I have this tendency to hear and understand things but it takes a while for it to actually click in my brain. The proverbial “put 2 and 2 together”, if you will. In the case of this post, it’s the whole “sing the bassline” advice for when you’re trying to come up with or learn a line.
I was listening to a new Sha Na Na record I bought a couple weeks ago and it really struck me just how complex and impressive the old timey do whop basslines actually are. Bowser from Sha Na Na, in particular, was fantastic at them. Granted, most of Sha Na Na’s songs were established standards but still.
Since then I’ve been doing a do whop deep dive and have been trying to replicate the bass singer’s lines on the guitar and I feel like I’ve not only made huge strides in creativity but I’ve learned a lot of soloing tricks as well.
Regardless of your preferred genre, I’d say give it a shot.
