What is the best way to get the rythm right on bass?

[Will1986]

I am 14 and have just started to learn the bass on my own(with a bit of help from my brother), but i cant seem to get the rythm right, do you know any good techniques to?, please e-mail me

[gweimer]

Get a metronome from the local music store. You can pick up a cheap electronic one for less than $20. This is the frustrating part of learning - you want to start "jamming", but you'll need to spend a lot of time doing monotonous exercises. Practice playing along with the metronome at different tempos, and try little variations. Play a single note on each beat, then play two notes per beat, etc. Once you're comfortable keeping an even pace, you can try to play along with a CD you like (provided you have sheet music/tabs/good ear to aid you with the song). That will give you an idea of working with changes, and playing rhythmic structures from beginning to end.

[Will1986]

[quote]Originally posted by gweimer
[b]Get a metronome from the local music store.
i found a free metronome for pc @ http://www.download.com

[Sheep Man]

This sort of reminds me of what one of the girls in my grade asked me about guitar:
"Hey Adley, how do you strum?"
And, after having taken lessons for about a year, I had FINALLY developed a sense of rhythm. With the help of bass and a metronome, of course. So I told her "It's basically just your own sense of rhythm. For example..." I played The World I Know the way I would if I were playing the guitar for it in our band, i.e. 2 downstrokes in a row every now and then, 2 upstrokes in a row sometimes yadda yadda ya. She was so amazed. Then I played it constant down/up/down/up, and she was even MORE amazed "Wow! How do you do that?!"

Anyway, the point of this, really, is that after practicing with a metronome for a while, you'll eventually build up your own internal metronome (or at least I think I did, anyway. ) and while you probably won't be able to play at EXACTLY a given tempo, say 138, you'd probably be able to play pretty close to the same speed as the album recorded version if you're doing covers. If you're doing originals, then hey! You can pick your own tempo!

[eli]

Four words:

Practice Your Ass Off.

[anon_6j591b0]

Originally posted by Eli
Four words:

Practice Your Ass Off.

one word:
listen

[Bassguy_123]

It really helps if you already know how to play an Instrument. But, If the bass is your first Instrument then i have a few helpful hints.
Get a metronome, It may seem completly useless at first but its very important to learn beat. The more you play bass you will get natural rythm and and can ditch the met.
Also, Tap your foot or nod ur head to the beat of the song you are trying to play and you'll get it.
Also, learn how to read Sheet music. It shows the beat at the very beginning of the song and the notes have differnt countings. Will probably teach you rhythm quicker that anything.

[Bassguy_123]

Oh yea Dont try to learn on your own get a some bass Lessons for 2 months or so.The first two months are the hardest because you cant really play that many good songs so you are likely to start giving up.