This is Katie Thiroux from discoverdoublebass.com
and you're about to watch a lesson from my new course
for intermediate to advanced jazz bass players
Another thing I like to do
just to kind of do something different with my soloing
especially if I feel like I'm in a rut
or I'm always playing over the same phrases.
A lot of the music that we play is built in four
or eight bar phrases, some sort of even number of phrases.
So we tend to always play over like a cadence
and we don't usually start maybe on the second bar
of that cadence or in the middle of a key change.
So, this is a way to just kind of get you out of doing that.
It takes a little bit of brain power.
So, what I like to do is, again, either over myself
playing a bass track that I've recorded
and just loop it or you'll have this nice recording
to play over.
I like to just kind of offset that.
I like to manipulate it and all the stuff I'm talking about,
I don't think about when I'm on the bandstand performing.
It's like I practice it in the practice room
so that it just kind of hopefully comes out naturally.
So, what I'm gonna do right now is I'm gonna solo
for three measures and I'm gonna rest for two measures.
And if you're playing a tune that's like
a regular 32 bar form AABA or A Prime,
it's just gonna like askew where you put your phrases
and where you start soloing.
And the really cool thing that happens
is that you're gonna solo and start on phrases
that you may not have done before
and so it's gonna give you different ideas, melodically
maybe rhythmically, and it'll just offer something different
for you that you may not have considered before.
Something that'll really help you out for this exercise
is to maybe just write it out,
write out the chords and write where you're gonna play
for three measures and rest for two measures,
unless you can really do it in your brain.
But this way I find myself not thinking
about it too much and I'm also not concerned
about playing the most hippest ideas right now.
It's just more, can I feel the phrasing
in a little bit of a different way?
Can I go over the bar line?
Am I feeling that?
So it might be a good idea just if this is really brand new
for you, you can stick with that one or two note motif idea
just to feel how it feels going around the phrasing.
So right now I'm going to solo for three measures
and then rest for two measures.
One, two, one, two, three.
So, you saw with that example, I kind of just started
off with this simple motific rhythmic idea
and if you kept doing this, it's just gonna keep changing,
the measures that you're playing and the measures
that you're resting are gonna keep kind of cycling
and becoming a little bit more and more askew.
And so it did, it does help me and especially
on different songs with maybe different, you know,
if there's more key changes or the the tonal center changes
instead of just always playing right when it changes,
try playing through it or you know, before it.
We don't always think about,
we tend to just play like either two or four bar phrases
at the beginning of the phrase.
So, this is a fun exercise to just kind of push me out
of my comfort zone.
And again, like I said, do it for a few choruses.
I have to write it out 'cause I can't think about doing it
in my head and so now what we're gonna do is the opposite.
I'm gonna rest for two measures and play for three measures.
One, two, one, two, three.
Again, with this exercise I started
with something pretty simple, rhythmically and harmonically,
just to kind of get me through it.
And then the more, you know, the easier this becomes
the less you'll kind of think about it.
And again, I would definitely do a few choruses.
I have to write this out, you know,
the instructions when I'm playing, when I'm resting.
But if I did this enough times right now,
I'd probably get pretty used to it.
What I always do with any of these exercises,
the single note exercise motif, taking someone else's solo,
and this exercise, resting, I'll do it for a few choruses
then I'll forget about everything.
Forget everything I just said and then I'll just play.
That's the whole point.
Just play, you know, as you normally would,
just kind of without thinking any of this stuff
and see what happens and have fun.
At the end of it, you can kind of always maybe recall
one of those melodic motific ideas
but just put it into practice immediately.
I really think that if you try these exercises, if you,
especially if you feel like you're just stuck
in your soloing and improvising,
whether it's melodically, rhythmically, phrase wise,
it'll really help you at least just like see another path,
another window to kind of go through
and have a lot of fun with.
Thanks so much for watching my name's Katie Thiroux
If you want to learn more from me
go to discoverdoublebass.com to check out some more lessons.