How much should we study bass tecnique

[Alo-BASS-Mann]

Hi folks, this is one issue im trying to deal with. The thing is, Im a working bass player and I study at local music school, and one of my teachers who teaches jazz told me not to study bass any more, but keep on playing and to study double bass.

I guess he ment, that its not really necessary to be victor wooten to be an In demand bass player, which I agree. The thing is, should we spend time in learning difficult rythmic concepts or extremely complicatede harmonic passages when what you really need to know is to play even 8ts really even?

what are your thougts?

[RCCollins]

It can never hurt to study/practice dvance techniques - maybe your teacher's point was that you need to get out and play with other musicians more? Without that, the fancy stuff won't do you much good.

Or he is just trying to steer you toward double bass.

[Alo-BASS-Mann]

yes thats possibly it, but what i´m trying to say is, how much study do you need before you get to study fancy stuff, like triple poping or playing 32ths at full speed... do you knw what I mean?

For example, drummers get to study paraddidles n stuff while bass playing seems to be more simpler. Is craftmanship the word im looking for? (im spanish native tounge)

[quale213]

I believe that if youre 8th notes are fine and dandy then it is alright to go about practicing the more difficuly techniques. I picked up piano when i felt that my bass playing was strong enough to diversify my musicianship. I am a much stronger player because of it btw. I hope this adds to the conversation.

[onlyclave]

Dude, I have never, EVER had to use triple popping on any kind of gig. If you spend a good deal of your practice time working on things like that, good for you, you'll have a lot more time to try it out on the basses at Guitar Center because I'll be playing the gigs you won't get.

In the first year I studied double bass my electric bass playing improved significantly faster. The logic of the neck, shifting and reading make more sense as does your ear.

As far as I'm concerned you can start practicing your double thumping and triple popping the very first day you buy your first bass. If you want to be a bad ass electric player, go study some double bass and see it from a different perspective.

[StyleOverShow]

Originally Posted by Alo-BASS-Mann

Hi folks, this is one issue im trying to deal with. The thing is, Im a working bass player and I study at local music school, and one of my teachers who teaches jazz told me not to study bass any more, but keep on playing and to study double bass....

Perhaps he is suggesting that your technique is adequate (very good lets say) but that you will improve by working with a fuller voiced instrument, like the DB. It is a very different animal and he may be suggesting you are ready for it.

Sounds all positive to me. Buena suerte.

[Alo-BASS-Mann]

Originally Posted by onlyclave

As far as I'm concerned you can start practicing your double thumping and triple popping the very first day you buy your first bass. If you want to be a bad ass electric player, go study some double bass and see it from a different perspective.

hey sounds your mad at me, besides I cant triple pop. I really can´t.

So in general terms you´ll agree on studying other instruments to improve your bass playing, rather than spending 4 to 8 hours per day studying bass guitar?

gracias

[conte2music]

When it comes down to paying your bills...being able to play both basses is a great advantage. Also...I typically make more money playing upright bass! I think it's strong advice. For many theater, chamber music, orchestra, country, jazz, etc...type gigs, double bass is a MUST. You can thump all you want on an electric, but when someone needs a double bass player...they'll call a hack that happens to own a double bass before they call an awesome electric only player.

[BigOldHarry]

If you're in high school, then you likely haven't been playing that long. Flashy technique is fun and gets the girls, but it does not get the gigs. What gets the gigs is solid meter and sound. I'd listen to your teacher, spend more time on reading than on tapping/slappying/shredding/whatever and you'll be happy you did. I don't know of a single city in the US that a cat who can play upright and read reasonably well can't get work. I know a TON of guys who can "shred" on bass who can't even find a group to jam with.

[unclejane]

Originally Posted by Alo-BASS-Mann

Hi folks, this is one issue im trying to deal with. The thing is, Im a working bass player and I study at local music school, and one of my teachers who teaches jazz told me not to study bass any more, but keep on playing and to study double bass.

I guess he ment, that its not really necessary to be victor wooten to be an In demand bass player, which I agree. The thing is, should we spend time in learning difficult rythmic concepts or extremely complicatede harmonic passages when what you really need to know is to play even 8ts really even?

what are your thougts?

I'm not working as a bass player right now, but I can give some experience on this when I was some years ago....

I think working on technique is good, but really only if you learn a particular technique as best you can first before moving onto something else.

In my own playing I have been startled the last few years on how bad I am on some of the basics, so I've had to go back to those and really hammer on em:

- switch to fretless which I did about 5 years ago: this was 95% due to anatomical reasons. I'm missing a small piece of my pinky on my left (fretting) hand and I just generally don't have the strength you guys do to make a fretted bass sound good. The fretless is much easier for me to get good tone out of. Er, I basically couldn't carry a basic tune for about a year. I had to literally stop playing and do nothing but intonation exercises forever - now I can play in tune ok, but am still working on this.

- three-finger right hand techique: This was hilarious - I had a thought about switching to this recently to try get my speed up. Er, I quickly discovered that, hey, I can just barely play with _2_ fingers, er and I want to throw the 3rd one in? I begun doing some exercises on plucking and discovered all kinds of rust there.

- ascending lines: This is what I discovered from the above. I have had terrible trouble playing ascending lines for years and years and didn't realize it. So instead of trying the 3 finger thing, I adopted the floating thumb technique (I play a 5 string and occassionally a 6) and have been working on very basic stuff, scales going up. Switching techiques on the right hand helped a great deal, but I _still_ have to practice playing basic ascending scales to really get them in time with a good tone.

Basically, I've been playing for about 20 years, but recently as I've gotten more serious about it, I've had to go more and more basic as I've discovered all kinds of problems in just the basic stuff.
I'm having to go back and clean all this up first before I really try to move on to more advanced stuff.

I.e. I'm a 20 year beginner bassist .

So the moral of this story is, practice and perfect as best you can the very basics first before you move on to more advanced techniques. Lest you end up like me and have to relearn the bass all over again when you're 45 .

I love exploring the instrument so I don't find practice in the basics to be tedious, it's more a labor of love. But at the same time, it's a little mortifying to find myself re-learning everything 20 years after I started .

LS

[sflajimmy]

Basically, I've been playing for about 20 years, but recently as I've gotten more serious about it, I've had to go more and more basic as I've discovered all kinds of problems in just the basic stuff.
I'm having to go back and clean all this up first before I really try to move on to more advanced stuff.

I.e. I'm a 20 year beginner bassist .

With age comes wisdom...You can never go wrong studying and playing the basics IMHO. For instance your time keeping skills can always be improved. The one thing I've learned over the years is that I need to constantly work on my weaknesses as I tend to always want to practice what I know how to do well, because that's easierKnowing your deficiencies and practicing to strengthen them are two different things. I never feel as though I'm good enough...it keeps me striving to improve.

[Alo-BASS-Mann]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

If you're in high school, then you likely haven't been playing that long. Flashy technique is fun and gets the girls, but it does not get the gigs. What gets the gigs is solid meter and sound. I'd listen to your teacher, spend more time on reading than on tapping/slappying/shredding/whatever and you'll be happy you did. I don't know of a single city in the US that a cat who can play upright and read reasonably well can't get work. I know a TON of guys who can "shred" on bass who can't even find a group to jam with.

Well actually im not in high school, im in a school music which used to be Berklee International Network in Buenos Aires Argentina, that´s what I ment with school, but yes, ive been playing for a relatively short period of time, i.e: 6 years. And just for the record, I cant play flashy stuff cuse´ I havent studied em

This is why I posted this thread, to know how much of flashy stuff do we really need to know.

On the other hand thanks "unclejane" for your words of wisdom, yo know i have the same problem with ascending lines, but im not sure I want to go with the floating technique, any other suggestion? I guess I´ll just keep on practicing string crossing and more ascending ideas.

Thank you all guys for posting, and keep on, i want to hear more opinions and experience...
Blessings...

[chaosMK]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

Flashy technique is fun and gets the girls, but it does not get the gigs.

I guess back in my flashy phase, it wasnt flashy enough!

You dont really need to know any flashy stuff to have fun or get by, but learning challenging techniques that you might never use will still probably raise your level of playing and confidence. Hard work will only make you better.

After 3 years with my band, I've really cut back. I still do slightly fancier stuff (tapping) but mainly because that's how I wrote it. In general though, I try to keep it simple and in good taste (for tech metal).

[unclejane]

Originally Posted by Alo-BASS-Mann

On the other hand thanks "unclejane" for your words of wisdom, yo know i have the same problem with ascending lines, but im not sure I want to go with the floating technique, any other suggestion? I guess I´ll just keep on practicing string crossing and more ascending ideas.

Well I once tried to figure out the Gary Willis 3 finger technique as a fix. He definitely has an advantage for crossing strings upwards with it. It was futile for me, but you might look around for videos of his technique and see if it helps you.

The floating thumb is turning out to be a total revelation for me, tho it's a big adjustment in other ways. But it's helping my ascending stuff so much it's worth having to relearn other things along with.

I'd say continue practicing ascending scales, pentatonics and so forth, that's what I'm doing now...

LS

[Jehos]

Personally I think you should get to a level of proficiency above what you need for the kind of band you want to play with. For example, Les Claypool has always been one of my bass heroes--listening to Primus inspired me to learn the bass guitar. I can play a lot of the crazy stuff he does from practicing on my own. I learned to slap very fast, three-finger technique, and flamenco-style strumming to the point where I'm comfortable with all those techniques. However, those *never* come out in the band I play in because they're totally wrong for the style. What I gained by learning them was a very solid sense of timing and a level of proficiency with my right-hand technique that makes everything I play in a band situation easy.

In terms of what you really need to learn to excel in a band situation is musicianship. Learn lots of different styles of music so you know what's possible with the bass guitar. My personal definition of good bass playing is when you can be melodic and hold down the groove at the same time. That means knowing when to play melodic fills up in the guitar range, when to drop down to my B string for thunderous lows, and when to just groove in the normal 4-string space.

[azureblue]

asked me when i started college level Jazz:
"Do you want to be a bass player or a musician?"

[Alo-BASS-Mann]

Well I think you dont need to do that difference. I want to be a bass player, but to be a good bass player you kneed to be a good musician, or at least that´s what I want

[kesslari]

If you spend your time practicing bass technique at the expense of musicality, you do yourself, and your music, a disservice.

If you practice technique as a portion of your overall practice, along with melodic skills, ear training, harmony, timing and rhythm, etc., then you're probably OK.

[joelc1319]

Originally Posted by kesslari

If you spend your time practicing bass technique at the expense of musicality, you do yourself, and your music, a disservice.

If you practice technique as a portion of your overall practice, along with melodic skills, ear training, harmony, timing and rhythm, etc., then you're probably OK.

+1. It's all about the balance: without technique, you can't play cleanly; without musicality, you can't play music