Playing with other musicians

[Romone19]

First before I get started I want to say thanks to all the ppl who give me advice on how to play R&B it really help me out. My question is can you guys give me some advice on how to play with other musicians so I can always play the right notes, licks, and etc cause I'm getting tired of embrassing myself.lol

[stflbn]

Practice. Preparation. Experience. Confidence. Ear.


.

[Hippos Melas]

Experience is the best thing you can have. If I had a dollar for every time I've made an @$$ out of myself with an instrument in my hands, well, let's just say I wouldn't be going to college. Just go out and play what you feel sounds best.

[Jojabeau]

Get some old Stax, Atlantic, Motown, CD's and rob every lick you can. Booker T and The MGs would be a good place to start. Copy, copy copy, on the gig use what works until you create your own vocab, I don’t know anyone who plays anything well that was not a master thief before they mastered their ax. If you rob from one guy you will be a clone if you rob from 5-6 you will create your own style. Have fun.

[Jools4001]

Originally Posted by Romone19

First before I get started I want to say thanks to all the ppl who give me advice on how to play R&B it really help me out. My question is can you guys give me some advice on how to play with other musicians so I can always play the right notes, licks, and etc cause I'm getting tired of embrassing myself.lol

Well I've been playing 40 years and if I had the secret of always playing the right notes and licks I would bottle it and sell it on the internet.

If you ever reach this nirvana be sure to tell us, because I'm sure that nobody here on TB goes through their bass playing life without making mistakes ranging from the odd flubbed note to complete howlers.

The trick is, not to worry about making mistakes - that's sure to happen - it's how you cover them and get back in the groove that matters. If you can do that well some folks may never notice.

[GRAHAM SG1]

Having converted from guitar to bass, I have found `you tube` a good way to learn as you can see where the bassist plays the notes on the fret board (live vid clips), once you see this then its a matter of listening to the music and trying to locate all the notes by ear, you can find tab online to check you are right (assuming that the tab is right, they are not always) .
I listen to the originals of all the songs we play on a CD I made up, repeated listening will help enormously, please note I play in a covers band so am not really trying to create anything new .

[Distant Cousin]

I'd advise caution with tabs. From my experience they are almost never correct, and becoming dependent on them is a very bad idea. Try and work out by ear as much as you can, the more you do it the better you will get at it. Try and learn to read music a bit as well, that will help in the long run.

[PaulNYC]

Learn your fretboard. Practice chords all over the neck. Play chordal scales. Play with people to get good at playing with people.

[JimmyM]

all great advice. i'd even go so far as to say steal licks off recordings you like and use them verbatim with your band. it's not always going to go perfectly, but the more you do it, the better you get.

[DblG]

Originally Posted by Jools4001

The trick is, not to worry about making mistakes ... it's how you cover them and get back in the groove that matters.

Right! It's not the dismount, it's the landing.

[mambo4]

Simplify and listen. I like to zero in on the least ammount of notes required to hold a groove

[codeinedreams]

In addition to what everyone else said, I get recordings of the songs my band is working on and play along to them on my own in between practices. If there is no recording, then I show up with a recording device like a small tape recorder and record the song at practice.

[MalcolmAmos]

Playing with others is really rather simple.

1. Get a groove going.
2. Augment, do not compete. In other words do not step on the other members toes.
3. Our job is to provide accompaniment and the beat, we play melody only when given the lead by the person that had it.
4. Be aware of the style of the band and blend in.
5. Know the selections dead on.
6. Most important - help the older members get their stuff on and off stage.

Have fun.

[bigtiny]

I'm not sure if you're asking how to prepare yourself explicitly to play with others or how to get everybody in a room working in the same direction. I'll give you some pointers on both:

-grab 3 of your favorite tunes (records) and learn the bass lines, the best you can off the record. When you contact other people to play, if they've done this, then try to learn their tunes and vice versa. Don't worry if you don't get them perfectly....there's a good chance that if you're having trouble with a particular part, somebody else will have it....and vice versa.

-equip yourself as good as possible: amp, bass, tunes

-try to hook up with players that are slightly more advanced than you. This is tricky...you want them to be close enough in experience that you can keep up and not be a drag because of your level of experience, but you want them to be a bit more experienced cause then you'll learn from them.

-make sure that you are all on the same general page musically -- no matter what your individual and collective levels of experience are, you'll never have fun if you want to play 'Stella by Starlight' and the other guys are trying to figure out the latest Metallica tune.

-try to record the session -- listening can be painful, but it can also teach you a lot

-no matter WHAT the musical outcome is, or how you feel about it, make sure and 'get on the horse' again asap. Don't be too judgemental about your playing (or anyone else's for that matter)

-HAVE FUN!!!!!

bigtiny

[Bubumaster]

I think that is a good exercise, try to learn the chords in the other instruments. If you loose yourself in a middle of the song, you always can peep the guitar or the piano and undertand where U R.-
wrks for me