and fingering techniques to solo.
 
#6
You want to really show off?

Bach's Cello Suite No.1 in G in the same octave as cello, on a 4 string (you will need 24 frets but it is playable - just).

That absolutely blows people away, and best of all it blows people away even if you cant play it at the same speed as Yo Yo Ma or Patittucci (he cheats anyway, he uses a six string ;))

Learnt this at college, it took the best part of 6 months to really get it down to tempo (working solely from the dots to improve my reading), but it was soooo good to be able to fill any space in literally any gig, people seem really receptive to it as a filler if a guitard breaks a string or the drummer has passed out or whatever. I covered space in all kinds of rock and funk bands (and yeah you can make it swing for a laugh too) with this and it always had huge wow value!

I've forgotten the middle section (to my tremendous shame obviously) since, but that's due to a 5 year lay off. I certainly intend to find some time to figure it out again. Just because it really is he nicest thing to be able to play well. Bach rocks!

Oh and not knocking Anaesthesia but I learnt that long before I learnt the Bach piece and it is way easier, and has been done by a lot more people as a result. Its a cracking piece all the same, but I think the Bach piece has the advantage of a) sounding like bass, and b) being recognised by a wider audience.
 
#9
51m0n said:
You want to really show off?

Bach's Cello Suite No.1 in G in the same octave as cello, on a 4 string (you will need 24 frets but it is playable - just).

That absolutely blows people away, and best of all it blows people away even if you cant play it at the same speed as Yo Yo Ma or Patittucci (he cheats anyway, he uses a six string ;))

Learnt this at college, it took the best part of 6 months to really get it down to tempo (working solely from the dots to improve my reading), but it was soooo good to be able to fill any space in literally any gig, people seem really receptive to it as a filler if a guitard breaks a string or the drummer has passed out or whatever. I covered space in all kinds of rock and funk bands (and yeah you can make it swing for a laugh too) with this and it always had huge wow value!

I've forgotten the middle section (to my tremendous shame obviously) since, but that's due to a 5 year lay off. I certainly intend to find some time to figure it out again. Just because it really is he nicest thing to be able to play well. Bach rocks!

Oh and not knocking Anaesthesia but I learnt that long before I learnt the Bach piece and it is way easier, and has been done by a lot more people as a result. Its a cracking piece all the same, but I think the Bach piece has the advantage of a) sounding like bass, and b) being recognised by a wider audience.
Click to expand...

You probably only just learned the prelude to cello suite number one, there's a lot more to that piece than just the prelude, you know! Have you ever tried learning all of it? There are six movements in all, and it is a REALLY rewarded endeavor tackling all of them. The Courante is my favorite (third movement) and its pretty recognizable, not as much as the 1st movement, but close.
 
#10
51m0n said:
You want to really show off?

Bach's Cello Suite No.1 in G in the same octave as cello, on a 4 string (you will need 24 frets but it is playable - just).

That absolutely blows people away, and best of all it blows people away even if you cant play it at the same speed as Yo Yo Ma or Patittucci (he cheats anyway, he uses a six string ;))

Learnt this at college, it took the best part of 6 months to really get it down to tempo (working solely from the dots to improve my reading), but it was soooo good to be able to fill any space in literally any gig, people seem really receptive to it as a filler if a guitard breaks a string or the drummer has passed out or whatever. I covered space in all kinds of rock and funk bands (and yeah you can make it swing for a laugh too) with this and it always had huge wow value!

I've forgotten the middle section (to my tremendous shame obviously) since, but that's due to a 5 year lay off. I certainly intend to find some time to figure it out again. Just because it really is he nicest thing to be able to play well. Bach rocks!

Oh and not knocking Anaesthesia but I learnt that long before I learnt the Bach piece and it is way easier, and has been done by a lot more people as a result. Its a cracking piece all the same, but I think the Bach piece has the advantage of a) sounding like bass, and b) being recognised by a wider audience.
Click to expand...

I love that piece, or at least the prelude, haven't heard it all, but I really don't see it fitting in at a gig :eyebrow:
Anesthesia's good, bit overdone though.
Make your own, it's not especially hard to do and can all be in the same scale without anyone getting bored if you can use harmony, dynamics and (occasionally) a change in tempo.
 
#11
HaVIC5 said:
You probably only just learned the prelude to cello suite number one, there's a lot more to that piece than just the prelude, you know! Have you ever tried learning all of it? There are six movements in all, and it is a REALLY rewarded endeavor tackling all of them. The Courante is my favorite (third movement) and its pretty recognizable, not as much as the 1st movement, but close.
Click to expand...

Hey, no I learnt part 1, two pages of fly cr@p was all I could take (and all I could remember). Love listening to all of it, but damn its super hard on a 4 banger in the right octave. Really, try it! The last chord you have to use your LH thumb to fret the lowest note around the front of the neck. Looks as cool as it sounds mind :)
 
#12
Insanity^2 said:
I love that piece, or at least the prelude, haven't heard it all, but I really don't see it fitting in at a gig :eyebrow:
Anesthesia's good, bit overdone though.
Make your own, it's not especially hard to do and can all be in the same scale without anyone getting bored if you can use harmony, dynamics and (occasionally) a change in tempo.
Click to expand...

It fits as a cover for a guitard breaking a string, or as a quiet intro to the band (esp if you have wireless and can wander on to the stage etc.)

Not a rousing dance number I grant you, and works best with some muso activity in the audience, but I think you'd be surprised how well it does, I certainly was!
 
#13
51m0n said:
It fits as a cover for a guitard breaking a string, or as a quiet intro to the band (esp if you have wireless and can wander on to the stage etc.)

Not a rousing dance number I grant you, and works best with some muso activity in the audience, but I think you'd be surprised how well it does, I certainly was!
Click to expand...

A Fifth of Beethoven disagrees. Anything can be turned into a dance number if you try hard enough..

::shudder::
 
#14
You want to learn to solo? Then learn how music works (theory, harmony, rhtyhm, etc.).

Then copy truly great soloists (which pretty much leaves out most bassists and guitarists). Listen to Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Duane Allman, Jaco, Neils Henning-Orsted Pedersen, Jimmy Blanton, Jeff Berlin, Cannonball Adderly, etc. People who have an unmistakable personal stamp to what they play no matter the instrument.

Never learn a solo if you don't take the care to analyze it and figure out why it works and why it's a great solo. And great solos have nothing to do with technical prowess on any specific instrument. Stu Hamm's recording of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" is interesting because he played it on bass. But after a while the musicality of it wears thin. If it was played on piano with exactly the same interpretation it would sound like many young piano students, it wouldn't be interesting. That's the key to a great solo.

jte
 
#16
motorcityska said:
I would really like to learn a solo, just is case, you know, someone asks me to show off :D

But anyways, I'd like something that hasn't been done to death. I don't really want to learn Donna Lee, or Punk Jazz, or Slang or a Vitcor Wooten piece.

I would appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks y'all!
Click to expand...

There are many ways. I think a good start is to listen to the melodies and lead vocals in songs, jingles, etc... and learn them. Or try. It puts you in a little different headspace than "holding down the low end" sometimes. I think that different frame of mind that puts you in a place to think contectually about soloing and playing melodies can be as important as any technical ability or experience in playing solos/melodies.

Think of a melody that you would sing, or would like to hear someone else play, and then learn how to play what you imagine. It doesn't have to be a crazy melody or something profound. Even simple melodies can be exciting and perfect for the music.

There are tons of other ideas, but these are my thoughts.
 
#20
mikeypbass said:
51m0n said:
You want to really show off?

Bach's Cello Suite No.1 in G in the same octave as cello, on a 4 string (you will need 24 frets but it is playable - just).



Amen to that, that happens to be my favorite classical piece of all time

PS. On the arrangement I have 24 frets isn't necessary
Click to expand...

Well, if you're doing it in the same octave as the cello (octave up from what's written if you're reading it as a bassist), then yeah, you need 24 frets. If you're doing it in the bass octave, you need a 5 string. There exists double bass transcriptions that transpose it to C so you can read it as written in the bass register and so you don't need 24 frets, if that's what you're talking about by "arrangement", otherwise, its not what's written.
Click to expand...
 

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