Solo bass guitar for a beginner...

[Robert in Paris]

Being that you can play guitar is a plus. I can play both, bass and guitar, so I often use the guitar in formulating a solo piece, then transpose to bass in a way that makes sense. I'm never afraid to go to a higher or lower octave/register to accomplish what I'm trying to get across -- as long as it sounds right to the ears. You will likely use chords or chord structures on the bass, with solo bass. The only guy I can think of, off hand, is Zander Zon, on YouTube. Check out some of his solo stuff.

Greetings. Can I assume that "Bass Fishing in America" is a little nod toward the Richard Brautigan novel "Trout Fishing in America"? Anyway, thanks for your reflections on transposing music to the bass. I haven't done this before, but I have transposed a lot of music, so I'm not afraid of the idea and I agree with you completely: if it sounds right, go with it. All best, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Hello Robert.
I guess you could buy a Loop pedal and fo from there.
Here are some vids to inspire you

This is wonderful stuff, Frank. Inspirational. Thanks for letting me have a listen. Best, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Aram Bedrosian is also a great solo bass player, although he also plays in ensembles as well.

Thanks for this Holme. No, I don't know Aram but I'll be sure to look him up. Best, R.

You might consider classical music as a source of material. There are a handful of bass concertos, and cello pieces are commonly played on the bass. You can get sheet music easily enough and work on your technique.

Thanks Bass Urges. Yup, I think the classical repertoire will be an important source of repertoire for me, particularly since classical is my principal guitar style. Glad to know there is so much sheet music readily available. Best, R.

 

[Altitude]

Finally - in my opinion most virtuoso bass players play too many notes to be instructive to you when trying to learn to solo. A lot of them start out solos well, but usually by the beginning of the second chorus they have moved on from melodic soloing to technical tricks.

I had to go find an example of what I meant here.

Check out Tommy Kennedy playing The Chicken with Weckl and Mike Stern. Tommy's solo begins at 2:45. It's busy to begin with but you can hear some interesting ideas. By 3:15, though, it's worthless as anything other than a display of chops. Not a lot to learn there.

 

[Robert in Paris]

The geometry of stringed instruments makes it natural for us to focus on scale tones. In soloing, scale tones sound boring. To become a good soloist on any instrument, you have to learn to speak chordally instead. That means instead of playing "A-B-C#-D" in your solo, play "A-C-E-F#-B". Singers seem to do this naturally, which is why people tell you to learn the melodies to songs.

I also suggest learning to play vocal melodies, but it doesn't have to be Twinkle-Twinkle. Even in popular music the vocal melody is often very interesting relative to how it sits on top of the chords. Learn to play the melodies to whatever songs you already like or hear on the radio, that's more fun.

Transcribe. This is work. Find a solo you like and notate it musically. Then do another one. And another. Obviously you have to be able to read music to do this. It's incredibly helpful though, because you learn to recognize patterns and integrate them into your own playing.

Listen to lots of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Much of what you're trying to learn was invented or perfected by these men.

Get out of your living room and create opportunities to play music with other humans. A living room player is no more a musician than a guy who only hits a bag is a boxer.

Finally - in my opinion, most virtuoso bass players play too many notes to be instructive to you when trying to learn to solo. A lot of them start out solos well, but usually by the beginning of the second chorus they have moved on from melodic soloing to technical tricks. Tommy Kennedy and Gary Willis are both players I like very much, but who do this a lot. I wouldn't spend more than 25% of your time listening instructively to bass players as soloists.

That said, the most accomplished bassist as a soloist, to my ears, is John Patitucci. His phrasing is exquisite and his ears are amazing. He does play a lot of notes, but unlike a lot of other guys he is improvising and playing very complex melodic lines very quickly, versus parlor tricks. He is astounding.

As for your sub-$200 jazz bass find. Pics or it didn't happen.

Thanks for this Will. You advice is very sound (no pun...) and thanks for the tip on John Patitucci, whom I didn't know. There is a clear correspondence between what you are describing and what I already do on guitar. When I play jazz it's the modes that structure my approach and I've been working on Miles for ages. Believe it or not, I've spent nearly six months on "So what" and it remains a work in progress. Difficult to imagine music more fertile than that.

I already get out of my living room a lot and play guitar with friends in jam sessions and in a few clubs around Paris, but I don't see that happening on bass, at least for awhile. I'm also working with a friend who is a soprano with the Paris Opera and is coming to the end of her career. I'm working with her on developing a more identifiable jazz style for her voice, and that's a pleasure. We're heavily into Ellington at the moment and that is another inexhaustible source. We'll be playing in the off- sectors of a two festivals, one each in the south of France and Italy during August. I'm looking forward to it.

As to the $200 Jazz bass, you're going to have to wait a bit for the pics. I don't have a smart phone (I detest them) and have no way of getting a photo onto the web. If you're in a hurry, I'll have a look around the web and send you a random shot of Jazz in shocking condition (smile). To be honest, I have absolutely no idea of the going price for a poor condition Jazz, but be aware that flea markets and attic sales have nothing to do with market prices. I just paid what the guy was asking, confident that I would be able to get it into playing condition. As soon as one of my friends comes by with an iPhone, I'll have him take a photo of that and of a Ramirez classical that I bought in the south of France about 5 years ago for $75. Took me two years to get that one into shape. Not easy to find these bargains, but they're there if you're willing to take the time. Take care. R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

I had to go find an example of what I meant here.

Check out Tommy Kennedy playing The Chicken with Weckl and Mike Stern. Tommy's solo begins at 2:45. It's busy to begin with but you can hear some interesting ideas. By 3:15, though, it's worthless as anything other than a display of chops. Not a lot to learn there.

Wonderful Will. I'll give it a close liste tomorrow. It's after midnight here in Paris and I really need a good night. Take care, Robert

 

[Watchootognbout]

Although this is one is on an ERB,the concept of what he's doing applies.
For inspiration.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

 

[BassFishingInAmerica]

Greetings. Can I assume that "Bass Fishing in America" is a little nod toward the Richard Brautigan novel "Trout Fishing in America"? Anyway, thanks for your reflections on transposing music to the bass. I haven't done this before, but I have transposed a lot of music, so I'm not afraid of the idea and I agree with you completely: if it sounds right, go with it. All best, R.

Yes, been a fan of Richard Brautigan for many years, especially his unusual poetry.

 

[TeeAre]

Cello concertos are your friends. Also, studying Bach through the lens of the bass is a lot of fun. Good luck!

 

[micguy]

Most succesful solo bassists approach the instrument from their own unique perspective. They may know how to play "normal" bass guitar, but when they play solo bass, their approach and technique are...different. If you want to be a successful solo bassist, none of us can give you that thing - you'll have to figure that out and/or develop that yourself. But for now, Id suggest working on building a base of normal technique as a " jumping off" point. Later on, when you figure out your " thing", you'll be on good shape with some basics.

 

[WardEarth]

Why restrict yourself by just playing solo? Find some ppl nearby to play with or start your own band. It will expand your horizons. I've been playing for over 10 years but only recently discovered there is nothing that matches playing and singing at the same time.
And French is the perfect language for it, chances are you are well spoken in a few languages.

 

[swafran]

I would learn 2 different things at the same time :

• What you'll be able to play today, and sound great. Technique used by the pros, some even exclusively.
  
• Other deeper techniques that take years to learn. They're important but they take a while.

The first one is figure out the overall key of a tune or passage, and play in the pentatonic scale that matches it. You get a lot of mileage, and sound authentically rock & blues right away.

The second one is learn everything else, it's a lifetime of humble discovery, and great fun.

But you never put down the first one, playing pentatonic. You'll keep using that even when you learn harder stuff.

Have fun, it's exciting to be at the start of something like this. =)

 

[StatesideRambler]

Outside classical music I'm not aware of a formal repertoire for solo bass. Naturally, we recommend a fake book or a fake book app or chord charts. Listen to guys who do great solo work and ape what they play. Vic's my fave but there are many more, several recommended by others here.

If you have or might get an iPad there's an app called iReal Pro ($13 or $15, I think) that I am completely sold on. It's the last word in fake books in my estimation but it's far better. I use it all the time for practice and for learning songs and arrangements and for drills. You can loop a whole song or a few bars or create an etude of your own. You can set the tempo and style (swing, ballad, latin, et al.), transposing is a couple taps on the screen and there's built in piano, drums and bass accompaniment if you want them. Thousands of song charts are available free! Jazz standards, pop tunes, country, blues, Broadway, etc. and you can edit them yourself.

I'll suggest taking at least a few lessons to get the rudiments right. A lot of us embed bad habits in the beginning that can be a bitch to correct after a few years. For online learning there are quite a few teachers of varying approach and quality on youtube.

Good luck. Yours sounds like a path that will be fun.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Outside classical music I'm not aware of a formal repertoire for solo bass. Naturally, we recommend a fake book or a fake book app or chord charts. Listen to guys who do great solo work and ape what they play. Vic's my fave but there are many more, several recommended by others here.

If you have or might get an iPad there's an app called iReal Pro ($13 or $15, I think) that I am completely sold on. It's the last word in fake books in my estimation but it's far better. I use it all the time for practice and for learning songs and arrangements and for drills. You can loop a whole song or a few bars or create an etude of your own. You can set the tempo and style (swing, ballad, latin, et al.), transposing is a couple taps on the screen and there's built in piano, drums and bass accompaniment if you want them. Thousands of song charts are available free! Jazz standards, pop tunes, country, blues, Broadway, etc. and you can edit them yourself.

I'll suggest taking at least a few lessons to get the rudiments right. A lot of us embed bad habits in the beginning that can be a bitch to correct after a few years. For online learning there are quite a few teachers of varying approach and quality on youtube.

Good luck. Yours sounds like a path that will be fun.

Thanks so much Rambler for your thoughtful and helpful note. At the beginning at least I'll concentrate on classical because that is also my main repertoire in guitar. I don't have an iPad, but the iReal Pro sounds like it's worth getting one for. And I agree completely that a few lessons are in order. I'll do that in September...in August in Paris, it's difficult to get just about anything done. Once again, many thanks for your help. Best, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

I would learn 2 different things at the same time :

• What you'll be able to play today, and sound great. Technique used by the pros, some even exclusively.
  
• Other deeper techniques that take years to learn. They're important but they take a while.

The first one is figure out the overall key of a tune or passage, and play in the pentatonic scale that matches it. You get a lot of mileage, and sound authentically rock & blues right away.

The second one is learn everything else, it's a lifetime of humble discovery, and great fun.

But you never put down the first one, playing pentatonic. You'll keep using that even when you learn harder stuff.

Have fun, it's exciting to be at the start of something like this. =)

Thanks Swafran for the sound advice. It is particularly useful as I use pentatonics all the time on guitar in jazz, and particularly in blues. A lifetime of humble discovery suits me perfectly, and I look forward to it. Thanks again, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Why restrict yourself by just playing solo? Find some ppl nearby to play with or start your own band. It will expand your horizons. I've been playing for over 10 years but only recently discovered there is nothing that matches playing and singing at the same time.
And French is the perfect language for it, chances are you are well spoken in a few languages.

I fully understand where you're coming from, WardEarth, but keep in mind that I'm already a pretty active guitar player and play in ensemble all the time. I agree with you about playing and singing. That is something else that I do in jazz, but particularly in blues (yes, I sing in French and at the moment I'm working on a number of songs by Claude Nougaro). For the moment, I'm going to try to integrate the bass into my musical life, and we'll see what happens from there. Many thanks for your note. Best, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Most succesful solo bassists approach the instrument from their own unique perspective. They may know how to play "normal" bass guitar, but when they play solo bass, their approach and technique are...different. If you want to be a successful solo bassist, none of us can give you that thing - you'll have to figure that out and/or develop that yourself. But for now, Id suggest working on building a base of normal technique as a " jumping off" point. Later on, when you figure out your " thing", you'll be on good shape with some basics.

Good advice, micguy. When I began with classical guitar I was self-taught, quickly picked up a number of bad habits, and paid the price later getting rid of them. I'll definitely get some help with my technique, right from the beginning. Thanks for your note. Best, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Cello concertos are your friends. Also, studying Bach through the lens of the bass is a lot of fun. Good luck!

Thanks TeeAre. Your note made me smile because the Bach cello suites are the backbone of my guitar repertory so you can be assure that your advice will be heeded. Thanks for your note. Best, R.

 

[Robert in Paris]

Yes, been a fan of Richard Brautigan for many years, especially his unusual poetry.

I share your love of Brautigan and had tears in my eyes when he committed suicide. Best, R.