What can I usefully do bass related without my bass?

[SuperBassSam]

Hi,

I'm away from my bass for a couple of weeks, and it got me thinking what can I usefully do bass/music related without having an actual guitar with me? Loads of people must sometimes get in the same position, and rather than just waste the time I want to get somehow better at bass :P

Thanks

[JtheJazzMan]

i teach my students to work on rhythm all the time whether they have their bass or not.

getting comfortable with polyrhythms, maybe take a metronome with you. helps a lot

[lowend219]

if you don't know how to read bass clef that is certainly a worthwhile endeavor to undertake without a bass in hand. musictheory.net has some nifty little flash games to help you memorize pitches on the staff. it also has some ear training flash games of equal nifty-ness.

otherwise you can spend time studying up on your bass history. Read interviews or biographies of your favorite players. there's a lot that can be learned from trying to get inside the heads of the greats. Plus, its just incredibly interesting (but hey, some of us are nerds like that)

[20db pad]

Ear training.

[Freddels]

You can work on reading bass clef by bringing along some sheet music and sitting with it and saying the name of each note out loud. You can also work on learning the notes of the chords and scales by both writing them out and saying them out loud.

[JTE]

Work on harmony and scale theory. Can you name the notes of an Ab major scale without the bass in your hands? Can you "finger" an Amin7 arpeggio across two octaves without the bass? What's the 5th of Eb? The b3 of F#?

What are the changes to "Satin Doll", or "My Foolish Heart"? Can you sing the bassline to "Billy Jean" and have a good idea where those notes are?

Stuff like that will help you a lot.

[EADG mx]

Just about everything besides building muscle memory, dexterity, and a feel for the instrument, really. Use your imagination.

[paul_wolfe]

There was an issue of Bass Player which had an article on this topic, with contributions from all sorts of bass dudes, I particularly remember Gary Willis being one of them.

I'll try and dig it out and let you know which issue it was.

[Jim Nazium]

Years ago I heard session guitarist Tommy Tedesco talking about working in a factory as a young man. He was convinced he didn't want to pick up boxes for a living his whole life, so he figured out a way to become a better guitarist while working there. Every time he set a box down, he would hold "play" a chord on his right forearm as though it were a guitar neck. Pick up a box, C7, another box, F min7, another box, Bb dim7, all day long. It worked for him!

Try memorizing chord and scale spelling as suggested above, or try to figure out the intervals and then notes to simple melodies like 'twinkle twinkle little star' just by hearing it in your head or humming it. Starting on C, what are the notes?

HTH

[fender_funk_man]

Spend some time each day listening to music. I'm not talking about having music on in the house while your doing something. I'm talking about sitting down and just listening to music. Very good for the ear and the imagination.

[dulouz]

I learn a lot in my car while I commute to work every day. I listen to the music and then try and sing the bass line (an octave up). This really cuts down on the time needed to practice because by the time I get to it on my bass I have already learned it in my mind.

Sing scales and arpeggios too. And of course, sing rhythms too.

[derekd]

Recite every note in every scale around the key circle. Recite every note in every major triad around the key circle. Recite every note in every minor triad around the key circle.

By doing this will give you the ability to transpose on the fly, create chords, triads, scales, etc on the fly without having to rely only on patterns.

[Stumbo]

Buy one of those little travel guitars and keep on playing.

[mambo4]

Originally Posted by Freddels

You can work on reading bass clef by bringing along some sheet music and sitting with it and saying the name of each note out loud.

I like to work on Rhythm reading when away from a bass. any old sheet music will do, but rhythm exercises are best I suppose. I just ignore the pitches and focus solely on rhythmic info.

[copreus]

I ride the bus and listen to my metronome (w/earplug) or iPod and work on rhythm, odd meters, bass lines, ear training, and inner clock while thumping with my right-hand fingers. BTW, my timing improved considerably when I started doing this.

--c.

[fdeck]

Complain about guitarists and drummers.

[emor]

Learn solfège.

[Jim Carr]

Listen to a lot of music that you ordinarily would not get to know.

suggestions:

Jobim
Bela Bartok String Quartets #3 & #4
Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"
Buddy Holly's Greatest Hits
Mozart's "Die Zauber Flöte"
2 CD Wilson Pickett compilation
Ornette Coleman's "Shape of Jazz to Come"
Dylan's John Wesley Harding & Blonde on Blonde
Mozart Symphonies 36, 38, 40, & 41
Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and Sextet
Allman Bros. Band "Decade of Hits"
Louis Armstrong from the Smithsonian collection
Schubert Quintet in C D.956
Howlin' Wolf "Real Folk Blues"
Dion DiMucci "Heros"
J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations (Trevor Pinnock or Glenn Gould)
Beethoven Piano Sonatas (try No. 8 "Pathétique" Op. 13 and No. 23 "Appassionata" Op. 57)
Joni Mitchell "Court and Spark"
Antonin Dvorak "American" String Quartet
John Coltrane Giant Steps (Atlantic CD re-release)
there is no end to these riches...