Learning Bass

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sue on November 25, 2008 at 9:11am

Listen to a lot of music attentively (looking for basslines and rhythms). Remember - Less is usually more. Learn your scales and modes. Lay a firm foundation in your playing. Learn to lock in with your drummer. Ear Training. Find a bass teacher who is a bass teacher - not a guitar teacher who thinks they can play bass just because it is the lowest four strings of the guitar. If you can - purchase the Tascam Bass Trainer. Take advantage of some stuff on the web (ie) www.normstockton.com . Try to set aside an hour a day (it takes 30 minutes for the brain to get warmed up to music studying).

Permalink Reply by Mark Kendal on November 25, 2008 at 9:41am

Some great advice from Sue! I guess my first question would be how much do you know at the moment? To me one of the beauties of the bass is that you can be really useful by doing really simple things but if you are really skilled you can be even more useful.

If you have very little knowledge of music I'd suggest that you simply learn all the names of each of the notes on the first five frets of the bass then read the chord chart and play the root note of the chord as the chords change. If you have a drummer lock in with them, play along with their bass drum and develop up from there.

Of course if you're already profcient as a musician ignore my advice and go straight onto Sue's! :-)

Permalink Reply by Dan Camp on November 25, 2008 at 5:49pm

Other than seveal years of piano lessons as a kid that never amounted to much in the long run, all of my training is from a vocal perspective...so I'm more-or-less OK (but want to get better) from a music theory perspective. I want to learn the note placement on the neck pretty soon (I was able to sort out a couple of chord fingerings last night) and focus on learning it right the first time...in my reading, it sounds like bad habits are REALLY easy to pick up on the bass...

Thanks for the advice...looking forward to hearing what others have to add...heading over to check out Norm's page now...

Permalink Reply by Sue on December 3, 2008 at 1:51am

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Get a metronome and drum machine. Drum machine good to get a hold of rhythms and timing.

Permalink Reply by jaime on December 4, 2008 at 11:24am

Hey Dan,

I am not the best bass player by no means, but I play bass as if I am playing drums. I am always mindful of the drums and stay really tight with him. Also, what I do to fill a lot of gaps in music, I play a lot of octaves. Sometimes when you feel the song getting ready to go to another level, I slide to the octave past the 12th fret.

I hope I didn't sound too confusing.

Jaime

Permalink Reply by Christopher Wolfe on December 12, 2008 at 3:35am

id agree 100% with this.

ive only played for just over a year, and one of the biggest measures of what you play, i find is staying in sync with the drummer. i feel its rare that you should ever play 'faster' than the drummer if you are playing straight beats as apposed to a bassline.

when you get to playing along with audio, listen to not only the bass line, but also to the drum beat as well. remember you and the drummer are the rhythm section. and a tight rhythm makes for a solid song.

also, remember that as a bass player, you aren't always gonna be the only playing the crazy leads or some fancy part, and its probably good to know that. playing bass in a band is a humility thing alot of times, because ive found that 75% of the time, if not more, you are a background instrument thats helping to be the 'glue' to the other instruments involved. once you get to playing, you'll realize how much influence you have over tempo along with the drummer just by simply playing a certain simple beat.

most of all, have fun. because thats another aspect ive found of the 'performance' side of playing a bass, many times when you are just plugging through those simple chords, you get a lot of time to just roll through the song, and if you look like you are bored or just 'blah' that comes off on the people you are leading. that whole 'if the band isnt into the worship they are playing, then why should i be interested' ideal. i take this opportunity to build up the enthusiasm, dance around a bit, just the same as if i was in the crowd that was being led.

Permalink Reply by Diana Jurss on March 13, 2009 at 4:41pm

I really like what Christopher said about being humble and also having fun.
Playing bass is not a glamorous position! You mostly only get noticed if
you mess up! Generally, if you play well people just think the music as a whole,
sounds good. I sort of consider my job to be making everybody else in the band
sound as good as they can be. Lots of times "less is more", but some Sundays
when we are missing band members I will play in a more hyperactive way
because there is more "space" in the songs to fill in.

Permalink Reply by Bass_Man221 on February 17, 2009 at 2:37am

Dean Edge starter kit.

Permalink Reply by Sue on February 17, 2009 at 9:16am

Don't go too cheap. I would say four string Fender Squire. Usually can get it with or without the starter pack. I used that for a couple of years.

Permalink Reply by brotherbill on February 18, 2009 at 2:49am

Practice, Practice,Practice.....and when your tired of practicing.....practice some more. seriosly though I found that making a copy of practice with the team and playin along with it at home really helped me.

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Fredrickson on August 2, 2009 at 3:59am

where could I find that information?

Permalink Reply by Diana Jurss on August 3, 2009 at 2:25am

Its not hard to find stuff about learning bass and basic music theory. You can look
online and print scales and chords for free but there are loads of books and DVD
tutorials available too. It takes time and commitment but it is fun and worth it.
Bass Logic is a good book. Musicadamy has stuff specific to worship. Musicians Friend
has resources too. One thing I remember hearing--It is better to practice 20 minutes
every day than 3 hours once a week.
Best wishes and have fun!