Blues bass for total beginners

nickonbass · #1 03-24-2009, 05:03 AM

It's been a while since I posted on here so hi to all.

I have been working on a website for total beginner players wanting to learn to play blues bass. Most of you know I put up bass jam tracks on my jam tracks website for people but I keep getting requests to do something for people who are just starting out.

The beginner bass stuff I've just put up is here: www.bassblues.com

I've put up a jam track with guitar and drums and just drums you can use for practice and then about 10 bass lines, starting with just playing the root note.

With each bass line I have recorded me playing bass to the drum track only so you can hear how it's meant to sound and also tabbed out each bass line.

So I hope that helps some of you new to bass, players out there. Or anyone else that is wanting to learn some simple blues.

It's not a great deal of info but you could come and sit in with my blues band if you could just play the lines I've put up.

The jam tracks for bass players are all here: www.freejamtracks.com

I stripped down the members and made all the tracks available for free again. I prefer people using them than trying to squeeze a dollar out of people.

As I'm sure a lot of you are aware (we were discussing it on this forum for a while last year) - I tried putting up a members section to the jam tracks site. That was a mistake. Mainly because I've always done this stuff for the sake of doing it more than anything. Adding the members section took a hell of a lot of time. Plus it never covered the costs for the site anyway.

But in terms of the time I spent on it - urgh, I could have learnt some more lines from radio station WOO-TEN!

So for anyone else out there thinking of doing something similar - I say if it's for music's sake, go for it. In terms of trying to monetize a music website I don't think it's worth it. Everyone expects music to be free, particularly on the net for one thing. The other is that there is so much stuff out there, even though a lot of it is poor quality there is a bit of a saturation of anything music related sites around.

However in saying that - I still can't find any other websites that have jam tracks for us bass players.

I hope you are all well and rocking hard.

Jam on,
Nick.

Jayhawk · #2 03-24-2009, 11:00 AM

Thanks for all the hard work Nick ... looking forward to checking out the tracks! I'm just really starting to get into playing the blues so I'm sure your efforts will be a huge help.

Thanks again!

Fergie Fulton · #3 03-24-2009, 01:23 PM

Great stuff Nick, wonderfull site and a great idea. I hope you time and effort helps those who are looking for a foothold in the blues.

p0werslav3 · #4 03-24-2009, 01:30 PM

You did a great job. Thank you for all your hard work as I'm sure there will be many that benefit from it.

nickonbass · #5 03-24-2009, 06:59 PM

Thanks for the kind words.

I will add more over the coming weeks. It's kind of good to do it to strip back my own playing and make me think about a few things - the basics especially - which you really can't ever let go of.

Plus I can hear so much I need to fix when I record stuff!

Stumbo · #6 03-25-2009, 12:22 AM

Great stuff. Thanks for helping out the newbies. Check out the link in my sig. It's my small contribution to TB. Your Free Jam Tracks are there. I'll be putting in your blues stuff as well.

nickonbass · #7 03-25-2009, 02:05 AM

Cool as Stumbo - thanks for pointing out your thread too. That is awesome - great idea. I will have to put a link to that up from my site.

Mazatleco17 · #8 03-25-2009, 03:15 AM

Thank you for your work and sharing it with us, it sure helps.

Dosed_Mind · #9 03-26-2009, 02:55 PM

Very nice work again nickonbass

I seem to have missed that the members section was discussed here on TB, but i must admit that i was quite dissapointed, not to mention surprised, when i realized that a very great website suddenly had gone capitalist

It just seemed quite contradictionary to have a website called freejam tracks, and then have people pay for full usage, so im glad you removed it. I continue to have much respect for the fact that you are willing to put time, money and work into this, rock on!

Mr wiggl3s · #10 03-26-2009, 03:13 PM

Good stuff. Bookmarked it :tumbsup: lol

bassinplace · #11 03-26-2009, 03:30 PM

Dig your site! Nice work! Thanks!

#12 03-26-2009, 03:39 PM

Awsome site. Awsome GUY!

tobie · #13 03-26-2009, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by p0werslav3

You did a great job. Thank you for all your hard work as I'm sure there will be many that benefit from it.

I'm one of them - thanks Nick!

nickonbass · #14 04-09-2009, 07:05 PM

All cool - I will put up some more ideas in the next week or so - I think I'll do walking into the next chord. Between that and what's up on the site already - that covers most of what my approach to playing blues bass is. Note wise anyway - everything else I think is really about groove and feel.

nickonbass · #15 04-17-2009, 06:55 PM

Last week a friend of mine gave me the book The Bass Grimoire. I've seen it before but never really been interested in it - now I am, I just need about 10 years wood shedding to get through it!

Anyways - I am going to make some jam tracks for myself to practice along with exercises from the book (or the theory behind it). I will put them up on my site as soon as I get them happening.

dmrogers · #16 04-17-2009, 07:24 PM

Nick,
Thanks so much for sharing!

Matt Dean · #17 04-17-2009, 07:35 PM

That's actually pretty cool! Ya know, I've been playing for so long now, I've kinda forgot what it must be like for beginners trying to figure out what to do. I was fortunate that when I was young, I played bass for a old blues guitar player/singer from Chicago (Eagle Park Slim), who taught me how to play blues bass... not everyone get an opportunity like that so, you're doing folks a real service.

nickonbass · #18 04-21-2009, 07:26 AM

You are welcome dmrogers.

Matt, that is cool that you got to play for Eagle Park Slim in Chicago. Man I wish I learnt how to play blues bass in Chicago! I spent 5 weeks there hanging out listening to a lot of musicians - I think I became a better bass player from that, just listening and understanding the Chicago blues sound.

It's kind of fun breaking it down like I do - I enjoy it. Plus I get a lot out of it cause it forces me to understand/think about what I am doing. Which is too easy not to bother with. So it helps everyone.

Jayhawk · #19 04-22-2009, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickonbass

All cool - I will put up some more ideas in the next week or so - I think I'll do walking into the next chord. Between that and what's up on the site already - that covers most of what my approach to playing blues bass is. Note wise anyway - everything else I think is really about groove and feel.

Very interested to see this, any update on when you think you'll have it up?

nickonbass · #20 04-24-2009, 06:25 AM

Hopefully this weekend Jayhawk. No gig this weekend - so I should be able to get some new stuff recorded Saturday and hopefully get it up on the web. Stay tuned. Nick.