"Soloing"
You're at that point in a song where it's time to show your stuff! Also, the pressure is on because you are about to draw in more attention than before, and all eyes and ears are on you. It is up to you to remain interesting enough to hold the listeners' attention and also to keep in harmony with the rest of the ensemble. Your arsenal should be armed with plenty of tricks, but also you should know when less is more and how to add more color to any situation you are in. Here are some tips for just that:
Keep your place, first and foremost! If you get lost, remember that most songs are played in two, four, or eight bar lines, so you are never far from a new phrase beginning!
Play the right notes, and by this I don't mean it in an obvious sense, I mean play the notes you hear in your brain! You are sure to come up with a logically resolving phrase this way. And if you know your scales and modes, you will have more confidence in yourself when it comes to choosing correct tones, as your ears and musical mind will be more in harmony and you will understand more about tone resolution to begin with! When all else fails, move to the tone your ears naturally want to go to.
Keep mind of the chord progression of the song itself too! Listen to the rhythm section, you can choose your notes based on what they are playing. Also, borrow a few licks from any other melodies going on while you are soloing, you may even be able to create a counterpoint melody line as a solo! Point is, LISTEN to the song going on around you, your solo is not just about you!
Use repetition and sequence, it is natural in all music and people are more likely to acquire an interest in something they can remember. Keep your repeated parts catchy and memorable.
Use chord tones to begin and end phrases with. They tend to resolve very nicely and make for powerful lines. Our ears naturally hear chordal tones before any other tones, they just stand out more because they are more closely related to the key tone. This idea is harmonically stable, thus, pleasant and logical!
More tricks to employ to make your soloing interesting:
Use varying dynamics (loud, mid, soft), use the full range of your instrument (high, mid, low), use accents and articulaction and syncopation, hold some notes, use rests, vary up your rhythm, tension and release, find out where any cadences (melodic and harmonic endings) are and employ them, create themes, emphasize powerful and/or pretty tones (7ths, 9ths, #4th, 11th, 13th, for example).
Finally, make your solo go somewhere, never just randomly spin off into your own world and fade away, make it draw to a grand conclusion. It is great to fade and come back strong for effect and variance but, it is best when a solo continues to build up to a climax!
Happy Shredding!,
Mark McAnaney, solo bassist
Keep your place, first and foremost! If you get lost, remember that most songs are played in two, four, or eight bar lines, so you are never far from a new phrase beginning!
Play the right notes, and by this I don't mean it in an obvious sense, I mean play the notes you hear in your brain! You are sure to come up with a logically resolving phrase this way. And if you know your scales and modes, you will have more confidence in yourself when it comes to choosing correct tones, as your ears and musical mind will be more in harmony and you will understand more about tone resolution to begin with! When all else fails, move to the tone your ears naturally want to go to.
Keep mind of the chord progression of the song itself too! Listen to the rhythm section, you can choose your notes based on what they are playing. Also, borrow a few licks from any other melodies going on while you are soloing, you may even be able to create a counterpoint melody line as a solo! Point is, LISTEN to the song going on around you, your solo is not just about you!
Use repetition and sequence, it is natural in all music and people are more likely to acquire an interest in something they can remember. Keep your repeated parts catchy and memorable.
Use chord tones to begin and end phrases with. They tend to resolve very nicely and make for powerful lines. Our ears naturally hear chordal tones before any other tones, they just stand out more because they are more closely related to the key tone. This idea is harmonically stable, thus, pleasant and logical!
More tricks to employ to make your soloing interesting:
Use varying dynamics (loud, mid, soft), use the full range of your instrument (high, mid, low), use accents and articulaction and syncopation, hold some notes, use rests, vary up your rhythm, tension and release, find out where any cadences (melodic and harmonic endings) are and employ them, create themes, emphasize powerful and/or pretty tones (7ths, 9ths, #4th, 11th, 13th, for example).
Finally, make your solo go somewhere, never just randomly spin off into your own world and fade away, make it draw to a grand conclusion. It is great to fade and come back strong for effect and variance but, it is best when a solo continues to build up to a climax!
Happy Shredding!,
Mark McAnaney, solo bassist
