TASCAM CD-BT2 Portable CD Bass Trainer

Orangeclawhamme · #1 03-07-2008, 10:44 AM

I'm trying to teach myself bass by learning to play along with music I enjoy/am somewhat familiar with. I collect my music on CD even though I have an mp-3 player.

So what do you guys think of these things as a training tool? Yes, I know I could get a month and a half's worth of lessons for what it costs.

rodneyat · #2 03-07-2008, 10:54 AM

If your goal is to learn to play and/or play along with music, the Bass Trainer is a great tool. But, that is really not going to teach you to play the bass, that is just going to teach you to play the songs that you play along with. That does not mean you will not learn a lot by playing along with other music though.
I have owned the CD BT1 MKII and now own the MP-BT1. I found that when you slowed down/sped up the CD or changed the key, it did not sound very natural to my ear. Maybe that issue has been fixed in the BT2. I have not had those issues with the MP-BT1 I guess since that is all done digitally, it comes across cleaner. I am assuming there is more being done mechanically on teh CD version (slowing down, speeding up the spindle etc). That said, I am a firm believer in the Tascam Bass Trainers for playing along with music. Great tool, but you just have to realize it's limitations.

on1ne · #3 03-07-2008, 11:25 AM

I agree that you probably need more training than just to learn bass parts by ear from recordings.....but that's pretty much how I learned! you won't be able to study finger technique and scales, etc, but if you have a good ear you can still learn a lot this way.

The trainer is a great tool.

It allows you to practice any time with a headset so you don't disturb others. There's a built-in tuner too which is handy.

if you need to learn a tune in a different key from the recording, say to accommodate a singer with a diffrent vocal range, the pitch adjustment is a godsend.

It's also a good workout to purposely try playing along to the tune, setting it in different keys.

The fine pitch adjust can "correct" recordings that are off speed and therefore out of tune; a lot simpler than re-tuning your bass to compensate.

Tempo adjustment is also useful. Slow a track down if you have trouble hearing all the notes in a specific line. Kick the tempo up on a track to play along and improve your speed.

When you use these functions, the sound is sometimes heavily altered, If you need to move the key of a recording up a fifth, you have to expect the recording will sound different, the vocalist will likely sound like they are breathing helium. So what? The important thing is the function works and is useful for what you need to learn.

There are a lot of other features on the trainer that I don't use. I don't see any value in adding echo or reverb to the sound for training purposes, but maybe there is some.

Anyway, I get a lot of use out of my trainer, very valuable tool.

Honk'n_down-low · #4 03-23-2008, 09:19 PM

Which one do you have?

bassbully · #5 03-24-2008, 12:01 AM

I have the older CD one and it is my go-to for learning cover songs my #1 tool. A must in the cover band biz.

CTbass&birdsong · #6 03-24-2008, 12:06 AM

Great tool to learn songs!!!

Orangeclawhamme · #7 03-26-2008, 09:25 AM

I don't know how long this price ($109) will be good from J & R Music, but I ordered this through Amazon and got a wall pllug for it for another 20 bucks. Here's the Amazon link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=1UT1ILBRB4G1G

oldrookie · #8 03-28-2008, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orangeclawhamme

I don't know how long this price ($109) will be good from J & R Music, but I ordered this through Amazon and got a wall pllug for it for another 20 bucks. Here's the Amazon link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=1UT1ILBRB4G1G

Good price on this. I use mine all the time. Let's me practice after everybody in the house goes to bed. Love the ability to slow things down and the metronome

mccartjm · #9 03-28-2008, 07:16 AM

I was wondering about those things too. For anyone who has one, does it tend to muddy up the sound too much when you slow the tempo. I mean can you still discern pitch, or does it just sound like a muddy worthless mess? I had a korg pandora that could "maintain pitch" when you slowed recorded samples, but it was just so muddy it was absolutely worthless. If the tascam was not like that i would buy one.