Recent content by JoeNage

I usually post with problems or questions, but this time it is to share a good experience. Last jam went very well. (I was even playing with the guitarist who had been disappointed with me in past.) We did a straight 8ths rock and roll tune, a funk blues, and "The Killing Floor." The dance...

I went to a jam at a local bar last week, and the leader asked for a song that was similar to a bass line I've practiced a lot, but a little different. I got a flustered and started to flub up. My fingers wanted to do it they way I've practiced, and I couldn't get the variation. The leader gave...

Thanks to all for the terrific advice. I guess I have a few New Year's Resolutions 1. Train ear to be able to name the diatonic intervals. 2. Learn to play major triads in succession following cycle of 4th. 3. Jam to Pandora (sounds more fun than above)

Hi all, I've been playing bass about 3 years and going to local blues jams for a few months. I do fine at the jams when the song has standard I-IV-V changes. But I'm struggle when I don't know the song's chords. For example, a singer will come up, glance back at me, say "Moondance in A...

This story has a happy ending. My band mates took the suggestion to line all the rigs up against the opposite wall facing us. And I got Hearos High Fidelity earplugs. Rehearsal sounds MUCH better to me, and others agreed. Thanks again for all the tips.

What do you all think about this? I wrote an email to my band mates with the various suggestions for making the sound better in the small rehearsal space and I heavily stressed "TURN DOWN." The guitarist resonded basically saying: "I think the bass and keyboard need to turn up more. If...

Thanks all for your suggestions. Odd that asking folks to turn down is such a touchy subject. It seems so obvious that it is better to be 'tight' than to be 'loud.'

Thanks for the reply. I'm not visualizing the circle configuration. Can you give me more, please. We are also in a circle, with amp next to each player facing in towards the circle. How does 'across from our rigs' work?

Hi all, Last summer, I met some guys who want to play blues together. We meet weekly in a low ceiling attic room and cram in a drum kit, two guitars, keyboards, harp and bass. I'd say the level of musicianship is ok, most have been playing for decades. (I'm the beginner, so I keep it...

Hi all, I've been playing a couple years, mostly self taught. I recently got a teacher, who is way better than I'll ever be, but I notice he has a pretty different left hand technique than the one I've been using. In particular, he will use the thumb of his left hand to fret the E string...

Great method. I' m a bit confused on the sentence "I generally practice this up one octave from where I started and then come back down again." Using the above example, if you start on low G, you would get to "one octave" when you hit the G on the D string. And you would never get to the G...

Wow. I've just been playing with this tapping on 2&4. A bit tricky...but it seems works like magic. My head is bobbing and I AM feeling the groove. :bassist: I'm working on the bass line to "Lady Madonna" and it's sounding more groovier than the day before, just by tapping my foot on 2&4...

Oh! I get it! I can use my drum machine to make a very simple track with rest on 1, snare on 2, rest on 3, snare on 4. I then set to whatever tempo I want. Thanks again.

Thanks. I gave it a try. It was tricky at first, but I soon saw the benefit. I'm going to do this a lot now! Question: This seems like a good technique for when you are practicing lines with exactly 4 quarter notes, right? What if you are practicing more syncopated lines with rests and...

I'm not getting the 'hits on beats 2 & 4' idea. I saw this in the book too. I usually think of the metronome as clicking every quarter note. So I play one note per click if I'm doing a walking quarter note line. What is the idea here? We are setting at 'half speed'. We play the 1 note of...