Recommend some songs! I need to take it to the next level.

DUBBED · #1 03-12-2008, 04:34 PM

Okay here's the deal. I've been playing bass for about 8 months now and I've hit my first major plateau. I find the songs I have been playing are not helping me improve. I'm trying to find new ways to play them ie. paying more attention to locking in with the drums, but I feel like I'm not making progress technically. And it seems like all of the songs I desire to play require a level of talent that is currently unavailable to me, ie Marvin Gaye - What's Goin On.

To give an idea, here's some of the songs I've learnt to play:
- RATM - Bombtrack, Know your enemy
- Chili Peppers - Wet Sand, Dani California, Hard to Concentrate, Chorus of Tell me Baby
- Jimi Hendrix - Fire, Hey Joe
- Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke, Master Blaster

I may not be able to play them all flawlessly but I've got the major parts of those songs down pat.

Now, I'd like to get back into my lessons with a new song in mind. I'm looking for something with a pretty active bassline, and to put it simply, just a fat ass groove. I'm open to anything.

FronTowardEnemy · #2 03-12-2008, 04:37 PM

Anything by Tool will be challenging and fun playing. It works for me.

Wasim · #3 03-12-2008, 04:43 PM

Try learning some stuff by the Beatles

To start with, the bass parts on the Abbey Road album in particular aren't that hard technically but they will improve you as a musician.

Paul McCartney's style is like James Jamerson Light, so it's a useful step up toward the Motown stuff like What's Going On.

Anti-Product · #4 03-12-2008, 07:50 PM

I would recommend the book "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". It has many of the great Jamerson's lines notated (no devil-tabs) and played by some truly great bass players. It has stuff that is pretty simple for starting out with, and you can, of course, work your way all the way up to the hard stuff (What's Going On is in there, one that I just finished is Darling Dear, which is another chop-buster). Also, it's undeniably fun to play those lines!

onlyclave · #5 03-12-2008, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DUBBED

Okay here's the deal. I've been playing bass for about 8 months now and I've hit my first major plateau. I find the songs I have been playing are not helping me improve. I'm trying to find new ways to play them ie. paying more attention to locking in with the drums, but I feel like I'm not making progress technically. And it seems like all of the songs I desire to play require a level of talent that is currently unavailable to me, ie Marvin Gaye - What's Goin On.

To give an idea, here's some of the songs I've learnt to play:
- RATM - Bombtrack, Know your enemy
- Chili Peppers - Wet Sand, Dani California, Hard to Concentrate, Chorus of Tell me Baby
- Jimi Hendrix - Fire, Hey Joe
- Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke, Master Blaster

I may not be able to play them all flawlessly but I've got the major parts of those songs down pat.

Now, I'd like to get back into my lessons with a new song in mind. I'm looking for something with a pretty active bassline, and to put it simply, just a fat ass groove. I'm open to anything.

You're not ready to "take it to the next level" if you think that getting this list of songs close enough is good. If you have the major parts down pat but suck at the minor parts then I think you know what you need to work on. "Almost" only counts in horseshoes. In music it means you haven't learned it yet.

teej · #6 03-12-2008, 10:07 PM

Dubbed-san, once you master Rush's "YYZ," your training will be complete. In the meantime, how about some Zep'?

DUBBED · #7 03-13-2008, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlyclave

You're not ready to "take it to the next level" if you think that getting this list of songs close enough is good. If you have the major parts down pat but suck at the minor parts then I think you know what you need to work on. "Almost" only counts in horseshoes. In music it means you haven't learned it yet.

I agree. I guess I should have seen a post like this coming, if you read between the lines of my original post, you might deduce that although I keep practicing these songs (to infact be able to play them flawlessly, some of them I can), I feel like I'm not getting better technically.

Of course, in practicing those songs I'm definately becomming a better musician, learning to lock in with drums, coming up with my own fills, improving stamina etc. How you considered that learning more technically difficult songs may improve my ability to understand and be proficient with the less difficult songs?

However, thank you for your post and typing your epinion.

theunknowndude · #8 03-13-2008, 05:48 AM

I'd agree with the Tool stuff,...

considering how hard it is to pick out the bass parts sometimes you can goto www.tooltabs.net and download a zip file of tabs

compiled over the years by many fanboys that have viewed live performances with binoculars even!

getting a Tool song down pat should help you with locking in with drums and getting a sense of rhythm... and learning to play uneven rhythms!

Jobiebass · #9 03-13-2008, 06:59 AM

as you like chilis why dont you learn:-

Californication, few hammer ons and pull offs which are fun,
Soul to squeeze, My favorite, just about a bit of everything which took me a long while to master.

or try some guns and roses??

Day tripper - The Beatles,

Bomb track intro is really good by RATM, play it slow and speed it up.

If you wanna learn complex bass lines id suggest downloading Guitar Pro and getting the "tabs" from Ultimate-Guitar.com or other sites like that. It really helped me progress from standard Tabs. I wont even look at a tab now unless its a guitar pro one. for a start 99% of tabs are wrong or just tell you part of a song, dont tell you the little changes, and doesnt show you the speed.
Learn Sheet music and/or get Guitar Pro.

DUBBED · #10 03-13-2008, 08:14 AM

Thanks for the replies y'all! I'm going to look into some Beatles stuff/that Tool tabs site is dope!

santucci218 · #11 03-13-2008, 08:37 AM

try to learn My Guitar Wants to Kill your Momma by Frank Zappa. Awkward tune.

Jobiebass · #12 03-13-2008, 08:58 AM

Oh yeah you already said bomb track

my bad.

why not try some Slayer!!
nahh im joking, its terrible, which is hard to say coming from a massive slayer fan. Saying that my 2nd fav band is the doors and they dont have a bassist (had a stand in bassist for a few songs though like peace frog)

why did I start playing bass again?? I forget.

Ever tried some Metalica??
Enter Sandman or Seek and Destroy?

If your really strugling to find something that will test you, go on you tube and type in "YYZ bass" and watch someone play that. or type in "flight of the bumble bee bass" the last one is emense!

AlphaMale · #13 03-15-2008, 04:31 PM

practice some scales, and Arpeggios.
Learn some Exercises!

But if you'd rather learn songs that are hard difficult at 8 months. I would say don't learn the beatles.

Those song you are playing are pretty easy.
This RATM song might be fun for oyu to learn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmceSj07_fs
Seriously try to learn Moby Dick

There is a kid on talk bass who has been playing only 10 weeks and is playing songs that are harder or equal to what you're playing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu0J3CMBMQ
Not saying you're bad or anything, it's just if you're focusing on technical skill you gotta step it up better man.

ste30 · #14 03-17-2008, 08:09 AM

Try some Zeppelin, and some Smiths
You might not like the Smiths music, but some of the basslines are cool as fk to play on their own.
And Zep - speaks for itself!

teej · #15 03-17-2008, 08:32 AM

Stone Roses

Jobiebass · #16 03-18-2008, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teej

Stone Roses

+1
the second song i learnt was "I wanna be adored" and I still play that song at least once a week when im just rolling through songs I like playing.

eddiebo · #17 03-18-2008, 07:51 AM

why not try picking out and playing the melody lines from those Stevie Wonder songs on your bass - there is plenty left to explore! Especially with Sir Duke and Master Blaster - and also picking out Stevie's left-hand bass parts - you can endlessly dissect and mine those tunes they are so rich with amazing parts - try it out

mutedeity · #18 03-18-2008, 08:23 AM

The truth is, you can learn all the songs in the world and it won't get you to the next level. Learning songs is good for developing a catalogue of ideas and it can be fun, but learning songs alone won't make you on par with the musicians who wrote and played those songs originally. The only way to do that is to learn some relative theory and technique and apply it.