I like to solo, but it has to be in the right context (jazz and blues for me)....the worst is playing a random tune and out of the blue they say bass solo.... :0
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
Is it weird to not want a solo?
- Thread starter autodidact
- Start date
I rarely solo at all playing rock. Maybe once late in the night on a funk tune. When playing jazz, which I do a fair amount, people sometimes assume every tune needs a bass solo. However, I decline on maybe a third of the tunes - those that I don't feel a bass solo would sound good in. Some tunes lend themselves to soloing more than others, and I think it should be the bass player's call which are which.
Most recently, I've been playing upright with a folk/alt-rock trio. With either electric or upright, I've usually avoided soloing, because it never really fit my idea of the bass's role in a band. However, we do one cover song now that is kind of a darker tune, and as we worked out our arrangement, a verse-long bass solo just evolved out of it, comfortably and fittingly. Each time we do it, I feel it is an opportunity to stretch and expand my technique, ability, etc. And I don't feel like a hog about it, because it seems so natural in its place. Any more would be too forced and too much. It's new to me!
I love solos provided they are tasteful. The challenge is that bass and drums are usually the foundation of many types of music, so you have to plan it carefully otherwise the guts drop out when we stop to solo. That means putting the solo somewhere it fits dynamically or having something else hold the bottom end.
Examples I love in the rock genre:
Alice Cooper - Gutter Cat vs. the Jets - YouTube (at the start)
Invalid Link Removed (solo at approx 2:33)
Paul Young - I´m gonna tear your Playhouse down 1984 - YouTube (I see the bass as the lead instrument basically soloing right thru)
The Angels - Marseilles - YouTube (3:35...short and sweet)
Examples I love in the rock genre:
Alice Cooper - Gutter Cat vs. the Jets - YouTube (at the start)
Invalid Link Removed (solo at approx 2:33)
Paul Young - I´m gonna tear your Playhouse down 1984 - YouTube (I see the bass as the lead instrument basically soloing right thru)
The Angels - Marseilles - YouTube (3:35...short and sweet)
Excellent examples. The one I mentioned previously is here:
CoC video - My Grain - YouTube (about 1:00 into the video)
pbd
Commercial User
unless its part of a song, I'm not a big fan of doing solos, I enjoy good music, if your playing fits into the song I think that much better than doing a solo anyway
my 2 cents,
Todd
my 2 cents,
Todd
While I have nothing against anybody doing a bass solo, I've never had the desire to do one. I mean, having areas in a song where just the bass and drums are getting a groove going with no other instuments playing is one thing. But "bass solo...go!!"....it's not me.
I take them occasionally, but I have to be feeling it that night. Normally I just go for it and the band follows along, but sometimes, I'll tell the guys I want to take one on a specific tune. In my current band I have 3 planned solos which is unusual for me, but they fit and work. I usually go up high on the 7 string and let the keyboard player lay down the bass.
I was in a jam-band situation where ad-lib solo was expected. I was in bands that played songs with written bass solos.
And I never liked soloing. I only solo if I really think I have to.
And I never liked soloing. I only solo if I really think I have to.
For me, there's a proper time and place for a bass solo, and that's usually once a night for about 30 seconds max.
I am glad to see im not alone in my lack of interest in bass solos. I play in a black sabbath cover band, and sometimes im asked to play the intro solo to NIB... but i really dont like it. I dont think it fits at all, so i dont usually play it. One time i did play it, and my drummer says "you should play it again... but with more feel".. and i just stared at him, because i had played it pretty much dead on. I think sometimes people have the impression that a bass solo is the same thing as a guitar solo... when really its not. Which is why i dont like doing them.
I guess im just happy being a great rhythm player. I also take comfort in the fact that without my bass playing, the guitar sounds like it has no balls!
I guess im just happy being a great rhythm player. I also take comfort in the fact that without my bass playing, the guitar sounds like it has no balls!
One such part that kinda feels like a solo, but isn't, is after the drum solo in Spoonman (Soundgarden). It is actually part of the riff, but it does sound a bit like a solo, but groovy.
I'll throw in a solo once in a while, but I don't really do solos very much. I find that with my three piece, very prog-oriented band, the whole song is pretty much a solo anyway. 
I will do the occasional solo but obviously, if I wanted to solo a lot I'd have chosen another instrument.
I sometimes play them use my fuzz and wah to induce feedback etc....but i prefer to intro into a song...much like the solo Gezzer does right before N.I.B.
