Please Help Me Improve! My "Bassbook"

[Jake Kobrin]

Hi,
I'm building off of the sketchbook idea only for my bass playing. I want very much to improve. Please help!

I played guitar (extremely badly) for four years. On 5/10/08 I bought my first bass guitar that I am currently learning to play. This is a blog where I will post videos of my playing and you can give me comments, critiques, and suggestions on my playing. Maybe other beginners can learn a thing or two as well.

http://youtube.com/user/Bassnoob21

Entry One

Sorry for the obvious discomfort, I was extremely nervous. The purpose of this videos is to receive tips, advice, and critiques on my playing. I am trying very hard to improve.
I don't know why I'm chewing like it looks like I am...
Sorry for the bad editing.
Thank you,
Jake Kobrin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNtRENPz9IY

[BlackLake]

Your right hand technique looks a little odd to me, you are "hooking" the string, and looks like you are pulling it up and letting it release. Push down on the string, moving the finger up until it releases...kinda hard to explain, look for some vids on right hand technique.

Also you may want to try finding a place to put your right hand thumb instead of the "free floating" way you're doing it at this point. Some do it your way with much success, but most I know have a pivot point for the thumb.

Not bad so far...will keep an eye out for more vids.

[sirpug]

Not bad for only about 9 hours of practice. I can't say much on technique as I've only been playing the bass for about 6 months but I can comment on rhythm since I have a bit of experience in concert and marching bands. My advice, slow down for now. Focus on the tempo of the metronome. Play every note of the scale with a beat of the time. Rhythm, timing and "groove" are very important to good bass guitar playing. The other thing this will help with is that it will allow you to focus on the specific techniques that people give you advice on. I found that when I tried to go faster to start, I would get sloppy and I believe that my technique suffered from it. I'm now in the process of slowing down to fix my "bad habits". Don't make my mistake and jump ahead of yourself. Good luck.

[onlyclave]

1) Don't warm up at 140 BPM. Seriously. Warm up at 60. You can't play fast if you can't play slow.

2) Your right hand is "picking at the strings". You are using the first 2 knuckles of each finger and the very very tip to pick at the string. It won't give you a very fat, deep tone and when you're draping your wrist over the top of the bass like that you're going to just make your wrist sore. The power if your plucking comes from higher up in your arm, the bigger muscles near your elbow. Dig in to the string.

3) Your left hand needs some serious help. Press down on the string as close to the fret as possible. This minimizes fret noise and increases your pressure on the fret wire. Keep your thumb on the back of the neck.if should be opposite of your 2nd and 3rd fingers most of the time. And for God's sake, leave your fingers down on the string if you don't need to use them.

Try playing this: left hand, first finger on the 5th fret finger 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 (that would be fret 5,6,7,8) over and over again but keep your fingers down. When you change from your first to second finger do not lift the first one. You waste a lot of energy with your fingers flying around like that.

You should find a local teacher a pay for a couple of lessons to have him show you the mechanics of bass playing. It would be worth the $50 or so. What you are doing right now is emulating an approximation of what you have seen on Youtube videos but really is only good for air guitar and Guitar Hero.

[BlackLake]

Good advice onlyclave!

[Jake Kobrin]

Originally Posted by onlyclave

1) Don't warm up at 140 BPM. Seriously. Warm up at 60. You can't play fast if you can't play slow.

2) Your right hand is "picking at the strings". You are using the first 2 knuckles of each finger and the very very tip to pick at the string. It won't give you a very fat, deep tone and when you're draping your wrist over the top of the bass like that you're going to just make your wrist sore. The power if your plucking comes from higher up in your arm, the bigger muscles near your elbow. Dig in to the string.

3) Your left hand needs some serious help. Press down on the string as close to the fret as possible. This minimizes fret noise and increases your pressure on the fret wire. Keep your thumb on the back of the neck.if should be opposite of your 2nd and 3rd fingers most of the time. And for God's sake, leave your fingers down on the string if you don't need to use them.

Try playing this: left hand, first finger on the 5th fret finger 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 (that would be fret 5,6,7,8) over and over again but keep your fingers down. When you change from your first to second finger do not lift the first one. You waste a lot of energy with your fingers flying around like that.

You should find a local teacher a pay for a couple of lessons to have him show you the mechanics of bass playing. It would be worth the $50 or so. What you are doing right now is emulating an approximation of what you have seen on Youtube videos but really is only good for air guitar and Guitar Hero.

Awesome. Thanks a bunch!

[Jake Kobrin]

Here is the second entry in my bass book. I took all of your suggestions. Thank you VERY much. I also covered Staind's cover of Tool's Sober (because it's slower and easier than the original). I'll keep woodshedding and I'll keep you all posted! PLEASE include some suggestions and critiques!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sNWEqIObK0

p.s. I used a pick for Sober... because that's how it's played.

[sirpug]

Try counting the time out loud while you are playing (i.e. say 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4....) This is also helping me learn the notes on the fret board by saying the notes as I play them (don't know if your having this problem; I didn't have any guitar experience before I started). Keep up learning the songs you like because that helps keep interest. I would also try and find some friends to jam with (again, it helped me). Have fun.

I like to look up bass lessons on You Tube. There are some good ones out there. Check out some of the ones that feature Victor Wooten; I think he has some great advise on practicing.

P.S. This is a great idea. I'm going to watch your thread because I think it'll help me. With the first video, I was able to read what others said and then watch your video again and see what they are talking about. Thanks and keep it up.

[BlackLake]

I agree, this may turn out fantastic, I will stick with you and help you every step of the way Jake...it will help me with my students also.

KUDOS on a great idea, you deserve my (our) free help, as you are using it with great intentions.

[MarkTAW]

Excellent stuff, you're much better than when I first started. I remember all my bad habits & being corrected and not "feeling" or "hearing" what the other guys were talking about.

Practicing at 60 was much harder wasn't it?

Rather than just playing at 60 - which I think at this point is counter-productive, play at 120, but only play every other beat. This puts the sound of the off-beats in your ears. Playing slowly is really about subdividing the beat internally. When I hear a click at 60 bpm I don't just hear the click I hear "and click and click and click." Playing every other beat at 120 will introduce you to that concept.

Then when you're comfortable with this, cut the beat down to 60 and keep playing the same tempo. Actively switch back and forth between the two. A minute playing every-other click at 120, and a minute playing every click at 60.

These tempos, incidentally, aren't arbitrary. 120 is dance music for a reason. 120 is a fast walking pace. Playing every other beat at 120 is like emphasizing every step you take with your right leg while walking fast.

Practice at 50, 55 and 60 (100, 110 and 120).

It looks like your right hand fingers are too bent. Someone else touched on this before, and I'd just to add to/clarify what they said.

Your finger should come to rest on the string above the one you just played and your palm shouldn't move. Your fingers should be basically straight, bent a bit but not completely curled like that. I understand why you play like this - the notes are so big that you want to handle each one with care. Turn down a bit when you play. This will encourage you to treat the notes less gingerly.

You can practice this while away from the bass. You can practice this anywhere. Put our palm flat on a table or on your thigh. Raise your knuckles a bit so that your fingers are in a comfortable position & so you can get enough motion to practice. All 5 fingertips are on the table, as is the heel of your palm. Your knuckles are raised, but not a lot. Then practice tapping the table or your thigh or whatever. Tapping, not dragging, tapping. Don't pull your fingers along, tap the table.

The table isn't the string you're plucking, it's the string above the one where you're plucking. You're playing through the imaginary string that's in mid-air and coming to rest the table, which represents the next string.

Notice that your palm doesn't move. You're not pulling your finger away from the string, just moving your finger past the string on the way to rest at the next one.

Lastly - I didn't really look for this, but just be sure that your arm is resting against the bass and not ON the bass. You want to keep your wrist basically straight (bent a bit is ok, it's tough to keep your wrist perfectly straight when playing bass sitting unless you want to pluck over the fretboard) & you don't want to put any of the weight of your arm on the bass itself. This can lead to all sorts of problems later on.

[BlackLake]

Fantastic post MarkTAW!