Dragging during solos/Root note orientation

A

ABlueJazzBassist

"Always play beautifully."
Dec 26, 2012
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4,726
#1
Hello Mr. Seaton, I'd like to first thank you for recommending Jonathan Fisher to me, he's really turned things around in my playing, process, and even lifestyle. A very helpful teacher, and also a joy to hear play. I've been recording myself both in combos and alone (with and without a metronome) playing through standards and I've found some interesting things. My walking has improved considerably, is pushing a little (could use more) but for sure is not a weak spot. However come solo time (or when playing a head unaccompanied) I start to drag severely, often within the first phrase.

I have been practicing tapping on 1 and 3 as you advised. I find singing helps the time a little but still does not really solve the problem. I always practice with a metronome (except for when working on long tones), and on the advice of a friend have been trying various metronome drills such as placing the beep on various beats and what not, however often these merely end up confusing me and I move the beat unintentionally to 1 again. I feel somewhat that I don't own the time, the time owns me.

So my question is, what should I do to get to the point where I really own the time? Should I just slog it out through the above process, or is the more I could do, or something in the process to change?

The second question is more subjective, but how much root note is too much in a bass solo? I feel like when I'm soloing I consciously try to avoid it as if its taboo.
 
#2
Hi,
It is good to hear how you are improving through practicing and lessons with Jonathan Fisher. You are doing good things to work on your time feel. Remember that this will not be an overnight change, but will instead be a gradual evolution. Try not to get discouraged. In addition to work with the metronome, play along with classic recordings that have a great feel (Ellington, Basie, Woody Herman, Miles, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Nat Cole, Monty Alexander etc). Improvise basslines with them and pretend you are in the band on the recording session. Try to play with the sound and feel that is on the recording. You could also transcribe some of the basslines from some of these recordings and study some pre-transcribed basslines. Regarding playing too many roots when soloing, that is a common problem. I have given it a name: "Rootitis- the bass player's disease". We spend a lot of our life playing clear root movement when we walk basslines and it is a great challenge to not do so when we solo. If you want to be a melodic bass player, play more melodies. A lot of jazz education focuses on chord/scale relations, but it is also important to study melody/chord relations to find the "sweet notes" that sound so special when played over chords. Regarding dragging when soloing, focus on rhythm first. Often hesitation over note choice causes one to be too much behind the beat. Try putting one of your favorite soloists in mind and play rhythmically like them. Use more chromaticism to modernize your lines. Embellish the melody when you solo. Transcribe a few solos starting with people that don't play a lot of notes: Miles, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Johnny Hodges, etc.
I hope this helps.
 
#3
Thank you, I believe all this will prove very helpful. My electric teacher, Phil McNeese, also recommended I record myself just singing without an instrument to an aebersold or something, just to work on seeing if the time issue is in internal, and to clear up my thinking during improvising.

I was going to ask how you felt about pre-transcribed lines. I have the Paul Chambers book, and some other things, but I feel somewhat guilty about using them, as if I'm being lazy not learning the solo purely by ear. May I also ask, how do you go about learning tunes in a useful manner, but efficiently? To elaborate, in combo we play about two new tunes a week. I already can easily memorize the changes out of say a real book in a matter of minutes, and the melody too can be figured out in about an hour unless its very technically demanding. However, my understanding is its better to learn the tunes and melodies by ear. Which I agree with, but I am terrible at. So which would you place more value on, learning tunes in a very legit way, or in simply growing repertoire? I want to have a good number, say 150 tunes down by the end of this year, I'm at around 70 now. Thank you so much for all your time!
 
#4
Singing with a metronome is an excellent idea. Many people vocalize internally or even audibly when improvising to help with phrasing and conception.
Reading pre-transcribed solos and basslines has benefit and so does transcribing your own. I think both things are good to do. You have a noble goal of learning tunes. The more you learn them by ear the easier the process becomes. Utilize all the skills you have to learn tunes (from reading AND by ear). David Baker has some great insights on how to learn tunes in this book: http://www.jazzbooks.com/mm5/mercha...roduct_Code=V76DS&Category_Code=#.UNy_g7ZEDPo
 
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