Bass Soloing and Improvisation For All Styles
The bass fretboard starts from the open position and has quite a fret range up to the bridge of possibilities that jazz and other players of the various styles make use of quite extensively. There are many aspects to bass scales, such as how they are fingered, the use of notes that make up their construction, how many strings are utilized and how they are interchanged for other scales. Where they are positioned on the fretboard for example affects the tone and expressiveness of the sound as well as how the scales are arranged.
However, it is not just bass scales that the student must understand for bass soloing and bass improvisation. The whole spectrum of bass chord study must be fully understood to make use of world of bass arpeggios that are used by players just as much as scales in lead bass playing. Just like scales, the positioning of chords and arpeggios on the fretboard makes a big difference on the type of sound that you are trying to get, as well as how you finger and arrange the arpeggio for improvising. It really doesn't matter what style of music you are looking at because you will find these concepts used in the same manner. Looking at jazz specifically in relation to bass soloing and bass improvisation is very helpful and in depth, because there can be a lot going on in relation to jazz arrangements and how they are performed.
The more you study bass soloing and improvisation for example, the more you will gain a greater insight into how music works. How you put your scales together with chords and the tones that you play in certain situations will be different from other similar chord arrangements in regards to your choice of soloing options and correct improvisational approach. The art of putting scales over chords is an art for sure.
Some bass players simply have a great ear for bass soloing and bass improvisation. They can just hear the notes that they want to express. Often times these types of players are great at listening to even complicated jazz solos or other leads from other styles and they can figure out by ear the chords and scales being used. This of course is always a valuable asset and is what gives that great player that special gift of musical expression. However, these players are our customers as well because they realize the limitation of not knowing what they are doing in regards to the bass music theory. It is a big barrier for them only having a good ear but no idea of the fretboard or the music knowledge.
Learning what to do and how to do it is essential for all bass players and students, regardless of how great and finely tuned of an ear they possess. Both the fundamentals and all the essentials beyond that is key to you becoming great at bass soloing and bass improvisation.
