Things I wish people had told me years ago...

[peetey]

The most important lesson I have learned, espesially since spending time here on TB is...PLAY LESS.

[funkytranki]

1-Join a band ASAP. Listen to your mates constantly.
Music is made from condivision.
2-Get into funk ASAP.May be boring if you are a metalhead but it'll help you to be groovy no matters what style you play.
3-Play many stiles. You'll find it's better to be able to play a little of everything, rather than learning 10000 slap chops.
4-Techniques are just tools and music is a language.
Now that you know speak in a MUSICAL way.

and finally...

You can always become faster.
But remember there's always someone faster than you.
And Wooten is just faster. (just joking).

[cheapimitation]

Since this thread is partly about what works in real-world gigging situations, I'd like to ask chicagodoubler if he sees in his own employment enough jazz work as an electric player, or if most is on upright... it seems that bg players miss out on a lot of gigs because many or most jazz bands want an upright player, even if a bg player is well-schooled in the style... it's a sad thing, in my opinion, for those of us bg players who don't and don't want to play upright, but love the bg and love jazz and quieter music in general -- the bg can be just as sensitive an instrument as the upright, and is really no less "acoustic" sounding than an electric or acoustic-electric guitar when played cleanly at moderate volume.

[chicagodoubler]

Yeah cheap. A loud upright just sounds like a bad electric. But try telling that to a band leader. 90% of the time, they just wanna see one on stage... Personally, my work is split down the middle. More sessions on electric, but these days more gigging on the upright. If you want to split the difference as a bg exclusive guy, get the gigs that upright guys don't do- cover bands and wedding work. Around here that work pays almost double what a good jazz gig pays! And plus, the girls are alot cuter...

[b.cleff]

Read all the posts and have, maybe, a different way to look at read vs non-read etc. Compare your learning to the senses a human usually has. You have vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and probably a few more. If any of those modes of input to your human system are missing, your human system has a much more difficult time assimiliating information.
Likewise with learning music (bass), if you can't read what you need/want to learn, you have challeneged yourself unnecessarily. If you can't hear where you are or what's coming next, again you make things more challenging for yourself. You can be hard core and stick with only one mode, but IMHO you are making things more difficult than they need to be.
The only thing not debatable, is that you must practice in order to learn. There are many learning styles. Practice with the learning style that works for you. But, if your practicing is too comfortable, you probably aren't pushing yourself hard enough. No one ever got worse by practicing too much.

[mambo4]

I guess i'm in the pro- reading camp.

while i'm not a fluent sight reader, I have found that when learning new material my meager eading/transcribing skills have saved me, and *especially others* hours of time. I only have to play the song enough times to write it out and then we can move on to the next one. The whole band can spend more time learning to feel the music as a group, I just go home and nail the structure and my individual part on my own

. And the next week, when nobody remembers how many times the vamp goes before the bridge, I can pull out my chart and show 'em.

While true you don't have to read to be a good player, my personal experience has been that reading/writing increases my efficiency dramatically.

[Terrik]

Originally Posted by Steve

No. It wasn't.

However, 100% of yours was.

+1

and you don't need a drummer for quarter notes.. that's what a metronome is for...

drummers practice to metronomes to get the timing just right and to make sure their left hand (or the weaker hand) plays exactly the same as the right or stronger hand...

<... Drummer for over 20 years.. 1 year bass player

[Vandelay]

Wish I would have learned sooner that a Jazz bass isn't just for playing jazz. I would have bought one quite a bit earlier.

[BassMan250]

Originally Posted by Dr_Funkdamental

I'll take it that you never played a wind/brass instrument. Sightreading is equally as hard. You'd be surprised to know how difficult it is to press those 3 valves and buzz that mouthpiece to music youve never seen.

I don't know about other wind/brass instruments but I play bassoon and have always found sight reading (and reading in general) to be much much easier on that than on the bass ... maybe it's a bassoon-only thing, but being able to reach all the keys and figure out which ones are which simply by feel is really convenient.

[chicagodoubler]

I think the big issue with reading on the ebass is the shifting, which is so much less of a feel thing than on the upright. Which is why I bring a 5 with a high C to all my fusion gigs. Just cross instead of shift, and that tricky unison line becomes a walk in the park!

Of course, one reason alot of cats have a hard time shifting is that they don't practice it. If you run scales on 1 string, your hand starts to develop muscle memory for shifting. Which reminds me-

I wish guys had told me early on to run my scales the complete length of the neck. Big thanks to John Patitucci for that one. He runs them all the way down- if you are playing C major on a 4 string, play down to open E, and all the way up to your highest note. Just like Lebowski- life doesn't start and stop at your convenience.

[kenlacam]

Originally Posted by Bassist4Life

Play with musicians that are more experienced than you.

YES!!!! I've found that this is the best way to get better. You're hurting yourself if you hang around musicians who are not as good as you are. Working with more experienced musicians forces you to get better, in my experience.

[cnltb]

I too agree with the original poster.
I think reading should not even have to be discussed.
I do not agree with the statement about certain techniques being described as a waste of time.
I think nothing is a waste of time .
Everything is a waste of time if not practised thoroughly.
playing with a metronome is helpful, being able to link with your "collegue's" time is essential.
Practising sightreading with a metronome is extremely helpful as it simulates situations that may just happen to any of us. This exercise is however only as good as it can be if recorded.
Put a metronome on, sightread and record this.
Wear earplugs...+ loads.
Keep on challenging yourselve...always.
be personable , respectful and apreciative and helpful of your and towards your fellow musicians.
Always find joy withing what you do.
You'll be better at it.
my two cent.

[chicagodoubler]

cnltb-
I replied to this a couple other times. My remarks about practicing tapping and slapping are from my own experience- I feel like it realistically took me more than a decade to be able to slap well, and all the time I spent working on tapping as a kid could have been spent working on Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, Duck Dunn, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, etc... You know, stuff you actually need on the job.

Still to this day have never had a gig where I needed to tap. Have had people vibe me for doing so, however.

[cnltb]

All good!
No intention to "vibe" you at this end.
Since this has become something of a general opinion poll on certain questions, I merely voiced mine.
And since yours was the first post in this thread, I picked up on something I read there.
Also- Most of what I said in my post is what I wish I had learned earlier than I did.

[The Owl]

1) If you can't play solid grooves on a 4-string first then you have no business owning a 5, 6 etc or calling yourself a bassist.

2) Improvise, adapt, overcome, learn all three VERY VALUABLE SKILLS!

3) Technique does not equal music or vice versa. Technique is a MEANS to an end NOT the end in and of itself. In short, be a MUSICIAN, not a technique wanker. Play MUSIC, not masturbation.

4) Synch up with the drummer but ALSO keep your own internal time, some drummers may waver considerably.

5) Respect the sonic space of your bandmates but feel free to thwip the keyboard player on the head when they start invading your frequency range. Warn them sternly-STAY OUTTA THERE!!!! There is NO NEED for synth bass when the band has a bassist already.

6) Learn all you can about music in general, NOT JUST BASS.

7) Listen to the overall picture, not just your part in it.

[goolimari]

Am new to bass but somethings i wish someone had told me right in the beginning

--record what you play. you will be amazed at what it can do to your learning.

-- not related to "playing" bass, but another thing i learnt was to stop throwing money at a bass (usual upgrades---new pickups, new bridge, etc. etc.) trying to find the "perfect tone". perfect tone is 99 percent technique and one percent hardware. a million dollar bass will sound just as crappy as a 100 dollar bass if your technique sucks. first clean up your playing and THEN think about other ways to imporve how you sound.

-learn the fretboard

-learn theory.

[infamousxtopher]

a few things to add...that I feel are important.

about reading, it is a great skill to have, i've been reading music since i was about 4 and it has made my life as a musician easier and if you don't want to learn to read music at least learn to read a chord chart well, know all your chords, major, minor, diminished, half diminished, etc. i feel knowing all your note choices off the top of your head helps so much.

get a teacher, if only in the beginning, i was self taught at first, and took lessons a couple months before auditioning for college, a lot of my first year of college was spent getting rid of bad technique habits. i wish i had had someone at the beginning to tell me my hand position sucked so i didn't get used to it.

transcribe. listen. listen a lot. as important as reading is i think having a well trained ear is even more important.

know your scales, seriously.

practice with and without a metronome.

play with as many different people as you can. i think this is huge, different styles, different tunes. go to jam nights and sit in, challenge yourself to be put on the spot, it will make you a better and more diverse player.

one more before i head off to teach, learn some piano. you don't have to be amazing but knowing enough piano to get through chord changes and show people lines has been a huge help to me, most musicians i run into don't play bass but most seem to play a bit of piano, i feel as if that instrument is a common ground for musicians.

and most importantly. have fun

[tetsuma4l]

Originally Posted by chicagodoubler

We play the bass. So play the bass line.

Practice with the metronome all the time. Practice like a drummer.

Don't waste your time slapping and tapping.

If you do, learn how to play stuff legitimately. How many cats can play Eruption on the bass?!!! Who here can slap Teen Town. Including the bridge?

Never spend more time working on double thumping than you do on playing Larry Graham and Louis Johnson lines.

GO learn how to read. NOW.

Transcribe. All the time.

"Don't waste your tome slapping and tapping", so what we're ment to be patheticly token minimalists? **** that, I'll learn how to better myself with different styles and i'll be damned if it's a waste of time.

The reading part and metronome I agree with 100%.

But who the hell double thumps, honestly although it may sound hypercritical, I think its a novelty.

[TrevorOfDoom]

i can't read. or rather, haven't had to read in years, and never learned to read in bass clef. (i play alto sax for years) i want to read!! i know for most of the stuff i'm doing these days it won't help directly, but the stuff that i'll be reading will stretch me, make me a better bassist, and if i'm good at it, word will get around, and then i'll get paid to read doing sessions.

i have a teacher now that's alright. i'm hoping he steps up soon with some meat, or else we'll have to part. if he doesn't work out, i'm looking for a new teacher immediately.

all that said, don't complain, and that's the only warning you'll get. ~Mod. about the OP. if nothing else, do what he says because in doing so, you'll add more skill, style, and technique to your arsenal, which we all know will result in more jobs.

[Pacman]

Time for John Turner's line.



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See that? Anything below that line should be something you wished someone told you earlier, that would have aided your musical development. If it's an argument, an insult, or anything negative (watch the profanity - I will delete posts with anything other than fully masked profanity), the poster will receive an infraction. Dig?