So, you have finished your bass solo...

[Wasnex]

[f] the bass player gets a solo?

It was expected in the combos I worked in. Usually it was a trio bass, drums, and either keys or guitar. The gigs were background music.

 

[J Wilson]

The slickest ones I've heard, the guy is through saying he's s piece, then begins an intro figure that they all know it:s time to come in

 

[Altitude]

The end of your solo should be musically clear. If your band mates can't tell when you're done, you have a problem with the way you've structured your solo.

That said, eye contact or a visual cue can help. Here is Victor Wooten with Dave Matthews for example. He was soloing over a repeating 4-bar form and watch here as he wraps it up with body language and makes eye contact to tell the band he is done:



Here's another example with me wrapping up a solo over an AABA form. I am much more demonstrative with my cue than Wooten, and his solo was way better.

 

[JazznFunk]

Well, if it's a song with a form you're following (think 'jazz standard' AABA or something like that), there should be no question where the beginning and end is. Assuming all goes to plan, it's usually it's a combo of dynamics and a quick glance to make sure everyone's on the same page. Everyone should know the form and be able to feel/hear when a solo is done. In terms of an open-ended one or 2 chord jam, I still rely on dynamics and a quick glance. If I'm going around again for a 2nd chorus, or we're headed to a D.S. or elsewhere to take the song out, I'll definitely give a look around and simplify my playing to 'land the plane' properly into the next section. Sometimes my landings are better than others.

Bottom line, there has to be a combo of aural AND visual confirmation on stage IMO... but the aural part has to take precedence. If we're in a recording session with few-to-no sightlines to other players, then agreeing on who goes first and gets how many solos pretty much has to be agreed upon well in advance, since there's no head nodding if you can't see each other, and everyone has to follow the chart to the letter... err, bar.

 

[FullumMusic]

It can work this way (everyone gets one time through the form). This is not a hard fast rule though. Many groups allows players to solo over as many repeats of the form as they like. I frequently find it desirable to limit each solo to 2 times through the form. Some players will solo pretty much endlessly if you allow them to. In my experience, most people don't have anything interesting left to say after 2 times through . I usually only do one time through .

Fair... and yes, unless, unless your name is also part of the band's name, you probably shouldn't go more than twice around for you solo (and really once around is probably more than enough for most people ,) they probably shouldn't go more than 2 times around.

But even if it's up to the players to decide how many times around they're going, still, generally, they're going full times around. If you're all playing 32 bar form and you shouldn't be taking a 53 bar solo. If that's what you're doing, it doesn't matter how much you make it sound like the solo is ending, it's the wrong spot to end it.

So anyone waiting for the solo to end should be following the form and know it's coming at 32, 64, or some multiple thereof. And really if the soloist is good enough to play more than 2 times around, they better be REALLY amazing because going 3 times around is weird, so they better be good enough for 4 times around.

 

[AndyMopley]

Thanks all - to give it more context...it's a relatively small ensemble, with 4 horns, + rhytm, playing a lot of standards charts. The "train wreck" - to quote brianrost - is when we are comig out of the bass solo, where everyone else switches off, but all need to come in at the end of it, with conviction.
More often than not, it tends to be a "tentative" entrance.

Maybe I'll simply start to walk the last 4 bars, and use that as the cue. And also have a discussion with the band, as suggested!

Thanks again, much appreciated.

 

[turf3]

Train wreck causes:

- Soloist forgets where he is in form (especially with tunes that don't have much harmonic movement - so, Impressions...)
- Tunes with a tag where not everyone got on the same sheet about when to play the tag and when not to (I'm looking at YOU, Rhythm Changes, Ja-Da, etc....)
- Soloist blows past the end of the form into the next one, then stops abruptly two or three bars in - if there's a "next soloist" they can come in and pick up from there, but if the plan's to go to the head, what do you do?
- To vamp before going to the head, like we did at the beginning of the tune, or not? Half the band wants to, half doesn't, but we didn't discuss, or someone forgot...

I like to end a solo a bit before the last beat of the last bar, with a phrase that makes it clear it's the end.

 

[AndyMopley]

I voted other. I don't solo.

True story : I went to a jazz performance las night. Very famous trumpet player. Every time there was a bass solo , my mind started drifting away. I'm sure I fell asleep a couple of times. I can't imagine what it was like for the rest of the audience.

Fair enough! Whilst the solo thing is a personal choice, I see it as a way to "extend" our own music ability. To some extent, the job is faciilated by the fact that as bass players, we have a solid knowldge of chords and rhytm. As important pillars as they are, there is a lot more to improvizing.

When you are a lone instrument (in a lot of instances), and improvising, the task of keeping audience's interest up is so much harder! (imho), so I symphatize!

 

[bass player 53]

Ok, so even the best of us screw up
occasionally. At the 6 minute mark,
after George Mraz' wonderful solo,
Stan Getz comes back in 4 bars late
with the melody on the tune Beatrice.
Go figure…

 

[FullumMusic]

is when we are comig out of the bass solo, where everyone else switches off, but all need to come in at the end of it, with conviction.

Are you playing upright or electric bass? And are they comping the changes lightly under the solos, or does everyone stop playing?

What you said makes it seem that part of the band's problem is nobody is keeping time or providing a foundation for the bass solo, and when they stop playing, they stop counting too. They should be counting. Or they shouldn't stop playing and continue light comping the changes under the bass solo. Or they should both be counting and comping under the bass solo.

This is a peeve of mine. I know it comes from back in the day when upright players were hard to hear in an ensemble so everyone would stop playing during the bass solo. But if you're amplified, they don't need to stop. It's like everyone else in the band gets the changes comped under them, and then when it's the bassist's turn, the one who's been holding everything together for everyone else, everyone just stops playing leaving us high & dry without the chords or the changes or the structure or the beat.

Still, regardless of who's solo it is, everyone should be keeping track of their counts, and everyone should know where in the structure they are, even if they're not playing. If they both stop playing AND stop counting, and expect you to not only solo, but do their counting and cuing for them? Nah. {i'm finished yelling at the cloud now}

 

[fdeck]

I play mostly jazz. Having the duration of solos match the form of a tune is the time honored default approach if nothing else has been agreed upon. The players who are not soloing keep track of the form by whatever means necessary. This is basic competence.

Open-ended solos, for instance on top of a vamp, are usually a minor train wreck, but somehow there's this aversion to planning things out in advance.

With exception to the big-band, where bass solos are rare, I usually solo on every tune. Twice around the form is usually enough for me unless it's a really short form. If a solo is going well, I'll keep going. If not, maybe once around the form is enough.

I decide to my own satisfaction how much bass soloing is appropriate for any given situation.

 

[REV]

In one band I played in the lead singer actually counted and would visually cue me and the rest of the band when the solo was over. If the solo was going particularly well he would let me continue for another 12 bars and then cue everybody. Sometimes at the end of a solo he would say on the mic " Thank ya baby".

 

[JazznFunk]

Are you playing upright or electric bass? And are they comping the changes lightly under the solos, or does everyone stop playing?

What you said makes it seem that part of the band's problem is nobody is keeping time or providing a foundation for the bass solo, and when they stop playing, they stop counting too. They should be counting. Or they shouldn't stop playing and continue light comping the changes under the bass solo. Or they should both be counting and comping under the bass solo.

This is a peeve of mine. I know it comes from back in the day when upright players were hard to hear in an ensemble so everyone would stop playing during the bass solo. But if you're amplified, they don't need to stop. It's like everyone else in the band gets the changes comped under them, and then when it's the bassist's turn, the one who's been holding everything together for everyone else, everyone just stops playing leaving us high & dry without the chords or the changes or the structure or the beat.

Still, regardless of who's solo it is, everyone should be keeping track of their counts, and everyone should know where in the structure they are, even if they're not playing. If they both stop playing AND stop counting, and expect you to not only solo, but do their counting and cuing for them? Nah. {i'm finished yelling at the cloud now}

And, honestly, everyone should have the melody in their heads at all times to some degree. Even better - as the soloist, the bassist constructs their solo with some melody notes, or references the chords in a straightforward way at a few key spots. I've gotten used to doing this over the years in situations without chords - which I find myself in a lot. Even a double stop here and there to define the quality of a chord at X turnaround says 'hey, I know where I am, and here's where I am if you're lost for some reason.'

 

[Passinwind]

[f] the bass player gets a solo?

Yep, one to three choruses in at least 75% of the tunes in every jazz combo I ever gigged with, except on a few very long form pieces.

In my playing situations usually everyone was expected to count, and I was expected to wrap up with an obvious harmonic resolution, and 2 or sometimes 4 bars as a lead in to the head.

 

[roccobass]

I cue the end by falling back into the bass line for two bars, but it's amazing how often it's still a train wreck.

YES YES YES!!

 

[fdeck]

Sometimes if the bass has the last solo, they can launch back into the intro.

 

[roccobass]

Seriously, I usually only if it's a jazz situation. It's understood that I do one " entire time" around,this includes first and second endings and if there's a bridge. Still I give visual cues. Some groups are right on top of it. However, my current group has one guy who's a bit slow on the uptake.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

other here. I leave the solos to guitarists. I figure if I want to solo i need to play guitar

 

[2112]

In every project I've ever played in, whether on bass or not, the end of a bass solo was always marked by the crowd returning from intermission.

 

[TTA]

i sometimes end my solo when the house lights go off. Some say i have yet to finish the solo from my last gig…