need help...

[bassgirl27]

i'm subbing for a bassist and i've got all the songs down except 'pipline' by the ventures... they want me to play the 'e,b,e,g' part to the verses. it's at a speed faster than i can play fingerstyle and i don't have time to get that proficient with a pick, so i'm freaking...

i've been practicing the song a lot and am still not at that speed... is there anything like a delay/echo pedal that may give me the effect if i played the line at half speed?

watching the you tube clips of bands playing this song, it seems that guitarists usually play the line... when i mentioned that to the band, they weren't impressed.... i want to do the gig...

[MarkTAW]

A delay pedal *could* work, but it needs to be set to the right tempo and you can never predict the exact tempo the band will play at.

[nysbob]

Keep working on it - you'll get it. If you play fingerstyle, you can rake the E and A strings - the B is constant, so all you have to do change the E from open to fretted G.

It's a cool little line once you get a handle on it.

[JimmyM]

I thought the bass just played quarter notes E-G back and forth. But in any event, practice it painfully slow, then gradually build speed once you master it at the previous speed. And don't change tempo until you've really got it.

[bassgirl27]

thanks everyone. i actually played through it five times with the recording this morning and was on tempo for about four of the five trys. seems like a good nights sleep helps build the neural pathways (sp?) cause each morning i'm a little better at it... i'll keep plugging away... i just hate feeling so uncoordinated... still interested in the delay pedal, i'll have to give one a try at some point. thanks again.

[MarkTAW]

If you can nail it 4/5 times now, don't bother with the delay pedal & just learn the part...

[bassgirl27]

amazing what practice does... :-) i played it acceptably 7 times through this morning.... i'll just keep 'uping' the metronome to keep getting even better. looking back, i could barely play the notes at half speed initially, and i practice with the metronome everyday, doing scales for speedwork. thanks again guys.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by bassgirl27

thanks everyone. i actually played through it five times with the recording this morning and was on tempo for about four of the five trys. seems like a good nights sleep helps build the neural pathways (sp?) cause each morning i'm a little better at it... i'll keep plugging away... i just hate feeling so uncoordinated... still interested in the delay pedal, i'll have to give one a try at some point. thanks again.

Yeah, delay pedals are fun. Just don't use them as a cheat.

[Depth_Charge]

Originally Posted by bassgirl27

i'm subbing for a bassist and i've got all the songs down except 'pipline' by the ventures... they want me to play the 'e,b,e,g' part to the verses. it's at a speed faster than i can play fingerstyle and i don't have time to get that proficient with a pick, so i'm freaking...

First rule, don't freak out. I find it harder to approach learning a song or a technique for a song if I allow myself to feel intimidated by the piece.

Originally Posted by bassgirl27

watching the you tube clips of bands playing this song, it seems that guitarists usually play the line... when i mentioned that to the band, they weren't impressed.... i want to do the gig...

It's irrelevant who normally plays what, what is relevant is how the band you want to be in want to play it. I play in a rock covers band and we are constantly taking parts from each other or other instruments. Best example is, depending on the octave, we all play keyboard lines since we don't have a keyboard player. And I have a slow gear effect that lets me emulate a cello etc etc sic ad nauseum. The more instruments you can cover off on the intrument you play, the more valuable you are in a live setting.

Originally Posted by bassgirl27

i actually played through it five times with the recording this morning and was on tempo for about four of the five trys.

Originally Posted by bassgirl27

i played it acceptably 7 times through this morning.... i'll just keep 'uping' the metronome to keep getting even better. looking back, i could barely play the notes at half speed initially, and i practice with the metronome everyday, doing scales for speedwork. thanks again guys.

Yep, repetition is what does. And 5 times one day, 7 the next? Come on

This weekend alone I had 6 cover songs to learn and I played some of the trickier fills in excess of 50 times each day for 3 days straight (Friday night through Sunday) and I still can't get some at tempo yet. Sometimes you have to move away from TB and put in some hard yards to sound good

Good luck with the gig sounds like come time to play that song with the band you will nail it!!

[bassgirl27]

"Yep, repetition is what does. And 5 times one day, 7 the next? Come on."

i just meant that's how many times in a row i played it right, i'm practicing it a lot more than that throughout the day... thanks for your words of encouragement.