I just...suck.

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by hdracer

I have to disagree with you on this.
If he doesn't know how to practice properly it is just wasting time.

Practice does not make perfect
Perfect practice makes perfect.

+1

Quality is more important than quantity.

Have you considered getting a teacher?

[dulac]

the better you get the slower the progress
it's that simple

[jmclearnon]

I would definitely agree with the fact you need to learn how to practise properly...

The amount of time i have wasted was unreal, how however after a lot of experimentation i have got a practise method that suits me... remember every learns stuff differently.

I would heavily suggest listening to a lot of music when your not playing, ie on the bus or at work (if you can) and just listen to the bass and how it fits in with other instruments.

Ps, i love listening to the same track focusing on different instruments, i almost notice something new each time !!

[VanillaThundah]

Originally Posted by BassPlayer95

...I don't really play all that intricate stuff, just punk-pop and a few different styles of metal, so I shouldn't be struggling...

There are plenty of cats who just stuck to these genres and rocked it all day long....many still do. It's great to find your niche as an artist, but what are you listening to besides those? Even if you have broad taste, try listening to music radically different than what you are currently playing. Ryan Martinie, one of my favorite bassists of all time, has a unique playing style that gleans from many different styles that he gives a "metal edge" to. The funk influences he had make his basslines rather interesting compared to people who ONLY play straight 8th or 16th notes in their basslines all the time.

On a related personal tangent, I never really had a good understanding of "metal fingerstyle" until I read an article on here about it. I mostly thought it boiled down to "play as fast as you possibly can" but there is a LOT more to the techniques that guys like The Ox and Geezer pioneered for the modern chaps.

[fivestringgecko]

Originally Posted by DeadHeadSF

And if you can't already, learn to read music; it's really not that hard to do and comes rapidly with practice.

+1, another great suggestion.

Along those lines, being able to read rhythm charts isn't a bad thing either.

5sg.

[BassPlayer95]

Thanks guys! I will be sure to try all of your suggestions. I've been wanting to listen to some Victor Wooten after seeing him on one of the late night shows, so I don't know why I haven't. I'll go do that...

[NYCbassist]

Honestly. If it doesn't come to you naturally then you need a teacher. There's a ton of great advice already in this post but I disagree with quit a bit of it.

1ST: MIxing it up with different Genres is not how I would do it. I learned one artist at a time. I started with John Paul Jones. I learned every Zeppelin tune that was out in 1979 or so. Actually starting with Zeppelin 2 until I knew every song. I was doing exactly what Scott Whitley teaches "Singing" the Notes and then applying it to the fretboard. I was jamming to an 8 Track "boom box" and playing a Cheap MusicMaster bass through a low power practice amp. It was all I needed and I finally got inside JPJ's Brain and I could easily learn Zeppelin tunes from there on. I did the same thing with Golden Earing, Bad Company, Foghat, Rush, Yes etc..
I took one band at a time and it worked great. I played 3 hours or more per day because I loved the heck out of it. I played at least 1/2 hour per day just improvising.
Play your favorite Band and learn every song inside and out. You should feel "High" Jamming to each song as you learn it starting with the easiest songs.
Or the 2nd option is go take lessons, Learn how to read music and Proper technique.

[fivestringgecko]

I'll say this clearly up front... Not trying to be argumentative, I'm trying to be constructive and positive with the following...

Originally Posted by NYCbassist

Honestly. If it doesn't come to you naturally then you need a teacher. There's a ton of great advice already in this post but I disagree with quit a bit of it.

If you disagree, how can you say it's great advice? What do you think is good advice and is there more that you don't agree with other than your mixing genres comment?

Originally Posted by NYCbassist

1ST: MIxing it up with different Genres is not how I would do it. I learned one artist at a time. I started with John Paul Jones. I learned every Zeppelin tune that was out in 1979 or so. Actually starting with Zeppelin 2 until I knew every song. I was doing exactly what Scott Whitley teaches "Singing" the Notes and then applying it to the fretboard. I was jamming to an 8 Track "boom box" and playing a Cheap MusicMaster bass through a low power practice amp. It was all I needed and I finally got inside JPJ's Brain and I could easily learn Zeppelin tunes from there on. I did the same thing with Golden Earing, Bad Company, Foghat, Rush, Yes etc..
I took one band at a time and it worked great. I played 3 hours or more per day because I loved the heck out of it. I played at least 1/2 hour per day just improvising.
Play your favorite Band and learn every song inside and out. You should feel "High" Jamming to each song as you learn it starting with the easiest songs.
Or the 2nd option is go take lessons, Learn how to read music and Proper technique.

As musicians, we have to find a practice routine that works for us, and what works for you may not work for me. We're all different. If learning each and every song from just one band at time worked for you, that's great, but I know that approach wouldn't have worked for me. I would've (and still do) view that as tedious, focusing on learning a band rather than a style and I wouldn't have stuck with it. My brain just wasn't (isn't) wired to work that way. Instead, I jumped around, learning some of my favorite songs from a few bands in a genre, then moving to a different genre and doing the same thing. Now I can play a 50 song gig with my cover band covering everything from 70’s funk to modern top 40, play musicals ranging from Annie to Hair to Hairspray to Jesus Christ Superstar, play for my contemporary church choir, sit in for studio work and do a cruise ship gig with my urban gospel band without problems.

Neither method is "right" or "wrong," they are simply what worked for us as individuals. If your suggestion (or any other in this thread) works for the OP, perfect. But if it doesn't, that's okay too. It's up to him to decide.

Related to practicing slowly, this showed up in my Facebook feed from a percussionist teacher friend of mine, thought it was rather timely for this thread... http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/i...lly-necessary/

5sg.

[HolmeBass]

A better amp could not hurt. Work that pinky, and work scales in 1st position to build up the strength you need. Also, 3 years isn't really all that long to be playing.

[Jonithen]

No, but it can be long enough to get burned out if you don't feel like you're getting anywhere.

In addition to trying some lessons, when was the last time you saw a band you liked? In person? Try to get to a show. Might not improve anything technically for you, but it could help put you in a better headspace, and who knows maybe you might pick something up?

I wasn't brave enough to set up my bass myself, having it done at a music shop along with a new set of strings cost about the same as a new video game. If a new bass is out of the question, work with what you've got. If you can do it or try it yourself, awesome. I can tell you it made a real difference, it wasn't some subtle thing that was maybe kind of better, it was a huge improvement.

If you take some lessons at a music shop, they generally seem to encourage you using their gear. Maybe you can't afford a new bass or amp, but a couple hours of lessons stretched over a month or two could give you a chance to put your hands on all kinds of gear with the benefit of someone who knows their stuff to ask for advice. Then you could know if what you have is holding you back, or if it's just another plateau to work through.

Best of luck

[Solarmist]

Originally Posted by mjac28

One thing is don't compare yourself to people who have been playing for many more years than you it's easy to do but just look on You Tube there are plenty of folks who are posting videos and they are just starting out as well. I finally got out of the " I will never sound like that person" syndrome and I feel much better about my bass playing and if all you had to do was practice hard every day and instantly become Marcus Miller everyone would be on his level take your time practice and oldcatfish has some sound advice also.

Yeah I was like that too. After my first 6 months of playing I was really pissed off at myself because I couldn't master 2112 or Bassically (Black Sabbath). It took a while, but I finally got them down.

[noisetherapy]

Just remember,

There are a multitude of millions of people better than you at music.

but the point is;

never compare yourself to anyone, your only competition is yourself.

record yourself today playing a new song you learned yesterday.
practice it every day for a week or two.
re-record it

listen to them back to back and i'll promise you you'll hear quick results in your; tone, fluidity, dexterity, consistency and overall technique.

remember that you live in a three dimensional world. as a three dimensional being, you can only see cross sections of the fourth dimension. the fourth dimension being time.
if you lived in the fourth dimension, you would see yourself as a virtuoso musician at some moment. right now you dont see it, because you live in the third dimension.

dont expect changes to come instantly. you can only see/hear what is happening right now. just keep practicing and picking up as much new material as you can and before you know it, you'll be somewhere where you weren't before.

hope this made sense.

best of luck

[Yogen]

First, one of the best advice I've heard: If you get frustrated, STOP! Doesn't matter if you leave the bass in a corner for a whole week, playing with frustration is no good. I've found that taking rests works great, sometimes I've quit for a while, and then when I get back to it, I find it easier to play songs or lines I used to struggle with.

What has worked for me, both on guitar and bass, is try increasing the difficulty sloooowly, and playing different genres.
Try learning bass lines from any song, doesn't matter if you can't learn the whole song because it's difficult, you should at least give a try to the lines that don't look too hard, with time, it will come.

Another thing, why do you think you suck? More precisely, are you unhappy with your technique or your musicality? (is that even a word?)
If you want technique, then practice, practice, practice, those boring exercises on the internet do work; also try learning harder songs!
If it's your improvisation, coming up with songs or bass lines, just play around the fretboard, listen to LOTS of different music, try following or playing different melodies on the bass (play the guitar, the drums, keys, etc.). You can even get lines from every day noises (like in the movie August Rush).

Death Metal is what got me into playing bass, (DiGiorgio and Webster being the bassists I most look up to), so I'm kind of struggling playing what I want. I know it will take some time, but I'm slowly build up my technique, playing easy songs (sometimes attempting hard lines, even if I sound awful) and working my way up to harder stuff.
When I get frustrated, I stop playing for a while or work on slow stuff or technique exercises.

ps: The gear is not really a factor, I learned that the hard way... Sure, when you get a new pedal, amp or instrument everything is shiny, but the feelings you had before will come back if you only rely on your gear.

[rarisgod]

Originally Posted by Ezmar

I remember the first time I had to walk. I had no idea how to do it. I mean, I knew what it was supposed to be, but doing it was something else entirely.

Was there anything that helped it click for you? I'm kinda slowly getting it right now, but it's nothing like what I hear on recordings of even the simplest walking lines. Was there anything that broke a barrier for you at any point?

[Session1969]

Practice 2-4 hours a day when possible.

[Daftom]

Make it hard for yourself until it's not hard anymore. Then make it hard again.

1) Make sure your bass is properly set up.
2) Make sure you have proper technique (that is effective and ergonomically sound).
3) Start up a metronome (www.metronomeonline.com) and play a song that you know at a comfortable tempo. Make sure you're playing perfectly on time without struggling. Now raise the tempo by a few bpm. Then practise until you can play it comfortably again. (To get any particularly difficult segment right, play that particular segment over and over again.) Once comfortable, raise the tempo again. Etc.

[matey]

i get depressed and that puts me off playing bass then i play bass and i feel better

[thunderstation]

Originally Posted by Anonymatt

Maybe Mom will go for getting you a month or two of lessons for Christmas. Sure, playing bass isn't as practical as elevator repair, but in practicing music, you'll learn stuff that will help you the rest of your life. The secret to success in most things mirrors the daily practice of music.

this is quite a good idea.lessons are relatively inexpensive and after 3 or 4 you will probably feel the improvement- My other thought is when you do pracice - do you enjoy it? Is it something you look forward to most of the time- as stated above it's a learning experience that's kind of difficult to explain when you start asking how will this help me later in life - it teaches you patience - how to solve problems - how to act practically and how to channel emotions-but mostly playing music is a really good way to have fun & enjoy yourself

[MrLenny1]

Get a good teacher to straighten out your bad habits!
A classical bass method was the key to proper fingering for me.

[conqr]

Originally Posted by bassRunner

A bit of advice I received was to try a different genre of music. I found myself practicing the same tunes for far too long, and I didn't really get much better. Lately, I've been working on some jazz standards and playing with a group of a few guys. Diving into a new genre has given me a sense of accomplishment, even if I am only making baby steps. Walking is harder than it sounds, at least for me

My experience exactly - recently started jamming with a couple guys much better than me on both bass and guitar. Barely holding my own when they go off into the Jazz standards, but they're great guys, they like my musicality and groove, and they PUSH me! Loving it!