hi guys,
TODAY is my third anniversary of playing bass. i remember it well because sept. 8th, 2006 is the date that i picked up my first bass (a used, black on black fender MIM jazz from a local on-line auction... which i since resold). seems like an awfully long time ago, but it has been a great journey.
so i wanted to share my experiences here with my bass brethren (and sistren!). the talkbass community has been important to me, i have learned a lot and gotten many great inputs. so just a little thanks to everyone here too!
i started playing bass at 48 years old, which is pretty late. i did play jazz piano as a kid, so i can still read both bass and treble clef pretty well and understand music theory too. this was a big advantage and accelerated my learning. i actually started on piano again about 4 years ago, then thought it would be cool to play bass too... alas the bass playing took on a life of it's own ... so i sold the piano to focus on bass! i love it and think it is the coolest instrument on the planet!
i also have to say that i travel a lot on business so the amount of time i have to play always goes up and down. if i can play 2-3 times a week for two hours that's great for me (also have a wife and kids, house, etc.) i do have a travel bass and a markbass micromark (6", 100 watts) which keeps me playing (and my neighbors awake in good hotels from bangkok to abu dhabi!).
some thoughts:
1. what i can do:
-scales over 2 octaves or more (major, minor, maj pent, min pent, blues, mixo - what i need most for blues, rock)
-play pretty much in all keys
-transpose songs and basslines rapidly into any key (a lot easier on bass than on a piano!)
-produce accurate lead sheets for my band
-listen to 80% of blues and rock tunes and find the key as well as an acceptable bass line pretty quickly (takes significantly more time to refine the line and really get it down however)
- play most 7th chords arpeggios
- now developing a better sense of relative pitch
2. what i can't do (note that i am a perfectionist and expect a lot of myself!!):
- don't have perfect pitch, so i can't identify a given key by ear
- solo; have not really spent much time on this yet
- chords: can't really play multi-note chords (simultaneously, like on a piano- not arpeggios)
- play fast enough- while maintaining accuracy -for my liking on some tunes; i play fingerstyle only (using middle and index), it takes a LOT of practice to play a really fast blues shuffle and the only way to do it well is with correct fingering
- my timing is not bad but i want to become stronger on playing really, really consistently in time; my drummer is not great on timing so the band depends more on me
- play clean notes all the time; not bad but here again i want things to be spot on
- slap and pop, mostly because it doesn't really interest me as i am a blues/rock player
3. some general observations:
- the only way to REALLY understand music IMHO is to play in a band. good to be a standalone player, great to be in a band and make music together
- i am finally, after three years (and i say this in all seriousness) starting to understand what the role of the bass really is...
- rhythmic foundation, we must be expert time keepers, along with the drummer (and for him if he isn’t)
- now that playing is becoming more finger memory, i am really starting to focus more on my sound, timekeeping, intonation, clarity of notes, etc.; really an essential step in my mind
- summary, harmonic/rhythmic foundation: i believe bassists "get paid" for playing root/fifth notes and quarter notes and keeping great time, everything else is icing on the cake; of course you can and should do more, but these basics have to be right 100% of the time IMHO before you go on to greatness!
4. equipment / sound:
- i don’t believe in lots of pedals, effects, or whatever that alter the sound, mostly i look for outstanding quality in the bass, strings and amp; very subjective of course
- i learned to use EQ very gently, both on my equipment and the PA. i like to turn the highs down a bit to leave more room in the mix for my guitarists and the vocals
- i am finally starting to understand the sound that i want: vintage (again, in all seriousness, it has taken me about three years to get to this point)
- this means focus mostly on passive basses
- i also strongly prefer the fender jazz type, don't like P basses as the neck is too fat for me, hurts my wrist to play
- i use only the finest flatwounds available (thomastik infeld IMHO)
- i want to get as close to tube sound as possible (and am using little mark tube which is close enough for me now; didn't want expense or weight of an all tube head... maybe one day)
5. next steps:
- i have had some teachers, up and down, but hard to do it regularly due to a crazy schedule. want to find a good teacher again however
- good equipment is no substitute for lots of hard work, there just aren't any shortcuts to becoming a great bassist in my mind; reasonable talent and hard work are the best recipe IMHO if you are not born a star. so my goal is to practice as much as i can to keep moving foward and upward
overall i am humbled by the bass. i am an amateur, but a serious one. i started a bit late in life, there will always be somebody better than me. but for the time available, i am happy...not yet satisfied... but still burning to learn more and improve further.
my long term plan is to be rocking on stage at some blues festival when all my friends have no more teeth, hopefully with some of you guys. so keep on rockin the low end my friends!
der basskopf
(a.k.a. tim)
p.s. my recent equipment thread if you are interested:
In search of vintage tone...
