Wow! Now I feel like a good bass player!

BassPlayer900 · #1 11-28-2011, 08:00 PM

I can't believe how much I've improved these past two months!!

A couple months ago, I took a video of myself playing some random bass lines. I watched it today and thought it was alright, but I was playing it with a pick because I couldn't play fingerstyle and I noticed how I looked a little awkward the way I was holding my bass.

I took a video of myself playing it today... And wow!! I was playing it fingerstyle and it sounded good! I found a comfortable way to position my hand while I was playing, and my tone was almost as sharp as it was when I used a pick. And I had a more confident pose while I was playing. My only mistake was accidentally bumping the strings I wasn't playing a little too hard. Now I definitely feel like a good bassist!

BassOfSpades · #2 11-28-2011, 10:54 PM

i always love the feeling if having improved. i was reading this book and it recommended practicing in front of a mirror, you can see if you look relaxed and how you hold your bass in real time. you should try it sometime its pretty helpful.

Exemonium · #3 11-28-2011, 11:03 PM

Congrats! Now doesn't that make all the hours of practice feel completely worth it?! When I do my exercises, it's never fun to do. But I just imagine the results

Cloverfield · #4 11-29-2011, 12:18 AM

Congrats!

BassPlayer900 · #5 11-29-2011, 07:57 AM

Thanks!

BassPlayer900 · #6 11-29-2011, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassOfSpades

i always love the feeling if having improved. i was reading this book and it recommended practicing in front of a mirror, you can see if you look relaxed and how you hold your bass in real time. you should try it sometime its pretty helpful.

That sounds like a good thing to try.

BassPlayer900 · #7 11-29-2011, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exemonium

Congrats! Now doesn't that make all the hours of practice feel completely worth it?! When I do my exercises, it's never fun to do. But I just imagine the results

Yes it does!

maxgrant · #8 11-29-2011, 08:57 AM

Recording yourself, with video or without, is one of the most effective ways I have found of learning what needs to be improved. It's not just helping you feel good about your progress; it is allowing you to hear what you are doing without the additional mental bandwidth of being the one doing it.

I sometimes think of this and I wonder how musicians from the era before sound recording would have reacted to this ability that we now take for granted.

I record myself all the time but that is because I am composing all of the time.

FaithNoMan · #9 12-03-2011, 02:20 AM

I had the opposite version of this experience a few years back.

I was pretty proficient from playing fingerstyle for years, but I sucked with a pick. It actually took me a while to feel like a "proper" pick player

But it always feels good when you know you have improved significantly...at any level of playing.

**Matthew_84** · #10 12-03-2011, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassOfSpades

i always love the feeling if having improved. i was reading this book and it recommended practicing in front of a mirror, you can see if you look relaxed and how you hold your bass in real time. you should try it sometime its pretty helpful.

I've tried this a couple of times but I screw up as soon as I look at my fretting hand, because the miror flips the image and makes me want to move my fingers in the opposite position. I've just started to look in the mirror, but I need to try to NOT focus on what the fretting hand is doing.

makkE · #11 12-03-2011, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassPlayer900

And I had a more confident pose while I was playing. My only mistake was accidentally bumping the strings I wasn't playing a little too hard. Now I definitely feel like a good bassist!

This is what's it about. Once you stop worrying about messing up, and can trust your fingers to do it right, you can relax and you are free to just pour all your heart and soul into the groove.

One thing that helped me to get more into the groove and feel is to take a piece that you can play well, and play it every day - and try to play it how you feel on that particular day - almost like a diary.. If the day sucked, play it hard, if the day was sad... etc.

It's also a great way of stress relief

BassOfSpades · #12 12-04-2011, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew_84

I've tried this a couple of times but I screw up as soon as I look at my fretting hand, because the miror flips the image and makes me want to move my fingers in the opposite position. I've just started to look in the mirror, but I need to try to NOT focus on what the fretting hand is doing.

once you get it its really easy. you just need to look at your overall arm/hand positions and see if you look relaxed. it also helps if your straight up sexy cause then you can look at yourself for as long as you want.