I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but...

azathoth · #1 07-06-2006, 02:57 PM

I need help. I've been playing bass for almost three years, but I suck. I can't play anything. My musical ear doesn't exist, I can read music but I can only translate it on to a piano, and now my friend wants me to be in his band.

How do I get good?

I know this is a stupid, badly worded question, but I'm desperate.

Creeping-Death · #2 07-06-2006, 02:59 PM

If you don't already have one, I'd highly recommend a teacher (it helped me afterall).

bradjonesbass · #3 07-06-2006, 03:05 PM

Get a teacher. Or else take up drums

azathoth · #4 07-06-2006, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradjonesbass

Get a teacher. Or else take up drums

A drum set...in an apartment...where I share a room with my sister and we're surrounded by old people...

Sounds awesome!

superbassman2000 · #5 07-06-2006, 07:58 PM

electric drums

g00eY · #6 07-06-2006, 09:30 PM

fruity loops

just kidding...

at this point, it's probably time to get an instructor.

Cristo · #7 07-07-2006, 08:32 AM

Well, other than getting an instructor, you can try doing things differently than you do now.

If you can read music, that's great, but obviously it isn't helping your problem. If you know the note is an A#, but can only play it on a piano, then that must mean you don't know the notes on the bass fretboard very well yet. So that's a good starting point. Learn the fretboard.

As for your ear, listen to some music that you like with SIMPLE bass.

When I say simple, I mean *simple*. NOT Jaco and Victor Wooten and all the stuff you hear people going on and on about in here all the time. If they talk about it in here, chances are that it would not qualify as simple.

Sing/think/speak the bass line to yourself. Learn how it goes in your "mind's ear." If it is too hard to remember and hum to yourself, then it is too hard to worry about for this exercise. Pick another song.

Then just slog your way through the fretboard until you find the notes. Do it over and over. This might require a lot of pausing and rewinding depending on how quick you get it and how simple the line really is.

Eventually you will find the notes because there are only so many to choose from! Once you find them, write them out, notation or tab or whatever you like, so you won't forget it, and then eventually you've transcribed the song.

Now play the notes along with the music until you get the feel of the song and the changes right.

Now repeat this process over and over!

morf · #8 07-07-2006, 08:52 AM

Quit man, its hopeless.

On a serious note, +1 on the instructor.

kherber · #9 07-07-2006, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azathoth

I need help. I've been playing bass for almost three years, but I suck. I can't play anything. My musical ear doesn't exist, I can read music but I can only translate it on to a piano, and now my friend wants me to be in his band.

How do I get good?

Join the band.

Seriously. For my money, there's no better way to get your chops together than playing with other people. And if you can do it on stage, for an audience, even better.

People suggest an instructor, and you may want to go that route. It can't hurt. Ask the instructor for help with theory, learn how to read chords and derive scales from them.

In the end, I don't think there's all that much to teach about bass. It's a pretty 'roots' instrument that doesn't necessarily require as much technique (or a variety of techniques) as a guitar. I'm primarily self-taught (though I was formerly trained on saxophone for years before picking up bass, so I already understood music), and have been working steady the last 30+ years.

Just keep playing.

(Love the handle, by the way)

Doc Cthulhu