Recent content by Tuur

One thing that’s helped for both walking and soloing is focusing on hearing 2 and 4 bar phrases. I sometimes still mess up a bar but as I can hear when the next 4 bars start I can quickly pick it up again. It also makes your lines a bit more interesting. Playing an idea 4 bars (e.g 4 bars...

i didn’t even know you can do that! I guess that’s why you’re meant to read the manual… :D

You plug the amp into the bass and the headphone into the amp, so you’re basically plugged straight into the bass so there’s no latency problems. It doesn’t work for recording so for that you need an interface. On the other hand you can move around and practise wherever you want without being...

I’ve been using the Fender Mustang headphone amp. You can connect to your computer/phone via Bluetooth so no messing around with wires. Very happy with it!

I’ve got some books with walking bass transcriptions, but never really felt that anything stuck from looking at those pages of notes. To me the only thing that works is listening to some music and transcribing it.

I’m not sure about the advice to “just listen” as some have suggested above. You need to know what will and won’t sound good before you play it, not after! Also the whole discussion about strong and weak beats is a bit of a garden path, especially if you’re specifically interested in the...

if you want to learn walking bass, it makes sense to stay with looking at existing bass lines. There’s also value in transcribing trumpet, sax, piano etc. solos, but wouldn’t think it should be your first point of call when studying walking bass. For example, you may see more use of...

interesting, you mention your goal is accompanying but the listening you mention is mostly about soloists. The way I read that question was if you’re transcribing any walking bass lines. It may be a better use of your time to learn some vocabulary of great walking bass than reinventing the wheel...

An exercises that has helped me in the past: pick a position on the fretboard (I’d stay with the first 4 frets), then start with the C major scale. Pick the lowest note (open E string) and go all the way up to the highest note on that position (b on the G string), playing each note and saying...

Thanks for the suggestion. Haven’t come across this before so will have a look

Yeah I’ve thought about it, but I don’t want to! Seems like a shame to just give up because I know the joy it can bring. But maybe a little break isnt a bad idea.

Thanks for the practical tip. I’ve heard that before but the thought of listening to myself just seemed awful, but maybe it’s time to finally give it a go.

Great recommendation. I’ve actually got that on my nightstand so maybe time to get back into it again!

thanks! Yes it’s that attitude of not bothering too much that I’m looking for. I also like what you say about figuring out what you have to say, which is something I’ve been thinking about recently. Maybe not so much about being the most technically gifted player but making the most of what you got.