livening it up!

[AshenBassist]

after just talking about 'for whom the bell tolls' by Metallica i got thinking. i need a way to spice it up. it's a really easy song, and if i wasn't singing as well then i think i would fall asleep playing it. could i get some help livening it up/making it more challenging?

i am not a bass virtuoso, so nothing really uber hard. should i try to arppegiate?

help please!

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by AshenBassist

...it's a really easy song, and if i wasn't singing as well then i think i would fall asleep playing it. could i get some help livening it up/making it more challenging?

I really don't get it. I mean it's not the first time I've read something like this, but...

When playing with a band, I'm NEVER 'bored' with a song - never. Any number of emotions or feelings may be involved, and I may not even like the song; I may be bored listening to the song when I'm not playing it (Mustang Sally - Egads); I may find it boring to practice scale excersises (to my shame), or to work on a little theory - but the first time I'm ever 'bored' in a live band rehearsal or performance.. well - it'd be a heart-sinking shock to me; a situation that I'd be compelled to urgently evaluate and remedy.

When I'm grooving, I'm grooving. Groove and pocket are transcendent - surely transcendent to the song it self. The more-simple a bass part is, the less excuses I have for not exhibiting emaculate groove, and extreme pocket.

If you're bored, then you're not playing it right. You're very likely not even rightly thinking about what it is to be a bassist.

Sorry, Man - but...

Joe

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by Joe P

If you're bored, then you're not playing it right. You're very likely not even rightly thinking about what it is to be a bassist.

+1!

This doesn't even mean that a bassist's job is to sit in the background and play dull stuff. It means that when you're doing it right, nothing is boring. And nothing is ever easy to play well. If you're not challenged, there's something you should be paying more attention to.

[tZer]

I must agree... since I 'Got over myself' recently I have discovered that even those bass lines that I used to consider 'too easy' are suddenly really interesting and fun to play. If you are not finding the fun, you are looking in the wrong places, in my opinion.

With Metallica I would find your focus on the air-tight quality between the bass and the drums (and the rest, for that matter) and play it in such a way that not one whisp of air escapes... hermetically sealed...

[nappingcracker]

If you are not finding the fun, you are looking in the wrong places, in my opinion.

Where did you find it, tZer?

I too am having problems keeping it spicy.

[Digo]

is it a simple bass line because they are annoying

[Vorak]

I agree, it gets pretty dull to play by yourself in your bedroom but when I'm playing that song with my friends I never get bored.