SOLOING

Dondi Ledesma

. . .Different Ways of Soloing :

Chordal : Solos restricted within the confines of the chords or the chord progression being used. Solos done by only thinking about the chords being played and only staying on those particular chords while playing.
Scalar : Solos using different scales and modes non restricted and improvising. Solos done by thinking about different modes, scales and the different ways to use them (while playing).
Contour or Melodic : Solos more inclined to melody or notes mainly patterned or visualized according to shapes, texture, or sound. (ex.: a simple collective melody line for the whole chord progression.)

. . .The Difference between solos and adlibs :

Adlib - Is an impromptu or spontaneous passage done in a certain situation or a certain amount of time during a performance. Most adlibs are great and remarkable but most of these things are done just to fill up a blank space within a performance without prior premeditation or preparation.
Solo - Are real cool groups of notes or a passage done within a particular time within a song. Solos are usually remembered because of the way they are skillfully done and delivered. Sometimes solos are also done spontaneously or they just turn out to be that good and sometimes they are done with much preparation.

Sometimes they refer to the word solo as in : Vocal solo, bass solo, drum solo, or guitar solo. Solo also means doing a certain thing alone or by yourself as in solo flight. It is better to relate to adlibs and solos (here) not by the critic's point of view but by one who does it and improves it to get better.

. . .Tipsż?ż :

Practice always. Have some time to practice soloing alone or with your friends or with your band or musician friends. Another way is by using a tape recorder with an accompaniment minus one - or a sequencer where you can have some accompaniment so that you will also know how to make solos with accompaniment behind you as well as real solo solos where you are left alone to do the stuff by yourself.
Enforce discipline on yourself such as practicing scales and passages so that it will be easy for you to transfer your ideas from your brain through your fingers without mistakes and unclear expression. Also learn the important musical terminologies such as : vibrato,staccato,mordents,trills and other various ways of the expression of stringed instruments. Many bass players neglect this when it comes to soloing but these things bring on the excellent results.
Listen to music a lot. Music that you like and most of the time mind the bass lines. Most bass players get ideas for their solos from great horn players and you listen or get ideas from other instruments if you want to do some things that have never been done before. Don't leave out learning how to play the bass as an accompaniment instrument because this is the most important thing being a bass player.

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