This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he breaks down a bass improv solo he played over one chorus of “The Girl from Ipanema.”
“The Girl from Ipanema” comes up constantly at jam sessions, so here’s a breakdown of a bass solo I played over one chorus of its chord progression.
When you search for improv solos online, you’ll find tons of players doing insanely fast runs and high-register fireworks — amazing to watch, but honestly, “too good to copy” for a lot of players. So for this one, I deliberately kept the approach simple and accessible, even for someone relatively early in their playing.
Contents
A Bass Solo Over “The Girl from Ipanema”
Here are 2 things I focused on overall.
1. Using a Unified Rhythm Pattern Built From Chord Tones (e.g. Section A, bars 9–12 / Section B, bars 1–4)
Here are bars 9–12 of section A. The rhythm pattern in bars 9 and 10 is identical, and the same goes for bars 11 and 12.
Only the actual notes change — they’re simply the chord tones of whatever chord is underneath at that moment.
2. Adding Occasional 16th Notes for a Sense of Speed (e.g. Section A, bar 5 / Section B, bar 5)
When soloing, it’s easy to fall into a rut of just quarter notes and eighth notes. So I deliberately worked in some 16th notes throughout — it adds a real sense of forward motion.
Hopefully this is useful as a reference for your own playing.
Breaking down a solo on paper is one thing — getting that same rhythmic confidence into your own playing in real time is exactly where a second set of ears helps the most.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.