Bass solos could be an incredible resource for us guitarists.

[Dan Mar]

I think transcribing not only bass solos but bass lines also, is very beneficial.
It helps to understand the music from another point of view.
Especially the bass as an instrument is like another way of thinking, in all styles of music.

Sometimes I think that bass players are very good people, considering the fact that they have to patiently play their bass lines for the rest of the band to play solos themes and e.t.c.

Recently I got myself a fretless el. bass and I cannot stop playing it, is like discovering the music again.

[brent.h]

Maybe i should give it a go. I do transcribe bass lines in other genres cos i find them cool, but i never got to walking bass lines in jazz.

[Mick-7]

To decipher the chord progression of a tune, I often had to transcribe the bass line, since bass players usually outline the chords. That was really the only reason I transcribed them, I never tried to develop the walking bass technique.

I heard Barry Harris say that bass players should be able to play what horn players play.

o.k. I guess, as long as they're not doing a lot of that, those who did made the task I mentioned, i.e., figuring out the chord progression, more rather than less difficult.

[Bob_Ross]

I read somewhere that the guitar is much closer to the bass (because of its two-handedness) than it is to a horn or piano. It might make sense for us to learn from bassists.

As a bassist primarily, I find ^^^this notion completely backwards. Bassists -- and guitarists -- would do well to learn soloing from horn players and piano players, as those folks are rarely constrained or coerced by the physical layout of their respective instruments.*

Finding a bassist who is as facile and fluid on their instrument as even a modestly talented jazz saxophone player is like finding a needle in a haystack. Finding a sax player who solo'd like 90% of the jazz bassists out there would be just plain weird, because everyone would wonder why their lines sounded so rigid, inelastic.

But in a more general sense I do think all improvisors should study the works of instruments besides their own; you can learn from anybody.


*I suppose I could be convinced that the physical layout of the piano keyboard is somewhat constraining/coercive. But I rarely hear anyone make that claim.

[sully75]

I saw Pasquale Grasso play with a bass player who sounded EXACTLY like Paul Chambers with the bow. It was interesting. I think for whatever reason that Paul Chambers bass sound was recorded poorly, but, that said, it always sounded like super shit to me. Bass was my first instrument but I was always like...fuck that sounds awful. Not that I'm a huge Stanley Clarke fan but his bowed sound was pretty great.

I hate to say it but the PG show was incredibly boring and I left. But it was cool to hear what Paul Chambers might have sounded like in person.

[Bob_Ross]

Not that I'm a huge Stanley Clarke fan but his bowed sound was pretty great.

I always feel a bit sheepish when I'm discussing "Favorite Upright Bass Players Tone-wise" with other upright players and I mention Stanley Clarke...but I also feel like Stan had a somewhat unfair advantage: So many of the records he made in the early parts of his career had both larger recording budgets, and a less "traditional" aesthetic guiding the engineering approach. But it's mostly in his hands. I love his tone, pizz or bowed.

...but back on topic: Imagine playing a Stanley Clarke bass solo on guitar. Or trumpet. Or piano, etc.
Might be a nice chops-building etude for the woodshed. Alone. Not something I'd want to subject listeners to from the bandstand though.

[sully75]

Stanley Clarke's bass sound is pretty beautiful. The music could venture into the slightly cheesy territory but he could play. Pattitucci has a great bow sound.

The only bass player I really want to transcribe solos from though is Jaco. Really not too many bass solos that I think stand on their own other than him.