Solos and Fills

The Bass Solo 

You may be called upon to play a bass solo one day. If you have any trepidations about pulling one out of the hat here is a simple trick, refuse. You might be surprised to learn that most people in the audience either go to the bar or the bathroom during the bass solo or yell at each other over top of it until the next tune. 

There are exceptions to this as there are exceptions to everything but even in the most capable hands a bass solo can be a real sleeper. Science is yet t to determine why this is exactly but it may have something to do with momentum. A grooving number just seems to go dead in the water when the band stops to let the bass player “take one.” It’s sort of like cruising down the highway, blasting the car stereo and suddenly finding yourself in a traffic jam due to congestion ahead or some such. You find yourself reaching for the volume knob and craning your neck to find what is behind this sudden decrease in energy. Then comes the plodding along uncomfortably before you get moving again and the volume and spirits rise.

Let me be clear, a bass solo can be really cool but I recommend approaching them in a few specific ways:

1. The Mono – unless you are whisky or sex, less is more. A one measure solo is catchy, it gives the group a couple of seconds to rest yet goes by so quick no one has time to go out for a smoke. Think “Good Times, Bad Times” or “My Generation.”

    

2. The Breakdown – introducing the members of the band or spinning a yarn about those 2 blondes in Memphis always sounds better with some background music. When the drummer pulls back and everyone else is tuning or checking their Instagram feed the bass player gets to strut their stuff. This is more of an improvised groove over one chord like A or E rather than a solo but it is a great place to prove you can do more than make the singer sound good. Again, I point to the Zep by using “The Lemon Song” as an example.

    

3. The Trade-Off – similar to the one measure solo, the bassist gets some alone time. This goes around the group with each member showing off in turn. The results can be more fun than a circus act, Cheap Trick doing “Ain’t that a Shame,” for instance.

    

4. The Virtuoso – does everyone in the band stop when it’s time for the piano player to play the honky tonk or when the guitarist channels Grant Green? No and it didn’t for Lemmy either.

The Bass Fill

Fills are not solos so get creative and do whatever you want. Just respect everyone else’s space; don’t over do it. And remember that fills come naturally after certain phrases and drummers tend to contribute fills in these spaces, too. Try to anticipate what the drummer is going to do and find different spaces to fill in.