Improvising over fixed bass figures

[CGKnight]

Hail, guitar masters

I have two questions for the fingerstyle/hybrid-style guitarists who are experienced solo players. Here goes -

Bass figures, like the sort you often find in blues and boogie woogie...(Like this, for instance)
1. Can you improvise melodies while playing said bass figures? Is it possible on guitar?
2. If yes - I find doing that nigh-impossible. How in your opinion should someone approach it?

Eagerly awaiting input.

[CGKnight]

Bump...? Some help, please?

[CGKnight]

68 views, no replies? Folks, help a fellow out? O_o

[JensL]

Hm.. The Boogie woogie pattern is maybe not the easiest to begin with, it is quite busy. I'd start with something much easier.

Not that many people do thsi as far as I know, and the range of the guitar in one position is maybe a bit small?

I guess you'd need to check out some Charlie Hunter. He does this very well.

Jens

[bako]

The wiki referenced bass line spans an octave and a 4th.
It can be comfortably played on 3 strings (EAD) or 2 strings (EA)
That leaves 3 or 4 strings on which to add more content, melodic or chordal.
What is a simple matter for piano with the separation of function between left and right hands is trickier on guitar.
Every time we choose a finger to play a note it influences what other notes can be easily accessed.
If you are intending to improvise in this way it is even more important to know the fingerboard well.
This is beyond fingering patterns, more like finding a solution on a note by note basis.

I don't play this way but if I was going to pursue it then I would start with a fixed bass line and begin to add stupid simple melodies to it, gradually increasing in complexity and independence. I would also do the same with a fixed melody and adding simple bass lines to it.
Additionally, I would study piano players, solo guitar arrangements, bass plus melody instrument duets.
I would be aiming for the skill to improvise both melody and bass line simultaneously.
Part of the issue is in the coordination of hands and another is about the ability to visualize independent rhythms and melodies in your mind.

The folk blues and ragtime guitarists probably deal with "fixed bass" more often than jazz guitarists playing in a band.
Players also sometimes create the illusion on bass line, chords and melody by implying them, not always maintaining all 3.

[CGKnight]

Thank you very much for your replies!

JensL - Yeah, that bassline is a bit overboard - I generally imagine playing it as quarter notes. Could you recommend me a Charlie Hunter album for this? In what little I've heard of him (YouTube) he did mainly jazz-rock with simplistic basslines

As goes range, I've always pondered on that and recently realized that artificial harmonics could help in that regard a lot - one has an extra octave if one uses the regular A.H.s (where one plucks at the 12th fret higher than the note), and another extra octave using 5th fret ones (pluck the same way as a regular A.H., but 5 frets above the note - resulting in a note two octaves higher!). I've never seen anyone use them that way, but I'm working on it and it certainly is possible.

bako - Many thanks! I shall work on it as you say. It certainly is easier to play this way on tapguitar (which I also play) for the very reasons that you mention. But I'm just strangely obsessed with being able to do it on fingerstyle guitar :|

Technique and fingerboard learning are not that much of a problem for me - but focusing on multiple lines together is plain maddening. I hope it resolves with experience.

[bako]

Obsession is good in combination that with good problem solving. (I think so anyway)

It would be interesting to hear how you proceed and the results.

[JensL]

Well Most of the earlier (first 3 or 4, I think) Charlier Hunter cd's have him soloing and playing walking or tumbao or a funk bass line. I would not call it simplistic, but that's maybe me. His groove is really strong and that is more what I like than the technique anyway. The quartet cd Shango ( I think..) is really nice.

Jens

[CGKnight]

Bako - Thanks. I shall likely post stuff on this forum for review.

JensL - Thanks! I'll certainly check those out.