Music For Bass Lovers

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. To practice dynamics, plug into a recording device and visually monitor the VU-meter levels.
4. Trust your fellow musicians and you will be more comfortable with experimentation - and experimentation is what leads to musical growth.
5. Playing bass is as much a process of awareness as a skill: leading and following, suggesting and responding, all in real time.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. The producer called you for solutions, not because he needed more problems.

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.

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........