soloing Archives
The Bass Solo: A Guide to Soloing More Freely
Photo by P.B. Photography Q: I am at a stage with playing jazz where I feel confident playing bass lines, such as walking through challenging pieces. Given time to learn the chord sequence, I am pretty confident at playing solos over the top of backing tracks and grooves. My problem is that when playing with... »
Improvising and Groove: Substituting Pentatonic Scales on a Minor 7 Progression
My most recent lessons have focused on the use of the pentatonic scales as it relates to improvising and learning the fretboard (see my lessons on improvising over a minor key progression and breaking down the pentatonic scale for more background). Today we’ll continue this topic with the exploration of improvising over a D minor... »
From Groove to Changes to Soloing: Damian Erskine’s Practice Routine
Q: You answer a lot of questions to help bassists out. But I’d like to know, what are you personally working on to improve your playing? A: I am in a constant state of flux with my practice habits. Different things bug me about my playing depending on the gigs I have one week versus... »
Better Soloing: An Introduction to Key Center Improvising
There are many methods we can use to come upon satisfying note choices when improvising over a predetermined set of chord changes (i.e. a tune). One common way to approach note choice is using chord/scale theory, equating every chord to a scale. For example: A minor 7 = A dorian. It’s this approach that has... »
On Soloing: Think Pocket, Melody, Theme, Interplay and Form
Q: During a recent performance with my bad, I was given a spot to solo in a fast, up-tempo (120 bpm) funk tune. I basically have as much time as I need to “do my thing” with only the drummer accompanying me. My question: during my solo spot, should I stay in the pocket (the... »
Pacing Your Solos: A Guide to Improvisation
It is not uncommon for students of improvisation to approach their practice without a real plan. They simply start trying to improvise a solo, without really focusing on When, How or What to play, hoping things will simply get better over time. I was certainly guilty of this. It’s one reason I developed my expandable... »
Hal Leonard and Musicians Institute Press have released a new bass method book focusing on the art of soloing. Soloing for Bass (A Contemporary Approach to Improvising in Any Style) by Dominik Hauser, is a book/CD combo that features solo exercises, theory discussion and play-along tracks. The method covers major scale modes, melodic minor scale... »
Q: How should I go about developing longer solo ideas? In my solos I’m having trouble playing fast lines for more than a couple bars or so. I feel like I can really let the conversation flow by using lots of long notes broken up by short (maybe 4-ish bars at most), quick “chopsy” phrases.... »
Q: I have a question. How do you go about soloing for various styles? Quite often I get the nod to do a solo for 4/8/16 bars. I’ve tried approaching by working out what key I’m in and then by trying different modes… but it just seems that my phrasing is limited and that it... »
Relax, and Don’t Forget to Listen
Q: What’s going through your mind when you solo? A: Ideally, nothing! I play my best when I know the song well (don’t need to think about chords, etc.) and am playing with solid players who all serve the music. In that scenario, I am simply letting the music dictate what’s going to happen and... »
The Bass Solo: A Guide to Soloing More Freely 
Fabienne Gilbert: Come On Come Over 
Andrea Lombardini: By This River 
Bass of the Week: KR Guitars Ursa 
Tom Pesch and his Ric: Rush Play-Along 
Eric Avery Quits Nine Inch Nails 
Capturing Your Ideas: Transform Your Musical Inspiration into Reality 
James Brown: Brother Rapp (1971) 
Mr. DanZ: Proto Cosmos 
Funk Bros: Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart 
Funk and R&B Bass - At a Glance 
