Is it just me, or has anyone else thought to themselves, "I'm playing pretty decent", only to then either put on a pair of headphones or record yourself and listen to the ugly truth?

I know that practicing at least thru an amp is a must, but I'm often too lazy to dig out the cords and such for the amp, or someone wants peace and quiet, etc. and I'll find myself playing with no amplification of any kind - man what a horror it was when I put the 'phones on last night :crying: I guess the other thing that I noticed is how hard I play without an amp, obviously another bad habit to get into.

Does anyone use headphones regularly, and have you noticed a big improvement or not when doing so? Or do most of yinz (sorry, Pittsburgh-ese coming out...) just crank the amp up and use that as your instant feedback on how you're playing? Many thanks!

I suck too but not for long ;) Realizing this is essential so you can work on your weaknesses.

P.s. I'd rather play through an amp. Can't really hear subtle differences through phones.

playing without an amp has given me the bad habit of plucking too hard so i can hear myself....try not to do it if you can avoid it.

Everyone sucks at some level.

amen to that

well one of the things that i do is practice in the day when nobody is trying to sleep or anything and remember how hard you pluck and everything with the volume up. Now when people wanna sleep or lazyness overcomes you just get yourself in the ballpark of how you were playing when you had the volume up and then work on exercises with that like

---------------1234321-------------------------
----------1234---------4321--------------------
-----1234-------------------4321---------2345
1234-----------------------------43212345-----

stuff like that. im not claiming to be a genius or a teacher or anything im just saying thats what i do and as far as i can tell it works well

and im talking about without headphones. if you are gonna use headphones i would think it would be very obvious if you were plucking too hard because its right in your ears and those little speakers arent gonna do the bass as well as your amp.

i used to do that unplugged too.
its not only bad for technique, that kinda pressure breaks strings.

Thanks for the comments - I can appreciate the bass that the amp can generate vs. the phones, but it seems that the phones allow you to hear every littly nuance or ringing strings that is there- it just seems that there's no hiding from ANY mistakes when using the phones. I dunno - maybe I'm exaggerating a little, or maybe I just need to CRANK UP THE AMP :bassist: I'm still curious to know if anyone else uses phones regularly, like say maybe thru a Cafe Walter headphone amp, or anything else for that matter.

Sounds like it might be a frequency issue in part. Higher frequencies/harmonics will accentuate slop. If so, you can shift your amp frequencies and likely get similar results if that's what you're after.

we all suck



PRACTICE MORE

I realized the very first time I heard myself after a recording session that you can only get away with sloppy playing on 'live' gigs. It was a huge awakening for me! I've learned to be a bit more precise in my playing.

I practice with headphones all the time through my PX3B. Decent headpones are key so that you hear yourself well enough to not try and compensate by playing too hard.

On your first question - I'm usually opposite. I'm very critical of my own playing and usually think it's only so-so, but when I hear a recording I usually say to myself " wow, did I actually play that riff/groove/lick/whatever?"

K-frog wrote:
I practice with headphones all the time through my PX3B. Decent headpones are key so that you hear yourself well enough to not try and compensate by playing too hard.

Exactly so.

I practicing for years without an amp - too lazy to hook up. The result was I learned to play too hard. After reviewing some sloppy work on recordings, I started using a Bass V-Amp w/ headphones for practice. BIG improvement for small investment. Should'a done this long ago. Developing a lighter touch was The cure for my sloppy play. MWilson

Dude,

YOU DO NOT SUCK.
You simply indentified what to work on next.

Dude,

YOU DO NOT SUCK.
You simply indentified what to work on next.

Well said.

These days I practice with a Cafe Walter headphone amp (available thru Bass NW) and some Semi-decent headphones. The amp is excellent for helping you hear those minor flaws in your technique that an amp (and a band) will usually cover up. It also helps you hear the sound of your bass uncolored by any amp/speaker considerations. Walter's motto is "this is how you *really* sound"

It also has an aux out and aux in, for tuners and iPods etc. Since I started practicing through it, I have become more conscious of when I make finger squeaks and of plucking too hard...

Can't recommend the thing highly enough. I keep mine strapped to my music stand.

For me i never realise how sloppy i'm playing through an amp. Because when i'm playing i'm trying to make music. And when i'm practicing, i focus too much on technique. The only time i focus on my sound and my tempo is when i listen to playbacks. Then my head is free to concentrate and listen to the sloppy parts and then i work on them after that. So i actually record every practice and playing session.

Does anyone else have trouble when playing bass through headphones where the pitch sounds off due to harmonics (?) or is it just me going deaf?:confused::rolleyes::eyebrow:

I find headphones sound brittle when I record them, but i use the amp and also the headphones with a click when i record songs (to show the band). I find that some days I am just "off" if you nkow what i mean - just not playing as i know I can - not fast enough - messy, not tight. Usually when i am hung over...

I try to use a bit of both when I'm practicing. I'll work on some grooves with the bass and amp and then I'll plug into my computer to record me playing along with songs.

Some of the benefits of using an amp are as follows:
- You don't get stuck with the bad habits of slamming the stings too hard as others have noted.
- It's a great opportunity to develop 'your' sound. It's nice to mess with settings on the bass and the amp to develop the sound you want in the live environment. (Remember that what sounds good by itself doesn't always sound good in the mix).

Some of the benefits of using headphones:
- You can catch those tiny nuances that you need to work on.
- If you have a computer setup going you can record your lines along with songs. This has given me some of the most valuable insight into my playing and at times has afforded me the "I suck" dialogue.

If laziness is a problem make your stuff accessible or just leave it all plugged in and ready to go. You shouldn't have to set up your gear every time you want to practice.

My low end brethren -

I can't thank you enough for the replies and thoughts. I've tried to be more consistent with practicing through some kind of amplification, be it headphones on my computer setup or through the trusty amp with an eye towards playing cleaner and more precise.

I'm still amazed at how differently my playing can sound thru different mediums, etc., and it's led me down the path where I've found myself asking, 'How in the world does player x get his/her kind of sound?' I know I'm sort of getting off track here, but, most often, music that we listen to of our favorite bass players is that of a recorded nature thru headphones (think iPod), which I think kind of got me started in this whole thread (playing through headphones and recording on the computer setup). I wanted to hear my sound in a recorded fashion with headphones, similar to how I listen to artists. It sounds significantly different than through the amp, but I understand this has a lot to do with the electronics side of things, cabs, headphone freq. capabilities, etc. I think someone said it earlier, you can certainly be more sloppy playing live, or even just by yourself thru a house system in a large room brings a whole different twist to how you sound and how precise you have to be. I'm sorry for the wandering post, but I guess at the end of the day, to me at least, the 'phones seem to be the least forgiving reflection of how I'm really playing, which led me to say "Man, I suck!" :D But, alas - only parts of my playing suck, and if we all didn't suck to some degree, then we'd all be raking in the dough from our lucrative musical careers!

stopped thinking about it a while ago. I guess I'm just playing by instinct now. I know what people want, and I give it to them.

It's really important to practice both ways. I spend a large amount of my time teaching and practicing acoustically. It really forces you to listen carefully. When you transition to the amp or cans, make sure you are getting the same sound out of the electronics that your ears are looking for acoustically. And that brings up the topic of electronics and gear- we want to eliminate the gap between our ears and the sound that comes out of the amp.

Regarding sucking- what a wonderful observation! It's always best to realize you have more to learn. Besides, young bassists who think they're hot sh*t IME usually just plain suck- don't know how to play rudimentary basslines, can't groove even on 8th notes, spend way too much time working on flash, etc...

My best students have been the most humble and the most hungry.

Listen to the experience of professional players. Practice with humility, and be aware that there is always more to learn!

The fact that listening to yourself makes you think that you suck is good. Really. You are allowing yourself to listen critically to your playing and realize what you need to practice. Now, if you were arrogant and thought that you played with perfection, then the rest of us would think that you suck. :D

I went through the whole down on my syself thing a couple weeks ago. And as several have already said
A we all suck to some degree. and B Its good to use as alearning tool.
Suckage is good. it means you know you have room to improve and are not willing to rest on your laurels.
It is also true that what you are playing and what you are playing it through can make a big difference. I like to drag myself out in the hot old shed for an hour or two to plug in and play loud. BUt when I want to work on my fingers I play my acoustic. Those things pick up every little mistake and sound like crap. But not so loud the neighbors know it. So if you have to practice quiet you may want to think about picking up a cheap acoustic/electric bass. I got one from the DEan outlet for $100. I dont like it plugged in but it'll be nice when I get my sailboat in the water and dont have any electricity.

Have you ever been to a gig where the whole audience listens to the music through headphones??!! LOL!!! I think this is completely unnatural, the best sound you will ever get out of your bass will be through an amp.

I am a big fan of the Markbass Amps. Yes, I have a killer Jeff Berlin model with one whopping 15" speaker and 400 watts, but I also have the Micromark, with only one 6" speaker and 50 watts (which I just schlepped with me to Northern India, where I am working for a few months).

The volume on the Micromark can be turned way down, but it is still unmistakably a bass amp. It also has an "aux in" jack, so I plug my iPod into it to groove along with my favorite tunes.

Try something like this. You get the bass amp effect, but won't drive your neighbors / family up a tree. Nothing like that natural sound. I think long-term use of earphones affects your hearing as well. I go batty when I have them on too long.

I agree 100% with the humble thing. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's pompous players - I mean it's one thing to be confident, but an entirely different thing to be arrogant to any degree.

I've been working on Victor's 'U Can't Hold No Groove', which is what I had been playing through the phones and recording at the time I started this thread. An obviously easy song to say 'I suck' on, but nonetheless, I am determined to continue to work on it until I get it down as best as I can possibly play it. It's coming along much better now, thanks to playing through the phones and the amp. I think I had read it somewhere in someone's sig, that music is in the nuances and details more so than in the actual notes being played. Man if that ain't the truth, I don't know what is. I'm not so much into the flash of how Victor (or any great bassist) does his thing, but just listening to the groove he creates, it's just unbelievable, and that's the kind of music I try to recreate (or create) when playing. I'll take being able to lay down a solid groove in the pocket over flash anyday, but I'll keep trying to practice the flash, too :D