Am I bass tone deaf?

[iwannalearnbass]

I've been playing bass for over half a year now, and occasionally I have trouble distinguishing bass notes when they are only a semitone apart. I never had this problem when I played piano or guitar.

Is it that low frequency notes are just harder to tell apart or are my ears weird?

 

[David Jayne]

It's not you- low notes are harder to distinguish. We spend lots of effort on fixing this. EQ is usually your friend here.

 

[MonkeyBass]

I've been playing bass for over half a year now, and occasionally I have trouble distinguishing bass notes when they are only a semitone apart. I never had this problem when I played piano or guitar.

Is it that low frequency notes are just harder to tell apart or are my ears weird?

That's common for beginners. Just keep working on it and the listening skill will develop. The best thing to do is just keep trying. Bass notes are harder to hear due to the longer wavelength of the notes.

Try learning a song by ear and THEN going and getting a RELIABLE transcription (no internet tab) to see how you did.

 

[MNAirHead]

It's a common issue.. much of this comes into the part of anticipating the chart.

The cool thing about bass is if you flub very low - folks can't hear it (don't ask me about yesterday laying an Fgroove over an Echart).. seriously the sound guy has perfect pitch and didn't know why I was aplogizing.

For most tunes a tonic/5th is a good anchor until it becomes clear.

 

[iwannalearnbass]

Thanks. Was getting a bit worried that I've been standing too close to the amp or something and destroyed the low-end spectrum of my hearing...

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

well, to that end, wear ear-plugs to all rehearsals and concerts.
get a good quality pair and it'll just drop the dB's without killing frequencies.

 

[SwamiRob]

Yeah like these guys say you'll get used to it, when I started 9 years ago I wasn't even sure all the frets were notes for a couple of days cos I couldn't finger half of them so you could be alot worse off. You'll develop an ear for it eventually, I've started to be able to tell whether I'm out of tune just by the feel of the notes without even hearing them in comparison to other instruments, like when your clicking along unplugged when your guitar players sound checking and stuff along those lines.

 

[Haruni]

Yeah, the low frequencies are harder to distinguish, and also are the ones that you'll ever hear. It's just a thing that happens a lot in beginners, but don't get overwhelmed

 

[DeluxeRed]

Part of this is the difference between "muddiness" and "clearness" of tone. Part of it is the projection and dispersion of bass notes. Adding some high-mid and higher freqs will make the notes more distinct and easier to pick out. Play at different octaves to see if it still sounds like the right note. Play the typical companion notes (5th, etc) and see if they still sound right as well. Don't have your amp pointed at your ankles. Don't play louder than you have to.

If you're listening to recorded bass, much of the more "modern" stuff (and pre-60's stuff as well) has very messy production and can be hard to distinguish. As well, many times there are multiple bass tracks, sometimes with different tones or presence, sometimes with different notes, all combined into one "bass track", and that can make it hard to really tell what's going on.

Add to that odd or sloppy tunings, sloppy tuning centers, and sloppy performances, it can be hard to hear it sometimes.

Some people are more disposed to hear bass than others, and that is often the case with people who have chosen to pick up instruments in that register.

 

[billoetjen]

Interesting fundamental (no pun intended) question you have here. I think that our sense of pitch is part hard-wired at birth and part experience. It takes time for the brain to rewire itself. I made a lot of progress in a short time using an ear training program from Jamie Aebersold. Put the CD's in the car stereo and go for a drive (a couple of hundred times). It takes concentration and discipline like any good music practice.
Keep at it, and most of all, have fun!

 

[MNAirHead]

I've been playing bass for over half a year now, and occasionally I have trouble distinguishing bass notes when they are only a semitone apart. I never had this problem when I played piano or guitar.

Is it that low frequency notes are just harder to tell apart or are my ears weird?

Another opinion is to start with something basic, simple and deliberate.. Blues or 70s Willie Nelson (red Headed stranger) is a good staring point.

 

[Diogenes]

I've been playing bass for over half a year now, and occasionally I have trouble distinguishing bass notes when they are only a semitone apart. I never had this problem when I played piano or guitar.

Is it that low frequency notes are just harder to tell apart or are my ears weird?

It can happen even once you're experienced. There are times when I can't really hear what note I'm playing until I turn my head a certain way or stand in another spot. In my case it's a combination of genetics, age, inner ear damage and room dynamics that are the cause.

 

[geoff_in_nc]

Interesting question, and thanks for asking it... I've been wondering the same things myself. I'm relatively a bass-novice by the way, although on guitar I consider myself to have a pretty good ear. Its my 4 string's open E to maybe open A that confounds me the most. For example I was trying to learn a couple songs the other day and was consistently "hearing" and hitting an E when I should have been on F.

 

[AQUANOVA]

I don't know what kind of strings you're using but...
Sometimes beginners use flat wound strings because they are easier on the fingers.
This is a mistake because round wound or half round strings have a much more dynamic sound that can really help you out in hearing the lower notes.

 

[dvh]

It can happen even once you're experienced. There are times when I can't really hear what note I'm playing until I turn my head a certain way or stand in another spot. In my case it's a combination of genetics, age, inner ear damage and room dynamics that are the cause.

+1 it's not just a beginner's thing. I have great pitch but still have trouble sometimes distinguishing on the lower frets of the E string, depending on the room acoustics, volume of everything else, etc.

 

[dvh]

I don't know what kind of strings you're using but...
Sometimes beginners use flat wound strings because they are easier on the fingers.
This is a mistake because round wound or half round strings have a much more dynamic sound that can really help you out in hearing the lower notes.

That sounds a bit odd to me. In my travels, you can't find a single bass in any store strung with flats, beginner's or otherwise, and the strings display will have one set of flats for every dozen or more sets of rounds.

So, like what must be nearly the same for everyone else my first bass had rounds and that's all I used for 30 years. In the past year I've discovered the MANY benefits of flats, including, you can hear yourself much better in the mix when jamming or gigging.

As always, YMMV....

 

[cnltb]

It's not you- low notes are harder to distinguish. We spend lots of effort on fixing this. EQ is usually your friend here.

...and bad cabs and amps are most certainly one of the enemies!

 

[Craig_S]

Slightly OT but pitch related:

I've been on stage, in a large club, at high volume, and noticed that if I moved to a certain part of the stage, I could hear the sound bend. Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but it's true. I checked it several times. I must have looked really stupid rocking in and out of the spot. It was almost like the entire band was playing fretless, and when I stepped into that certain area, we all slid down a half step (or so).

On topic:

I've had occasion to experience what the OP is talking about, as well. The solution is to EQ more mids into your rig, so you have some note definition.

 

[Kevin Guin]

In my experience, tone-deafness is rare. Some people are, for sure, better at hearing than others, though. My advice would be to make sure that you can always sing your bass lines. If you sing the actual pitches then you train your ear and start developing solid relative pitch on your instrument. Then you will start to pre-hear the lines that you improvise.

 

[bluesy_92]

That's common for beginners. Just keep working on it and the listening skill will develop. The best thing to do is just keep trying. Bass notes are harder to hear due to the longer wavelength of the notes.

Try learning a song by ear and THEN going and getting a RELIABLE transcription (no internet tab) to see how you did.

I'm gonna have to agree with monkeybass here....that how I learn. i play by ear, THEN look up the song. i've realized that every couple songs I improve. the more you play by ear and check your mistakes, the closer you get to perfection.