Music For Bass Lovers

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.