Critique My Solo

[Sandman1278]

-CRITIQUE-

I have seen people posting there own recordings here before, so since i got a webcam I'm posting a solo I wrote up, Please give constructive critisizm (too long, sloppy fingers, don't like that section) please if you can think of is "you suck" keep it to yourself,

the sound quality isn't very good but I don't exactly have recording equipment, I also made a few mistakes along the way but haven't gotten aroudn to making a second take

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...49016421493338

[iamthebassman]

Well for starters, don't you mean "Critique My Solo"?

[Lorenzini]

I will not make a comment on the song or choce of notes because that is completely opinion, but I will comment on your time.

You better not miss the 1, or you're going to miss the audience.

[Sandman1278]

Originally Posted by Lorenzini

I will not make a comment on the song or choce of notes because that is completely opinion, but I will comment on your time.

You better not miss the 1, or you're going to miss the audience.

what do you mean by this? please elaborate

and feel free to voice ur opinoin on my choice of notes, i would like to hear it,

[Snarf]

Timing timing timing. You're losing the rhythm a lot of the time. Feel the groove more.

[Sandman1278]

Originally Posted by Snarf

Timing timing timing. You're losing the rhythm a lot of the time. Feel the groove more.

i dont understand what u mean by feel the groove? isee there is a couple places were I played notes to fast or someting but how can i work on my rythm?

[Tony G]

just from watching you, are you a guitarist that switched to bass? You could definetly benefit from some instruction on technique from a good teacher. This is by no means a slam to you, just a suggestion.

[threshar]

Play with a metronome.

On the beginning part that sounds pretty fine.. but in the slap section timing is absolutely critical or it doesn't work at all

I also didn't dig that pitch bend part after the slap part.. but that is just me.

Tighten it up a bit and you'll wow folks.

[Wolf]

Well, this is getting kind of old - but I guess it really can't be
over-stressed - play in time. I've seen plenty of people post
their solo bass performances on here, and this seems to be
the most common pitfall!

Play with a metronome. Play slowly. Feel the underlying pulse
of the music. Tap quarters with your foot, or even count out
loud - "ONE - TWO - THREE!! - FOUR?!?!?!?!!!!!" - untill
you can feel it internally. If the performance is sloppy
in the rythm dept, the rest doesn't matter much -
but I'll touch on the musical *content* too:

There isn't enough hapening melodically in the tune. It's
mostly chord movements & various strumming patterns.
That's all well and good when you're dealing with harmonic
passages of a more, uhm, adventurous nature -
but that's not the case here. At least not for me...

Keep trying though. I admire you for having the strength
to display your work like that, and to open yourself up
to criticism and all. Power to ya'!

[ganga]

+1 to all the others actually - timing is your nemisis at the moment, focus your playing hours on things like that. Play everything you play with a metronome from now on. Try http://www.pinkandaint.com/weirdmet.shtml , its for your comupter and it works really good. Once you've done a lot of practice with that try getting a drummachine, that really gets your groove going.

A thing that could actually help your timing is better right hand technique. When you play the part in the 4-5th fret you only use one finger to pluck, and it really shows in the timing, imo.

Practice and have fun.

[Sandman1278]

Originally Posted by xgabriel

just from watching you, are you a guitarist that switched to bass? You could definetly benefit from some instruction on technique from a good teacher. This is by no means a slam to you, just a suggestion.

no, I was always a bassist, I have an aucustic guitar, and play a bit, but bass is still my main instrument

Originally Posted by threshar

Play with a metronome.

On the beginning part that sounds pretty fine.. but in the slap section timing is absolutely critical or it doesn't work at all

I also didn't dig that pitch bend part after the slap part.. but that is just me.

Tighten it up a bit and you'll wow folks.

ya im taking out that bend part, things sound differnt when u listen to them from when u play them, also it doesn't help that i totally meseed up that part

[Sandman1278]

Originally Posted by Wolf

There isn't enough hapening melodically in the tune. It's
mostly chord movements & various strumming patterns.
That's all well and good when you're dealing with harmonic
passages of a more, uhm, adventurous nature -
but that's not the case here. At least not for me...

Keep trying though. I admire you for having the strength
to display your work like that, and to open yourself up
to criticism and all. Power to ya'!

How can I make stuff happen melodically? and what would be more "adventurous" to use simplier chord paterns with? playing somethign faster?



also thanks to everyone for commenting

[Wolf]

Well, for the most part - when I work on solo bass pieces
I like to think of a hummable melody part. Something catchy
using smaller intervals, scale fragments and tetrachords.
I usually stick that up top, and try thinking of comping
patterns and voicings which would work underneath.

The way it is now, it just kind of feels like you're just kind
of riffing on the lower strings, and occasionally throwing
a chord tone up top...

As for the harmony - it seems like you're staying in the same
ball-park for extended periods of time, without adding
enough variations. Variations can come in the form of altered
chords, or even by bringing out existing parts of the existing
chords. Otherwise, you can just try to shift every once in
a while. I'll admit I haven't heard it all the way through,
but for the first couple of minutes it was a single-scale
affair. Modulate! It adds interest!
Good luck!