Think Less When Soloing Over Giant Steps
Spectrum, Metro, and Illusion devise a plan to free themselves, and the others, from the enslavement of the officials.
During that time, the Mutant Bass Players decide The Rock Climbing Method as their way out!
The Rock Climbing Method is a specific approach to playing chord changes that allows you to think less and hear more while playing solos on your bass.
This method has immediate application when learning to solo over difficult chord progressions, such as Giant Steps.
The Rock Climbing Method
Mutant Bass Players: Illusion, Spectrum, Metro ponder The Rock Climbing Method
Spectrum: Hey Illusion… are you thinking what I am thinking?
Illusion: Yes… I want to be free! We all want to be free! I’m sick and tired of being enslaved by the officials! Are you thinking of applying The Rock Climbing Method?… Do you think it might work?
Metro: Wait guys, this sounds interesting… let me in on this!
Spectrum: Yes, Illusion! The Rock Climbing Method! It always works!
Metro: Come on guys! What’s going on!?! I hope your not planning on doing something stupid!
Spectrum: Metro, have you ever gone rock climbing before?
Metro: Yes, all the time! See my muscles!
Spectrum: That’s nice Metro. Can you explain a typical experience when you climb a wall?
Metro: Gladly. You start off on the ground. You look up and visualize a path that you might take to climb the wall. Then you start climbing the wall. As you climb the wall, you realize the path you wanted to take may not be physically possible, so you usually reach for the closest rocks to grab a hold of. Sometimes there is a point that you reach on the wall, where there are no close rocks within reach, and you must take a leap for another rock. That rock usually offers more options to continue climbing the wall.
Spectrum: Do you notice anything familiar Metro?
Metro: I do Spectrum! When walking bass lines or taking solos a simple approach may be to focus only on target notes that are nearby. Every now and then you might take a leap for another target note. In music, a target note may be considered chord tones. For example, the chord tones (target notes) for a C major chord may be C, E, G (1, 3, 5). This is how your would put this concept into practice.
Here are the first few chords from Giant Steps:
| Bmaj7 D7 | Gmaj7 Bb7 | Ebmaj7 | Amin7 D7 |
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- During beats 1-2 on the first measure, hear and play a chord tone from the chord Bmaj7.
- During beats 3-4 on the first measure, hear and play a chord tone from the chord D7. Try to hear the chord tone that is closest to the chord tone previously played!
- During beats 1-2 on the second measure, hear and play a chord tone from the chord Gmaj7. Try to hear the chord tone that is closest to the chord tone previously played!
- During beats 3-4 on the second measure, hear and play a chord tone from the chord Bb7. Try to hear the chord tone that is closest to the chord tone previously played!
- etc…
Here is an example bass solo, applying this concept over the Giant Steps chord progression:
| B C | D F | G Bb | C D |
This melody has an upwards direction.
*Listen to the example to hear how chromaticism can take this concept a step further.
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Here is another example bass solo, applying this concept over the Giant Steps chord progression:
| B A | G F | Eb D | C A |
This melody has a downwards direction.
*Listen to the example to hear how chromaticism can take this concept a step further.
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Here is one more example bass solo, applying this concept over the Giant Steps chord progression:
| B C | B Bb | Bb Bb | C C |
This melody has a static direction.
*Listen to the example to hear how chromaticism can take this concept a step further.
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Try this for yourself on the remaining chord progression for Giant Steps.
The Rock Climbing Method provides great freedom when there are a lot of chord changes and the scales and modes are continually changing.
There are less target notes than notes from scales—let alone all the possible scale options! The less you have to think, the more you can hear, and be more expressive your bass playing! You can focus more on rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, etc…
Spectrum: Wow. That’s quite a concept Metro. But… actually, Illusion and I were really just talking about climbing over the walls in this room to get out. But, that’s a concept we will surely use!
Metro: Oh.
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