hey guys

i know that every1 learns at different speeds, but what im wondering is what you expect others to know after X amounts of years of playing experience?


more particularly, me. im into my 5th year of bass playing, getting weekly lessons from school and playing approx 4-5 hours a week with bands and by myself. tell me what you THINK a person of my experience should know, and a bit later ill tell you what i ACTUALLY know as a comparison.

im pretty sure im behind in some aspects of bass. im talking about ALL aspects of bass, from playing to equipment to theory and technique. my theory aint too bad, but im a TERRIBLE sight reader and have pathetic rhythmic timing. but i think i make up for it in my knowledge in equipment, and playing the pocket well.


so tell us what u think? maybe we can make some kind of "expectation list" year by year? later on.

Honestly, I don't subscribe to the theory that you can make up for lack of rhymthic accuracy and reading, especially in equipment knowledge. Aren't pocket and rhythmic accuracy very similar?

Time is not a gauge of ability. Even number of hours in the shed doesn't determine that. If you practice badly, you play badly. I practice roughly three hours a day on my own, three hours with various band and ensembles, and I consider my own playing to be superior to many people who practice 7+. On the other hand, I have a friend who plays for fewer than 2 hours per day, and he is amazing. Take the time to study your weaknesses, and fix them. If you can't read, work on it. If you CAN groove, don't practice it, at least as much.

It is amazing to see how many players whine about they lack of improvement, but it is only their own fault for only working on what they are good at.

Once you get past a certain point, it's no longer about "learning", per se. It's about perfecting what you've learned and what you can do.

So I would say that a 5-year bass player should sound like a 5-year bass player. Good timing, good sense of chord changes, good pitch - stuff that only comes with experience.

Honestly, I don't subscribe to the theory that you can make up for lack of rhymthic accuracy and reading, especially in equipment knowledge. Aren't pocket and rhythmic accuracy very similar?

when i say make up in equipment knowledge, i mean that people often come to me first for knowledge on repairs, setting up amps and EQ, what kind of amp to buy etc. i understand what your saying, but im just talking about all aspects of the bass spectrum, from playing to non-playing.

when i mean rhytmic accuracy, i refer to getting timing of notes right when i read music, not keeping a tight ship when playing with others. reading music is my biggest weakness, and any help with that would be greatly appreciated.

Ive been playing covers for 10 years and it shows. Only know am I back tracking and learning all the things I should know incuding sight reading. Time isnt a measure of ability. I've been embarassed by people who have been playing for less time and I try and justify it with excuses. Now is a time of learning

lol, I read this title as "What do you expect after sharp years?"

You are what you practice. I've recently discovered ( or rather begun to address ) the gaps in my technique and theory. This after 17 years of playng and being considered a well above average bassist. But the fact is I have not been practicing the finer print of musicality and when I strip back all the flash i found that I'm really rather sloppy....!
So don't worry about where you should be, practice where you are at and ALWAYS SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF no matter how mundane it appears...

Keep playing and have fun!

For sight reading, my path was a slacker path..I picked it up as neccessary, and I'm by no means a skilled sight reader. I know enough to write out what I am playing, and after a few passes figure out out a simple written bassline.

My path was like this:

First, learned to improvise my way thru a chord chart. I think this is by far the most useful aspect of reading, if you are a good ear player.

Later on, I started reading latin bass lines. this gave me a really good vocabulary for eight notes, dotted quarters and eighth note rests /syncopation. It also help me quickly recognize roots/4ths/5ths/octaves.

A complicated 16th note line will still throw me at this point, but I can fairly quickly parse an eighth note based rhythm.

I think sight reading music is like learing to read text: first you learn the alphabet (the various notes and rests) then you learn to recognize whole words (common groups of notes and rests)

For fun I pull out Rich Appleman's "Sight Reading Contemporary Rhythms for Electric Bass" - a berkley book. very good for keeping you on your toes.

Seriously studying sight reading as you seem to, you're probably already beyond me ...

I can't give you a straight answer but I can offer a suggestion, in the long run, knowledge of timing and theory will pay off more steadily than gear knowledge. I know, I used to be addicted to gear, spent so much time and money that it took away a lot of time from my real practice time. Now I don't focus so much on gear and am much happier, a-- I play more often and better as a result and b-- less bills.