What/how to practice- for a year and a half player

[Backdoorman]

Hello. I'm 14 and have been playing electric bass for around a year and a half now with no previous musical experience other than a sense of appreciation for it. I've received some private lessons, but for the most part, they were unhelpful, and too brief to make any real impact on my playing. I played in a band for around the past 4 or 5 months, and while the drummer and guitarist had no complaints about my playing and we had some enjoyable jams, I can't help but feel incredulously inadequate as a bass player, even for only a year and a half.

I've recently found time in my schedule that I can definitely play for an hour, or hour and a half for at least 5 days of the week without it being too much of a burden on my schedule. There have been other times like this, but the problem was, and still is, of how to distribute the time. I've looked up guides on how to become a better bass player and whatnot, but most of them are really just covering the fundamentals and meant for someone who's really just started.

So what I want to know is what I should be practicing/studying during that hour, for my level. I'm mostly interested in blues, alternative, punk, etc., but I'm attracted to anything that has a sweet groove to it. My influences include The Beatles, Jaco Pastorious, The Doors, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and other traditional blues artists, Muse, Death From Above 1979, White Stripes, Dead Weather, The Kills, Chili Peppers, Mars Volta, etc. I can play at a 170 bpm rather comfortably and beyond that things start getting a bit more difficult. I can do some slap and pop (I can play generic stuff like Can't Stop, Take the Power Back, Higher Ground, etc.) and had to learn how to play in the pocket so my drummer wouldn't beat the crap out of me.

Nonetheless, my current methods of practice are inconsistent and aren't really going toward any sort of greater goal, and I'm not really sure where to start or be aiming. Any ideas of a practice schedule to start working with, bassists to check out, books to get, etc., would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind if I have to re-invent whatever style of playing I may have, I'd really just like to have some sort of idea of where I should be heading or practice what would really qualify me as a bassist.

Thanks, any help is appreciated.

[EricssonB]

You're on the right track! Just keep playing the music that you want to play and play it often.

I still lay on the couch for an hour at a time a few nights a week and strum, finger, pluck or thump away until I'm ready to fall asleep or my wife starts complaining about something trivial. It's part meditation and part self-study.

I'm sure that most people were terrible after their first year. Heck, I've been playing guitar/bass for ten now and I still think I'm terrible. Try shooting video of yourself periodically and you'll see regular improvements all over the place.

Google: Expert.

[FretlessMainly]

I wouldn't stress about being only a year and a half in and still feeling inadequate. My first five years of musical indoctrination included clarinet in band starting in '75 and then guitar starting in '77. It wasn't until '80 that I was asked to learn bass for a project and I found my path.

While I learned meter on clarinet, it did absolutely nothing for my conception of chord structure and harmonic movement. Guitar changed that, but focused me more on chord movement. Bass brought it all together by presenting the need for solid rhythm, chord structure, chord movement, harmony and melody. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise; bass can be extremely complicated because it draws so heavily on all aspects of musical construction and execution.

So, what you've done is to select a challenging instrument and you are finding that it can be a tough learn. Let me assure you that it is, but welcome to the fold. My take is that bass is by far the most rewarding instrument I've played. Now, onto your question:

There are many paths you can choose to improve your playing, but perhaps the best starting point is to develop a healthy mix of the fundamental aspects of any instrument:

1. Ear training. Play along with your "record" collection (sorry, it's not 1978 anymore) or better yet, find a radio station you like and just keep trying to cop what the bass players are doing. THis can be fun but also frustrating.
2. Theory. You don't have to know theory to be a better player, but at least a basic grasp of chord construction and common chord movement is pretty useful. A good bass teacher is indispensible in this area.
3. Free improvisation. Force yourself to play notes/lines/intervals that you wouldn't normally think of. Just mess around on your instrument and learn something about it (and yourself) everyday. The only rule here is to keep things in tempo.
4. Method books - be they arpeggios, bass lines or songs chorded with bass parts, mix in a healthy dose of fairly easy, but well-constructed exercises. Since you like a good groove, Carol Kaye has some good books that aren't very expensive and have some good stuff in there.

Other folks can weigh in here; I've given you enough to think about for now. Good luck!

[stoob]

Originally Posted by EricssonB

I still lay on the couch for an hour at a time a few nights a week and strum, finger, pluck or thump away until I'm ready to fall asleep or my wife starts complaining about something trivial.

LOL. like all the husbands here

[SLaPiNFuNK]

The main thing is Every Day.

Every day you skip, you get two days worse...

[pedroims]

keep practice and playing with other, you will get better and better everyday, as for practice this what I did and still do.

a) Scales all over the fretboard
b) Arpeggios all over the fretboard.
c) String crossing exercise

I use a metronome to click on beat 1 or 1 and 3, usually at slow tempos: 40 bpm

Learn as much musical genres as you can: Jazz, metal, reggae, Latin, funk.

I try to have lessons at least 1 month per year, I always learn something new

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Originally Posted by pedroims

I use a metronome to click on beat 1 or 1 and 3, usually at slow tempos: 40 bpm

You really should start switching that to 2 & 4...

When you advance, then you can start having it on just beat 4 every bar or every 2 bars...

[kevteop]

Stop trying to play faster or more technical stuff, instead concentrate your efforts on finding out more about the theory of how bass lines are constructed - the methods that are used to apply the bass as an instrument to the types of music you listen to and play. You will learn immensely useful information straight away that you will apply for the rest of your bass playing career.

This is the sort of thing that will improve your confidence - when you understand why someone has played something, and what led them to try it, you will of course then understand what you are doing.

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

The main thing is Every Day.

Every day you skip, you get two days worse...

I don't agree with that. Sometimes I've had to take extended breaks from playing and many times I've come back and instantly made better music than I was doing before the break. Holidays are good for you.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

There are some things it applies to and some not...

Reading for example.

But also, you may have even lost your ear during the breaks to where what you are doing sounds better when its not. I'm not saying this is your case, but it happens...

Either way, once you play a little bit you will get back on track really quick...

For 2 years my basses were in my closet, for the past couple of years I have been playing here and there... my chops aren't what they used to be, but the more I play the more they are coming back. (I took to long of a break)

[pedroims]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

You really should start switching that to 2 & 4...

When you advance, then you can start having it on just beat 4 every bar or every 2 bars...

will do, thanks !

[Bassguy87564]

Set a long term goal and short term goals for your self and keep to it. For example a long term goal can be to learn all your major scales from starting at the lowest part of your E string to the highest fret on your G string (ha always cracks me up). So have some of your short term goals support your long term goal like to be able to play an E major scale from your low E string to the highest fret on the G string. Just remember when pick these goals they should be things you dont know how to do and want to learn. You will surprise yourself on how fast you can learn something when you make stairs for yourself to walk up instead of trying to jump to the next level. Also that inadequate feeling your getting I consider a natural process in a musicians life. After the 9 years I have been playing I still get that feeling but I never stop playing because of that feeling. That is pretty much my two cents and getting music books are great but try to go through them with a teacher first so you know how to extracted the most information as you can out of the book. PM me if you want to try something out I have been thinking about doing for some time.
oo and lastly +1 to all the metronome stuff

[Shindig]

Those are some good suggestions in the previous postings.
I've been playing over 40 years and I (still) get those feelings of inadequacy.
I don't know that they ever go away. It's normal and we all deal with it.
Experience helps.

Try to develpop confidence in your playing.
Working with a metronome doesn't so much "give" you good time, it gives you confidence that you have good time and can play with good time.
Keeping good time, and not speeding up gradually, is one of the hardest things to figure out.
Sometimes the whole band will rush fills and speed up (I wondered why we always ended up at a faster tempo).
Once you get comfortable keeping good time it can stay with you forever.

HINT: keep time with something other than your hands. Some players tap their foot. I found I could rock my body back and forth and keep time that way. You might find a different way. Dancing works too but it could take concentration away from your hands. Make it easy and natural so you can maintain it for a long time.
If your body is keeping time while you play, your hands can work on just playing the notes.

IMO, You need to get your hands and fingering adapted first.
Play scales, or any kind of pattern, across the neck. Try to span 4 frets, one finger per fret. Move from string to string. Work across the neck and back, up & down, covering all the strings. Any scales work.
Then move your hand up 1 fret, or down 1 fret, and repeat.
If you start somewhere about 80% up the neck, the frets are closer and fingering is easier. Get comfortable there and gradually move down the neck to your lowest notes. The frets will be farther apart and your hands will complain as they "adjust".
Your hands will get tired and you may experience minor pain. That pain should decrease as your hands get stronger and your fingers adjust to the stretches.
Listen to your body and don't hurt yourself. If the pain increases - stop what you're doing

Good luck.
Shindig

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Originally Posted by Shindig

HINT: keep time with something other than your hands. Some players tap their foot. I found I could rock my body back and forth and keep time that way. You might find a different way. Dancing works too but it could take concentration away from your hands. Make it easy and natural so you can maintain it for a long time.
If your body is keeping time while you play, your hands can work on just playing the notes.

This is cool, but for someone starting out especially, they really need to practice to a constant accurate source...

I used to play for this keyboard player who simply had no concept of rhythm. His foot would be going off on a tangent and he hands would be going in a different direction and he thought they were in sync and thought he was playing in time.

[Backdoorman]

This is all really helpful stuff, thank you. I hate metronomes for some reason, so I prefer to look up drum tracks online and play with those, but I really should get a drum machine for convenience soon. My bass teacher is also putting a lot of emphasis on arpeggios and their extensions lately, so I have to figure that out and see how I can apply those to my playing. Most of the time I just tend to think of something catchy in my head that matches the groove and try to replicate that sound as best as I can, but I suppose there has to be a better way than that to make up basslines.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Playing with a Drum Machine is good. But you will develop better time playing with a metronome. You probably don't link them if they are going on all four beats or even on eighth notes, it will drive you insane. But playing with it on 2 & 4, matches the drummers high hat. And playing with it only on beat 4 will challenge you to have even better time.

[Backdoorman]

I normally play with the metronome accenting 1&3, since my drummer used to go between accenting 1&3 and 2&4 and I tended to feel comfortable with the former, but I suppose stepping out of my comfort zone is what I'm aiming for. I've never though of just accenting the 4th beat, but I'll certainly give that a try now that you've mentioned it.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Its fun.

There is a Victor Wooten video where he shows examples of the metronome on just beat 4 that was really cool. He goes into explaining the whole reasoning behind it better than I ever could. I saw the video late 90's.

I'm sure some digging on YouTube can find it now though...

[machine454]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

Playing with a Drum Machine is good. But you will develop better time playing with a metronome. You probably don't link them if they are going on all four beats or even on eighth notes, it will drive you insane. But playing with it on 2 & 4, matches the drummers high hat. And playing with it only on beat 4 will challenge you to have even better time.

you can set up a good drum machine to what ever you like. I can program a complete song ,its almost like having a real drummer. How is a metronome better than a good drum machine?

[SLaPiNFuNK]

A drum machine is playing all the subdivisions of the beats for you. You don't need to really think or make as much of an effort to "keep time" since every quarter note, eigth note, sixteenth nore thirty second what ever you want to program is being made audible to you.

With a metronome, you have only beat 2 and 4 or even just beat 4 or every bar or every other bar being played for you... you are forced to keep better time since nothing is indicating the time between the beats...

I hope I explained that okay?

[john grey]

I love a metronome. I came to this because I deeply love Blues as you do. After some time I realized that I would be locked into the timing and progressions of my first love unless I made a conscious choice to diversify; especially my timing issues. I didn't start off liking a metronome... I had a decent drum machine and it was fun. But as a tool I had come to value a metronome quite a bit.

I loved Slap the first time I heard it. Not so much Funk music, but Slap as a sound. I needed to play Funk however because the best examples were from that genre' & it was very challenging rhythmically.
Because I had a driving passion for a musical sound that (essentially) was very different in most areas I had an affinity for; I had a very tough time. With a metronome, I could "order up" the specific time signature that the piece demanded and my practice would then be easy to distinguish my mistakes & successes.

Standard walking bass lines, scales, etc of classic Blues structure were then all practiced with my new Slap techniques, then I demanded that I play the syncopated rhythms of funk and the method to "self-correction" was that metronome.
You may hate Slap or funk.....that's of course not my point. But diversification with a "self-teaching" tool, in any direction you may like will add a new dimension to your playing & you'll get a very fresh outlook on practice. Do anything you can so as to not let your practice get into simplistic repetition, but a demanding alteration of anything your heart feels - touches you.
Bach (the Classics in general) is phenomenal to work with. Timing becomes so substantially critical that it almost goes unnoticed in just how important it is. It sneaks under the wire occasionally.

Simplistic repetition will screw with you. Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. Unless you find a new and fresh method to "self-teach" you might (unconsciously) remain doing that same thing over and over and making similar errors over and over. This is not a good thing obviously.

Unquestionably, you can fit this concept into an hour or however long or short a period of practice is available. It will feel new & the original excitement will continue.