calling all bass players!
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Other music related lounges
Forum Name: Music and Musicians Exchange
Forum Description: Talk with and get feedback from other musicians on the site
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1222
Printed Date: November 24 2024 at 17:26
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Topic: calling all bass players!
Posted By: bassguy35
Subject: calling all bass players!
Date Posted: July 19 2004 at 11:04
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hey bass players---- i am a beginner 4-string bass player and i was wondering if you had any advice for me. I was wondering if you remember when you were starting out, i need to understand what steps to take to get started. I got my inspiration when i was listening to a man play his bass. he was playing jazz/blues music. when he was done playing i asked him if i could pluck on his bass. he said yes and he let me. i tried to follow along to the piano and trumpet and trombone. i actually did good, and he said that i should start playing. please give me any advice that you can, i need your help...Thanks!! ------------- <ROCK ON!> bassguy35 |
Replies:
Posted By: 5 minute solo
Date Posted: July 19 2004 at 11:08
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play with other people and develop your timing. and try and learn some basic theory, at least you may have some idea of what you're doing. ------------- You want the spoon? You can't handle the spoon! |
Posted By: Joren
Date Posted: July 19 2004 at 13:43
My friend JrKASperov (who's also a forum member) plays a five string electric bass guitar. He taught himself how to do it. Ask him! 
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Posted By: bassguy35
Date Posted: July 19 2004 at 14:25
thanks for telling me joren! i private messaged him and hopes he respondes and reads my article. you've been a big help!  ------------- <ROCK ON!> bassguy35 |
Posted By: Joren
Date Posted: July 19 2004 at 14:28
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at your service! Is the bass guitar your first musical instrument? |
Posted By: bityear
Date Posted: July 19 2004 at 16:02
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when I was a beginner, not too long ago, I began recording myself, perhaps while playing along to some song I liked, and then mixing my bass line with the original track. It was thanks to that that I realized how bad I was at playing even the simplest even 8ths beat, and made me imrove. I practised a lot to a metronome back then, tried to play as steady as possible (still one of my main flas... )
Some day you'll have to learn some scales, too, especially if you're into jazz. Play them over the whole neck, and make sure you know where to find each note (it's SO embarrassing when you try to play a cool fill somewhere around the 12th fret, and play the wrong notes!!  )
Scales are really usable whenever you'll want to improve your playing and getting groovier, by doing a fill och constructing a bass groove. If you know the basic scales, you'll know just which notes that will fit. Don't forget the chromatic scale, however, it's dramatic if used wisely! 
Oh, and, use the fourth finger from the beginning. It will feel more natural just to use the left hand's three first fingers in the beginning, but if you wish to gain some (self)respect, and become a great player, the fourth finger is a must! Bassists only using three fingers will get stuck in the skate-punk genre.
Other than that, practice as much as possible, obviosuly, and get to play with other people. I just recently joined a band playing prog covers, and that has made me practice a lot even now during the summer, when I otherwise use to take a break. ------------- www.geocities.com/joelbitars |
Posted By: goose
Date Posted: July 20 2004 at 04:13
| It's weird, I've noticed other people only using three fingers, but using my little finger just came naturally to me. I guess it's probably to do with learning on a double bass. |
Posted By: artbass
Date Posted: July 20 2004 at 08:41
When I began playing, I started with playing along to some easy songs (AC/DC works great for this ). After a while I went on, playing to the radio all of the night (and was damn tired in school the other day). I also learned some theory at that time.------------- she feels wind around her she feels a warming sun she feels some raindrops wet her leaves since that time she lost her griefs |
Posted By: bityear
Date Posted: July 20 2004 at 09:28
I started as a double bass player myself, but it didn't help for me.
Since you can only reach three "frets" on a double bass (unless you've got some HUGE hands!  ) it was natural to me to use only three fingers, since that was quite similar to how I played on the double bass. And, the third finger was easier to use than the fourth. It wasn't until almost a year ago that I seriously thought that I should start using the fourth finger, when another (great) bassist pointed it out.  ------------- www.geocities.com/joelbitars |
goose wrote:Posted By: JrKASperov
Date Posted: July 20 2004 at 15:37
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Hmm, interesting topic, have to remember how I started this... As Joren stated, I play five-stringed now, but I hardly use the fifth string unles sI play a song that uses lower tuning. Handy for fingerpractice to NOT tune down but use the fifth string. But next bass will be four stringed again! Next, to learn how to play for yourself, play CD's... Lot's of em. I started with 'Californication' from the Peppers. Surprisingly easy basslines one most of those songs. Good for learning. In the end you will want to learn how to play Around the World, hard song that one ;) Start off with easy cd's! With lots of repeating riffs for bass to just learn timing and rythym. You might want to improvise with rythym to improve your skills in time... Third, as stated above, the fourth finger, or pinky, will GREATLY improve your play if you learn how to use it. Now I only started using that one on my third year of playing, have been playing for 4,5 years now, and it has greatly improved my speed, agility and understanding of the scales. Now the way I learn scaled, is just by finding them out by improvising with songs. It's great fun, but VERY challenging and I can imagine I'll learn more slowly than most.. but I think it's fun, and I'm good enough for a good progband now I think (play Yes a lot with improvisation and can think of these greatsounding alternating tunes). So choose yourself, learning scales might be faster but I think it's less fun! ------------- Epic. |
Posted By: BrainRock Ben
Date Posted: July 22 2004 at 17:43
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Nice avatar. My bass learning advice is three-fold. 1. Play with any and everyone you can, as often as you can, in as many style as you can. 2. As painful as this may be, listen to the radio and try to play along with the music. This will develop your ear. Also, most radio rock is three or four chords, so it's fairly easy to pick up and that's encouraging to a beginner. 3. Also learn basic rhythm guitar. Just the commonly used chords. That'll help give you a more well rounded sense of rock-rhythm.
Hope that makes sense. It's fun at the "bottom," so welcome to the club. ------------- There are people pushing buttons who should be pushing boundaries. There are people answering phones who should be answering to no one. |
Posted By: Reed Lover
Date Posted: July 22 2004 at 18:10
Practice for about 10 years then jack it in as you'll never be as good as Geddy Lee |
Posted By: JrKASperov
Date Posted: July 22 2004 at 18:25
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Actually Geddy isn't THAT good He gets trumped by Victor Wooten and Pastorius. ------------- Epic. |
Posted By: Reed Lover
Date Posted: July 23 2004 at 14:33
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Am I permitted to say bollocks!? |
Posted By: Gonghobbit
Date Posted: July 23 2004 at 15:21
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Learn to read music well, it will serve you well in the future; don't worry if it seems most others aren't that knowledgeable, betterthat you be. ------------- 'This is a local shop, there's nothing for you here' |
Posted By: JrKASperov
Date Posted: July 23 2004 at 18:17
Only if you start a new thread: Subject: "I'm a liar" And then saying how you wrongfully state that Geddy Lee is as good or better than those two jazzmasters. ------------- Epic. |
Posted By: Reed Lover
Date Posted: July 24 2004 at 06:28
tee hee! |
Posted By: artbass
Date Posted: July 24 2004 at 10:08
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Another idea that came to my mind: I played in trios most of the time (my recent band is the first with more than three people). This forst me to improve my playing because I had to play a lot to fill the space during the solos of the guitarist (and he did a lot solos - guitarists...). But start with playing along with CDs. ------------- she feels wind around her she feels a warming sun she feels some raindrops wet her leaves since that time she lost her griefs |
Posted By: aegis
Date Posted: July 20 2005 at 13:30
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Get a drum machine and play along with it to develop good timing. Your mate the drummer may make a lot of noise but his timing is probably crap. ------------- Listening to: Gentle Giant - Power and the Glory |
Posted By: GoldenSpiral
Date Posted: July 20 2005 at 13:38
sperov is right. I saw victor wooten play with bela fleck. He did a bass solo that nearly brought me to tears. it was truly brilliant. As for learning bass, I started out as a rhythm guitarist, then slowly learned that I liked bass more. playing with others is the best way to learn by far. if you can learn to improvise, you're set for life. ------------- http://www.myspace.com/altaic" rel="nofollow - http://www.myspace.com/altaic ALTAIC "Oceans Down You'll Lie" coming soon |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: July 20 2005 at 14:24
| My humble advice (as a bass player since 1976) is to forget about prog for a while and listen to some solid bass players such as Colin Moulding, Jimmy Lea (no, don't laugh) and Paul McCartney. Once you've learned how to provide a solid rhythm, then you can expand into the realms of Chris Squire and Geddy Lee. |
Posted By: cucacola54
Date Posted: July 20 2005 at 15:14
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------------- Most listened albums last week 
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couldnt say it better!! the first thing to do is learn to provide a solid rhythm, thats the main object of the bass guitar, later then you can bring melodies, improvisation, and solos, but first the rhythm!!Posted By: penguindf12
Date Posted: August 02 2005 at 00:46
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My method for becoming a one-year bass prodigy in, well...one year... Get the Bass Guitar Primer with Burt Casey. It's what I used, and it really really helped. It starts you at the bottom, then takes you to the top in 3 months. It has a Cd with it and everything. Basically you just practice with it for 15 minutes at a time, about 2 or 3 times a day. Or once, whatever. Do it for 15 minutes at a time, because, as the book says, that's about the limit of your attention span, otherwise you'll get frustrated. Rest time is as important as playing time. You should do this consistently as you can, without change. Once you finish the book, you're ready to take on anything. I could play Pink Floyd's "Money" right off the bat, and then took on Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick pt. 1", then Yes' "Gates of Delirium", "Close to the Edge", "South Side of the Sky" and "Roundabout", then King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man", then Gentle Giant's "Advent of Panurge" and "A Cry for Everyone", then Chris Squire's "Hold Out Your Hand" and Rush's "Tom Sawyer", and right now I'm working on Yes' "Parallels" and "Heart of the Sunrise", and Rush's "YYZ" (so far the only one to stump me yet). Anyway, you may not want to take it in that order. But in any case, that book REALLY HELPS. I started playing last year in May. Bass is by it's nature easier than guitar, and I can play some acoustic guitar bits (Steve Hackett's "Horizons" and Steve Howe's "Mood for a Day"), but I have real trouble with a pick. I play fingerstyle, of course, normal index-and-middle-finger style with your dominant hand (usually your right). When I first started playing, I really had trouble with my ring finger on my left hand especially, not so much my pinkie. It takes about 7 months to fully develop a callus, so be patient, and keep your fingernails short, but not so short that they hurt when they grow back (a mistake I made too many times). Above all, teach yourself. Having a teacher only hurts you, especially if it's standard, professional by-the-book lessons. A mentor may be good, I don't really know. Then again, it may just be my learning style...but that's my advice, anyway. It also helps to have abnormally long fingers. |
Posted By: penguindf12
Date Posted: August 02 2005 at 00:54
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I just realized I sound like one of those "lose 50 pounds in one month" commercials with me pushing that Primer book... ...but seriously, it's no lie. If you want, I can (somehow) record me playing to any of these songs and (somehow) put it on the internet. Fill in the somehow's and I'm there. |
Posted By: Eetu Pellonpaa
Date Posted: August 04 2005 at 13:36
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I learned to play with my friends. I also got some tablatures of the songs I liked, F.Ex. "Tom Sawyer" from RUSH and learned to play it over the record. Take your time. Don't build your ego over playing. Keep your head clean, at least when playing. |
Posted By: penguindf12
Date Posted: August 05 2005 at 22:31
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Yeah, my ego and comes and goes. I brought my bass to camp and everyone oohed and aahed and I felt like I was the best. Then I played along with a church band and the person who normally plays bass there basically said "you suck." |
But you're right. I shouldn't get a swollen head. Posted By: Area 39
Date Posted: August 08 2005 at 17:54
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I never wanted to learn how to play as such, i wanted to write so i learnt to play in a way that suited what i was doing. I still cant play that good but i think my writing is 2nd to non Take a listen http://www.area39project.com - www.area39project.com Thanks ------------- Man on the moon my arse |
Posted By: WillieThePimp
Date Posted: August 17 2005 at 03:20
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I love it Area 39 :)
------------- You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. ~Oscar Levant, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket |
Posted By: penguindf12
Date Posted: August 18 2005 at 17:35
Wow, I just proved myself. Today I walked into jazz band with a "I'm gonna show these posers how to play bass RIGHT!" attitude. I sat down. They put a sheet of music in front of me ("Blue Monk", Thelonius Monk) and said "play". Seeing as I can't sight read faster than about 50 bpm, needless to say my ego was popped and cast into the pits of humility. To make it worse, the other bassist just walked up there and played it flawlessly. Ouch. I'm still in jazz band, just at a severe disadvantage...ouch...my pride...talk about instant karma... |
Posted By: Damen
Date Posted: August 19 2005 at 14:03
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I started out just doing minor pentonic scales and memorizing notes and blues scales and such, not trying to emulate other artists but trying to feel out the bass on my own and find out what i'm comfortable with, and then I started doing covers of other bassist's work. In my opinion that was the best way to start. Also, if you have trouble reading sheet music, buy this program, it's well worth the money: http://www.tabit.net - www.tabit.net ------------- "It's amazing that we've been able to put up with each other for 35 years. Most marriages don't last that long these days." -Chris Squire |
Posted By: Mnemosyne
Date Posted: August 29 2005 at 11:36
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I have a good advice: 1.- Never miss the drummer metric modulation (this is for a bit more experienced bass players) 2.- Practice the wonderful odd-time signatures ------------- I'm a Man-Owl-Fish. Creator-Observer-Muse. |