I give bass lessons to beginners, and one of them has a particular problem with hearing bass in songs. He hears all the higher-frequency stuff he's used to (guitars, snare, cymbal, etc.), but has a problem hearing the low frequencies. Not a good thing if you want to become a bassist, I'm sure you'll all agree. I believe he will get it with time just by actively trying to listen to bass, but I'd like to make myself useful to him, and speed up that process as much as possible. Any suggestions on how I can achieve this? Thanks in advance!

tell him to get some albums that have a very prominent bass in the mix. that and have him get albums that have a very distinctive bass tone. that worked for me.

Rush. :D I'm guessing this kid (Or older? Usually it seems older learners don't have as much of a problem with this, as the music they listened to has more prominent bass.) listens to a lot of newer material? A lot of that stuff now a days has almost no distinct bass in it.

You could try listening to an album with him and pointing out what the bass is and what the guitars aren't so maybe he can distinguish a difference.

Can he turn off the treble and turn on the bass on whatever it is he's listening to? It works like a charm with my children, anyway.

I remember having the same problem back in the day, now i can't not hear the bass in songs! I guess listening to styles feuturing bass prominently such as RnB, Funk, Jazz etc. helped me a lot.
I supose time spent simply playing the bass will help him know what to listen out for in a bass.
How about an album like Herbie Hancocks headhunters to start? You could (gradually over time*) move onto recordings with less prominent bass until you get to a Deftones album or something (where the bass can be very difficult to hear).

*Edit

You could show him the guitar pro files with the bass isolated.

I can't figure out how people can not hear it, even if they're not a bassist. A bad mix is one thing, but even most of the crappy radio material these days has a bassline that you can pick out.

I've heard of other people with this issue, and similarly people who can't isolate any one sound in a mix. Personally I have a hard time hearing the "mix" as one, and tend to separate everything naturally. It's great for learning tunes, but not so great for listening enjoyment. I do appreciate a really coherent mix though - it helps me bring it together :)

CRANK UP THE BASS AND TURN DOWN THE TREBLE! A LOT OF NEW SONGS HAVE MORE TREBLE . . . AND HE'S PROBABLY USED TO LiSTENiNG TO THAT! TURN UP THE BASS, LiSTEN TO THE SONG, AND THEN PLAY THE SONG AGAiN WiTH THE BASS AND TREBLE AT NORMAL LEVELS! :bassist:

If this is a kid or teenager, have him listen to some RHCP, Primus, and other bands he likes that have distinct basslines. Also, maybe make him better understand what he;s listening for. He'll never find it if he doesnt know what he's looking for.

I can't figure out how people can not hear it, even if they're not a bassist. A bad mix is one thing, but even most of the crappy radio material these days has a bassline that you can pick out.

I've heard of other people with this issue, and similarly people who can't isolate any one sound in a mix. Personally I have a hard time hearing the "mix" as one, and tend to separate everything naturally. It's great for learning tunes, but not so great for listening enjoyment. I do appreciate a really coherent mix though - it helps me bring it together :)


I had the same problem. It has more to do with the mind and what it is attuned to usually listening to/picking out. Originally I just sang in my band, a few years later and I learned the bass. But, when I started it was hard to pick out the bass because as a singer in the past I took all of my pitch cues from the guitar so that was where my ear was trained to listen for pitch.

Even on more bass heavy rock, the bass seemed to blend in with the guitar if guitar was playing, until I got more attuned to listening for the bass.

I still can't pick out notes by ear, but at least I can just with my ear concentrate on the bass and be able to tell that I'm not playing the right notes.

+1 with RUSH. Not only will he hear the bass, but it will inspire him.. or so it inspired me.

this kid is standing on the point of no return - once he starts hearing the bass. he will for the rest of his life hear the bass first and foremost even to the point of obsession for the rest of his life, like most of us bass players, he is about to lose his treble cherry.

There's an old saying I like to say..."Nobody notices bass until it stops playing." If you could get your hands on some music with and without the bass line, maybe he could zero in on it a little better. Maybe a music minus one album or something. Older Van Halen albums have the bass panned to one side, and that might work, too.

Play him the Ramones' first album with the balance turned all the way to one side (they recorded the guitar panned hard to one side and the bass to the other-- can't remember which side is bass and which is guitar off hand). The bass is soloed-- Dee Dee in all his glory. For the novice bassist, it's a good education (and try downpicking everything, Dee Dee-style; not that easy!).

Oh, and PLEASE play him some James Brown.

Other good ones:
Gang of Four
R.E.M.
Morphine
Joy Division

I can't figure out how people can not hear it, even if they're not a bassist. A bad mix is one thing, but even most of the crappy radio material these days has a bassline that you can pick out.


they're actually hearing it, but they dont know how it sounds like, so they cannot really hear it.

get him some music with predominant basslines and it will get a lot easier, I suggest some James Jamerson songs so he can hear the bass and he can feel the groove the bass is making.
good luck

they're actually hearing it, but they dont know how it sounds like, so they cannot really hear it.



Exactly. A few years ago I had no idea what the bass sounded like. Then I fiddled around with one in the school music class and it was like an angel choir and clouds parting moment, when I realized that a lot of cool stuff going on in recordings I like, is bass.

Maybe you could play the bassline of the song, and then play the recording. That way the student would know what to listen for.

A lot of old Pink Floyd songs have very prominent bass.
Examples: (and there's probably more too)
Money
One Of These Days
Set the Controls for the Heart Of the Sun
Another Brick in the Wall, Pt 2
Have a Cigar
Embryo

get him some Who albums. the worlds greatest bassist, John Entwistle is always on the Left side in the mix, along with drums and certain other things. that helps a lot. definetly the Who, Yes because the tone is so distinctive, and Rush because and the tone is very distinctive again. one thing that i have noticed is that songs where there is an intro like 'Red Barchetta' by Rush where the bass comes in during a part where the guitar is not at its full volume. those songs have very easy to follow basslines because you hear it almost in isolation, and then you recognize the tone and feel of the bass as the song goes on.

I agree with a lot of the suggestions. The best one, I think is you playing the bass line to a song recording. Have him turn the recording volume up and down as you play. When he has the volume low, he'll hear your part and start to know what's coming next. When he turns the recording volume up, your bass will start to blend into the recording. If he starts to lose it, he can turn it back down... just a thought.

Many great suggestions here! Thanks! I'll give 'em a go and see if it works out...

-1 Rush imeho. And that is not a typo. :hiding:
Back to topic, it took me a year or two to be able to really hear bass lines. And that is perfectly normal.. All those jokes like "bass? what bass?" don't come from nowhere.
Just takes time if you're not used to it. Listening to some groovy music through good bassy (that means closed/in ear/really good open) headphones every day helped quite a bit.

I recommend some Red Hot Chili Peppers the bass is very clear in their songs. Like the song 'Californiacation' The guitar plays a riff and the bass answers. Another song is 'Higher Ground' This has a bass intro and its easy to hear it though out the song.

+1 to turning up the bass and lowering the treble

Tom Boyd

I'd also suggest a Tascam Bass Trainer. It will isolate the bass lines and help to hear bass in the mix. Also works good when the student starts to work on more complex basslines. The trainer will slow down the song so that the bassline can be followed. Allows one to play along to. Great tool.

Does this problem occur when you are around or not? It's possible that your student is trying to listen to music through a pair of $5 computer speakers that don't have any bass to start out with.

It's funny. My wife now points out good bass lines to me :) She's getting it through osmossis, but I love her anyway!

Here's a trick he might try. Have him listen to a song from an adjacent room. For example, stereo in bedroom. Turn the stereo up fairly loud. Close the door and go to the front room. The walls do a pretty good job of filtering off the treble and letting the bass come through. I've used that trick a couple of times when I needed to learn a part by ear and was having trouble isolating it.

+1 on using GuitarPro... When my sister asked me what does the bass do in the band, I just started some song and switched the bass on and off. After 2 seconds of having it off, she said 'Hey, turn it on back!" :D

tell him to get some albums that have a very prominent bass in the mix. that and have him get albums that have a very distinctive bass tone. that worked for me.

I had the same problem when I started out on bass, and the way I was able to get over it (for the most part) was learning the bass lines to a bunch of different songs, learning the rhytham/beat, and eventually I was just able to hear it.

Once you hear it you'll always will!
But to hear it the first time here some suggestions:
First ,if you have a MIDI track of something just mute the bass track and put it back.
Second,if you have a Digital workstation,try to put one side out of phase from any records and play it back,the bass will disapear on songs.
That should help to hear the bass for some people.

SB

I hope he's not a 'An Justice for all' fan, other wise he's screwed! It came natrally to me after time, i don't think forcing it will help the situation, time will do it's magic!

I asked my student what one of her favorite songs was. After that I showed her how to play the bass line to her song and it clicked. Because once she "knew" what she was playing she could "hear" what was in the recording. Ever since she hasn't had a problem picking out the bass line. I find that it is mostly a matter of the students not knowing what instruments they are hearing. Meaning that they don't know what sound a guitar will make when it is strummed, or a bass for that matter, or a drum snare. It is just a process of attaching the sound to the instrument.

Does this problem occur when you are around or not? It's possible that your student is trying to listen to music through a pair of $5 computer speakers that don't have any bass to start out with.

+1 to that



You could also try to get some songs that begin with only the bassline so that he knows what he's listening for when the other instruments come in or as others said, you could just play the bassline and then play the song. Another thing that helped with this was listening to musicians doing covers on youtube. Most of the time they'll play the song at reduced volume behind the video of them playing the bassline and it's impossible not to here it.

I still struggle after 4 years for some songs.

It can get bloody frustrating actually - sometimes I can figure out a track in a few minutes, and sometimes easier tracks will be beyond me.

Would probably help if I did ear training on a regular basis I guess.

But to topic, defintely funk, thats what helped me. Clear, staccato notes with heaps of punch that cut nicely through the mix.

I would like help with this!
I can rarely hear bass in Death metal and heavy metal unless they do a bass run.

Well obviously if you're listening to a genre or particular recording where bass has very low priority in the mix you're going to have a hard time hearing it. Chances are it doesn't matter in this case - and IMO I don't know why you'd even bother trying to lift the line! Why not take some music with a significant bass presence? It's more fun to play anyway!

Try one of those Tascam Bass Trainers where you can crank the bass part way up to hear it or turn it way down to play along to the track. Very useful tool.

Tascam Bass Trainer. OK, two of you beat me to this one, but I'm amazed no one suggested what I thought was obvious -- have the student hum his or her favorite song. With the exception of possible guitar solos, he'll probably be humming the bass line.

Here are a few songs that might help him with this problem

The Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson

Freak on a leash - Korn

The Dope Show - Manson

The Nobodies - Manson

Right here - Staind

youtube them.

Cool... I've given a few of these suggestions a shot (not all of them, because that would take about a week! :) ) He's getting there... I'll keep working with him on it, and hopefully it'll have a positive effect in the end.

Tascam sells a bass trainer that has the ability to remove the bass completely from the cd's it also has a bass enhancement option it can also slow the down the cd as well totally isolating the bass line; it has made me a better player.

Tascam sells a bass trainer that has the ability to remove the bass completely from the cd's it also has a bass enhancement option it can also slow the down the cd as well totally isolating the bass line; it has made me a better player.

Just out of interest, doesn't removing the bass completely from songs also take the bass drum with it as well?

"Just out of interest, doesn't removing the bass completely from songs also take the bass drum with it as well?"

No. The hit of the drum is much higher, in the midrange region; the boom will still be there because it covers a wide frequency range. Not only that, you can play along with the bass line intact in one channel and your bass in the other for comparison, which is the way I prefer to use it.

I have a Tascam bass trainer,it is one of the first ones,does it have the ability to isolate bass lines not just slow the song down? Thanks Michael.

Last year, my kids were torturing me about playing the bass. They said that playing bass was pointless, and they couldn't hear it anyway. So I turned off the bass in my Honda for a good long while. It didn't take them long to get to the point where they were begging to have the bass back. Now they can pick out the basslines. It's ugly out there without the bass :hmm:

Another thing about the bass: if the student has hearing problems, he might well have a very hard time picking out the deep tones of the bass. If he's still having serious problems, you could suggest a hearing test.

I have a Tascam bass trainer,it is one of the first ones,does it have the ability to isolate bass lines not just slow the song down? Thanks Michael.

Not to my knowledge, but I bet you could trick it out of the system by plugging the 1/4-inch out to your amp, turning the upper midrange and treble all the way down while listening to the TASCAM through inexpensive headphones. It would be full range in the headphones (uses 1/8-inch jack) but your amp would beef up the bass lines in the background. You would still clearly hear your bass in the headphones. I'm just guessing since I haven't tried it that way. :bassist:

move onto recordings with less prominent bass until you get to a Deftones album or something (where the bass can be very difficult to hear).


Wow I actually think that the bass lines on Deftones songs are really easy to hear. I guess it helps that I have 12 inch woofers in the trunk of my car to hear the real low end notes. Just think about "My own Summer".