The main reason they they do that is because the two guitarist I play with mainly play power chords so they act funny when I do some more advanced stuff and even when I wrote a song One of my guitarist was acting funny when I said I have extra little enhancements in the bass lineOkay why would they look at you that way? Anyway concentrate on locking in with the kick drum to start when working with a live band position yourself so you have a clear view of the drummers pedal. usually the hi hat side. work on just doing this before you start adding fills off the hi hat or snare. Drum tracks are a great tool, but unless you really come across a drummer with great meter, you will need to adjust to what they are playing. My guess is the drummer you played with wasn't and maybe you should have been looking at him like he had 4 heads
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
Welcome to TalkBass! Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
here's a couple things that I still find helpful to keep in mind:
One of the greatest things about being a bass player is the "less is more" zen of the instrument. You can be a chops hound, who doesn't want to be Wooten? Nobody.
You can also be an outstanding player and get tons of respect by playing tied whole notes for 18 bars. You can get for respect for your sense of taste and control by laying out of the whole first verse and doing nothing. We are very lucky in that regard.
What is important is you play out as much as you can, with everyone you can. Don't fall into the trap of being afraid to leave the garage if it's not perfect. Don't fear that one guy who comes to see YOU working and picks apart every little imperfection as a way to make them feel better about themselves and please, Dear God, don't ever, EVER become that guy.
Book a gig and make a horrific mistake. Look around, people are still happy. smiling, dancing, shedding stress...that's you doing that and that is why you do it.
Last Sunday, I made what is probably the most horrific mistake ever recorded by a bass player at a live gig. I said I was sorry to the singer after I totally pooched the climax of his slow song..he didn't even hear it happen.
Think I'm kidding?
Right at 2:30. Went to bend to dook out of a string for emotional effect and that SOB squirted right out from under my finger. Ugh!
I challenge anyone to top that clam
One of the greatest things about being a bass player is the "less is more" zen of the instrument. You can be a chops hound, who doesn't want to be Wooten? Nobody.
You can also be an outstanding player and get tons of respect by playing tied whole notes for 18 bars. You can get for respect for your sense of taste and control by laying out of the whole first verse and doing nothing. We are very lucky in that regard.
What is important is you play out as much as you can, with everyone you can. Don't fall into the trap of being afraid to leave the garage if it's not perfect. Don't fear that one guy who comes to see YOU working and picks apart every little imperfection as a way to make them feel better about themselves and please, Dear God, don't ever, EVER become that guy.
Book a gig and make a horrific mistake. Look around, people are still happy. smiling, dancing, shedding stress...that's you doing that and that is why you do it.
Last Sunday, I made what is probably the most horrific mistake ever recorded by a bass player at a live gig. I said I was sorry to the singer after I totally pooched the climax of his slow song..he didn't even hear it happen.
Think I'm kidding?
Right at 2:30. Went to bend to dook out of a string for emotional effect and that SOB squirted right out from under my finger. Ugh!
I challenge anyone to top that clam
I say this a lot, but if you want to maximize your improvement, find a good teacher. They will help you reach your goals and provide constructive feedback for improving your playing.
Welcome to TalkBass @Jay boogs !!!!!
Fear not. You're already on the right track. You're studying and practicing. You're playing in a band. Good to go.
Just remember that the "math" of music is simply a guide. Eventually, you hope to have the math so ingrained that you then turn to FEEL for your playing. In other words, teach yourself the math so it becomes a barrier to playing "wrong notes". Once you get that part, relax and play.
Fear not. You're already on the right track. You're studying and practicing. You're playing in a band. Good to go.
Just remember that the "math" of music is simply a guide. Eventually, you hope to have the math so ingrained that you then turn to FEEL for your playing. In other words, teach yourself the math so it becomes a barrier to playing "wrong notes". Once you get that part, relax and play.
Solid advice. Remember, now matter how good you get--there is ALWAYS someone better. Never let a nit picker get under your skin---and yes--Don't be that guy no matter how good you get. If you ever feel you need to point out a problem that a player is having---always first point out what they are doing right first.
Get an edgy avatar on your TB profile and you'll be on your way.
Far more important (or at least equally important) than knowing scales, chords, common progressions, intervals... is playing with other people and injecting some personality into it - some soul if you like.
Plenty of musicians make nice noises without explicitly understanding the theory behind it, based on feel and band chemistry.
Far more important (or at least equally important) than knowing scales, chords, common progressions, intervals... is playing with other people and injecting some personality into it - some soul if you like.
Plenty of musicians make nice noises without explicitly understanding the theory behind it, based on feel and band chemistry.
I've seen hundreds of different music students come through the college where I used to work over the years, and there really were some very different types. Some had learned from books and knew all the theory, could play every single clever scale, in any key and were technically brilliant - AND - totally unmusical and 100% unable to play in a scratch band with others. At the other end we had others who knew about root, fourth and fifth, and could play crotchets (4th notes) in time with the others, and 'feel' where the chord changes came. As long as they knew the note position to start on they were fine. Others had learned patterns, as distinct from riffs, that they could use in a variety of song styles. Others could only play from sheet music, others couldn't read sheet music at all. As a teacher, I discovered the theory we learnt about learning styles was spot on, and everyone did have their own way of learning. The problem was finding the best one for each person.
Talent wise, it was very different. Some could hear a popular song and 'know' what the next note would be, and be able to play it. Others seemed to have no prediction ability at all. One guy could sight read stuff that I really struggled with. He couldn't, however, play a note without the music. In the studio or at a soundcheck, somebody would yell - "bit of bass please" and if he didn't have any music out yet, he could play nothing at all. He was great in a reading band, but did not remember anything he had played - even when he had played it 20 times already.
One guy heard the Stevie Wonder track Sir Duke just once, and instantly played the signature riff in it perfectly.
Some people instinctively play the right pattern for a jam - some just cannot. Some can improvise around a chord sequence, some cannot. Some are sloppy with their timing, others very rigid and inflexible.
You need to find out how good you are by asking people you trust.
When I joined the tribute band I am in, I never gave any thought to if I could sing and play at the same time. Course I can, I thought. After nearly 40 years, I discovered I had to work really hard to learn the songs so I could play exactly the same thing every show automatically, while my brain tackled the four part harmony lines. Early on I discovered I was a bass version of George Benson - my singing suddenly switched to the notes I was playing on the bass. It took amazing effort to split my brain in two. Now my bass playing is largely automatic, but in two songs, where what I play is quite hard, it's very easy for my voice to switch off while my brain switches to 100% on the bass.
My own feeling (for me) is that the best practice comes from playing songs you only vaguely know, so you perhaps have an idea of what the bass plays, but you have to basically make it up on the spot. You perhaps know the song very well - you think. I often get roped into things with little or no rehearsal. Village People's In the Navy - I've heard this for years and years, but never ever properly listened to it. I could visualise the chords, but what is played I discovered is not what I thought. That old 70s song - Disco Inferno (two slightly different bass lines) and Burn Baby Burn - wears your fingers out with a repetitive bass line. Then you get Michael Jackson's Billie Jean is another good one that may be half in your head.
I also cannot do reggae. Something in my head just messes it up unless I really, really concentrate - relax for one second and I'm on the wrong beat!
Find somebody you trust and ask them to be honest!
Talent wise, it was very different. Some could hear a popular song and 'know' what the next note would be, and be able to play it. Others seemed to have no prediction ability at all. One guy could sight read stuff that I really struggled with. He couldn't, however, play a note without the music. In the studio or at a soundcheck, somebody would yell - "bit of bass please" and if he didn't have any music out yet, he could play nothing at all. He was great in a reading band, but did not remember anything he had played - even when he had played it 20 times already.
One guy heard the Stevie Wonder track Sir Duke just once, and instantly played the signature riff in it perfectly.
Some people instinctively play the right pattern for a jam - some just cannot. Some can improvise around a chord sequence, some cannot. Some are sloppy with their timing, others very rigid and inflexible.
You need to find out how good you are by asking people you trust.
When I joined the tribute band I am in, I never gave any thought to if I could sing and play at the same time. Course I can, I thought. After nearly 40 years, I discovered I had to work really hard to learn the songs so I could play exactly the same thing every show automatically, while my brain tackled the four part harmony lines. Early on I discovered I was a bass version of George Benson - my singing suddenly switched to the notes I was playing on the bass. It took amazing effort to split my brain in two. Now my bass playing is largely automatic, but in two songs, where what I play is quite hard, it's very easy for my voice to switch off while my brain switches to 100% on the bass.
My own feeling (for me) is that the best practice comes from playing songs you only vaguely know, so you perhaps have an idea of what the bass plays, but you have to basically make it up on the spot. You perhaps know the song very well - you think. I often get roped into things with little or no rehearsal. Village People's In the Navy - I've heard this for years and years, but never ever properly listened to it. I could visualise the chords, but what is played I discovered is not what I thought. That old 70s song - Disco Inferno (two slightly different bass lines) and Burn Baby Burn - wears your fingers out with a repetitive bass line. Then you get Michael Jackson's Billie Jean is another good one that may be half in your head.
I also cannot do reggae. Something in my head just messes it up unless I really, really concentrate - relax for one second and I'm on the wrong beat!
Find somebody you trust and ask them to be honest!
I have begun sounding consistently good when I begun recording regularly. When you record, you really realize how crappy you sound, the ego gets defeated and there begins the real improvement. You stop doing certain things that you thought were cool, work on what really matters, and everything gets clean and more effective. Now when I practice one line I don't pass to another until the "recording level" has been reached, otherwise I just leave it apart for a while and go back to easer stuff.
I'll say this, yet again: Music is HARD. One year is not ANYTHING. Keep at it - you will progress if you *keep at it*.
I don't even understand anything about "how to use root and combine them with 5ths, 6ths, flat 7ths and octaves" but I am told that I'm a good bass player/song writer and that I have chops. So, maybe you should try to focus a bit on holding a groove and work on your feel and timing. Playing along to a song with a simple groovy bass line is fine, just keep at it until it sounds just like the record.
If you're currently not or haven't taken any lessons, then that would be a great start, even if only to have an experienced eye look at how you're using both of your hands. I picked up really bad habits early on because I had nobody to tell me otherwise,and brother those bad habits were really tough to break. If your technique is fine, then you will be fine over time if you keep plugging away.
I've been playing less than a year too, and I thought I was making progress and doing fine--until you posted this...
I suck way worse than I feared...
Stick with it man. Before you know it you'll have 5,10,15 years under your belt. Make sure your technique is sound.I've been playing less than a year too, and I thought I was making progress and doing fine--until you posted this...
I suck way worse than I feared...
Dont worry yourself about it. As soon as you log out of TB none of that stuff matters.I've been playing less than a year too, and I thought I was making progress and doing fine--until you posted this...
I suck way worse than I feared...
Hey you're doing a hell of a lot better than a lot of people a year in. If you've got your majors minors and even some blues scales down that's as good a foundation as any. I know guys who have been playing and even gigging for years ho can barely do anything beyond reading tabs.
As to sounding good playing along to songs, that's never going to happen. That's a downside to bass, it's not (typically) melodic (unless you're Doug Wimbish. It's hard to practice alone. Just keep practicing, keep learning, and most of all, keep becoming more and more familiar with your instrument.
And hey if you can keep in time with your drum machine then you're halfway there, I've met my share of bassists who can't (or won't). As a former drummer I can tell you, a bassists who can keep time is a good start. Everything else can come in time.
As to sounding good playing along to songs, that's never going to happen. That's a downside to bass, it's not (typically) melodic (unless you're Doug Wimbish. It's hard to practice alone. Just keep practicing, keep learning, and most of all, keep becoming more and more familiar with your instrument.
And hey if you can keep in time with your drum machine then you're halfway there, I've met my share of bassists who can't (or won't). As a former drummer I can tell you, a bassists who can keep time is a good start. Everything else can come in time.
it's common to everyone: learning new stuff is humbling. practice x's 3. it will come together!
it can be difficult, i agree. one year is SOMETHING, however, and it sounds like the OP has a neat list of accomplishments from which to expand and improve. and some real talent goes a long way = never hurts!
