heard a good line last night at the jam. we were
discussing solos that go on and on and on.
"if you can't say it in 16 bars, you can't say it".
your mileage may vary (12 bars?), but you get the idea.
I can't actually agree with this. What I'd rather say is that if you can't
say something interesting in 16 bars, go back to the woodshed.
Note to newer players:
That's also a good place for newer players to start learning how to jam,
and in general how to solo. Learn how to play a one verse solo with a
beginning, middle and end. That is, a beginning that grabs attention or
makes a very dramatic statement, a middle that extends and develops the
idea, and a boffo ending.
Practice that structure in a single verse and then you're ready to say more
stuff than you can fit in 16 bars. THAT'S what jamming is great for:
practicing making a limited-length statement interesting.
That being said, three verses is a great limit for the Hodgson Rule. Most
of your audience couldn't follow more than three verses of your story at
gunpoint. I'll say this two other ways. 1- Unless you're a very seasoned
player, more than three improvised verses ceases to be entertainment, and
you're being paid to entertain. 2- Even extremely remarkable players
aren't that interesting after three verses. (The greatest jazz musicians
can go much longer and maintain interest, but even 'Trane puts me to sleep
on the 45 minute solos.)
A few months ago I had one of LA's first-call guitarists in the studio for
a demo of a song I was co-creating for a movie. A loop of a straight 12
bar blues was up and he just played verse after verse, and it was perfectly
stunning to hear this guy knock out verse after verse of original
ideas. After 20 verses we were sure we had what we needed, and then
some. I was high as a kite from the music. The next day I listened to our
three verse edit and it was outstanding, but the 20 verses uncut was hard
to listen to because even with the brilliant fire-hose of ideas, it was
hard to concentrate for more than a few verses. (In fairness, he wasn't
trying to keep a dramatic thread going, he was giving us a bunch of amazing
ideas to work with.)
To put all this blather into an adage, Once you can reliably create
exciting 12 or 16 bar solos you've EARNED the right to try to play a second
verse. Once you can do it twice in a row, reliably, you can start learning
how to do a third verse. But if you think you'll ever earn the right to do
a fourth verse, do it at home, but not in front of audiences, the people
you're supposed to leave wanting more.