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Advice for new bass players -


allan grossman

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Listen to anything and everything, as you never know where your next bit of inspiration is going to come from.

 

Oh .... and be good to your mother! ;)

 

Oh, another one (serious)!!

 

Don't get caught up in the whole "real bassplayers don't use picks" or "slapping sucks" routines.

 

"Real" bassplayers use any technique available to them to get the job done. If you want to be a complete bassist, try and learn every possible technique you can. It doesn't mean you have to use them all the time, but it means that you'll be better prepared to give the best possible performance for any given situation.

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Originally posted by bassaussie

Oh, another one (serious)!!


Don't get caught up in the whole "real bassplayers don't use picks" or "slapping sucks" routines.


"Real" bassplayers use any technique available to them to get the job done. If you want to be a complete bassist, try and learn every possible technique you can. It doesn't mean you have to use them all the time, but it means that you'll be better prepared to give the best possible performance for any given situation.

 

 

Right on. I used to say:"Playing with a pick is raping your bass". Thank god I

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Keep your eyes and ears open, 'cause you'll be surprised what you can learn by listening to other players (yes, even guitarists...)

Talk to lots of drummers, and, more important, try to play with as many drummers as you can !!! A tight rythm-section is the power and drive behind every band!

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try to keep your fret hand thumb behind the neck where it belongs.

adopt a finger per fret exercise and start with it and use it till it works

use the middle finger for note one in an arpeggio

 

try to get your plucking hand thumb on the bottom (top) string and slip it up only to play the E string.

 

dont practice too long with the hard stuff and keep a little tune you made up yourself to finish on and craft to get it better.

 

dont look up too much at what the big boys are doing. just be calm and confident you will get there...after you are good at the intermediate stages

 

one note at the right time is worth many not in time

 

practice triplets and synchopation.

 

:cool:

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Well, do what i did, i played for a bit by myself, and learned some songs by ear, then went in the proper direction, before my bad habits became worse, and got LESSONS. bang bam boom, i got better much faster. my teacher learned from gary willis for over a year, and he showed me about all the technique stuff he learned from gary.

 

Also, buy exercise books. I bought a bass fitness book, site reading book, and a slap exercise book (whoever says slapping sucks, can't do it), and just from those i have gotten so much better.

 

Last thing, think about bass ALL DAY LONG, remember what notes sound like, and try to think of songs, and where they are played on the neck. always try to listen to songs, and learn their basslines, learn as many styles and rythyms as possible. Lately, i've been playing my usual self made harmony songs, in a different light, sometimes try to slap them, or throw in muted notes (muted notes OWN!)... I also just got a schecter elite 5, so i've been playing about 3 hours a day!

 

PLAY PLAY PLAY!

 

 

however, after reading the comment above me... i do use my palm to control sound levels, and muting... not my whole palm, more like the side of my hand on the pinky side, it's somewhat tricky to play with your fingers sideways, but you can do some cool stuff with the muting. versatility is the key...

 

Last thing i just thought of : be able to BS! sometimes, if im playing, i might miss a note, not sound wise, but totally rythmically miss it and not play it at all, and here is when you need to show people, i meant to do that... it makes you look like you know what your doing, but inside, you feel like a {censored}head. you can change the rest of the measure, to accomodate for the mistake!

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Not exactly one thing, but a top ten would look like (apologies for repeating what others said):

 

1. Persistence, persistence, persistence.

 

2. Timekeeping, timekeeping, timekeeping.

2a. Your metronome is your best friend.

2b. Learn to keep time while playing through your mistakes, always listening to find your place and never stopping until the tune is done. (If the bass ever stops, your group is headed for a trainwreck, most of the time.)

2c. Know and feel where beat one is, without exception, all the time.

 

3. Play along with your fave CDs/whatever inspires you, and play what feels good and *right*.

 

4. I forget who said it, but notes are clever ways for getting from one silence to the next. Hear and appreciate the silences.

 

5. Listen to the masters in your fave style(s). Steal their ideas shamelessly, rework them over different rhythms and harmonic foundations.

 

6. Take the time to master one thing at a time. You'll never consider yourself good enough, so forget thinking "I want to be good in a year or two" -- there are no endpoints -- and just enjoy the journey and fun of discovery. Practice daily, even if all you have is ten minutes.

 

7. Keep your ears open to all kinds of music, and your mind (and fingers) will follow.

 

8. Listen to constructive criticism to improve your playing/musicianship, but don't ever let your sense of self-worth depend on someone else's opinion.

 

9. Get out and play with others, preferably with people better than you are. Music made strictly at home is fun, but limited--art is meant to change lives, to communicate ideas and feelings to others, and bass, more than any other instrument (IMO), best comes alive in an ensemble.

 

10. Keep a sense of perspective. You are not going to endanger your life by playing any given clam at any given point in time. Take deep breaths, relax, get out of your own way, and open yourself up to feeling, instinct, and having fun.

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Learn what it means when somebody says "We just need a walking blues line in A, it's a I-IV-V with a turnaround from E to stick it on the A."

Learn your major scale, and what it means to be in the key of . If you know where you're going and what you can do in between, you can fake your way into any gig, anywhere, anytime.

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Although I'm also a beginner..through experience with other instruments and video games and stuff:

 

DO NOT sell your current instrument to get a bass. Earn the extra cash and keep all. Only sell when it is necessary to survive, when rents due, or when you HATE the instrument. And not just "very bored with it" I mean HATE it.

 

Not :o ...only when its :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

..

 

:D

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