How do you "learn" grooving on bass?

[Tom Sklenar]

Hi, this is specially for bass players! Which ways do you use to learn/improve your way of grooving? I just improvise over backing tracks. Is it the point? Or do you have some special tips or ways how to get into it?

[Mr.Grumpy]

Learn some funky Rhythm & Blues basslines. Listen to and learn some 'classic' groove songs. Some personal favorites are "I'll take you there" by the Staples Singers and pretty much anything by Stevie Wonder. Those are my suggestions, listen and play to things you like. There are some GREAT lesson videos on YouTube as well, 'Scotts Bass Lessons" is one channel that I recommend. I like playing along to a drum machine too, locking in with the drums/drummer is a big part of being a bass player. But most importantly, just PLAY. Every day if at all possible. With practice the thinking, "mechanical" part of playing an instrument becomes second nature and playing becomes almost as natural as talking. 20 - 30 minutes a day is much better than trying to practice two solid hours on Sunday.

 

If you can afford them, private lessons can help immensely.

[Tom Sklenar]

Learn some funky Rhythm & Blues basslines. Listen to and learn some 'classic' groove songs. Some personal favorites are "I'll take you there" by the Staples Singers and pretty much anything by Stevie Wonder. Those are my suggestions, listen and play to things you like. There are some GREAT lesson videos on YouTube as well, 'Scotts Bass Lessons" is one channel that I recommend. I like playing along to a drum machine too, locking in with the drums/drummer is a big part of being a bass player. But most importantly, just PLAY. Every day if at all possible. With practice the thinking, "mechanical" part of playing an instrument becomes second nature and playing becomes almost as natural as talking. 20 - 30 minutes a day is much better than trying to practice two solid hours on Sunday.

 

If you can afford them, private lessons can help immensely.

 

Thank you for your suggestion! I will take a look on songs you recommend. I´ve just take private lessons for many years, where my mentor gave me a lot in improving my technique, but not too much in grooving, improvising and things like that. So that´s my biggest weakness right now.

[isaac42]

I was at a blues jam once, and was listening to a bass player, and trying to figure out why he sounded so bad. It wasn't the notes; for the most part, he was playing the same notes I would have played. So what was it? After a while, I figured it out. It was his timing. He just wasn't playing with the rest of the band. He'd play notes a bit too late or a little too soon, and there was no consistency to it. It wasn't expressive, it was just clumsy. It had no groove.

 

Many years ago, I played with a guitar player who had weird timing. Opposite of the bass player above, this guy was too precise, like metronomically precise. Every note, every chord was exactly on the beat. No expression at all. But you could play with him, just like you can play with a drum machine.

 

I agree with Mr. Grumpy. Practice. Play. Concentrate on learning the notes, then on getting the timing down so that you don't sound like the bass player in my first example. Then, when you've done that, let it go, and focus on making music, not just playing notes. That's where the groove comes in.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hi' date=' this is specially for bass players! Which ways do you use to learn/improve your way of grooving?[/quote']

 

Play with the best musicians you can find... ones who have great time and groove - especially drummers.

 

I just improvise over backing tracks. Is it the point? Or do you have some special tips or ways how to get into it?

 

If you can't find good musicians locally, learning from and jamming along with records is a decent alternative IMO, although ideally you'll want to do both as much as you can. You can't really interact in real time with recordings, nor will a recording give you helpful feedback on your playing.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Excellent post, filled with good tips.

[Tom Sklenar]

I was at a blues jam once, and was listening to a bass player, and trying to figure out why he sounded so bad. It wasn't the notes; for the most part, he was playing the same notes I would have played. So what was it? After a while, I figured it out. It was his timing. He just wasn't playing with the rest of the band. He'd play notes a bit too late or a little too soon, and there was no consistency to it. It wasn't expressive, it was just clumsy. It had no groove.

 

Many years ago, I played with a guitar player who had weird timing. Opposite of the bass player above, this guy was too precise, like metronomically precise. Every note, every chord was exactly on the beat. No expression at all. But you could play with him, just like you can play with a drum machine.

 

I agree with Mr. Grumpy. Practice. Play. Concentrate on learning the notes, then on getting the timing down so that you don't sound like the bass player in my first example. Then, when you've done that, let it go, and focus on making music, not just playing notes. That's where the groove comes in.

 

Thank you for your suggestion! I think I am like the guitar player in your second example. I haven´t problem with timing or technique skills or things like that, but the point is, that I still have no expression. Thank you for realizing that!

[ThudMaker]

What improved my playing was the fortune of finding a couple of experienced guitar players who just wanted to jam and record the jams. I would set up a basic drum pattern and we would hang out on one chord for 30-45 minutes just to see everything we could do on that one chord, etc.

[WRGKMC]

Comes from working with a drummer long enough to where you can read each others minds and anticipate what each other is going to do. You can just give each other a look and know where the other guy is going. Some of its body language so of it is having been there and done it before.

 

Once you have that tightness with the drummer then the pair of you can back others in the same way.

It doesn't come easy and allot of its like walking and chewing gum. You have to know your scales and riff well enough to maintain your parts so well where you aren't even thinking about playing. Its playing becomes automatic like a heartbeat or breathing.

 

The groove becomes a runners high where you're simply running on automatic and in complete lockstep to the point where you cant make a mistake. Then if you do stumble your buddies lift you right back up on your feet and you're all pushing together. Its quite addictive really because when you're grooving there simply isn't anything like it. While you're grooving you feel like superman, able to leap high buildings and walk through walls. Fatigue either mental or physical are your only enemies. You usually pay for it the next day because your adrenalin is blocking the pain your hands feel pushing the limits so you have to know when you've reached the time limits you can stay in a groove.

[Tom Sklenar]

Thank you all! It´s really helpful for me.