Live vs Recording

[AppliedStucco]

Hi all...

I play bass in a worship team and today I tried to play along a live recording of our worship that didn't have bass. Just guitars, piano, vocals, kickless drums and horns.

I recorded what I was playing and I was very surprised. I thought I was a half-decent bassist, but I made some serious mistakes. I played often out of time, I overplayed a lot at some points and my technique was quite sloppy (some of the time). Also, I missed some notes here and there. It was a welcome realization that I am not as good as I think I was and I should be practicing more.

My questions are:
1. Is it possible that the same song might require another bassline or approach when recorded or played live? Or am I indeed overplaying?
2. Do more people feel like this when they listen to their recordings?
3. How come I never noticed all those mistakes? I knew I made some mistakes, but not like this. Should we invest in IEM's or improve the monitor mix?
4. How can I improve? I need to get my timing in check. I thought I had decent timing, but the recording says otherwise (may it be latency?).

Sorry for the long post.

[JohanPetti]

That's quite normal. Recording yourself all the time is the best solution to really understand what works and what not. Altough I usually discover I'm overplaying in live situations when the PA is pounding.

[ErikW]

I always find myself overplaying when recording to my son's guitar and vocal tracks. It is something I'm working on. Took me about a year to realize I was playing too much trying to follow his guitar riffs and trying to be fancy with the bass lines. It's just not necessary. Latency is a big issue also. I always have to "pocket" or align my bass tracks to the tempo after recording. Even when playing to the click track. There not way off, but they are off. I think it is our equipment (I hope). Correcting mistakes just comes with lots of practice.

[MycooLeeyun]

Practice with a metronome, do simple scales. Learn your favorite songs and see what those guys are doing on bass. The more you play, the better you will become.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by JohanPetti

That's quite normal. Recording yourself all the time is the best solution to really understand what works and what not. Altough I usually discover I'm overplaying in live situations when the PA is pounding.

Yep. The tape don't lie. Nobody is as good as they think they are when they hear it back. It's as good an educational tool as you'll find.

IMHO

[Din Of Win]

Originally Posted by MycooLeeyun

Practice with a metronome, do simple scales. Learn your favorite songs and see what those guys are doing on bass. The more you play, the better you will become.

+1 There's no quick-fix, but this will help in the long run.

[Tenma4]

To help avoid latency issues on PC I record to a separate hard drive than what my operating system and software are running on.

[bassbrad]

Hearing a playback can be a real wake up call, but don't let it get you down, use it as a learning experience. That said there are a few things to keep in mind about recording alone as opposed to playing with others. There is a collective energy playing live that you miss when you are alone so there is a chance you are better in person than you were on the recording. Also your attention level is different when you are alone instead of in front of an audience.