Organizing a solo

[phdmerrill]

So I'm relatively new to playing jazz guitar, but I've been practicing like mad for the past few months, and finally I am able to solo pretty competently over a few tunes (hooray!). In retrospect my process of learning has been very disjointed, even backwards, but now all the pieces are falling into place and its very exciting.

The irony is, it wasn't until today that I started to think seriously about the artistry of organizing a solo in a deliberate manner. Maybe it makes sense that beginners are more interested in establishing a repertoire of playing material (modes, licks, rhythms, patterns, etc.) and an understanding of harmonic concerns, but as soon as a player has met the most minimal skill level, I think it's important to start thinking more generally about how musical devices ought to be sequenced and delivered in a solo. The scope of a solo is, after all, much longer than the space it takes to play a good lick or two.

Recording myself over backing tracks, I realized that, though my solos are mostly well-articulated and have a healthy mix of many concepts, they sound a bit stale and jumbled. Individual lines and licks could sound good, but there was definitely a lack of continuity and consistency. Oddly, when the backing track comes to an end, it sounds like I'm being cut off abruptly, even though I'm resolving everything cleanly--at least theoretically. I sound like I know what I'm doing with my instrument, but not with my music in a holistic sense.

At first I thought my playing just lacked space, and needed more rests between phrases. But then I realized the real crux of my weak solos was that there was too little forethought in the arc of the solo, and each of my ideas (such triad pairs, licks, digital patterns, arpeggios, etc.) were too often contained within just a bar or two without sensible transitions or resolutions to give the solo a sense of development.

It certainly isn't necessary for a whole solo to be dictated by motivic development or repetition, but I'm now exploring how a good solo will stretch out a theme for different numbers of measures, modulating tonality or moving across chords when appropriate. Sometimes, the most impressive show of skill is being able to float across changes gracefully using a single concept, rather than sputtering out anything and everything your fingers lead you to. If a solo lasts three choruses, you definitely don't want to expend all your ideas too quickly or intersperse them too sporadically. I suppose it is a naive player who thinks that a jam-packed solo is the most creative or tasteful one.

One big advantage to this, I've noticed, is that you actually access MORE ideas when you play with deliberate organization than when you try to play all of them without any forethought. You are no longer thinking only about addressing the space of a few measures but about taking into account a whole chorus or more, so you're giving yourself time to think about what comes next. As with anything else, the key is balance and deliberation.

This is something I feel doesn't get discussed enough, at least in the lessons I've encountered. I'd be curious how others approach this subject. It is certainly an issue every mature improviser must contend with.

[Reg]

Your almost on to something... I discuss these concepts all the time... and that is where it begins... the difference between playing using "applications"...scales, arpeggios, motifs, melodic ideas there are many, as your organizational method of structure when you play or solo...... as compared to using "concepts" as your organizational methods and controlling your use of applications. Reg

[M-ster]

Well stated, phdmerrill. Good topic, too.

[jazzphan]

i feel your pain. continually piecing together licks and ideas into "franken-solos" just doesn't pull at anyone's heartstrings. i think what you're getting at simply comes from a long time of developing that connection with your guitar where you start to play what you hear in your head or what you feel instead of going by patterns that your fingers know. i guess all we can do is take solace in knowing that it will come eventually and until then just keep listening and playing

[cjm]

So, I'm an old fuddy duddy at heart (even though I'm not particularly old since I'm middle aged) and a hack player. The groups I've played with tend to mostly work with standards. So now you know where I'm coming from.

When taking on a tune, the original composition ought to be melodically and harmonically interesting to begin with, in my opinion.

So now we're going to take a solo on this tune and make it jazz. Okay...the improvised solo really ought to be at least as interesting as the original composition...or as close to being as interesting as we can get it.

That can be a little tough to do on the fly for 32 bars because you're essentially competing with some of the most skilled composers of the 20th century.

And we plan to play this over the Am7, and we'll do that over the Fmaj7, and we'll throw this lick in here, and we struggle until we're blue in the face to "make it uniquely ours" from a jumble of rote memorized stolen ideas.

All the while missing the interest and beauty of the original composition and melodic line that is staring us in the face...and even when it works and we manage to resolve everything after getting way outside, the "product" generally falls short of the original.

I'm not suggesting to just play it as written except for swing rhythm at an up tempo.

But I am suggesting than when thinking about a solo...whether pre-planning or at the moment...don't be afraid of the original melodic line. Use it. If part of the solo sometimes comes out as 8 bars with nothing added other than some simple "adornment" -- so be it.

I lack the vocabulary to articulate the idea clearly...but I feel if credit is given to the composer...the rest of the organization of a solo falls into place better. And when we look at a tune as little more than a set of changes that we'll apply a bit of theory and some stock licks to -- well it might be highly organized but it comes off as overly busy yet random wanking that no one listens to anyway.

[Jazzaluk]

+1 on that!

There are many devices that can be applied to create a solo but they have to be applied to something. IMO the original melody should be the framework to apply devices to generate melodic embellishments and variations, otherwise they are not acting upon anything. Save your favourite licks and chord tricks for turnarounds and places where the melody is static.

Bottomline, let the melody and form dictate and organize the solo. It is THE common reference point for both the listener and player. When devices are applied to replace or embellish the melody, they should be used in a complete way until the musical phrase is fully resolved or the form shifts.

IMO, Its a matter of giving the listener a chance to always reference the melody and shift gears with the soloist. Less is often more.

[brwnhornet59]

Originally Posted by Jazzaluk

Save your favourite licks and chord tricks for turnarounds and places where the melody is static.

Bottomline, let the melody and form dictate and organize the solo.

Agreed. It is so easy to say this scale should be played here, this lick there, but it becomes a patchwork of melodically unorganized, and usually unbalanced, wall of chaos that says nothing. I try to stick to the melody's form and play off of it, saving the cool intervallic sequences that I have been practicing for turnarounds.

I am no pro, but I pull from modal interchange, as Reg puts it, among other ideas as much as possible to keep oriented in my solo's and create interest. But just playing this scale here and that lick there does not cut it for me. Vocabulary is my newest goal. There is so much to draw from and so much to learn. I love it!

[pauln]

There are lots of conceptual approaches to solos. Successful ones may tend to have a plan to manipulate the lister's interest in some way.

Wes often used a sort of "ramp up" concept a lot - first melodic soloing, then octave soloing, then fast chord melody soloing - each step meant to re-attract and compound the lister's attention; a pretty direct approach.

Kenny Burrell often used a more "sneaky" approach, a simple melodic solo, a simple extension to that, and just as the listener is beginning to think "that's pretty simple" - bam! He plays something effortlessly that just blows them away with the cool choice of notes and harmonic depth of insight. Then the listener's attention is hooked in anticipation of experiencing it again.

Old Miles Davis solos are sometimes like that, too - the understated surprise attack of virtuosity...

Think about what it is in some of your favorite player's solos that gets your attention, and how it does that... what was going on right before, what changed? Why did he do it that way and what was the effect? And as others mentioned, not the techniques or applications, but the concepts - what was he thinking?

[JonnyPac]

Originally Posted by M-ster

Well stated, phdmerrill. Good topic, too.

Agreed!

[phdmerrill]

Thanks, M-ster and Jon. Much appreciated.

[JonnyPac]

Originally Posted by phdmerrill

Thanks, M-ster and Jon. Much appreciated.

BTW welcome aboard. I dig your ideas and posts; keep 'em comin'.

PS I just picked up Hal Galper's Forward Motion... It's flipping amazing so far. It looks at beats and rhythms in the light it deserves. Having a overall sense of drive and form can organize a solo pretty organically once the component principles are understood and worked into your mind/body- so it seems. I'll start a thread on it when I am done.

[markf]

it wasn't until today that I started to think seriously about the artistry of organizing a solo in a deliberate manner.

great start you are making. you are well on your way, with this thinking.

when I think while soloing as if I am writing an arrangement for the tune, I get the best result

so... . single note line, then a 2 note harmony line, then a chord, some space, play fragment of melody.

or, chromatic line, arpeggio, space, melody fragment,

or, simple line, more complicated line, more complicated line still, then reverse that, end up simple line.

I think it always helps to play part of the melody, either by using it in the solo, or simply playing it note for note, somewhere in there.

great thing you have brought up here, which is frequently not done in improvisations.

coherence. "what does this note or phrase have to do with the one that came before it, and the one that came after it"

they should all be related in some way.


great point well done