Playing same thing everytime pick up bass?

[cire113]

I'm sure some ppl have ran into this problem. Everytime you pick up the bass you play the same thing. How do I break out of this I'm starting to get bored with the same stuff I keep producing

[drden]

Learn new songs that you like.

[stratovani]

I had that problem when I played guitar. My guitar solos all sounded the same to me. It's one of the reasons I switched to bass. Learning new songs that you like is sound advice. There's enough songs out there to keep you busy for the rest of your life, and then some!

[JimmyM]

take lessons, too. a good teacher can load you down with not only different things to play but the stuff that can make the most improvement in your playing.

[m_bisson]

I have this problem too...

[WyrdoBass]

This happens to me every so often.... when it does, I hook my iPod up to my amp and let shuffle decide what I'm going to play along with. Works for me

[KingRazor]

I have to consciously remind myself to get out of that habit and play other things I know. I honestly know enough songs and exercises to put in a good half hour of practice at least but I tend to just stick to signature riffs or progressions and limit myself.

[pacojas]

quick solution: learn what you already know,.. BACKWARDS!!! i reverse riffs, parts of songs, and even whole songs when i get writers block. it's challenging, fun, and beneficial. gl.

[champbassist]

I'm not sure if this is the best thing to suggest, but I think playing the guitar and discovering and interpreting new chord progressions will bring some novelty into your playing.

I keep finding new and interesting progressions just noodling around on the guitar and try to form a bass line that goes well with that. It gives me a whole new perspective into playing bass and how to make a bass line work with the guitar. So, every other day or so I find myself working on new stuff.

Also, this:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

take lessons, too. a good teacher can load you down with not only different things to play but the stuff that can make the most improvement in your playing.

And this:

Originally Posted by drden

Learn new songs that you like.

[dwm74]

Something I've come up with to end the monotony/boredom...

Try playing the songs you know without using your index finger on either hand. (Obviously this applies more to finger-style players, not pick users as much.)

Learning the song all over again with different fingering on the left and different finger-timing on the pluck will cause a great deal of frustration at first, but you will definitely improve your playing skills.

Another thing I'll add is learn a few songs/riffs from music you don't normally listen to. I'm a metal/hard rock guy, but once in a while I'll learn the bassline to a R&B/funk/soul classic. Switching from Iron Maiden/Black Sabbath songs to 'Billie Jean', 'Disco Inferno', and 'Boogie Oogie Oogie' will only make you a better player.

[mambo4]

Originally Posted by drden

Learn new songs that you like.

+1
+1 to lessons too.

If you're bored with what you can play, learn something you CAN'T yet play.

[amosjones]

Learn something new. New song, new scales, new rhythm new anything. Sit down with a book or an instructional video and go to town

[Fergie Fulton]

This is the classic symptom of players who claim they don't need theory in their playing lives. Expand your mind and your playing will expand with it. Learn how things are and why they are, but also what they could be and can be.....to the person doing the thinking.

Learning comes in two ways, a physical application and the mental application.
In music the physical side always wants to play catch up to the mental side. We can always expand our skills by understanding something new then trying to make it a physical skill...but not at first and this process will stay with us unless we understand it.

Point of fact when we all first pick up a bass it is all physical.....no mental side involved, we spend more time trying to master the physical side of playing than we do the mental side.
The simple act of playing is beyond us. We spend all our time in just wanting to play what we can hear or already know. Now as we get better the simple act of playing is easy, and we quickly learn what we know, or like, but what do we play to improve?
To improve we need to learn new things, that means reading new things or taking lessons so we can repeat the process again of learning what we now can hear and wish to learn.
And so the process continues on with us learning new things and developing the physical side to deal with what we now want to play.

Dominant habits are to continue to play what we know make it better, make it in-grained, that is not learning that is in-graining what we already know at the expense of learning something new. This process ultimately leads to a rut because a rut is the mind not the physical side. It is the mind being
un-stimulated so it repeats and ingrains skills already learned.
This is why the mental side should always lead the physical side it helps to keep you stimulated and so always learning new things.

[champbassist]

Originally Posted by Fergie Fulton

This is the classic symptom of players who claim they don't need theory in their playing lives. Expand your mind and your playing will expand with it. Learn how things are and why they are, but also what they could be and can be.....to the person doing the thinking.

+1
That was actually the latent point in my post: just realized it now

[codeinedreams]

I often play the same things over and over because I'm in my comfort zone - I play it because I can, and I can do it without thinking about it, and that makes it easy. but being in a band helps alleviate that because then I'm forced to learn new material or write my own on a regular basis. having that "peer pressure" from others helps to keep the creativity flowing

[MattyBass]

Here's some inspiration for you....
Whether or not these songs are your style I guarantee you'll learn somethin and have fun doin it...
They are All a little different...

Check em out boys...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5omFFeLEXFE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXt6htVi3C4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHf7DvVpeiU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0NYQC_sCPs

Hope you all enjoy!!

[MattyBass]

bump

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by MattyBass

Here's some inspiration for you....
Whether or not these songs are your style I guarantee you'll learn somethin and have fun doin it...
They are All a little different...

Check em out boys...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5omFFeLEXFE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXt6htVi3C4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHf7DvVpeiU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0NYQC_sCPs

Hope you all enjoy!!

Great links and i loved them all but............ and this is the big but, playing something is not the same as understanding it is or can be so.
This is where interaction with others comes in, they give you a different view point, the interaction of different music styles gives you a different view point. Part of the problem is if you are relying on yourself you only can do what you know or understand and you will fall back on it. If you have another way to view it then you will see it differently so react to it differently. This process is what will develop your own sense of music and should continue to develop it.

Jeff Berlin calls it right when he talks about such things in a player, the player needs to be always looking ahead and learning new things, simply falling back on what you play well or with ease is not really developing.... its marking time.
The playing of such things may vary but ultimately you will end up at the same place, its just a journey to the same place via a different route. So players miss what's going on around them in their playing because they are focused on the destination, or as Jeff says "looking for results and improvement".

What is needed is a new idea or destination in our playing to start to open our eyes to what is out there and what is possible. That's why new ideas, music, teachings etc should stimulate us into moving away from what we know and can do into learning new things. Such things do not need to be complicated or hard, just different to make us think about what we are playing and why.

The problem a lot of players have is when they learn a song, they just learn it, they have the ability to repeat what they hear....much in the same way a parrot can say "hello nice to see you". Can we assume the parrot understands what is ment by those words or understand the sentiment or context they are used in. If you turn up late for work and your boss Says "nice to see you" is it genuine, is it just response, is it sarcasm....etc?

Learning new things takes a leap of faith because frustration is part of it, it gives you doubts about whether we will actually be able to learn or understand what and why we are learning the new thing. These doubts are the traitors we must overcome to move forward that's where the satisfaction of new ideas and music lies, not for the cleverness or complicated nature of a piece, but the fact we took it on and proved to ourselves we can do it. That feeling of accomplishment, no matter who small is what takes us forward to more and bigger things, it gives us aspirations to succeed, not fear of failure.

[DudeistMonk]

I usually choose a scale to be a basis from which to work, when I feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over and I add notes/change scales. There are a lot scales, but make sure you know the Pentatonics they are like the foundation to the house that groove lives in.

Eventually even this starts to sounds trite and the reason is because most music has harmonic progression, so then you have to start writing bass lines to chord progressions to make them sound more interesting and to give your tunes motion and structure. This is where that guitar champbassist was talking about comes in handy (I picked up acoustic last month and I use it to practice bass lines on the go in addition to expanding my harmony knowledge....and its working already). It's also easier to hear and transcribe on guitar, or at least I find it easier.

It also took me awhile to realize that everything blues/pop/rock is 90% Pentatonic and that all that fancy stuff you hear is usually something like 1-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-5-4-5-6, doubling back while moving up or down along a scale.

Droning is also a really good way to spice up your lines, if you don't know what I'm talking about learn to play the verse to 46&2 by Tool, the chorus to Hey Man Nice Shot by Filter, the chorus to Zero by Smashing Pumpkins or Pretty Ditty by the Chilis and watch this Flea video.

Victor Wooten's The Music Lesson or his DVD are both great for expanding your view of music, but are no substitute for lessons.

Edit: One more thing...Learn and memorize a whole lot of tunes. I joined a cover band and I've memorized at least 70 songs in the short time since then (before then I would learn a song and then never play it again). It's been the most beneficial thing I've ever done musically, sheer volume, not even challenging stuff, but if you learn enough simple music you start to see and hear the patterns and build a frame of reference, you start to learn which keys and progression are common...after about 20 or 30 songs all the new ones seem to get easier and easier..I think if this continues to hold true eventually I'll become one of those cats who can just play anything after hearing the first 4 bars, at least that is the hope...and now that work is over it's time for me to go practice!

[Noseferatu]

With me, it's always either The Who, KISS, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, or The Beatles