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Impressive Solos

metalhead398

metalhead398

Jul 23, 2013
211
32
Ventura
#1
Hey guys and gals,

So in my English class (high school), the students have been assigned a project, simply titled "15 minutes of fame." The idea behind the project is basically to show off a talent, or somehow say goodbye to the class since it's the end of the semester soon. So naturally, I thought I'd do a bass solo or two, since I'm the only bassist in the class (and one of the very few in the school). The problem is, I can't quite think of a few good solos that would fill the required 10-15 minutes without doing like 6-8 different solos, which would kinda be ridiculous, in my opinion. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have a 4 and a 6 at my disposal, so any extra-stringed solos are not a problem.

Thank you in advance!
 
#2
15 minutes of Bass Solo? isn't it too long?

BTW...
bass-solo-jpg.jpg

A traveler takes his first trip to Africa.

When he gets off the plane, the first thing he hears is drums. He asks his African friend, "What's up with the drums?" His friend tells him, "The drums never stop."

He thinks, OK, this is Africa, there should be drums. He goes to his hotel, but he can't get any sleep - the drums keep him up all night. Everywhere he goes, drums.

Finally, he asks his friend, "What do you mean 'the drums never stop'?"

His friend says, "if the drums stop, it's very bad. They must never stop."

Still, everywhere he goes, drums. He can't sleep. He can't think. It's driving him crazy. Finally, in desperation, he asks his friend, "Why can't they stop the drumming? What would happen that is so terrible?"

Silence... Then his friend looks at him, with a terrified expression on his face.

"Drums stop - bass solo!"
 
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#6
How if you create yourself 'solo' or bass performance? perhaps adapting some easy & famous song, play them with your bass with enough sense of humor? if you can involving the audience with your performance, sing along or something interactive, it'd be even better...not easy, but can entertain enough instead of pyro-technique flashy solo type, perhaps..
 
#7
bluesdogblues said:
How if you create yourself 'solo' or bass performance? perhaps adapting some easy & famous song, play them with your bass with enough sense of humor? if you can involving the audience with your performance, sing along or something interactive, it'd be even better...not easy, but can entertain enough instead of pyro-technique flashy solo type, perhaps..
Click to expand...
What do you mean by 'sense of humor'? This seems like a good idea.
 
#8
OK, there's a story of "The Police"..
..at one of their show, the drum were broken by accident in the middle of a song,.. while the tech/roadies try to fix the drum as fast as they can,..Sting as the bassist with his confidence & showmanship try to take control of the situation by sings and plays with his bass (impromptu) "Yellow Rose of Texas",..

read here

Invalid Link Removed

But flexibility doesn't always make for great rock 7 roll. The night before the Ritz show, the Police hit Madison Square Garden for the first time, and got off to a shaky start. Although Sting's vocals and bass playing were precise and controlled, and Stewart Copeland's drumming electric, the band had trouble connecting with the huge audience.



Until a minor mishap occurred. Somebody in the crowd lobbed a bottle of bourbon into Copeland's snare drum, and it went right through the head. While technicians scurried to the scene like ants converging on a cookie crumb, the Police were mired in a nightmare challenge. What do you do when 20 thousand people are out there, and you can't play a note?



Sting pulled through the situation, proving what a remarkable showman he is. " A real supergroup would go off at this point. But we're just ********, so I guess we'll stay." He picked up his custom bass stick - an upright that looks like an anorexic string bass - and accompanied himself on 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas'. Wearing a black academic robe and flapping his arms from side to side, Sting looked like a mad professor who'd wandered into a punk club. The crowd ate it up, and from that point, they were with the Police 100 percent.



"That's the beautiful part of what the band are doing," Ian Copeland said later. "They managed to bring the atmosphere of a club into Madison Square Garden."
Click to expand...
 
#9
bluesdogblues said:
OK, there's a story of "The Police"..
..at one of their show, the drum were broken by accident in the middle of a song,.. while the tech/roadies try to fix the drum as fast as they can,..Sting as the bassist with his confidence & showmanship try to take control of the situation by sings and plays with his bass (impromptu) "Yellow Rose of Texas",..

read here

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...
Ok, I think I understand you better now. Thanks for the input. Anyone else?
 
#11
Here's an idea. Instead of trying to fill your entire 15-minute slot with solo bass, talk to the class a bit about the art of bass playing, and what it is you do, while demonstrating it on the bass. After a 7-minute (or so) presentation, have a short question-and-answer period, and then finish off with a 5-minute bass solo that will knock their socks off.
 
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#12
Bassist4Eris said:
Here's an idea. Instead of trying to fill your entire 15-minute slot with solo bass, talk to the class a bit about the art of bass playing, and what it is you do, while demonstrating it on the bass. After a 7-minute (or so) presentation, have a short question-and-answer period, and then finish off with a 5-minute bass solo that will knock their socks off.
Click to expand...
This sounds really good actually. I think this is what I'll do. Thank you :)
 
#13
metalhead398 said:
This sounds really good actually. I think this is what I'll do. Thank you :)
Click to expand...
Excuse me,...but...Are you sure the audience of an english class like yours (will) have any interest of bass or bass playing?
I think you'd better think of something that more common and has more possibility to have their attention (that has something to do with your bass playing if you'd like) in this case. IMHO it's the 'music'. And the most important thing is: how you perform it (that's why I said about 'sense of humor etc)...the less bass specific you are, the better response you'll get IMHO.
Well even in an event of "Free Bass Clinic" of famous bass players, (say they are A, B, and C),..people who come to the clinic sometimes only interested to one of the three bassists.
I've been in situation that more or less just like what will you experience, so I speak from my experience.
 
#14
As a retired high school teacher, I have some idea of where he's coming from and he's on the right track. Most of his classmates will be interested in what he does because he's doing it and he is part of them, not because they're dyed in the wool bass aficionados. Go head and good luck. I've got three grandkids graduating this weekend and next.

Raf
 
#16
Try Viktor Lörincz's "Boomerang". Its about 2 minutes long, but if you can get it down, its pretty darn impressive to anyone. There's a full transcription of it on the No Treble website. Also, any tunes done with a looper is usually quite impressive. Victor's "Isn't she Lovely" arrangement never fails to impress IME. And then of course there's the plethora of Jaco solo tunes you could always do. Extended range stuff for a 6 string, I have little to no knowledge, but lately I've been listening to a lot of Alain Caron, and some of his songs like "D-Code" is pretty far out stuff. Hope this helps :)
 
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#17
Good idea about the 'looping' or looper things, and alike,.. something that might interesting for everybody in more general level.
If you ever watch Paul McCartney's "Invalid Link Removed", it's interesting how McCartney involving his audience. You can 'copy' that idea. Perhaps adapt it a it. Particularly, there's moment when he gives some audience some percussion instruments, and he asks them to participate in the 'new song' he creates at that moment.
Doesn't need fancy gears or technique, ..if it can 'touch' the audience, it'll be better.
 
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