For Bromberg, the magical and mercurial Pastorius was to the electric bass what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar. On this tribute, Bromberg extends and elaborates on Pastorius's unique blend of jazz fusion, world, and soul influences. Bromberg skillfully reinterprets Pastorius's brilliant bass lines on the acoustic and electric bass and changes up the groove on a number of his compositions. "Continuum" and "Three Views of a Secret" are redone with Afro-Caribbean tinges and a funky big-band feel. The two versions of "Teen Town" rock with hip-hop-friendly backbeats, while "The Chicken" and "Come On, Come Over" recall Pastorius's love for the rhythm & blues stars Sam & Dave. The tour de force of the CD is "Slang(ish)," a solo spotlight where Bromberg shows off advanced string-tapping skills that would have made his idol proud.
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Jaco
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Here are some tips of soloing from the experts,
Mark Egan :
Learn the basic and how to be supportive, but because bass is now a recognized solo voice, by all means, keep experimenting. Listen to master soloist on all instruments in every style of music. Trumpet solos are an excellent source for melodies and ideas to try on bass because of their unusually limited range. Strive to always play with conviction and dynamics, and most essentially with good time and phrasing. If you have those three covered, whatever notes you play will have an impact.
Marc Johnson :
Start slowly and play simple melodies using quarter-notes, half-notes, or even whole notes. There's a preconception that bass solos have to be in the upper register, but I like to use the whole instrument.
It's also helpful to learn to play horizontally, moving through the changes using common tones, scales, and voice leadings as opposed to vertically, jumping from root to root using arperggiated chords. Soundwise on an instrument like the bass is to develop smooth legato lines and to articulate using vibrato, slurs, slides, hammer-ons, and so on. New ideas can be discovered simply by forcing your hands and fingers to move in directions contrary to the ways they're used to travelling.
Doug Wimbish :
When I'm about to solo, I have a destination in mind based on the song and the time I have. I then envision a path to that destination, which I try to travel down at a comfortable pace - I may jog through it at some points or stop and count the daises. For example, I'll take a fragment of the melody and expand on it or play a counterpoint to it. I like to introduce something startling for an instant, utilizing, say, an effect pedal or a dramatic run involving a change of technique, and then come back to the groove, emphasizing the pulse the whole time.
Thirty plus years in the trenches providing the rock solid backbone for some of the brightest stars in the business; Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, George Benson, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, Roger Daltrey and Marc Anthony to name a few has provided Sekou Bunch rich opportunity to draw influence from rock, jazz and R&B all of which he stirs into an intoxicating and satisfying brew on Level. Bunch's feel and complete mastery of his instrument become readily apparent in the opening strains as he takes the receiver on a vibrant and scintillating ride. One you'll surely not want to get off. You'll be surprised while listen to track 3 "Take Five/In Three"....the classic Take Five but played in 3/4 time signature.
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The Next Level
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This is a compilation album from 13 Indonesian popular bassist, some of them are from Indonesian popular bands, some of them are session bassist. You should check "She's Mine" by Arya Setiadi, for me, that track is the best in this album. While the other bassist play with band accompaniment, Arya play this tunes alone by himself, with Stu Hamm's alike tapping. By the way, track "My Friend's Song" played by Rindra (from Padi Band) is also written by me...(with Rindra of course). This album is an approve that Indonesian bassist also have capability as an instrumentalist and solo artist.
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This album was recorded live in 1998 as a celebration of TOP's 30th anniversary. This band has one of the finest horn section in the business, and with Francis Rocco Prestia on bass, and David Garibaldi on drums, layered TOP's rhythm section to be the grooviest and funkiest brass band ever. Francis Rocco Prestia known with his signature 16th note style, funk and syncopated licks to bring out the meaning of the song itself. For you bassist who wants to learn 16th note, check track 13 "What is Hip?". If you can play this song perfectly, sure you graduate from 16th note lesson
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Soul Vaccination: Live
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New album (release at 2007) from Brian Bromberg...one of bass virtuoso mastering both acoustic and electric bass. In this album, Brian mainly uses acoustic bass, performs 6 Jobim's hit song, such as Wave, Desafinado, The Girl from Ipanema, and the other 6 songs are his own tunes with Jobim's bossa style.
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In the Spirit of Jobim
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- The secret is to know your role - when to step up and when to stay back. Listen to the rest of the band and look for the simplest path.
- Listen to the kick and snare and try to make your bass lines singable. If you think about it, many pop hits revolve around a strong and memorable bass line.
- To practice dynamics, plug into a recording device and visually monitor the VU-meter levels.
- Trust your fellow musicians and you will be more comfortable with experimentation - and experimentation is what leads to musical growth.
- Playing bass is as much a process of awareness as a skill: leading and following, suggesting and responding, all in real time.
- When I'm playing live I imagine I'm in the studio, and that gives me the discipline to really nail everything. And then when I'm in the studio, I pretend I'm playing live. That allows me to not be in a semi-stiff environment, but more of a free-spirited environment. Balance is very important to everything.
- Music is a unique form of human expression - and while much time is spent practicing, ultimately your music is a reflection of who you are as a person.
- The producer called you for solutions, not because he needed more problems.
Edwin McCain is not a bassist, he's a singer, but I like his heavy voice. Honor Among Thieves is his first album realeased in 1995. For me the highlight of this album beside McCain's voice is every bass notes and sounds played by Scott Bannevich. His bass sound really catch my ears and brainwashed me for a couple of years how should a bass sound in a song. His basslines also outstanding, solid and strong, keep the song's groove with a bit naughty improvisation.
If you really like this album, please buy the cd
Honor Among Thieves
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Soloing is much more than how many notes you can play. Every so often the bassist actually gets to solo over the changes of a song, or gets to take a few choruses over a blues. This is the most challenging form because it requires the bassist to be musical, so here are some tips from the great Stuart Hamm to think about when you are faced with this challenge.
Quoting the Melody
This is a standard part of soloing you should be familiar with. "Quoting" means restating or interpreting the original melody. You can transpose it to another key, change the phrasing of it, or bass-icly do anything to it so that the listener will reminded of (or will recognize) the melody, without your actually playing it note for note. This will give your solo, and the entire song, more continuity
Rhythmic Phrasing
This consist of taking a certain rhythm and using it with a variety of notes. It can be of any length but the idea is that by repeating this phrase, you will build tension and excitement. A well thought-out solo uses tension and release to get its point across. Listen to Yes's "Close To The Edge" suite which is built entirely on tension and release.
Moods
Your solo should be about feeling and moods, not merely notes. Practice soloing over a standard blues form and see how many different moods you can create. Try to play a chorus that sounds happy. Make one sound sad. Play one that sounds angry and one that sounds like you are in love. This sounds a lot easier than it is! Try this out on other people and see if they can guess what emotion you are trying to express. Don't be afraid to over-exaggerate...it's a great way to learn.
Now for the killer. Using he same idea, play choruses using only one note. Neil Young is famous for this. That's right, you can play a whole chorus with just one note and make it sound happy, sad, angry, lovely, frustrated, etc.
The great thing about this particular exercise is that it forces you to use things like dynamics and phrasing that often get lost in a furry of notes. you may think this exercise sounds silly, but try it and you will see how difficult it actually is.
Charlie Moreno is an incredible bassist from Barcelona. He achieved a scholarship from the Berklee College of Music and furthermore, he had the chance to learn from music masters such as Russell Malone, Gary Grainger, Yellowjackets, Dave Weckl, Tom Kennedy, Richard Bona, Richie Goods, Victor Bailey and Victor Wooten, among others.
Island Style is his second solo album. You should check this album and listen to how's he soloing and grooving, his solo on track 2 "Still Waitin' Blues" almost makes me frustrated to learn, and his bassline at track 5 "Whatcha Bona Do?" transforming Richard Bona's style to his own type. Must have album.
If you like this album please buy the cd
Island Style
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Once I read this articles at Bass Player Magazine, I was laughing and thinking that this articles sometimes can be true, but not always. Then I showed to many friends and most of them comment,"yeah....that's right." This articles written by Robin Meloy Goldsby, a pianist married to bassist John Goldsby whom popular with his book "Jazz Bass Book".
A great bassist is an ensemble player, a team member who executes, with confidence, a vital role in any band with the strength of his groove, the steadiness of his rhythm, and the imaginative logic of his harmonic lines. This doesn't just apply to the bassist's music. It also applies to his outlook on life. A bass-player husband will be loyal, true, and interesting, and will help you emerge from life's challenges looking and sounding better than you ever imagined. If you're in a bad mood, don't worry. He'll change keys. On the other hand, if you marry a pianist, he'll try to arrange everything and then tell you what your disposition should be. If you marry a guitarist, he'll try to get ahead of you by analyzing your temperament in double-time. If you marry a drummer, it won't matter what kind of mood you're because he'll just forge ahead with his own thing. A bass player follows along, supports you, and makes you think that everything is okay, even when the world is crashing down around you.
If you marry the bass player, you marry the bass. Buy one get one free. Your husband will be passionate about his music, which will grant you the freedom to be passionate about the things you do. You might not worship the bass as much as he does, but you'll love the bass player more every day.
Because I'm a bass player, so I agree with this articles. No offense to other instrument player, this just for fun isn't it........
Arya Setiadi is one of Indonesian awesome bassist, his playing is Victor Wooten alike, slap, tap and any kind of bass guitar technique. This is his first solo album which he did almost everything by himself, enjoy and you'll see why I became huge fans of his bass playing.
p.s : Arya already agree to share his work on internet, I already asked him. This album was indie distributed, so maybe it'll be difficult to find at major cd store
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Hi everybody,...I'm starting my new blog to share everything I know about music, especially music content of amazingly jaw dropping bass played inside, how to play and enjoying your music, and maybe the philosophy of being bass player.
From jazz to rock, or (if you never hear about this kind of music)...dangdut which is so popular in my country, you'll find the essential of how you can enjoy that music is how you can enjoy the groove of that music, and guess...what kind of instrument is the groovemaker? Of course bass and drums. I don't know why I'm crazy about how the bass sound in a song since I was a kid. While I was listen to any kind of song, I always aware of how the bass instrument being played, that makes me being a pro bassist right now.
Maybe I'm not to good at playing bass, but I want to share to everyone who loves bass like me, let's grooving and listen to the bass, I'll update this blog regularly, hope you'll enjoy my blog. I'm sorry for my poor English...still learning to speak English better....hahahaha.....but I believe that music will speak better than any language
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