i feel like a real bassist now. what else should i learn?

[muhammadsmith]

hey, everyone on this forum has been cool to me so far, so i'm looking for help

i picked up bass because i felt i was fairly proficient with guitar already, and i thought it would be easier to get in a band playing bass. i've come to like bass a little better, now, and i bought a rig. i've been noodling around with other people's stuff for about a year and a half, and i just got my own stuff in january. now, i've learned how to play complex walking basslines pretty well, and i figured out most of "axiom" by rancid out by ear, the rest off of a bad tab i found (remember, i came from a guitar background). so now my question is: what other styles should i learn? i don't really like the sound of slap bass, but i might try ot pick it up anyways eventually just because it seems like everyone should have some knowledge of how to do it. what what other techniques are out there that i wouldn't have already learned playing punk and ska that i could learn to enhance my writing for that same type of music? i haven't really done much playing without a pick at all, so i might wanna pick up that, but i need other ideas too....

thanks in advance

[bass87]

If you don't play without a pick much, I'd suggest trying to develop your finger style. I'm not starting a whole pick vs fingers thing here, I just think it would help you loads if you were proficient with both

If you're picking stuff up by ear then that's good, but keep working on it. Try transcribing harder and harder things, and not just bass lines, try some of the horn melodies and solos if you like ska music.

And starting out in jazz never harmed anyone You say you've learned how to play complex walking lines, is that learning other peoples or improvising yourself?

If it's learning other peoples, then use those ideas to improvise your own lines. If it's your own, then carry on with that, and maybe start some soloing. I know that's a bit vague, but check out the Aebersold series for loads of great stuff

Hope that helps

[muhammadsmith]

the only thing about tabbing stuff is it's hard to hear variations in melody and stuff when the bass is playing under a heavy guitar sound and the bass doesn't have a lot of definition. that's why, yeah, i usually make my own walking basslines based off of the guitar chords in a song instead of taking other people's. the cool thing about rancid's stuff is that they let matt freeman pretty much wank on bass, so it's easier to figure his stuff out.

yeah, i've never tried jazz or a whole lot of fingerpicking. i'll definitely try going in that direction

oh yeh, i also tried the tabbing out horn solo's before, but i usually do stuff like that on guitar. i might try it on bass, too

[Stupid Southpaw]

Turn on the radio and play along with the songs (without trying to double the actual bass line). The constant pressure to analyze what you're hearing and coming up with a useable bass line will increase your playing skills very quickly.

That's what I do anyway.