Bass Tip Of The Week: Soloing Techniques - Modal Tunes - "So What"
July 28, 2008 - *Subscriber's Area*
One of the most effective ways to learn how to solo involves the transcription, analysis, emulation, and manipulation of the phrases recorded by your favorite soloists. Similar to learning a new language, soloing involves studying and using a vocabulary to express and develop ideas. Because note choice, rhythm, and phrasing are too many variables to consider at the beginning, transcribed solos that have been recorded by your favorite musicians will initially limit your focus and help establish a solid foundation so you don't feel overwhelmed with all of the possibilities that are available to you as a soloist.
In this lesson, we will study the classic solo recorded by Miles Davis on "So What." Throughout a career that extended five decades, Davis released a collection of landmark projects spanning bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, and fusion music. He also discovered some of the most important figures in jazz music such as John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, and many others.
In 1959, Davis released Kind Of Blue, a recording that influenced jazz of the 1960's more profoundly than any other single work and is often cited as the best in jazz history. Featuring one of the greatest small jazz groups ever assembled with legendary musicians including John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, Kind Of Blue has become one of the most consistent selling recordings in the history of recorded music, regardless of genre.
"So What" is a modal composition that is characterized by a form which contains few chord changes and plenty of space. The result of this form is a single chordal/scalar tonality which continues for an extended period of time. Davis thought the jazz music of the 1940's and 50's was becoming too constrained and overcrowded with chords. When compared to jazz compositions from the bebop era, modal songs offered much more freedom for improvising on each individual chord change. Improvisers could focus their attention on the entire scale or mode which was related to the particular chord type rather than using the chordal approach to improvisation that was employed during the swing and bebop periods. Instead of thinking vertically through chords, jazz musicians started to take a more horizontal or scale-based approach to improvisation. This was a radical departure from the standard functional harmony of the bebop era where vertical harmonies or chords were utilized extensively and the tonality of a composition often moved through many key centers.
Not only is "So What" historic from an improvisational perspective in moving from a chordal to a scalar approach of improvisation, but it is also just one of a couple jazz standards which features the theme played on bass. On Kind Of Blue, "So What" was played by one of Miles Davis' most renowned bassists, Paul Chambers.
The harmonic concept behind "So What" is very simple. It is a 32-bar AABA song form composed of only two chord changes, Dm7 and Ebm7. The harmonic formula consists of 8 measures of Dm7, followed by another 8 bars of Dm7, then 8 measures of Ebm7, and finally 8 bars of Dm7. Rather than using a chordal approach to improvising over Dm7 and Ebm7, musicians approach it modally by playing D Dorian and Eb Dorian over the two respective chord changes. Other scales such as natural minor, melodic minor, and even harmonic minor are often utilized when soloing to add more flavor to the monotonous sound of Dorian when played over a prolonged period of time.
Although the song form of a modal tune such as "So What" is easy to analyze theoretically, modal compositions present improvisers with a number of formidable challenges. Since "So What" is comprised of 16 measures of Dm7 (AA), followed by 8 bars of Ebm7 (B), and then another 8 measures of Dm7 (A), improvisers are faced with the task of sustaining musical interest over an expanded time frame using only two chord changes. When you combine the last eight measures of "So What" with the first sixteen bars, you will be playing 24 continuous measures of Dm7.
If you experience problems in losing your place within the form of modal compositions, there are a couple things you can do to help alleviate that issue. First, divide the form of a 32-bar AABA modal song such as "So What" into four sections of eight measures. When you are playing, position your left foot forward for the first eight measures (A). To signify the second set of eight bars (A), place your right foot in front of your left. For the next eight measures (B), put your left foot in front of your right, and then again for the final set of eight measures (A), move your right foot in front of your left. This technique will help keep your place in the form and will remain totally undetected by the audience. Another technique to help ensure that you don't get lost in the song form involves picking four permanent spots in the room, and then move from point to point as the song progresses. Don't use moveable objects like people for your markers because they can relocate. Not only do both of these techniques work great on 32-bar AABA modal compositions, but you can apply them to other song forms in different styles as well.
Modal tunes such as "So What" are a great place to start experimenting with playing "outside" the changes because they provide plenty of space to establish the tonality on a single chord type. Plus, by going outside the key center of a modal composition, you can create more interest over the inherently static harmony through dissonance and resolution.
On "So What," Davis' two solo choruses are, without question, the most well known of all the documented statements that he recorded during his career. During his solo, Davis employs a number of signature techniques including his thoughtful process for developing ideas, his generous use of space, and the laid back feeling with which his phrases were played. Similar to his solo on "Freddie Freeloader," Davis builds his ideas motivically. He connects the entire solo together by utilizing a repeating motif in which he plays a note twice at the end of a phrase with a particular rhythmic pattern. ... Read More!
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