3/13/23 Take It? Take What?

Ever been on a jazz gig, even though you don’t really improvise? But somehow you ended up on the gig and there you are on the bandstand, playing along with the band—doubling the melodies, possibly faking a few harmonies, mostly hiding in the weeds.

Feeling pretty proud of yourself for hanging with the jazzers.

Then all of a sudden, the band-leader turns to you and says, “Take it!”

And you freeze like a deer in the headlights.

Take it? Take what? And where do I take it?

You’re not ready to take a solo, but evidently you faked the rest of the gig so well that the band-leader figured you would be fine.

It’s like one of those anxiety dreams where you get onstage to play a concerto and all of the sudden the orchestra starts a different concerto. And it’s a much harder one that you’ve never studied. But then you wake up.

Being asked to solo if you don’t know how can be a genuine moment of panic. But here’s a pro tip that will get you out alive and may keep you from having anxiety dreams:

Just play some rhythm!

Pick a note that works, just like you did when you were faking harmonies, and rhythm it up! Make it interesting. (But make sure it locks with the drums, or you'll get dirty looks from the rhythm section.)

And here is where knowing how to ghost and chop can be a huge lifesaver. You can make any rhythm work just by keeping the “motor running” in your arm—a steady strumming motion with your bow—aka Strum Bowing.

And if you know how to chop, then you don’t even have to have a note or two that works—it can all be just rhythmic noise. No notes required.

Remember, anytime you’ve been tossed in the deep end of the chord progressions pool, you can just follow some non-pitched rhythmic chopping back into safer waters.

And you’ll get a lot of admiring looks from the band who just got schooled because they had no idea that a violin could play rhythm like that! Way to go!

Chalk another one up to the power of the groove!

Groove on!

--Tracy