Re: (Derek Baily) Improvisation (TV)

[ditch wrestler <ditchwrestler@yahoo.com>]

Yup, I'm talking totally "free/spontaneous/nonidiomatic" improv, not "jazz/folk/play over chords/repeatable" improv.

 

What I do with the bits that I copy/learn/figure out is that they go into the mental quiver and hopefully can be succesfully remembered and drawn out later!  What I'm looking for is the process of discovery and trying to benefit by somebody that's done the same thing.

 

For example, I know Mark Dresser has a pick-up installed in the neck of his bass so he can finger a note and then pluck it on the nut-side of the string.  So, even though I don't have my bass modified like his, I can still do that and have; it doesn't produce the same effect, though, but it's close enough for me.

 

Yes, as discussed here previously, taking free/spontaneous improv to the extreme results in some people saying that they can't approach their instrument without preconceived notions, habits, patterns, etc.  I don't know of too many improv players that preach a totally 'naive' approach to their instrument but I'm sure some do.

 

So, while I do try to approach my instrument without any preconceived notions of what I'm going to play or how I'm going to play, I still retain techniques and kernels - how I hold my bass, how do I use the bow, etc.  Do I repeat myself in some way?  Sure!  Do I take things I know and put them in a blender (like play Led Zep's "Black Dog" backwards)?  Sure!

 

But I'm hoping it's being done sympatheticly with what the other players around me are doing.

 

 

Krispen Hartung <khartung@cableone.net> wrote:

Out of my own curiousity, once you do learn how to play a part on your bass, what do you do with it then? How does it improve your improvisation skills? I'm assuming you don't copy what you learn, as that isn't actually improvising.  In short, if you are not actually copying anthing, notes, approach, etc, what is it that you learn that helps you be a better improvisor?   

 

I'll have to be careful here, because we may also be confusing two types of improvisation, which Bailey and others have discussed. I just have done this a long time ago in this thread. I apologize.  One type of improv is totally free and spontaneous improvisation; the other is where players memorize morifs, cliches, phrases, etc - all a part of their bag of tools and tricks - and then they re-apply those bits and pieces in an improvisational setting. But there is no "creatio ad nihilo" in this latter context; rather the improv is in the application of the pre-learned tools, not creating completely new things on the fly.  I am more interested in the spontaneous form of improv.

 

Kris

 

----- Original Message -----

I've been improvising for about 6 years now and I'll concur with the 'transfered transposing' approach as a worthwhile.

 

I listen to a record (being a bassist, I'm partial to that instrument) of William Parker, Peter Kowald, Wilbert De Joode or non-bassists like Eddie Prevost, Steve Lacy, Derek Bailey, etc. and when I hear something interesting, I wonder 'how did they make that sound and how can I make it on my bass.'

 

I don't usually end up even close to that sound but I usually discover something interesting along the way.

 

 

Ted Harms.

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