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suck it up and solo?

#42
inasilentway said:
I would say that if it is a pickup gig or your band has guests, this is true. But the difference is that jomahu has repeatedly told her band that she does not want to solo and they insist. The only thing more embarrasing than being a bandleader and having someone refuse to solo is being a bassist grooving along and then being put on the spot in front of a crowd when you really do not want to solo and have made it clear.

One thing might be that they are Berklee grads. Not to slam the school, as I went there too, but many times in ensembles I had to solo when I wasn't really feeling it, as there was sort of an "everyone has to take a solo" vibe in the air. It was frankly somewhat annoying to be forced to solo when I really, really dislike bass solos, but then again I come from a rock background in the first place. So...
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Well, there are plenty of gigs for bassists who don't want to solo, that's for sure. But that's no reason not to learn how to do it competently. I think learning how to solo (not that I'm any great shakes at it but I've got a few tricks in me) is not only important for the aspect of not feeling like a chump when someone says "Take it" and you say no, but I think it improves your groove as well. If you can solo and keep a good feeling happening through the solo, then you most certainly can do it when the pressure's off.

I'm sorry, but I'm firmly in the "you should take a solo when asked" camp. Jomahu is an excellent bassist, and soloing is well within her range as a player. When I first started playing, I had a bandleader who would literally drag me from the side of the stage to front and center so I could solo, and if I hadn't tried to do something, it would have made us all look like fools. My first few solos sucked. So what? I caught on eventually.

I don't get it. I thought people played music because they wanted to stand out.
 
#43
JimmyM said:
I'm sorry, but I'm firmly in the "you should take a solo when asked" camp. Jomahu is an excellent bassist, and soloing is well within her range as a player.
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I listened to Jomahu's MySpace clips last night. If I were the bandleader, or even just someone in the audience, I'd definitely want to hear a bass solo on that first tune. And I'd bet that solo would kill. :cool:
 
#44
JimmyM said:
I don't get it. I thought people played music because they wanted to stand out.
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Some people play music because they just want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Or (like me for example) simply being unable to find anything else they enjoy doing. Like I said, I kinda dig the challenge but I can also dig someone who wants to just hang back with the drums and be the foundation...perhaps an unsung hero position, but I can respect that quite a bit.
 
#45
Not me, dude. I got in it to get chicks that I couldn't get elsewhere. Worked for a little while ;)

BTW, I'm doing a gig with the Comets tonight, and I mentioned your name, and Jackson Haney fom the Comets said you were brilliant. He said if you're a bassist, you have to go see you play jazz. Too bad you're in Branson ;)
 
#46
Very kind of him to say. The "jazz" scene in Branson isn't...well, it just isn't. There's my nightly at Sullivan's but it's only a duo with no drums, so it's not nearly as hip as it could be. I think there's also one night at a theatre here; a kinda late-night thing but that's it. A few years ago we had a jazz club that had music 4 nights a week and I got to play there quite a bit. They were actually doing well and making money, but the owner got an offer for the property he couldn't refuse and it became (another) mexican restaurant. Jeez....I like mexican food and all, but we've got like 6 in this tiny town and that was our only jazz club! :mad:
 
#47
T-MOST said:
It's been my experience that people don't want to solo because they don't feel they have the chops to pull one off. Ok, work on the chops and I bet you will begin to feel differently when the solo chops start to come. I have never met anyone with decent solo chops who didn't want to take one.
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I don't feel that way. I grew up playing the Who, Cream, and Rush. All bands with fantastic lead bass players. It doesn't help that I used to transpose guitar solos from Clapton on bass. Once you have the chops, it comes with descretion on when and when not to use them.

Admittedly once I became a good solo-er that was all I did for a few months, but then I got bored.


James Hart said:
I hate bass solos for the sake of showing off.... like the typical Michael Anthony, Gene Simmons stuff to the Vic Wooten, Billy Sheehan, etc "lets stop everything and stick the bassist on stage alone" stuff.

That said, I love bass leads / melodies that are part of artistic expression and add to the song.
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I agree with you whole heartedly. Whenever I do decide to play a lead bass line its a very subtle thing, doing so many variations of the groove all the while propelling the song. Jack Bruce was my biggest influence and my lead playing is pretty similar to him on the Royal Albert Hall album with Cream.

However if my band insists I take a solo, I take one, albeit a very brief one. Think a trebley lightning fast fill ala Rush. Hurray for a treble boost pedal
 
#48
A couple of weeks ago we did an outdoor show. There's just 4 guys in our band, a guitarist/singer, a keyboardist/singer, a drummer, and myself. All these guys are seasoned veterans and great musicians and very capable at soloing anytime they want. I'm the baby of the band and am still a little shy when it comes to the limelight. We opened up the show with a funky tune where I start just doing a simple slap and hammer to a 4/4 beat. About 2 measures into the intro, the guitarist gets in the mic and says, "Here's Matt groovin' on the bass. Give'em something funky". I never rehearsed a solo in practice and never had any idea he wanted me to. I did it totally off the whim. I just kind of did some octave stuff and slapped a couple times and then played the verse of the song as if my bass knew the words. Totally nailed it and now I feel a little more confident in front of people playing solos and playing "outside of the box".

I didn't even know I had it in me until I was TRICKED into it. I guess my guitarist saw something I didn't. I love improvising! :bassist:
 
#52
To hell with it: just play Rapper's Delight in whatever key you're in. Ah, to hell with that even; its your solo: play it in 'E' regardless of the key. And then after you play it in 'E' play it in 'F'.

People love that damn bass line, I get better responses with that "half" the time vs. whatever bizarre scale tones I pull out of my ass. Dumb people trying to dance and have a good time. Don't your understand my plight? I wanna play Phrygian, lydian and diminished scale tones, not Rapper's delight again. Don't you want to hear what I just learned? Dumb people just wanna dance. At times keeping them dancing during your bass solo can be challenging. So sometimes I sit down while they dance, and then I solo.

Its not really about complexity at all. You can get a lot of mileage out of one note. The last solo I had a fist fight broke out on the dance floor. That was wicked awesome.
 

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