i hav lousy memory!?

[BrandonBass]

im startin to learn by ear more seriously, but i find that while i can get the notes right with some trial and error. its hard to remember a long line with a flurry of notes...will i improve w training?

any tips?

[tZer]

Originally Posted by BrandonBass

...will i improve w training?

Yes, you will.

Originally Posted by BrandonBass

...any tips?

Listen to the songs you are learning "offline" (without your bass). Sometimes your ears get a sort of "tunnel vision" when you are sitting there with your instrument and listening for specific notes. It can be a big help to put the songs on in the car and just listen while you are driving. Listen passively and suddenly you will start to hear patterns and get a feel for what the player is doing and where he is "coming from".

Also transcribe the songs. I sit there with my bass and a notebook and my finger on the pause button. I make a loose bar by bar structure and fill in the general chord names (or simply the root notes) in a very schematic way. Then I have something to look at while the song is playing to remind me of what comes next. My loose schematic chord charts look something like this:

[Verse]
       Em       Am        Em        G
     | - - - - | - - - - | - - - - | - - - - | (play 2x's)
       (play "main lick" here)


[Chorus]
       C         G         Bb        F
     | - - - - | - - - - | - - - - | - - - - |
       (drum accents! hit 'em!)


[Bridge]
       D         Em        D         G
     | - - - - | - - - - | - - - - | - - - - |
       (kick on chorus... get trippy)

You don't have to write out the song note for note, but if you take the time to listen to it and pull out some highlights, key moments and outline the general structure, it can go a long way towards you being able to make it from top to bottom without forgetting what comes next.

The amount of time you SAVE by taking the time to do this sort of transcription pays off ten-fold over the amount of time you spend stumbling through a song without one.

Good luck!
--tz

[tjh]

nice tip tZer ... thank you ...

[steveb98]

Originally Posted by tZer

Listen to the songs you are learning "offline" (without your bass). Sometimes your ears get a sort of "tunnel vision" when you are sitting there with your instrument and listening for specific notes. It can be a big help to put the songs on in the car and just listen while you are driving. Listen passively and suddenly you will start to hear patterns and get a feel for what the player is doing and where he is "coming from".

A big +1 to that.

Sometime people have trouble learning because they don't realize they are trying to learn two things at once. A new mental piece of info and a new physical skill. Separate the two and you will find you're learning faster. Use the bass in your head to work out where notes are, their names, other info. Then pickup the instrument and try to play. Learning a new physical skill usually only takes 10 to 100 repetitions.

This process works really good when learning to reading. Work out the rhythms, pitch names, fingerings in your head. Then pickup the bass and try to play.

We all have the greatest bass in the world in our head, but most let it collect dust.

[studentaccount1]

gingko biloba.

[tZer]

Originally Posted by steveb98

A big +1 to that.

Sometime people have trouble learning because they don't realize they are trying to learn two things at once. A new mental piece of info and a new physical skill. Separate the two and you will find you're learning faster. Use the bass in your head to work out where notes are, their names, other info. Then pickup the instrument and try to play. Learning a new physical skill usually only takes 10 to 100 repetitions.

This process works really good when learning to reading. Work out the rhythms, pitch names, fingerings in your head. Then pickup the bass and try to play.

We all the the greatest bass in the world in our head, but most let it collect dust.

This may be redundant, redundant - but +1 again.

When I was doing my stint in the cover band and learning all those songs, I burned CD's of the entire band's list and listened to it relentlessly in the car. If I had not done that, it would have taken me forever to learn the 60+ songs needed.

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by tZer

When I was doing my stint in the cover band and learning all those songs, I burned CD's of the entire band's list and listened to it relentlessly in the car. If I had not done that, it would have taken me forever to learn the 60+ songs needed.

Amen.

I recently subed for in a band that was mostly friends of mine. Very fun and low key... but I had to learn about 20 songs in a week. I did the "CD in the Car" thing (actually iPod) for several days before I even tried to play with the recordings. Worked great, I knew the chord progressions and the lyrics and it all fell into place nicely. Good thing too, because there was only time to practice about 8 of the songs so the rest were done first time on the stage and a few of those had to be in keys different from the recordings.

If you can sing it you can play it. Get the music in your head and it will flow to your fingers.

[dougjwray]

"Listen to the songs you are learning "offline" (without your bass). Sometimes your ears get a sort of "tunnel vision" when you are sitting there with your instrument and listening for specific notes. It can be a big help to put the songs on in the car and just listen while you are driving."

Hey, I was going to say that!

BTW, I do this when writing parts to original songs, too. When a songwriter gives me a new song, I'll listen to it (yes, usually in the car) for a while and come up with several possible bass parts before I even pick up the bass. This way, hopefully I come up with things that are musical, rather than things that are "under my hands."