Phrasing

[stephanie]

Hey guys,

Whoah! Lots of replies. Heh. Thank you. I will have to read over them more, cuz right now my head is about to explode. ..ugh.

And Ed, thank you for those lesson links. I'm sure they will be of great help.

Originally posted by jazzbo
You know, I think I may have just missed the point that Stephanie was referring to soloing. My posts were written from the perspective of playing a bass line, not a solo.
I've been overworked and stressed, go gentle on me. Please........

No problem there, Jazzbo. My beginner mind still can't differentiate between the two anyway. But my teacher did call it soloing. At my lesson, what he would do, is strum the chords on the guitar, while I would, I guess you can say 'solo' around them. (Turned out a big mess...heh)

I think I forgot to mention the use of combining scales and arpeggios. If the guitarist is playing, say, a G major chord, are we allowed to, say, play a bit of the G major scale and then go off into the C major scale? I think this is what my teacher was trying to show me, but it's hard to explain here.

Originally posted by keithconn
Reading this makes me want to take lessons. I realize that I have no idea what you are talking about - and I want to know!!

Hehe! No worries there! I don't think I even know what I'm talking about. LOL


Anyway, thanks again for all the interesting replies.

Be well
Stephanie

 

[jazzbo]

Originally posted by stephanie
No problem there, Jazzbo. My beginner mind still can't differentiate between the two anyway. But my teacher did call it soloing. At my lesson, what he would do, is strum the chords on the guitar, while I would, I guess you can say 'solo' around them. (Turned out a big mess...heh)

Which I guess, begs the question, if you're a beginner, (hey, we're in the same boat there), why are you being taught to solo before being taught how to play jazz walking bass lines? Isn't it, "first learn walk, then learn fly..."?

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally posted by jazzbo


Which I guess, begs the question, if you're a beginner, (hey, we're in the same boat there), why are you being taught to solo before being taught how to play jazz walking bass lines? Isn't it, "first learn walk, then learn fly..."?

Well - that was what I was trying to get at in my post. It's very easy to get stuck in that walking line thing, outlining the changes and signposting the one. If you just practice this to the exclusion of everything else, then your solos just don't sound like solos, but rather - more walking lines!

I think you have to study everything together and see how one applies to the other and vice versa. If you are going to be playing Jazz as a bassplayer then you will be expected to play a decent solo. If we're talking about learning this stuff just for experience and broadening your learning then soloing is probably just as valuable as learning walking lines.

In any case - both are illustrating theory and also showing how you can use that theory in a practical situation.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Stephanie said about "If the guitarist is playing, say, a G major chord, are we allowed to, say, play a bit of the G major scale and then go off into the C major scale? I think this is what my teacher was trying to show me, but it's hard to explain here."

I think the key word here is "allowed" - I would guess that your teacher is trying to get away from that and say well - it's not a case of what's allowed but what sounds right to you in the context.

So if we're talking about chromatic notes - they are "allowed" as long as they sound OK to you. If they don't, then you almost certainly won't be able to play them convincingly enough for them to sound right to anyone else.

Similarly if someone tells you that a particular weird scale will fit over these chord changes, it's really no good unless you can hear how it fits and sounds right or you won't really be able to use it no matter how much you study the theory.

We are talking hard stuff here! But I think once you get started on this path there is a lot you can work on by yourself.

What helped me more than anything was getting a machine (Roland MicroComposer) in which I can programme chords and rhythm. So I will, for example, put in the machine a 32 -bar chord sequence - piano chords and simple drums, then set it to loop and practice playing walking lines and solos for as long as it takes on my own.

You can do the same thing with Aebersold play-along - although they don't loop for ever! Which is how long it takes!

 

[stephanie]

Originally posted by jazzbo


Which I guess, begs the question, if you're a beginner, (hey, we're in the same boat there), why are you being taught to solo before being taught how to play jazz walking bass lines? Isn't it, "first learn walk, then learn fly..."?

Yes, I learned about walking basslines some time ago. That's part of the problem at first. I was confused, I was trying to create the basslines instead of the solos I was supposed to. I didn't stop and think: "Hey, wait, this is a whole different thing." I just took the rules of the walking basslines and started applying them to soloing when it's a whole other world.