Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Victor on why audiences don't like bass solos (usually)


Phil W

Recommended Posts



  • Replies 35
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Jazz audiences will clap for anything. :D

 

True, but they are the only audience that can clap in 17/8ths time.

You can stop now -jeremyc

STOP QUOTING EVERY THING I SAY!!! -Bass_god_offspring

lug, you should add that statement to you signature.-Tenstrum

I'm not sure any argument can top lug's. - Sweet Willie

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Victor has a point. If you're playing something with a groove, there's something for the average person's focus. People can relate to grooves.

 

To put it another way (and I know I've said this before), the average non-musician audience member is looking for something they understand in the music... something universal. If they're checking out a band with a vocalist, you'd better believe they're focused on that person because they can relate to a singer--after all, almost everyone understands singing because almost everyone has been singing since preschool. We're born with voices, so we all relate to that aspect of music to some degree.

 

But we're not born with instruments, so, in order to pull the average person into a solo instrumental performance, you've got to do something with it that makes sense to folks. Like, as Victor says, grooving. Folks might not understand your beautiful, melodic phrasing as anything other than pretty (but boring) wankery... but if you drop something rhythmic and engaging and elaborate on that incrementally, it's a more familiar experience for the audience, and they're more likely to relate to it.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jazz audiences will clap for anything. :D

 

True, but they are the only audience that can clap in 17/8ths time.

Har!!! Too funny.

 

It's already been stated, but I think in a band situation, solos of any type (bass, g*****r, etc.) are best when they are short, sweet, and leave the audience wanting more. If eyes are starting to glaze over, it's probably time to quit.

"Of all the world's bassists, I'm one of them!" - Lug
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listening to Micheal Brecker's solo, I think we should add one more element to the picture. MB creates a magic atmosphere not just running scales: the magic comes from using all register of the instrument's timbre.

This adds one more element to the picture, I think. The bass has a much more limited palette of sounds, compared to this sax, therefore you cannot create a magic atmosphere in the same way: you have to play with some different device, like rhythm, harmony (double stops), melody.

-- Michele Costabile (http://proxybar.net)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...