could use some tips

[staysictonkpils]

ok well i've been playing bass for like hmm i think almost 6 years 4 at least dedicated. now i feel these past 2 years i've hit a bump in the road with playing my bass. i dont enjoy it like i used to thus leading to not playing like i should and i think thats because of a few reasons.

i haven't jammed or played with people in quite sometime and the last project i was in the guys i was playing with were really good and, i guess my spirit got broken when the kicked me (which i knew was gona happen) but the reasons were obvious i probably didn't practice enough at the time, and they were just ahead of me musically they had been playing for a while and i dont blame them for it.

but i've gotten past that its just i've been playing for quite sometime and i still can't really "get into a grove" i can't play cool bass lines of the top of my hands really... im not sure how to get better at it everyone tells me to play scales but thats kinda boring and i never stick with it. often i just try and mess around and just play stuff and get a feel of what sounds good on the neck but i dont feel like im making a whole lot of progress....

i'm also very dissatisfied with my picking technique. i can play alright with my two fingers thats not really a problem, but i've been trying to improve my 3 finger technique for quite sometime and i just never get anywere with it.

like i said i feel like most of this is because i dont practice like i used too, but i need some kinda spark i want to play and get better its just practicing feels like a chore i can't quite explain it....


if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated

[Psycho]

Make a regiment, a schedule if you will.

Practice for one hour, and devote time to certain things, scales, playing in time, and such. Sounds like you need some structure to get the groove back into shape.

[fearceol]

The normal cliched responce would be to find a good teacher. In your case I think it would be worth while. Apart from giving you a structured practice regime, a teacher can inspire you to do things you would not bother to do if you were learning on your own.

I think the reason you have lost interest is because it is not fun anymore. Try playing along to some of your favourite music. If you cant afford a teacher then I would recommend this book by Ed Friedland. There are lessons and exercises, then there are play alongs which incorporate these. The play alongs make it fun. There are three volumes. It is possible to get all three in one binding. Comes with CD's.



http://cgi.ebay.com/Hal-Leonard-Bass...item27b6081ca3

[Blah114]

Originally Posted by staysictonkpils

ok well i've been playing bass for like hmm i think almost 6 years 4 at least dedicated. now i feel these past 2 years i've hit a bump in the road with playing my bass. i dont enjoy it like i used to thus leading to not playing like i should and i think thats because of a few reasons.

i haven't jammed or played with people in quite sometime and the last project i was in the guys i was playing with were really good and, i guess my spirit got broken when the kicked me (which i knew was gona happen) but the reasons were obvious i probably didn't practice enough at the time, and they were just ahead of me musically they had been playing for a while and i dont blame them for it.

but i've gotten past that its just i've been playing for quite sometime and i still can't really "get into a grove" i can't play cool bass lines of the top of my hands really... im not sure how to get better at it everyone tells me to play scales but thats kinda boring and i never stick with it. often i just try and mess around and just play stuff and get a feel of what sounds good on the neck but i dont feel like im making a whole lot of progress....

i'm also very dissatisfied with my picking technique. i can play alright with my two fingers thats not really a problem, but i've been trying to improve my 3 finger technique for quite sometime and i just never get anywere with it.

like i said i feel like most of this is because i dont practice like i used too, but i need some kinda spark i want to play and get better its just practicing feels like a chore i can't quite explain it....


if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated

my advice:

1) stop playing for a week.. take some time off..
2) go see, please, a cover band that is SUCCESSFUL and has a packed house.. that will make you WANT to play. Plus you will have fun.
3) start learning songs you love.. learn commercials.. take theme songs from TV shows even.. LEARN them on bass! train your ear
4) go see another cover band. or original.. watch the bassist..
5) keep playing songs.. keep it musical.. make it more about SONGS than practicing..

[fu22ba55]

My two cents:

1) try to cop some tunes from records you wouldn't ordinarily think of... there's a lot of great stuff out there. Check out the TB sticky thread on recordings.

2) Find a good songwriter in your area who's abilities are close to yours. Maybe hit craigslist or troll some open-mic's 'til you find someone you think you might click with, then you can concentrate on writing musical lines... lines that serve the song, rather than super technical stuff. The two of you can learn together and push each other. There are probably 100,000 acoustic guitar / singer-songwriter types in your area. 20 or 30 of them are probably pretty good. Find one of them.

3) Practice. 20 or 30 minutes a day is plenty to keep your hands in shape.

[MalcolmAmos]

Think grooves - most of the time it's the generic notes that develop the best grooves IMHO. I enjoy working up the generic groove (notice I did not say bass line) that will work with specific songs. For Example: We play the gag song "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose" This grooves well with R-5-R-5 for the verses and then a hard driving R-R-R-R seems to work best with the chorus. Picking out what works with what songs makes it interesting - for me.

What is a generic groove. A groove that will work with any chord progression. Every chord has a root - so roots are generic. Every, well all the basic chords, have a 5th - so 5's are generic. The 8 is generic as it's just a root taken an octave higher. So any combination of the Root 5 or 8 will make a generic groove.

Now the 6 is neutral so slip in some 6's to liven up your bass line. The 4 is a good passing note, just don't land on or accent it just use it as a passing note. The 2 is too close to the root to be that generic and then of course the 3 and 7 are very specific so they would not qualify as being generic.

Why generic? Well they work anywhere, so you can concentrate on grooving them. IMHO, you can not be worried with what notes to play next -- and groove at the same time. So --- get your generic bass lines into muscle memory and then let your subconscious groove away.

O'h you say that is boring? OK work on some fills - mini melodys echoing the vocalist or chromatic runs to the next chord. Plenty of stuff to fill out a generic groove with - after you get some generic grooves.

Good luck.

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

Think grooves - most of the time it's the generic notes that develop the best grooves. I enjoy working up the generic groove (notice I did not say bass line) that will work with specific songs. For Example: We play the gag song "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose" This grooves well with R-5-R-5 for the verses and then a hard driving R-R-R-R seems to work best with the chorus. Picking out what works with what songs makes it interesting - for me.

What is a generic groove. A groove that will work with any chord progression. Every chord has a root - so roots are generic. Every, well all the basic chords, have a 5th - so 5's are generic. The 8 is generic as it's just a root taken an octave higher. So any combination of the Root 5 or 8 will make a generic groove.

Now the 6 is neutral so slip in some 6's to liven up your bass line. The 4 is a good passing note, just don't land on or accent it just use it as a passing note. The 2 is too close to the root to be that generic and then of course the 3 and 7 are very specific so they would not qualify as being generic.

Why generic? Well they work anywhere, so you can concentrate on grooving them. IMHO, you can not be worried with what notes to play next -- and groove at the same time. So --- get your generic bass lines into muscle memory and then let your subconscious groove away.

O'h you say that is boring? OK work on some fills - mini melodys echoing the vocalist or chromatic runs to the next chord. Plenty of stuff to fill out a generic groove with - after you get some generic grooves.

Good luck.

this is great advice. I'd add to it.... if you're bored by the groove, go find another instrument.

[Joe Nerve]

• Put new strings on your bass.
• Buy a new bass.
• Buy a new amp.
• Start learning new songs.
• Learn songs by ear if you don't already do this.
• Get into a band, any band.
• Buy yourself a drum program or beat machine and start playing along with it.
• Start practicing to a metronome.
• Learn to slap, tap, or play some simple solo arrangements.
• Get a teacher.
• Buy some new books to respark your interest.
• Get into effects and try to create somethine never before done.
• Get some recording software or a mini recorder and start recording things.
• Learn a bunch of blues jams, It will definitely help you with your improvising.
• Try an altogether different type of strings. Rounds instead of flats, flats instead of rounds, nylon.
• Learn some music that's completely different from anything you'd ever do.
• Pick one of the greats and dive into their material, buy books, try to learn as much as you can of what they did. Jamerson, Jaco, JPJ, Flea... there are lots of em.
• Learn simple songs to play along with, know them inside out, and then improvis while you're playing along with them rewriting the recorded basslines. I used to do this out of boredom when going over the structures of songs for cover gigs, and really opened me up to a lot of stuff.
• Find recordings you can jam along with in one key, and just keep working at it. When I was a kid I used to play along a lot with floyd's us and them, coming up with as much stuff as I possibly could. That was w guitar though.

And as much as I hate to say it on a forum like this, if none of the above rocks your boat maybe bass playing isn't your thing. If you're forcing yourself to have fun and it's not happening maybe ya might want to not waste your time and find something you do really like doing. Whetehr it be music related or not. Any failure I ever had on bass, no matter how depressing always pushed and inspired me to become a better bass player. That didn't happen when I was playing guitar. Guitar was work for me. Felt uphill every day of the 7 ir 8 years I thought it was the instrument for me. Once I started playing bass that was never an issue. I can't get enough of playing and moving forward.

[staysictonkpils]

thanks for all the advice guys i will definitely try out some of the things that were suggested, i have a friends who starting to learn guitar hes been playing for a while now i think i could easily jam with him just to get back into it again.

as far as buying new gear (last post) thats not gonna happen since im broke but everytime i buy new gear it makes me wana play.

im gona start picking out some songs nothing to crazy i was thinking maybe some hendrix, beatles stuff.

and this is something i've been debating for a while and i've switched doing on and off (which is why i dont think i've progressed) should i give up playing with 3 fingers for my picking technique, and should i go back to 2 fingers? or should i keep trying to prefect my picking style? i'm good with two fingers, but when i play with three my ring finger is not as "strong" as i want it to be. now i've been doing this for like 3 years now and it just seems like i haven't made any progress this past year or so with it. now that might be lack of practice but i have tryed new things to improve that technique and it has not helped really.

ok what im trying to say is it might be more practice to go back to the basics then keep doing this, i just feel guilty giving up seeing as i've made some decent progress with the technique overall and i know it would be way more beneficial to master this technique.

i could really use some practice tips for this (i looked at the sticky with the metal styles it was helpful) but ya i could use a few more tips. when i practice i try and always use the 3 finger but its just depressing because i can't play very fast using the technique making it less fun to play (as stated in my first post)

[Joe Nerve]

The majority of bass players get the job done with two fingers. If I'm not mistaken, James Jamerson got amazing things done with one. And Chris Squire with none.

I tried incorporating a third finger, I tried adding tapping to my bag of tricks, and I tried a few other things that ultimately weren't my thing. If something is putting you off to playing, THEN QUIT IT!!! There's so much other stuff you can do. I've gotten lots of mileage out of my basses without the above mentioned handful of techniques. If you're stuck on something and it's keeping you from progressing (and depressing you), move on. There's lots of other ground to be covered.

[deepBassie]

Find a jam band that likes to have a good time. It sounds like the last time you were having fun was when you were part of a group. Get back to that. It's all about having a good time no matter where you're at as a bass player.

[Marginal Tom]

+1^ Play with others. I find practicing alone boring most of the time. Go to jam sessions and open mics. You'll be exposed to other players at different skill levels and different genres of music. Try to learn to sing. If you're still not having fun, it's probably time to find a new hobby.

[Ivan M]

Originally Posted by staysictonkpils

thanks for all the advice guys i will definitely try out some of the things that were suggested, i have a friends who starting to learn guitar hes been playing for a while now i think i could easily jam with him just to get back into it again.

as far as buying new gear (last post) thats not gonna happen since im broke but everytime i buy new gear it makes me wana play.

im gona start picking out some songs nothing to crazy i was thinking maybe some hendrix, beatles stuff.

and this is something i've been debating for a while and i've switched doing on and off (which is why i dont think i've progressed) should i give up playing with 3 fingers for my picking technique, and should i go back to 2 fingers? or should i keep trying to prefect my picking style? i'm good with two fingers, but when i play with three my ring finger is not as "strong" as i want it to be. now i've been doing this for like 3 years now and it just seems like i haven't made any progress this past year or so with it. now that might be lack of practice but i have tryed new things to improve that technique and it has not helped really.

ok what im trying to say is it might be more practice to go back to the basics then keep doing this, i just feel guilty giving up seeing as i've made some decent progress with the technique overall and i know it would be way more beneficial to master this technique.

i could really use some practice tips for this (i looked at the sticky with the metal styles it was helpful) but ya i could use a few more tips. when i practice i try and always use the 3 finger but its just depressing because i can't play very fast using the technique making it less fun to play (as stated in my first post)

Another thing if you need inspiration to continue to LOVE the BASS, do what i do when i get in a rut, i go on YOUTUBE and look at players that are good and that makes me want to practice and it also gives me groove ideas, YOUTUBE is full of great bass player videos that will easily inspire you. I am not into rock but i am into funk and i found PRINCE'S bass player her name is IDA, she goes by bassida on you tube, i have been checking out her videos and i love her style and i am just amazed at how good she is, so that inspires me to practice, although i would now like to get a good teacher to get me to the next level. But youtube can inspire you...Hang in there and in time things will fall into place.