Finding my style.

[OnTheOne]

We can tell who the bass player is on different tracks because we know the style, the tone, the groove of that musician. I find myself copying those licks. How do I construct my own style, my own voice.

[LiamPodmore]

Write your own tracks, develop your basslines, that you wrote, then that should give you your voice. Thats what i do anyway.

Liam

[camiloochoa]

an advice from marcus miller on soloing that may also help when finding your own voice on the instrument:

"Get a tape recorder and solo into it. You'll probably hear an idea that was almost good. Take that idea and work it out. Shed it in all keys at different tempos. What's cool about this is that you already know that this idea comes naturally to you since you improvised it yourself into the tape recorder, all you have to do is refine it.
Develop a catalogue of your own personal ideas. Play them often. This way, when you're in the middle of a solo, you'll have some launching pads - things that you naturally hear and can get to in order to get going.
Tape everything!"

also it's not a bad things to copy from others, you can start from there and with time you will surely develop your own sound (unless you are one of those people obsessed with only one artist).

[Deathblade Eric]

Listen to the rest of the band too. There's nothing to stop you nicking bits off guitarists, horns, keys - even vocal licks. Sooner or later something will coalesce.

[dalconthenovice]

forget about style and ye shall find thy style

/thread

[Icculus]

Learn every lick and song that you like. It'll all start coming out naturally.

+1 for using the other instruments as an influence. Guitarists everywhere do it with Miles Davis

[jsamuel]

Sounding like yourself is easy. Sounding like someone else is almost impossible.

[CFA]

Stop thinking about what you're doing and play. That's what I started doing, and immediately started hearing influences from players I listened to a lot seeping in.

[Ezmar]

Emulating people is how you GET your style. I play almost exclusively Geddy Lee, and I sound pretty much EXACTLY like him. However, I am not Geddy Lee, and there's a lot about my playing that's very essentially me. Just play, and it will just sort of emerge. Don't worry about being too similar to anybody. You can't really narrow yourself too much if you're not thinking about being narrow. Music comes from you, and other people can only show you how to play. Experiment, practice, just have fun, and whatever comes out will be your style. It doesn't have to be extremely unique, and it will develop and change over time.

[EatADeadGoat]

Learn stuff you like. I like to "borrow" riffs from guitarists in some of my favorite bands sometimes. It's not just bassists that influence me. Just play: it'll come naturally. After 9 months of playing, I'm finally starting to discover my sound. It takes some time. Just pracice very day, and have fun. It happens when it happens.