I'm so bored

[Fletch14]

Hey all, lately i have been so bored with my playing. i have been playing for about 5 years now and i have learned all there is to know about slap and stuff to that nature. so what im asking is for some really cool funk songs to learn artists and titles and such you know the gig so if yall could post i would greatly appreciate it.

[Benjamin Strange]

If you think you've mastered everything there is to know about bass in 5 years time you aren't being honest with yourself. It's true that the better you get, the more you are aware of how far you have to go.

Perhaps you are just in a rut. Do you play in a band? Do you write music? Can you read music? If you don't, I would suggest giving any or all of them a try.

Or you could always convert to CGDA tuning, like I did 6 years ago when I realized I had "mastered" my instrument.

[3 crotch grabs]

or listen to something other than funk for a while.
i recommend kenny g or micheal bolton. definately no funk there.

[Boplicity]

Originally Posted by Fletch14

Hey all, lately i have been so bored with my playing. i have been playing for about 5 years now and i have learned all there is to know about slap and stuff to that nature.

Are you SURE you know all there is to know about slap and stuff? Have you tried transcribing and playing Vic Wooten's work? Have you tried transcribing and playing Stu Hamm's work?

I'm not sure what the stuff is, but have you tried transcribing stuff by Jaco Pastorious, Geddy Lee, Michael Manring, Flea, Jason Olsted, Les Claypool, Steve Harris, Billy Sheehan or any number and variety of accomplished bassists in different styles?

There's also important stuff such as developing an extensive repertoire of standards, show tunes, pop and rock songs from a variety of periods so that you can step into practically any cover band situation and comport yourself credibly as a bassist.

You might also want to do an exhaustive study of one particular style of music, its history and most important contributers. A good start is learning all you can about blues. or you could choose reggae, country, salsa and merengue, etc and really specialize in that genre.

If it is funk, that's cool too. Start by going to allmusicguide.com amd look up "styles". Type in "funk." You will find a complete history of the style. Start getting to know the most important artists in that field and learn their music by heart.

There really is so much more that you can learn and should learn. Boredom is a phase many bassists and musicians pass through from time to time, but kicking up their learning a notch is often all it takes to banish boredom and take your playing to a whole new level.

[Fletch14]

hey thanks all yea i know i might have sounded like i knew everything there is to know and im not trying to come off liek that i was just wondering what i might be able to do to get the musical juices flowing again mmmk? thanks a bunch all and sorry if i soudned liek a stupid idiot

[Jim Wheeler]

I know what cha mean - when I need inspiration, I look for new music to hear - and the easiest way I've found in this modern age is .... "Listen Rhapsody" - which is an on-line service (about $8 / month), providing unlimited high quality streaming access that lets one listen to durn near anything and everything out there, with great cross references.

For example and just for you , I looked up Electro Funk as a genre, and found this:
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"In the fading light after Funk's '70s heyday, a few artists in the early '80s flirted with marrying the burgeoning synthesizer craze to early rap. While keeping Funk's groove, Electro-Funk, otherwise known as Electro, expressed a new, electronic side of Funk previously unseen. Only a few hits materialized out of this mix, among them Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit,' Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message' and Cybotron's 'Alleys of Your Mind'. More than anything, the style gave certain artists a jumping-off point for future innovation -- Techno's first faint echoes and the methods of early innovators Roger Troutman and Zapp are still incorporated in modern Hip-hop. Troutman himself, and his trademark vocoder vocals, are featured on Dr. Dre and Tupac's smash hit 'California Love'."

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Artist listed and linked to full blown dot.wav files, include:
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1. Rick James Funk
2. The Gap Band Funk
3. Cameo Funk
4. Zapp and Roger Electro-Funk
5. The Time Electro-Funk
6. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam Dance Pop
7. Atlantic Starr Quiet Storm
8. George Clinton Funk
9. Midnight Star Electro-Funk
10. Dazz Band Funk
11. Bass Mekanik Electro-Funk
12. Shannon Dance Pop
13. B.A.S.S. Neo-Electro
14. Afrika Bambaataa Electro-Funk
15. Loose Ends Soul/R&B
16. Kashif Quiet Storm
17. Roger Electro-Funk
18. Freestyle Electro-Funk
19. Ghost Town DJs Miami Bass
20. Zapp Electro-Funk
21. Debbie Deb Freestyle
22. DJ Assault Neo-Electro
23. Chromeo Electro-Funk
24. Furthermore Crossover Rap/Hip-Hop
25. P.O.F. Electro-Funk
26. Bass Ryder Electro-Funk
27. DJ Mink Electro-Funk
28. Cybotron Electro-Funk
29. Blowfly Comic Song
30. Bass Tech DXJ Neo-Electro
31. Digital Love Muscle Miami Bass
32. Conscious Daughters West Coast Rap/Hip-Hop
33. Freeloaders Electro-Funk
34. Streetbeat Krew Miami Bass
35. DJ Ill Media Electro-Funk
36. Keith LeBlanc Electro-Funk
37. Foday Musa Suso World Fusion

---
Pick any of them, and you get:
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"Similar Artists" If you enjoy George Clinton, you might be interested in these artists.

Prince
Influences:
James Brown
Sly & the Family Stone
Related Projects:
Bootsy Collins
Funkadelic
Parliament

-------
I hate to sound like an ad ... but it is a fabulous source of infomation, great unheard music, and ...

My favorite thig is to pick a song I'm intereste din - then do a search for it - and you find all sorts of cross genre interpretations and INSPIRATION .. which is where this all started ...

Combine this with allmusic.com - and brother, your well of ideas has been replenished

[jucas]

I've always liked different tunings to get things moving when I'm in a rut.

Also, ignorant question but, is CGDA how a cello is tuned? If not, what is it? Also, I would asume thats "middle C" do you just use the top strings from a five string set (the ones that add a higher string rather than low B)

[aberrantgeek]

Originally Posted by 3 crotch grabs

or listen to something other than funk for a while.
i recommend kenny g or micheal bolton. definately no funk there.

micheal bolton? that no talent ass clown lol. so you think you know all there is to know do you? you think you know but you have no idea. how about harmonics, alternate tunings, diffrent playing styles and diffrent music styles. As to funk, Sly and the family stone and red hot chilli peppers would be my suggestions.