“So what” of Miles Davis, a Jazz legend, covered by Ali Sleeq! Check it out!
Posted In Ali "Bluesman" Sleeq,Bass,Musicians Corner,Tips and Advice,Training Videos & Articles
Ali “Bluesman” Sleeq is sharing with us this week a tutorial on Bass Tab concepts to “So what” by Miles Davis, one of the most influential Jazz composers in history. Turn it up and get your bass guitars out!
“So What” – from the Kind of Blue LP, 1959
By Miles Davis
Bass Tab & Concepts
Ali Sleeq
14.03.2011
Moving along to Jazz, after the blues basics we had the last couple of times.
The blues is where jazz got its roots from, along with other styles such as ragtime. So it is only natural for me to move into jazz a bit.
Miles Davis was not just a great trumpeter and bandleader, but he was a jazz innovator and he redefined jazz several times.
Studio Version of “So What”
Once such innovating album is Kind of Blue, released in 1959 by Columbia Records. It is also the best selling jazz album of all time (approx 4 million copies). The reasons for this success was it’s accessibility to non-jazz listeners, and it’s innovative approach to improvisation by using a modal (ie musical modes) approach, instead of the usually used melodic and chordal approaches of bebop. This approach opened a whole new sphere of jazz, including avant-garde and free jazz, due to the possibility to play more and explore the sounds of the music rather than being restricted to a particular chord progression or melody.
Yes I love this album.
Live Version of “So What”
But what about the bass in all this!?
The song “So What”, the first track on the album as well as a very common jazz standard, has one of the most recognizable bass lines in jazz history. Played by Paul Chambers on the upright bass, the song’s introduction with the “call and response” head with the rest of the band is instantly recognizable.
Paul Chambers is one of the best known jazz bassists, and died at an early age. He was a staple for the Miles Davis Quintet, as well as performing on John Coltrane’s massive hit albums, Blue Trane in 1957 and Giant Steps in 1960 among others. It is a good idea to take some time to read his bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Chambers
The bassline is played in the Dorian scale (see below), first in D then in Eb (the whole song too)
Dorian Scale = Natural Major (or Ionian) Scale with a b3 and b7.
The rest of the song after that is played by walking bass pattern.
My purpose today is to introduce this bassline to you, as it is one of my favorites in Jazz.
The modal approach opens up a vast space to mess around with. Not common for straight ahead blues or rock… but in jazz, progressive rock/metal, etc it is quite common.
So here is the tab and the video:
If you’d like to ask Ali Sleeq a specific question about this lesson, please complete the form below and he will receive it right away! Please note however, due to several other commitments Ali may not always respond to your queries in as lightening fast a fashion as his riffs, so please be patient!
![[Video of the Day] Ali Sleeq and Co. perform “So What” – Miles Davis at BLEND Music Festival](http://kuwait-music.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/featurevideoalimedium-300x91.jpg)
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