I think my one shortcoming here is I don't spend as much time on bass technique as I used to, because I'm so busy creating. I work from home, so thankfully I do have a lot of time to play.
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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
I try to spend about 15 minutes in the morning before I leave for work, either practicing my band's original bass lines or some sort of exercise. In the evening I range from noodling pointlessly to practicing
My band meets up for practice once a week these days and we've been working on some new songs, so I've been improvising, solidifying (writing?) the bass lines, and woodshedding them lately. as we've got some gigs lined up in the near future.
to trying to record something to
blowing it off completely. Some nights when I get home I'm just not in the mood. My band meets up for practice once a week these days and we've been working on some new songs, so I've been improvising, solidifying (writing?) the bass lines, and woodshedding them lately. as we've got some gigs lined up in the near future.
I feel ya, Its not a huge priority rn tho. I'm focusing on singing and like, not being terrible at it. Haha. I suspect I'll be working on keys a little more as we start writing or at least figuring out more weird synth parts for some of our music. Worst case Eric offered to play with midi pads for some of those parts behind the drum kit
interesting conversation about practice time.
imho, technique of any sort (bass/piano/pedals/synths) is there in service of what you're trying to do artistically. so, i recently started practicing keys because i wanted to play some synth live and bought a synth (buyer's guilt can be a good motivator for practice
). it wasn't just a matter of some abstract need to practice keys. and i believe that, in the long run, everything you do goes into the melting pot that is *your artistry* . . . however you spend your time in music will come back and help other facets and all that.
if you're creating, i wouldn't worry about technique; when you realize that you need to have more of it, you'll start working on it.
i have a weird life in that i work from home 95% of the time. so my day starts with a short breakfast and then an hour of practice (and writing posts on tb that are rife with typos
). i like practicing when i'm still half asleep cause i've had some breakthroughs due to being barely conscious (since 90% of what do playing bass is improvised, i work on idea creation).
if don't get my day work in, i work on music stuff: programming my new synth, writing music, practicing bass. if i do have work, the music stuff doesn't happen. after dinner i do some more (tonight was piano—i got guilted into it by my earlier comments—and then spent some time trying to break in new strings).
i've basically kept the same regimen for the last 25 years or so—even when my kids were young and i had a regular job, i'd get up early and do the practice thing before taking them to school, practice during lunch at work and then do the nighttime thing after dinner or play gigs. and there were some nights of three hours of sleep (did i mention i got pneumonia at this time?).
anywho, i'm a *big* believer in routine. luckily my spouse is an artist and can deal with it most of the time.
imho, technique of any sort (bass/piano/pedals/synths) is there in service of what you're trying to do artistically. so, i recently started practicing keys because i wanted to play some synth live and bought a synth (buyer's guilt can be a good motivator for practice
). it wasn't just a matter of some abstract need to practice keys. and i believe that, in the long run, everything you do goes into the melting pot that is *your artistry* . . . however you spend your time in music will come back and help other facets and all that.if you're creating, i wouldn't worry about technique; when you realize that you need to have more of it, you'll start working on it.
i have a weird life in that i work from home 95% of the time. so my day starts with a short breakfast and then an hour of practice (and writing posts on tb that are rife with typos
). i like practicing when i'm still half asleep cause i've had some breakthroughs due to being barely conscious (since 90% of what do playing bass is improvised, i work on idea creation).if don't get my day work in, i work on music stuff: programming my new synth, writing music, practicing bass. if i do have work, the music stuff doesn't happen. after dinner i do some more (tonight was piano—i got guilted into it by my earlier comments—and then spent some time trying to break in new strings).
i've basically kept the same regimen for the last 25 years or so—even when my kids were young and i had a regular job, i'd get up early and do the practice thing before taking them to school, practice during lunch at work and then do the nighttime thing after dinner or play gigs. and there were some nights of three hours of sleep (did i mention i got pneumonia at this time?).
anywho, i'm a *big* believer in routine. luckily my spouse is an artist and can deal with it most of the time.
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I'll politely disagree to a small degree, though I also agree to a large degree, too
What I notice is that technique practice on bass can spill over into creative "juice" in other areas. For example, as I work on bass timing or fret work, I find my ear and timing "improves" in other areas. Kinda like athletic cross training, where training on something like ice skating ends up benefiting your tennis game.
Sometimes I find a section of a composition I'm working on isn't working, but I can't tell why. Then after some time away from the DAW, and instead plucking away at the bass to a metronome, my internal clock figures out a timing issue back the DAW.
It flows the other way, of course. Working on melodies and harmony with key/synth playing will benefit my ear when I pick up my bass.
- Mar 8, 2011
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- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Music is my day job, so no matter what, I'm gonna play 6-20 hours a week, occasionally more. With my down time during the day I've been determined to learn this dang modular stuff. So I probably work on music in one form or another 40-50 hours a week...man, I should be way better at it by now!
I'll politely disagree to a small degree, though I also agree to a large degree, too
What I notice is that technique practice on bass can spill over into creative "juice" in other areas. For example, as I work on bass timing or fret work, I find my ear and timing "improves" in other areas. Kinda like athletic cross training, where training on something like ice skating ends up benefiting your tennis game.
i hear you. but you could say much about practicing piano or analyzing score: it'll sharpen your ear, help develop harmonic knowledge, etc.
to me, that's a whole different thing. i consider that being the piece's "gestation period" . . . your subconscious is working on stuff—problem solving—and you go have some fun playing the bass. then you get the solution . . .
for example: i have a concert coming up in may. i've booked the players and know what i have to do (it's a long-form piece made up of 23 miniatures for quartet of piano, oboe/english horn, cello and me). since october i've been compiling the ideas. i had about 8 pieces written, but have been mulling stuff over for months. in the last few days, i had a breakthrough and have written another 6 or so. (it didn't hurt that i booked the first rehearsal.)
yes . . .
my point is that it all helps create the artist in you.
and do i think that being creative is more important than having "great" technique (how many great technicians bore you silly?). it's funny because a lot of the reason we're in this thread is because we're looking for stuff that augments or complements bass playing. at least that's my thought.
you're lucky that you can do that. i found it really hard to be able to balance being who i wanted to be with being who other people wanted me to be.
I envy you guys... when I was single and living alone in my apartment I'd say I got 8 or so hours a week in practicing at nights plus 4 hour band practice on weekends ... a couple of years ago I used to be slack but still keep up most of it and have a 3 hour band practice every week to keep me up to scratch... now married with four young kids I'm lucky to mess with synths and my bass once or twice a week and my band being kinda mostly defunct we've gotten practice in once every two months or so 
I envy you guys... when I was single and living alone in my apartment I'd say I got 8 or so hours a week in practicing at nights plus 4 hour band practice on weekends ... a couple of years ago I used to be slack but still keep up most of it and have a 3 hour band practice every week to keep me up to scratch... now married with four young kids I'm lucky to mess with synths and my bass once or twice a week and my band being kinda mostly defunct we've gotten practice in once every two months or so
Look on the bright side. You've got kids you can pass the music bug along to. One of my good friends is going through that with his teenage son, and it's lovely to see him enjoy the moments. I can tell they don't really jam much with each other, but they obviously communicate and talk shop. It keeps the fires burning.
Well, I skipped bass practice tonight. I was working on producing another track, and I just couldn't stop, because the ideas were flowing.
I was a little bit apprehensive about this track when I started it, and a bit frustrated with it for a while, but I turned the corner tonight. It's become what I wanted it to be for this project.
Next week I'm going to try recording vocals for it, with a friend who has a theatrical background and is a heck of a karaoke singer. That'll be challenging for me, as it's out of my comfort zone, and this track is growing in me as an instrumental. It was planned to be a vocal track from the start, though. I am planning to mangle the vocals with Reaktor's The Mouth, so there is that
I was a little bit apprehensive about this track when I started it, and a bit frustrated with it for a while, but I turned the corner tonight. It's become what I wanted it to be for this project.
Next week I'm going to try recording vocals for it, with a friend who has a theatrical background and is a heck of a karaoke singer. That'll be challenging for me, as it's out of my comfort zone, and this track is growing in me as an instrumental. It was planned to be a vocal track from the start, though. I am planning to mangle the vocals with Reaktor's The Mouth, so there is that
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
I envy you guys... when I was single and living alone in my apartment I'd say I got 8 or so hours a week in practicing at nights plus 4 hour band practice on weekends ... a couple of years ago I used to be slack but still keep up most of it and have a 3 hour band practice every week to keep me up to scratch... now married with four young kids I'm lucky to mess with synths and my bass once or twice a week and my band being kinda mostly defunct we've gotten practice in once every two months or so
Well, I don't have kids, which I think would've been awesome. Everything is a trade off
I have way less time now to practice.
On bass I now mostly do technique with fingers and pick in order to stay "in shape". Maybe an hour a day on weekdays.
Rest of available music time is spent writing stuff for my band, chopping samples and experimenting various other things. Lately is been the no input mixer. But this week it"s at the band's rehearsal space so I might start just spending time with my SP404sx and sample whatever I get my hands on, something cool always seems to happen with that thing, forces you to be creative. Plus with the FX on that you can tweak and mangle till you drop.
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But even now I still listen to a crap ton of music. If I don't do that I literally feel ill. Been like that since my early teens.
I threw this one together, last night. I'm really trying to generate content for the duo, every week. Good one for just putting on in the background.
Awesome, I like the slight percussion stabs here and there. Nice textures. Video is 10;20.....but there is nothing past 7;'25
Keep workinonit...!!
- Apr 19, 2001
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Hey folks. What would be the cheapest but reliable and good sounding reverb pedal? I'm wanting to do a video of some ambient tones of gear from various price ranges, I have an RV-6 I picked up, but wondering if there's something even cheaper out there that can be recommended
As not one who has cheap pedals but reads a lot of pedal reviews, look at the Mooer and Donner stuff. I believe they have some shimmer verb type pedals.
