Jazz guitar solo- play it safe or go for it at all costs?

[princeplanet]

Go hard or go home! (um, or at least stay at home?...)

[Jimmy Smith]

Isn't this the essence of learning, a dance between consolidation of what is already known and a willingness to engage with the unknown which entails a distinct possibility of sounding stupid at least in proportion to the degree of mastery you have previously achieved.

You can venture all you want in practice. 'Going for it at all costs' in performance isn't necessary.

[Jimmy Smith]

That was your first mistake. Your second was thinking there was anything to gain from reading the thread.

[John A.]

That was your first mistake. Your second was thinking there was anything to gain from reading the thread.

Far from my first mistake; more like another in an endless series. And I did not think there was anything to gain from reading the thread, other than an excuse to avoid doing something else.

[kris]

A simple recipe. You have to practice a lot and play jazz in places where jazz is liked and expected.

[rpjazzguitar]

Here's a story that might be relevant.

A jam with a mix of pros and amateurs. For this tune, there was a top pro bassist. There was a pro guitarist, but I knew that he didn't read.

A well known complicated tune (multiple parts and key changes) is called. The guitarist and bassist knew the tune (the bassist may have toured it with the composer). I had played the jam up to that point, but I sat down. I figured that the pro guitarist would end up leading the band into whatever arrangement he had in his head, the bassist would be able to follow him because he was a great musician and knew the tune well. I didn't know the tune that well and I realized that even pulling out a chart might not be enough help. So, rather than embarrass myself, I put the guitar down.

At that moment an amateur bassist who was familiar with the tune, but didn't really know it, got up and asked to play. He "went for it".

The top pro gave him the bass chair and they counted it off. Predictably, the roadmap wasn't the one in the Latin RB and the bassist got lost.

When the tune ended the pro walked back to the bandstand and said to the bassist, "it's okay not to play when you don't know the tune".

And, in my own playing, that's usually the issue. If I know the tune well enough, there's not much difference between going for it and playing it safe. I'll be able to play anything I can think of to play, more or less. But, if I don't know the tune well enough, I would be well advised to play it safe by playing whole notes on chord tones. But, I don't do that and often end up hitting notes that I didn't intend to hit. Meaning, my ability to play what I'm thinking starts to fragment.

So, to me that's where the conflict lives between playing safe and going for it.

[pauln]

"I don't practice anything I wouldn't play on stage."
Wes Montgomery

This would seem to suggest:

- practicing with absolute orientation toward application to songs

- exploring, evaluating, and eliminating many things during practice, reserving retention, development, and application of the remaining things for songs

Basically, viewing practice as crash testing; stage playing as a show room.

Now some might think this also means never "going for it" in concert, but the window is left open by the way he stated it negatively from the perspective of practice.

Never practicing what one wouldn't play on stage does not mean only playing on stage what one has practiced.

Lots of new ideas get realized in the moment while playing on stage.

[ragman1]

Fortune favors the brave.

[kris]

Fortune favors the brave.

Maybe you will show some of your concert recording ...?
I am very curious ...

[Marinero]

I think this post is interesting in that one could assume from many of the previous posts that some musicians play a gig with, at least some, preconceived notions of performance beforehand. However, irrespective of genre, one must ask: "Does this notion improve creativity and enhance one's "personal voice" or does it relegate you to just another pre-conceived performance?" My belief is that it is a restrictive mentality for personal growth and a bad practice for those musicians reaching for their highest potential. But, the real problem is that the term "working musician" is an oxymoron today since it is rare, with the exception of a fortunate few, to work 5-6 days a week when playing the same licks every night becomes boring for you and, yes, an audience. Some of my most memorable gigs in the past were playing with a number of R&B/Funk groups where there was maximum freedom of expression by both bandmates and the audience where my usual funky 8-bar saxophone solo turned into a quasi-Coltrane 16-bar improvisation to the very accepting audience. It wasn't every night but it's what I felt at the moment and I never played with one of those genre-based groups that thought it was unacceptable. So, the choice is simple: play for the audience or play for yourself. If the band or the audience doesn't like it, you'll be looking for another gig but, I don't know how one can really grow as a musician if you're not spontaneous and willing to take chances. Few do it . . . most don't.
Marinero