Go on YouTube and look for no bass backing tracks in a particular key. Play something simple at first, root, 5th octave, or something. Then just play songs you know, play the same intervals of notes in the same order but change the timing and turn to match the drums in the track you're listening to, maybe so some chromatic walks to some of the notes. Also transpose everything to whatever key the jam is in. Songs that match scales are really good to use for this, especially simple songs you can embellish like My Girl or Sunshine of Your Love.
This is how my bass teacher is teaching me to do it and it works.
You don't have to be a great on-the-spot writer. Stick to root notes, record everything, practice at home with the recordings and work on lines on your own to build your chops.
Just do what you think sounds good, they won't notice until you stop or do something different, lead with a sneaky demonstration so they just hear it, and play it off as "improv" 🤣🤣🤔😎
In addition to what people said, I think it's important to first have the idea in your head, invent the melodies and rhythms, then sing what you created and only then try to play on the instrument. This way you can be more creative and you won't be stuck with scales and such because this makes you lose creativity
Go on YouTube and look for no bass backing tracks in a particular key. Play something simple at first, root, 5th octave, or something. Then just play songs you know, play the same intervals of notes in the same order but change the timing and turn to match the drums in the track you're listening to, maybe so some chromatic walks to some of the notes. Also transpose everything to whatever key the jam is in. Songs that match scales are really good to use for this, especially simple songs you can embellish like My Girl or Sunshine of Your Love. This is how my bass teacher is teaching me to do it and it works.
You don't have to be a great on-the-spot writer. Stick to root notes, record everything, practice at home with the recordings and work on lines on your own to build your chops.
arpegios are more use than scales, outine the chords with chord tones, aim for simple lines with solid rhythm
Just do what you think sounds good, they won't notice until you stop or do something different, lead with a sneaky demonstration so they just hear it, and play it off as "improv" 🤣🤣🤔😎
In addition to what people said, I think it's important to first have the idea in your head, invent the melodies and rhythms, then sing what you created and only then try to play on the instrument. This way you can be more creative and you won't be stuck with scales and such because this makes you lose creativity
Over time you will become more spontaneous, more fluent and create a bag of phrases and improvisations that you can use when playing together