Double Bass Jimmy Garrison on Impressions

[Scott Garrison]

Hello, I'm a relatively new double bassist (a few years, though many of listening to jazz and playing electric bass). I'll start by saying that for the first 1-2 years I had a teacher, though he moved on from teaching and with my financial situation right now I can't currently get another teacher, though I worked enough with one to not have developed bad technique early on, and since I stopped working with a teacher I've managed to progress a pretty great deal anyways. So with that being said, I'd appreciate if the responses in this discussion are not "get a teacher and talk to them about this". I'm posting here because I can't afford a teacher to talk to about this right now.

Anyways, to what I was saying, Jimmy Garrison (who I happen to share a last name with) has easily become one of my biggest influences, I love his phrasing and sense of time and note choice. Lately I've been transcribing a lot of his walking behind Trane on various different recordings of Impressions. I've noticed that he very frequently begins phrases in the D Dorian sections with a G, and many phrases on the Eb Dorian section with an Ab, even at the start of the form. He rarely ever begins with the root like most bassists I've seen. I've advanced enough to know that you don't *always need to start on the root*, but I'm just curious as to why and how he chooses to do that. Sorry if these are eye-rolling questions, but is there a name or particular reason for this? How do you know when it's acceptable to do that and when you should play the root instead? because he does this *a lot*, I mean, more than he starts with the root, and I think it sounds great and I'd love to incorporate these things into my playing, but first I need to know how to go about choosing to do that (on any tune), and it's not appropriate.

If this is poorly worded or not easy to understand, let me know and I'll try to explain differently. below is two examples of him doing this:
Thanks

(around 8:16-8:17 he begins walking at the end of his solo, and starts with an open G)

(right at the start!)

 

[ericsmith]

When you play a G over the Dm7 chord, the sound is very different.

What I’m saying is that I think it’s a conscious decision from Mr. Garrison (and probably the whole band) to have the the D dorian sound with a G on the bass. So it’s a bsically a G7 sound. But it can still sound like the D dorian, depending what the soloists and the pianist plays.

Atleast this is what I think…I’ve been thinking and listening to the same thing too.

 

[sean_on_bass]

The short and straight answer is because he apparently thinks it sounds good. There are really no hard rules or guidance on what notes to start your line on. But obviously how you do it will change the overall vibe of your sound. What you are experiencing is really the process of defining bass playing styles that you like and want to incorporate into your own playing. You start following the bread crumbs, just like your observation that Mr. Garrison is not strictly starting on roots. I suggest you follow the example and experiment with how you create your lines to investigate how it affects your sound. Hope this helps!

 

[Martin Beer]

When I've jammed on that tune, I noticed that it sounds very pedestrian if I start on roots all the time.(It took me a little while, so I'm probably guilty of some horribly plodding performances). I think because it doesn't have a lot of changes, it doesn't take as much to outline the form as it would with a couple of chord changes per bar.

 

[ericsmith]

The short and straight answer is because he apparently thinks it sounds good. There are really no hard rules or guidance on what notes to start your line on. But obviously how you do it will change the overall vibe of your sound. What you are experiencing is really the process of defining bass playing styles that you like and want to incorporate into your own playing. You start following the bread crumbs, just like your observation that Mr. Garrison is not strictly starting on roots. I suggest you follow the example and experiment with how you create your lines to investigate how it affects your sound. Hope this helps!

Great answer!

 

[turf3]

Tyner was well known for using a lot of fourths in his playing - in the spots you're talking about, is he also playing a lot of Gs in the key of D? That would tend to put the whole band into that fourths sound and might well explain why Garrison also brought out the fourth.