Jazz soloing technique

[KeyBoneSax]

Although I'm not really a bass player, just a musicians with access to some bass instruments... I'll throw this in.
From the viewpoint of what I like to hear... I like solo's in general to start with the melody, so as a listener I have a base point. Then make it 'bassier'. To me that means more rhythmic, not too many long tones. Then start deviating from the base melody ... double time.. altered rhythm... switch to minor and back... I guess the correct scales are involved, but as you add passing notes, blue notes, etc.. the line gets blurry... Anyway, that's what I like to hear. I'm still learning to walk.

 

[fep]

Most important is groove and rhythm for bass solos, imo. Important for any instrument but especially important for bass.

Two words: Victor Wooten

 

[bassolf]

Jimmy Haslip uses pentatonics all over the place. Work with the minor pentatonic lesson above and you will do fine.... Haslip has more of a fusion approach than old school jazz. As to the discussion of practising scales vs not practising scales I’d do both. Learn the head of different jazz standards like: Donna Lee, Confirmation, Au Privave. Study the chord changes, play them arpeggiated, look for II V I progressions and practise over them. For morr contemporary sounds, practise scales like: Lydian mode, dorian mode, altered scale and so on. But most of all LISTEN to the players you want to sound more like, and learn their solos...Or check out my videos about some of this themes:

All of that is true. Of Monk and Ellington, etc.

However, I've made an extensive study of Jimmy Haslip's solos. He's the bassist I want to sound like the most and he RARELY plays outside notes. His solos are 99% diatonic to the scale and he sounds awesome all the time.

I'm saying this to make the point that jazz doesn't have to be as complicated as people want to make it. It's not. It's not hard. It's not magic. You just have to work on sounding good with whatever notes you want to use. Ever notice that the people who can REALLY play, never talk about all that esoteric stuff? Everybody doesn't need to be Ellington.

I play a lot of jazz gigs (pretty much exclusively) and I got all caught up in that stuff till I realized, it doesn't matter that much. Just sound good and people will dig it.

It still takes a long time to get good, but don't worry about the rabbit holes.

 

[NOLA bass55]

I completely agree with Mushroo.

 

[mje]

A really great exercise (I think I got it from a Victor Wooten video?) is, while soloing over a progression, for every possible note (all 12 notes of the chromatic scale) figure out how to make that note sound good in the progression.

I don’t know who first said it, but years ago I read that every modality contains 8 scalar notes and 4 passing tones. That’s a good way to approach improvisation.

 

[Mushroo]

I completely agree with Mushroo.

Sigged!

 

[Pete Langford]

(1. You want to sound like YOU, not anyone else. Heard way to many "music store" players thinking they sound like Jaco. Really? (2. Solo's don't get you gig's, you are the bass player. Even the great ones know that. Like I heard in Nashville, "no money above the 5th fret". Learning the melody is the right way to go wether you solo or not. One dudes opinion.

 

[Spoonbender]

I saw a guy do a lecture on “resolution” and how some notes, like the chordal tones are stronger. He used as examples a bunch of totally random and outside lines with strong resolutions. It sounded amazing.

 

[Robert McVey]

Lots of good feedback on this topic. My 2¢ involves Miles Davis: Kind of Blue, Learning the bass part/chord changes to every track on that album until you feel comfortable with it then start learning the notes Miles is using throughout, then Coltrane’s notes... You will gradually get the feel for the expression and note vocabulary. There are a lot of good dynamics on that record not to mention it being fairly chill. Pick up the Bass Grimoire to learn various scales, also practice intervals to limber up. And, another good practice is switching between major and minor within the same key, understanding major and minor 3rd, 6th and 7th and how they effect the mood and how you want to express those notes over a progression. Listen to a lot of Jaco Pastorius and get a feel for how he speaks on the bass... Extend your reach on the fingerboard, play in 3rds, 6ths both major and minor, use 2nd and 4th notes as passing notes. Incorporate the Blue Note, diminished scales, find your landmarks on the beat whether it be the root, 3rd, 5th, 7th. Express between those landmarks or glide through them if you wish. Play Chromatically, but emphasize your landmarks. Speak clearly with your notes even if they sound wrong. Remember that there is always a landmark within reach. Just don’t lose sight of the melody, beat... Bass soloing is like jumping off since you are no longer laying down the foundation. Have fun with it but remember to find your ground again.

 

[Heshima]

Learning to solo is like learning to speak. A baby doesn't come out of the womb defending a doctoral dissertation. It learns sounds, then letters, then syllables, simple words, phrases, and so forth.

They learn leimRily by listening and imitating. What you listen to has a great deal with how you will hear or conceptualize your solos.

Of course you have to learn scales(of which there are many). You also have to study harmony; understanding the relationship of chirdsband how they move. Buy some books of transcriptions like a Charlie Parker Omnibook or a set of transcriptions of another one of your favorite soloists. Study those transcription. Listen to recordings of the actual artist playing those solos and listen for phrasing, inflection, and all of the elements. It's not just the notes he/she plays but HOW they play them.

And finally, get together with musicians and PLAY. We don't learn this art form in a box.


I hope this helps!

Keep going! Don't stop.

Heshima

 

[gelemeron]

Actually, scales help. Most of the time jazz solos are improvised. You can't improvise if dont know wich notes you can play over a chord or progression.

In jazz, it is more the arpeggio that is required instead of the scale. For example, if you are playing over a Cmaj7 chord, you would use C E G B as your tonal center. The other notes you choose 'could' be from a C major scale, but not necessarily. You could use a melodic idea like one above and one below each chord tone, dbC, f d# E, etc ... The above and below notes can be from a scale or just some chromatic notes ... it's most important where you land and those out of scale chromatic notes give it your unique flavor. that's more what jazz is about. But you have to know the chord tones. Once you get there, there is also the huge idea of chord substitution. For example, instead of thinking of playing a Cmaj7 arpeggio, you could use an E-7 arppegio, or even play an Eminor blues lick over a Cmaj7 chord.

 

[ERIC A]

Just remember that you will never be hired because you solo well. Feel is number 1...but I'm sure someone had already said that

 

[Eyetalic]

Thanks very much for your help,
Been playing a long time, playing rock, pop, funk, but in terms of soloing, runs, it's all sounding the same, so just love jazz sounding solos, fills, was just looking for a basis

Actually, John Coltrane used scales quite heavily from the book by Slonimsky, Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. He inspired a lot of other people. If you pull out all the notes from people's solos, you'll find many that comes from Slonimsky. Jazzers use scales, whether by learning them or copying other people who use them. They just don't want to admit it. Goes with the territory.

 

[davidlwillism]

I watch players soloing some jazz sounding chops, I solo but never can create the sound, what scales are being used in a jazz solo.
Thanks

True scales are not used in the sense or arpeggios and the like. However I do think it is critical to know the scale of the key you are in. I use mostly a blues scale which fits over both major and minor scales and is thus most useful. In short, it is like twenty minutes to learn how to do a movable blues scale. Once you determine the key, you can play "in the groove," that is, around the root of the key. That is the key to most jazz, especially bop. For other musical forms, the same scale can be used to readily find the melody.

 

[Gakumonman]

I love solo jizzing! I got great technique!

 

[gtrimprov]

If it’s modal jazz, then obviously that’s mainly about scales.

Sometimes they put Dm7 as the chord when it really means jamming on the white notes with D as the tone centre (dorian mode). Double stopping some fifths for that drone effect can work.



For improvising on chords, let’s take D7 as our example. You’ll know that the notes for the chords are D, F#, A & C, and that very often the next chord is some sort of G chord.

Experiment to get used to how it sounds when your D7 phrase ends with D, or with F#, or with A, or with C. They’re not completely interchangeable - each has its own subtlety, and this matters if, say, you are creating a D7 fill.

I can’t describe the differences properly, but F# & C more definitely lead into that G chord, the D is, well, kind of direct & obvious, and the A is more neutral & keeps the listener guessing.

When you’re improvising on that D7, it can be useful to choose the note you end with based on the above, and make that note a kind of target.

If you only use notes from the D7 chord itself, that’s too restricting. Other notes to play include E (or Eb), which you can think of as turning D7 into D9 (or D7b9), and B, which you can think of as turning D7 into D13.

But actually, all sorts of chromatic non-chord notes can be used to link chord notes. What’s appropriate depends on the genre.

 

[Robert McVey]

Dave Holland Quartet: Extensions

 

[Timateo]

Soloing in any context is all about ears and muscle memory. Practice the scales, modes, and arpeggios. Learn melodies. Listen to, and copy the masters whose playng you most admire. And, don't be afraid to fail. We grow more by failure than success. Wherever you are in the process, go play.

 

[brianrost]

Actually, John Coltrane used scales quite heavily from the book by Slonimsky, Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.

That book isn't just scales...it's also melodic patterns which are way more important IMO. I don't have that book, but do use Jerry Coker's "Patterns for Jazz" which is what the title says, a text on learning various melodic patterns.

A super stupid simple example of melodic patterns from the major scale is "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music...i.e. "doe a deer, a female deer..."

Here it is in standard notation:

Everything in red is an unbroken run of notes from the scale. Leaving the rhythm up to you, it goes:

1231313 2344324 3453535 4566546 (two patterns, each repeated) then:

5123456 6234567 7345678 (same pattern repeated twice) then:

7 b7 64758

Another great melody full of cool patterns is "If I Only Had A Brain" from Wizard of Oz. Most of them span only three notes. In notation:

I love this section that ends the verse ("and my head..."):

176 (descending, then an octave jump)

6543217 (then another octave jump) <--- notice this runs the entire scale from 6 down to the 7

7654321 <---- notice this runs the entire scale from 7 down to the 1

1111


Why these melodies don't just sound like running scales because of the rhythm of the melodies and the fact that there are jumps here and there. Just enough to break things up so you don't hear them as scales. In the Wizard of Oz example, those two long runs are simply descending the full major scale!

 

[Spearsy]

What you listen to has a great deal with how you will hear or conceptualize your solos.

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