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[Pottish]

Hi. Been playing bass for about a year now (after learning the basics years ago and not keeping it up) been learning scales intervals and how to count rhythms in music I listen to.

For a while I feared the metronome and it's harsh truth lol but I'm using it now. Should have embraced what it's telling me

I'm self taught so I've not many to seek advice from a couple things I'm wondering on.

Tips to use the scales tastefully? I know a few scales (mixolodyian lydian pentatonic that sorta stuff) but I'm finding it hard not to just run up them or find myself back in the progression of I IV V and back.

Rhythms, I'm just starting to try sixteenths (shoulda got the metronome out long ago) but I'm finding it hard to get them into my practice with my metronome. An example would be trying to play a dotted 8th note on the 1st beat then adding the sixteenth before the second. Is there any methods on rhyhtm creation that help spice up my quarter and eighth notes? (the scales thing will help here ofcourse)

Lastly, any tips for improv while playing behind guitar? I know that the intervals will help me understand what notes I can play atleast. Learning chord intervals is next on my to do list Of all the things i ask this is the thing I'm least practiced at. Will fake sheet books help me out or just confuse me at this time?

Many thanks from a noob bassist, practice makes perfect n all that.

Ps. I listen to the rhyhtms others play, from motown (jamerson is a god lol) blues 60's rock funk modern british indie and 90's stuff. The band I'll be playing with I think will focus on rock.

[JimmyM]

For a while I feared the metronome and it's harsh truth lol but I'm using it now. Should have embraced what it's telling me

well just remember that you have to be able to keep time without it, but yeah, i'm all for metronomes to get you straightened out, despite what some famous bassists who have a musician's school in florida say

I'm self taught so I've not many to seek advice from a couple things I'm wondering on.

get a teacher. it's the best thing you can do if you're serious.

Tips to use the scales tastefully? I know a few scales (mixolodyian lydian pentatonic that sorta stuff) but I'm finding it hard not to just run up them or find myself back in the progression of I IV V and back.

scales can't be used tastefully in music. they are good to know because they give you ideas you may not have had, but i believe in using all 12 notes when i play music for real and i don't care about scales. and when i hear someone who sounds like they're using scales to play, i lose interest immediately.

Rhythms, I'm just starting to try sixteenths (shoulda got the metronome out long ago) but I'm finding it hard to get them into my practice with my metronome. An example would be trying to play a dotted 8th note on the 1st beat then adding the sixteenth before the second. Is there any methods on rhyhtm creation that help spice up my quarter and eighth notes? (the scales thing will help here ofcourse)
take rhythms slowly at first, painfully so, and don't move tempo up until you've mastered them at the slow speed. then bump the tempo up gradually. and actually, the scales thing won't really help with rhythms. what helps the most is reading music often and learning how to identify common rhythms when they appear in conjunction to the notes themselves.

Lastly, any tips for improv while playing behind guitar? I know that the intervals will help me understand what notes I can play atleast. Learning chord intervals is next on my to do list Of all the things i ask this is the thing I'm least practiced at. Will fake sheet books help me out or just confuse me at this time?
chords are what you SHOULD be studying. and the answer to your question is why we all got interested in music in the first place...because there are so many things you can do it's crazy and takes a long time to learn them all. study the music of people you like, listen to what they do and try to figure out why they work so well, even steal their riffs and try to use them in your own playing. everybody steals, especially at first.

ps. I listen to the rhyhtms others play, from motown (jamerson is a god lol) blues 60's rock funk modern british indie and 90's stuff. The band I'll be playing with I think will focus on rock.
well whatever type of music you focus on, it sounds like you're trying to take it seriously, and a good teacher versed in jazz is what you need. contact your local college and see if they can hook you up with a good bass teacher who knows jazz. doesn't mean you can't play rock on your own time, but a jazz education will help you in all types of music.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by Pottish

Lastly, any tips for improv while playing behind guitar? I know that the intervals will help me understand what notes I can play atleast. Learning chord intervals is next on my to do list Of all the things i ask this is the thing I'm least practiced at. Will fake sheet books help me out or just confuse me at this time?

Lets talk about; "Will fake chord help"?. As we play chord tones 99% of the time, Yes fake chord will give you the chords you will be playing over, i.e. a road map of the song.

Now lets get into intervals and your bass line. Root nothing or Root-5 will play a lot of bass. But lets go beyond that. Lets assume everything listed below is in 4/4 time and fake chord has these chords:
C - your bass line could be R-3-5-3. Why? The C chord is made from the Root note C, the 3rd note E and the 5th note G. It's 4/4 time so you need one more beat to fill the measure -- so another 3 is safe. Then if you have......
C7 - R-3-5-b7
Cmaj7 - R-3-5-7
Cm - R-b3-5-b3
Cm7 - R-b3-5-b7
Cm7/F - with slash chords ignore everything except the slash. Here you would play only the F chord, i.e. R-3-5-3
C7b9 - up to you but I do not even try and go beyond 7ths. So here I'd be doing a C7 only or R-3-5-b7.
Two chords in one measure. You only have room for a R-5 for both. Or what the heck R-3 for the first one and R-5 for the second one.

http://www.looknohands.com/chordhous.../index_rb.html
This will help with the chord spelling. http://www.smithfowler.org/music/Chord_Formulas.htm

As to improvising. IMHO leave improvising for the solo instruments concentrate on chord tones. When they start asking you to take a lead break - then worry about improvising. Pentatonic scale over the chord changes is a good place to start. Notes from the pentatonic - made into melodic phrases is a little better. Can not go too wrong if you play the established tune and add your own interpretation.

See what you can do with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmsyY...eature=related
That C6 is R-3-5-6

[So Low Bass]

There are a lot of words here. I say...

This isn't 1950 with limited resources. Take lessons from McCartney, Jamerson, Jones, etc. Play along with them... they'll teach you... if your teachable. Meld your body with you ears and learn to "TALK BASS". Once you get a primitive vocabulary, seek out a teacher and sit down and watch him/her play. Watch their fingerings and LISTEN to their tone. A good teacher can only teach you proper "grammer" and "syntax". If they can't play, they can't teach, but can still cash you check! But not all players are teachers. Seek out musicians that knows how to teach.

[Pottish]

Thanks for the replies.

Yea a teacher would do wonders I'm thinking about studying music possibly to teach it myself but it's a big decision to take. Either that or stop being cheap and get a tutor I guess.

Went n got a drum machine it's a bit more lifelike than the cold truth of a metronome, nice to hear drums while I practice too ofcourse. Got some friends to jam with too which is a obvious must eventually lol. They're a bit ahead of me in skill which can't hurt either.

One of the first things I learnt (thanks to this site) was about intervals in scales. There's probably some quick tricks for tasteful use of which note and when but I suppose that's for me to discover myself .

Am I right in thinking learning mode shapes and which note they go on in each of the keys will help me play behind chords and improvise? I think I've almost realised there use (took me a long time to realise the wisdom behind the circle of fifths lol)

I'm ashamed to say I know no beatles bass lol. Walked in on a friend playing daytriper think that's a good place to start. Jamerson and Jones just tease my ears with whats possible to play often lol with there more out there stuff, gonna have to invest in some books of theres I think. On that note, anyone able to rate "who done duck?" book by Donald duck done? Thought this would be a good place to start on reading proper sheet music too.