Landed a gig on bass in a jazz band... tips?

[sxyryan]

Well I auditioned today. Made it in on Bari Sax, found the lack of bass player to be quite disturbing. Got to talking with the director, and told him I play a little bass. He said that he has bari players he can have come in, but no bassists, so I get the gig.

 

It's nothing crazy serious, just the Jazz band at my university (which isn't exactly known for a stellar music department).

 

I've played bass for jams and bands, but mostly by ear. I can read (though my sight reading is admittedly weak). I'm very excited to have a place to improve my chops. Any tips for kid like me?

 

P.S. I played in jazz band all through high school on bari and clarinet, so I do have a little background.

[doc oc]

Keep it simple.
A good groove is crucial in jazz whereas a highly melodic bassline is dispensable.
Even Mingus music falls apart when he gets too melodic.

[PanaDP]

If one side of the fence is boring and the other side is flashy, you want to walk right on top of the pickets.

[Bro Blue]

Do not try to get fancy. Be solid and get a feel for what you're doing, then experiment. Jazz players, even bad ones, should know enough to be put off by someone trying to play too much when they shouldn't.

[doc oc]

Google the Roy Campbell pyramid trio and listen to the track Malcolm, Martin and Mandela.
It is a perfect example of how a simple but tight groove can make or break a song.

[sxyryan]

Don't be fancy. No prob.

I'll be playing mostly written parts, so I'll just stick to those. At least until I get a better feel for it.

I'm really excited! Woot. Thanks for the tips folks.

[Haden Olmsted]

thats cool man, good work. Id say keep to the roots of the chord, and throw some octaves in their on occasion. There might be some occasions where you will need some walking lines, and for that i suggest finding a recording of the song and listening to it with the music in front of you. What school do you go to anyways? Im going to school for jazz guitar which is why i ask.

[Jimmy Chitown]

Your mission, sxyryan, should you choose to accept it, is to swing the groove. Slappy-funky, playing above the 12th fret, noob-dazzling, or plodding will abort the mission. This post will self-destruct in, well, um, whenever 2.0 goes live I guess.

[Surfdude]

Wear some dark sunglasses, an old Frank Sinatra style hat, white shirt with a thin black tie, have a smoke hanging out of the corner of your mouth, never stand upright..always be leaning on something and don't use any names..just use the word "cat" when referring to someone.

Surfy

[sxyryan]

thats cool man, good work. Id say keep to the roots of the chord, and throw some octaves in their on occasion. There might be some occasions where you will need some walking lines, and for that i suggest finding a recording of the song and listening to it with the music in front of you. What school do you go to anyways? Im going to school for jazz guitar which is why i ask.

 

 

I'm going to Clarion Univeristy, in PA. Their music department is pretty small. I'm a comm major right now, debating moving to a Music Ed, but I can't seem to make up my mind. I joined their Symphonic band too, I am kind of testing the waters in their music department.

[benricci]

Wear some dark sunglasses, an old Frank Sinatra style hat, white shirt with a thin black tie, have a smoke hanging out of the corner of your mouth, never stand upright..always be leaning on something and don't use any names..just use the word "cat" when referring to someone. Surfy

This.

[sxyryan]

^^
That will be no problem. I just got contacts, so I can wear sunglasses again (I'm very nearsighted)

[Burgess]

Just keep time. Often jazzers depend on the bass moreso than the drummer for keeping time.

[sxyryan]

Oh, and something I forgot to mention...

I asked the prof about amps, like what the school has. I have a bass amp at home but it would a pain to bring it up and take it back home for band rehearsal.

He says "there's a decent one back there, and and old 70's Fender Bassman back there that I don't think works".

He didn't seem to know what he was talking about all the time, but I'm really excited to get my hands on a Bassman. Maybe if its busted I can talk the music department into letting it go for a nominal price :eek:

I'm perfectly capable of fixing it, so we'll find out on Tuesday.

[Selsaral]

If it was me I'd be practicing scales madly.

[JoeJazz2000]

If you play bari sax, I assume you read the bass clef(?). Are there written charts? Are you a sight reader? If not, a tip would be to learn the parts beforehand.

[sxyryan]

If you play bari sax, I assume you read the bass clef(?). Are there written charts? Are you a sight reader? If not, a tip would be to learn the parts beforehand.

 

 

I play most instruments but I'm self taught for the most part. My forte is bari, which I really started on and played for all of middle and high school.

 

When I picked up trombone and tuba, I learned them both in Eb, reading bass clef as I was reading bari music. For example, I would see what a trombonist would see as a Bb (second line up) and in my head I think G (second line up on a treble clef chart)

 

So I really added more work for myself, and half the time I'm transposing in my head from Bass to Eb and visa versa. It really helped me in jazz band, enabling me to cover tenor sax parts (in Bb) on my bari (in Eb) on the fly. It's quite the mental acrobats at first.

 

Short story, this will finally be my excuse to learn to read it properly. I have the parts and am learning them ahead of time.

[sk8centilli]

Play and stay in the pocket.