Need help keeping a beat

bassmasta05 · #1 03-17-2007, 09:24 PM

Im really not that bad at bass but i just have trouble keeping a beat. I can play real complex songs, write my own music, im not that bad at the bass, I just have trouble keeping a beat. I think one of the main reasons why i cant keep a beat is because i have never played the bass in any sort of band at all.

sometimes I use a metronome but are there any other tips you guys can give me to help learn how to "keep a beat?"

thanks.

PrimusNut · #2 03-17-2007, 09:47 PM

Just get into the music, you need to FEEL it. Move your body as you play, or move your head.

I have never been in a band, but I don't have a very hard time keeping a beat, and I have never even used a metronome.

uturnbass · #3 03-17-2007, 10:12 PM

Some people just don't have "natural" timing and rhythm.
If working with a metronome doesn't help much, and is boring.
Try getting a drum machine. Lock-in with the drummer's kick and groove with it, this will help you stay on time.
I'd recommend starting off with just simple stuff, make sure you stay on beat, and when you're starting to feel comfortable start adding some licks, and then maybe some runs, and etc...

As a bassist, locking in with the drummer and staying on time is a VERY important , because a drummer and a bassist make up the rhythm part of the band, if the drummer's off, you're the next in line for that band to rely on timing...
And it's a good compliment to get when they tell you if it werent for you the songs would have crashed

It's way more important to stay on beat, then it is to play a lot of fancy things.

So try a drum-machine, it makes groovin on your own so much more fun, and it's an excellent tool for timing.

DarthDooku · #4 03-18-2007, 04:06 AM

I have a similar problem. A drum machine is definitely something you should look into getting. You can get a cheap little effects pedal that has some simple drum beats for less than 50 bucks. But in the end, my friend always says, the best way to really learn is to play with other people.

**BullHorn** · #5 03-18-2007, 09:19 AM

I got better at keeping a beat just by playing along songs. When I learned how to make basic improvisations, I just jammed with a drummer or a drum machine.

Matthew Bryson · #6 03-18-2007, 09:29 AM

tap your foot and count.

bassmasta05 · #7 03-19-2007, 08:20 PM

thanks for the tips guys!

Not Chuck · #8 03-19-2007, 11:37 PM

This is gonna sound silly, but I'm serious.

Find an aerobics class with a cute teacher you could get a harmless crush on. Preferably a funk aerobics class. Go at least twice a week. Get into it and become the teacher's pet. Get really good at doing the steps.

OK, the thing about a cute teacher isn't strictly necessary, but it helps the motivation. The thing is, you have to get the feeling of a beat in your whole body. You don't have to dance when you play bass, but to get "rhythm" it's imperative to get the feeling of a beat from your head out into the rest of your body where it can do some good. Then your whole body will support the beat. Aerobics classes are perfect for breaking the head/body barrier because they're regimented - it's _training_.

Any aerobics class will do, but in a funk class you'll actually learn some cool steps that you can use if you ever go dancing.

It's also really good for confidence.

uturnbass · #9 03-20-2007, 12:00 AM

Haha! Nice chuck!
Yeah quote from a good friend of mine...

"If you can keep a beat, you can dance"

So, Chuck's right, it really will help.
Especially since aerobics excercise to the beat of the music.

DocBop · #10 03-20-2007, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmasta05

Im really not that bad at bass but i just have trouble keeping a beat. I can play real complex songs, write my own music, im not that bad at the bass, I just have trouble keeping a beat. I think one of the main reasons why i cant keep a beat is because i have never played the bass in any sort of band at all.

sometimes I use a metronome but are there any other tips you guys can give me to help learn how to "keep a beat?"

thanks.

Job one of a bass player is keeping time, so if you have trouble keeping time your bass playing is.....

First you say you sometimes use a metronome, use it for everything. You have to develop an internal sense of time and to do that you need to work with a metronome.

First just start clapping along with the metronome. A common mistake is people make is they listen to the metronome. If you hear the metronome you are off time. When you clap the sound of the metronome will disappear when you are in time. Then just clap on 1 and 3 so you can check in on the time and hear the click on 2 and 4. Once you can clap at fast and slow tempos not hearing the metronome now pickup the bass and play some simple line or Blues with the metronme. Remember your bassline when its on a downbeat should be making that metronome disappear. But main thing use a metronoame all the time, eventually you get to the point where you just hear a click and can start singing grooves and knowing when you are intenionally playing on top or behind the beat.

Move advanced work with metronome. Start using the metronome clicking on 2 and 4 only like a snare back beat. Take a little while to get used to counting yourself in thinking of the click as 2 and 4, but hand in there. Then set metronome to only click on one. Now play just two eighth notes on 1 and every other measure go up the neck and play a fill and finish by hitting on 1.

Last something my teacher does with me. Get a metronome or something that you can shut the sound of the click off with while metronome keeps going. Okay get a friend or teacher to run the metronome. Play a simple bassline like Billie Jean along with the metronome. Then have them shut the click sound off for every other measure. Still in time expand that to a measure of click and three measures of you keep time on your own. That exercse is tough.

Phil Smith · #11 03-20-2007, 12:26 PM

If you can't keep the beat or the rhythm with any instrument, how good can you be?

Rattman · #12 03-20-2007, 03:20 PM

Great suggestions all of them.. the "groove" will infect you after a while. Me, I need to be chewing a piece of sugarless gum while we do our sets. Definitely helps me find the backbeat.

Interceptor · #13 03-21-2007, 08:48 PM

Work with a metronome at 40 bpm, just do something easy like major scales to the metronome for a solid 15 minutes per day for a couple of weeks.

Record yourself and the metronome day one and day 15. Listen to the recordings on day 15. Repeat until you are totally solid. Be hard on yourself. It is worth it.

Zappstorius · #14 03-21-2007, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmasta05

I can play real complex songs, write my own music, im not that bad at the bass, I just have trouble keeping a beat. I think one of the main reasons why i cant keep a beat is because i have never played the bass in any sort of band at all.

It sounds like you spend a lot of time of the "technical" side of your bass playing. And that's cool, you've learned a lot of cool stuff, you can play a lot of complex pieces...and you can write, which is huge.

You need to change your focus to more "feel" playing. You need to get to play with some people, at least a drummer. Focus on really simple lines, playing a groove, "feeling" the music your playing.

bikeplate · #15 03-21-2007, 11:23 PM

HI

I'm sure you can find some tracks you can download off the net that are drums only. Play along with them and record yourself. Listen to yourself. Go from there

Rob

Niff · #16 03-21-2007, 11:34 PM

i had the same problem when i first started - the first music i really started getting into had crazy time signatures, Dream Theater, Tool, et cetera. i didn't have a natural sense of timing, and adding the weird time signatures on really did not help at all.

but eventually, i learned by headbanging to songs i was playing along with. if you're less metalhead inclined, i suggest tapping your foot or swaying or something. doing an action along with the playing really helps.

Jazzdogg · #17 03-21-2007, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmasta05

Im really not that bad at bass but i just have trouble keeping a beat.<SNIP>sometimes I use a metronome but are there any other tips you guys can give me to help learn how to "keep a beat?"thanks.

You might try mentally subdividing rhythms into sixteenth notes; think "What is Hip" by Tower of Power.

If you have access to a Tascam CD-BT1MKII, you can use the same song to practice different tempos.

JLW · #18 03-22-2007, 05:11 AM

You're going to have trouble doing anything as a musician and ESPECIALLY a bass player if you can't keep time. I don't want to come off as rude, but the technical things don't mean much if you don't know the basics. Time/Rhythm is one of the most important things a bass player can have.

Play with a drummer who can keep good time. do simple quarter notes. then expand from there.

steve66 · #19 03-22-2007, 06:17 AM

Try this:

Play air drums

Listen to "Every breath you take" by the Police and play the drums to it.

Play quarter notes 1 2 3 4 with your foot and the hand you finger the bass with.

Then:

Quarter notes with your foot and eighth notes with the hand you finger with

Play beats 2 and 4 on your fretting hand

When your comfortable with that. Get your bass find the sheet music and follow along.

BillMason · #20 03-22-2007, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Smith

If you can't keep the beat or the rhythm with any instrument, how good can you be?

If you don't have something useful or helpful to say, why are you posting in this thread?