Band is going to be doing “Smooth Operator” by Sade. There is an 8-bar bass solo at the bridge.
Any tips or tricks for prepping a solo? How close to hew to the original vs. making it my own?
The original goes way up to the 19th fret, which is fairly unfamiliar territory for me. Doable, but a little bit awkward on a 21 fret instrument.
How feasible would it be to play the solo an octave down?
Physically? Very feasible.
Cutting through while maintaining the proper rise and fall? Not sure. I suppose that’s what group practices are for.
I would tackle it as any other more or less complicated line, learning and practicing it by chunks, maybe two bars at a time?
Personally I like solos as close to original as possible.
How much time do you have to practice it?
Damn now I want to learn this song too, so many childhood memories.
It’s such a classic Paul Denman solo, that I kind of shudder at the thought of playing it one octave down. The bassline in the preceding verse goes down to an open E, so the bass solo being 2 octaves up from that really stands out. It sounds so good on his EBMM Stingray, which he brought out on the most recent tour just for Smooth Operator.
That said, those quarter note triplets give the solo an important feel. If playing up near the body gives you timing problems, I’d err of the side of proper timing and feel and play it an octave down.
Practice is on Saturday. Gig is in one month.
It’s great. The sort of line that I really enjoy playing. Built on a simple progression (1-5-4-5), tons of fun rhythmic complexity, lots of opportunity to play it simpler or busier and still sound right.
I don’t know what’s your level but if you can play the rest of the song, putting some work you should be able to play the solo quite fast. A few hammer-ons, few slides but nothing crazy if my ears doesn’t lie to me 
Keeping the feel is the most important part. I also really love that opening walk-up and want to keep it.
It’s really the high notes in bars 5&6 that I’m considering mapping out a different melody. But my concern is that it’s sort of the climax of the line, and so hitting that high note matters.
Or, I need to learn a cleaner way to fret that high up. Probably just a case of this being something I need to focus on in my practice.
Oh and if you are into metal at all and want to practice something catchy on the 19th fret territory, try learning the intro of Metallica’s From whom the bell tolls. Just as an exercise if you get bored of repeating this solo.
I’d stick with the original because it’s such an iconic song. It’s not too bad though it does really mingle in the dusty ends too much 
The live version doubles that to 16 bars we do that sometimes if the crowds start singing along.
Okay. That solo is a lot easier on a neck with a deeper cut. I’d been trying it on my SBV-550, which is actually only 20 frets, and the cutout is at fret 18. That was sort of doable, but rough.
On my Reverend with 21 frets and the body cut at fret 20… it s a LOT easier.
For grins, I tried that solo on my fretless (Fender P with a Warmouth neck)… Oof. Margins for getting the intonation right are a lot slimmer. Not good when the cut is at 19th “fret” and the body and neck are thicker.
Cut the bass solo from the song. The audience won’t know and then the pressure is off.
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NOOOOOOOO!
This is actually not the worst idea 
Well every time you go up to the Dusty end even if you hit every other notes wrong the crowds still go nuts, so go for it. You’d get more “nice solo” than “what’s that?” Not even your bandmate knows you mess up, I guarantee you, they have their sh!t to worry about, your solo is when they take a small break.
You? you just shred it man. Don’t worry.
Here’s the 16 bars solo for inspiration,
That’s something I thought yesterday dabbling with the song with my 24 fret bass.
With the cover that I’m recording this weekend, all I can say is that this is a very hold my beer type of challenge.
Embrace it! Do it! Play with intent!
If you feel nervous (and that’s understandable) and challenged to play up on the fingerboard, then you could start out playing long notes (the notes the original bass player plays on beats 1 and 3) and then slowly develop it by adding more notes, e.g., the lead-in notes to the 1 and 3 (as you get more comfortable) and finally playing it very similarly to what he plays 
I would always embrace the chance for a bass solo 
I found some tracks with the bass removed. That is probably the thing that is going to help me the most. Practicing with no backing doesn’t help, but practicing while listening to the original is messing me up. I just hear how I’m doing things differently from the original. I need to be free to focus on what I am playing, not what the original was playing.
Gotta see if I can do something that sounds good on the SBV. I’d been planning to pack that for the gig. I recently installed a D-tuner on that for the couple of drop-D songs we’re doing. And it just looks awesome. Manually retuning on string isn’t a big deal though.
I used to have a 24 fret Ibanez. Sold it because I found the neck too slim for my hands.
Edit: Yup, no backing track with a deeper cut bass this is a lot easier. I’m not playing as awesome as the original, but it sounds good.
You just gotta take 2 basses! But stuff like this is exactly why I like the 22-24 fret basses; on the off chance I’ll play that high and don’t want my hand ramming into the body. Even 17th fret on my P bass with 20 is hitting up there.
