|  | | 
09-30-2010, 10:02 PM
| | | | Do you need to be good at theory or have a good ear to be good at bass?
Sign in to disble this ad
I've been playing for over 3 years I've practiced like crazy and I can honestly say I barely know anything about theory and I have a very poor musical ear but I've honed my technique extensively. Is that even enough to play in a band? |
09-30-2010, 10:04 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: White Salmon, WA | | | Yep.
__________________ Powder Hound on Supermodels
Dingwall Club # 89
Stand back, I'm packing fEarfuls! |
09-30-2010, 10:10 PM
| | | | Many a bassist, and many musicians for that matter have had no real "training" or knowledge of theory from my experience. |
09-30-2010, 10:14 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Bismarck | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho  Many a bassist, and many musicians for that matter have had no real "training" or knowledge of theory from my experience. | Are they bassists or just guitar players who can play bass?
I've haven't heard of an accomplished bassist that doesn't know theory. |
09-30-2010, 10:18 PM
| | | | Theory - no
Ear? you bet your ass you do |
09-30-2010, 10:19 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr wiggl3s Are they bassists or just guitar players who can play bass?
I've haven't heard of an accomplished bassist that doesn't know theory. | You've heard of victor wooten |
09-30-2010, 10:22 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Clovis, CA | | | not an expert, but you can definitely play in a band without theory, not to be cliche but flea only recently learned theory around the time stadium arcadium was put out so there you go.. if you want true mastery, learn theory. theres no way it can hurt, and youll only be a burden if you cant read music, youll be very limited. |
09-30-2010, 10:25 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: alabama | | | I know ass about theory. I just trained my ear and polished my technique over the years. Am I advocating this approach ? No. It was stupid of me, and I now want to go back and "start over", so to speak. My progress has plateaued. But can I "get by" in a band? Sure. I can more than get by in the average bar - band. But can I hang with the pros; the really good musicians, and be integral in developing new material? No.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by *insertcoolname 1nce at a gig i roxed the crowd so hArd that all teh gurlz were liek "i want u" an all teh bands were liek "u roxed evry1 2 hard" and i waz liek "yea i no cuz i am teh mastr uv base" | |
09-30-2010, 10:26 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by yarg682 I've been playing for over 3 years I've practiced like crazy and I can honestly say I barely know anything about theory and I have a very poor musical ear but I've honed my technique extensively. Is that even enough to play in a band? | Just curious, seriously. If you practice like crazy, but don't know anything about theory and have a poor ear, what ARE you practicing?
__________________
Fretless Club Member #199/Fender Jazz Bass Club #78/Virginia Bassist #82/Earplug Club #1
Lawn furniture shouldn't have seatbelts.
|
09-30-2010, 10:44 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anasleim, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by pandaman37 \not to be cliche but flea only recently learned theory around the time stadium arcadium was put out so there you go. | Flea played trumpet in the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. He did that sans theory? 
Last edited by elgecko : 09-30-2010 at 10:48 PM.
|
09-30-2010, 10:47 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Los Angeles | | Quote:
Originally Posted by yarg682 I've been playing for over 3 years I've practiced like crazy and I can honestly say I barely know anything about theory and I have a very poor musical ear but I've honed my technique extensively. Is that even enough to play in a band? | I'm absolutely mystified by claims like this--and they crop up in every one of these "theory v. ear" threads. Theory is not some set of hypothetical rules that music has to "follow." It is the distillation of thousands of years of musical experience. It is a description of what musicians with good ear (and technique) do. You can pick it up through years of blind trial and error (maybe), or you can study it, try to apply it to your playing, and lower the amount of error.
It's not an either/or. If you have good technique and ear, and can play well with other musicians, then you have absorbed a great deal of theory, even if you lack the formal training to use the conventional words to describe what you are doing. If you truly don't have any theory, then your technique and ear are likely not nearly as good as you think they are.
Are you good enough to play in a band? Certainly. It's only a question of which band. You want to play with people who are better than you, but not so much better that you are totally lost with them.
Just do it. Besides, nothing will accelerate your development on all levels--technique, ear, and theory--like playing with others. |
09-30-2010, 10:50 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Clovis, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by elgecko Flea played trumpet in the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. He did that sans theory? | oh.... the only reason i said that was i was watching an interview (search flea master sessions on youtube) in which flea said 'itd be difficult for me to sit down and talk about theory since neither one of us know a damn thing about it'.. he might have been joking, but i forgot he played trumpet.
Last edited by pandaman37 : 09-30-2010 at 11:00 PM.
|
09-30-2010, 10:52 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Four Corners, USA | | Quote: |
I have a very poor musical ear but I've honed my technique extensively.
| How do you know you have an extensively honed technique if you also have a poor musical ear? |
09-30-2010, 10:55 PM
|  | Real Basses Have 5 Strings! | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Colorado | | | A good ear is really helpful ... You need some theory so you understan what 1-4-5 is and what an octave is etc ... |
09-30-2010, 10:59 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Washington State | | Quote:
Originally Posted by puddin tame Theory - no
Ear? you bet your ass you do | Yup. 
__________________
Mediocre Bassist Club #597, Washington State Bassist #25, Fretless Club #666
|
09-30-2010, 11:05 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anasleim, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by pandaman37 oh.... the only reason i said that was i was watching an interview (search flea master sessions on youtube) in which flea said 'itd be difficult for me to sit down and talk about theory since neither one of us know a damn thing about it'.. he might have been joking, but i forgot he played trumpet. | Okay, he might not have known "advanced" theory but at the very least he had to have known how to read, knew about keys, etc. I haven't met many trumpet players who "played by ear".  |
09-30-2010, 11:07 PM
|  | Hip No Ties | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: New York, NY | | Quote:
Originally Posted by yarg682 I've been playing for over 3 years I've practiced like crazy and I can honestly say I barely know anything about theory and I have a very poor musical ear but I've honed my technique extensively. | Developing one's technique is a very good thing to do. But without any understanding of theory, and with only a very poor ear, it's like developing an extensive vocabulary - without a clue as to what the words mean, nor how to convey any sort of meaning with them... 
MM
__________________
Truly knowledge is power. And knowledge of spiritual things is spiritual power.
|
09-30-2010, 11:10 PM
|  | doot de doo | | Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Tempe, Arizona | | Quote:
Originally Posted by elgecko Flea played trumpet in the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. He did that sans theory? :confused: | That happens a lot. I've known some classical horn players that can't read a note, they just learn it by ear. Just gotta remember to flip the pages when your buddies do :) Anyhoo.
Learning to read music doesn't introduce you to theory any more than introducing a teenager to a computer keyboard teaches them how to not write emo poetry. |
09-30-2010, 11:12 PM
|  | Total Hyper-Elite Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Groom Lake, NV | | Quote:
Originally Posted by yarg682 I've been playing for over 3 years I've practiced like crazy and I can honestly say I barely know anything about theory and I have a very poor musical ear but I've honed my technique extensively. Is that even enough to play in a band? | I'd rather have a great ear and mediocre technique than the other way around.
__________________
What is this thing called butthurt? |
09-30-2010, 11:27 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anasleim, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by taphappy That happens a lot. I've known some classical horn players that can't read a note, they just learn it by ear. Just gotta remember to flip the pages when your buddies do Anyhoo. | I played in school bands from 4th grade all the way through college. Aside from some "fakers" who got weeded out early, I never met one horn player who couldn't read. I find it odd that you knew more than one. Quote:
Originally Posted by taphappy Learning to read music doesn't introduce you to theory any more than introducing a teenager to a computer keyboard teaches them how to not write emo poetry. | Learning to read music is the essential first to step to understanding theory. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | |
