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Back into Bass the right way!

Srw1525

Srw1525

Apr 2, 2014
11
60
37
Sneads Ferry, NC
www.facebook.com
#1
Hey everyone, my name is Scott. I want to ask for opinions and places where to go. I’ve played bass in a metal band before but with that it was just hey play the notes where playing. For the 5 years I was in the band before we broke up, it was just that. I’ve been out of playing bass for a few years now. Had to sell most of my stuff due to moving and needed the extra cash for the move. Now that we’re all settled and stable, I would love to get back into it and will be soon on the worship hand at my church.

Now in doing so of getting back into bass playing, I want to do it THE RIGHT WAY. Basically from scratch but not sure where to begin. Can someone point me in the right direction toward learning what to learn first and or a list of things to work on? I’m not sure where to begin and progress.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to meeting some of you and learning from you guys!
 
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#6
Praise music - Fake chord sheet music will be handed out. Keep the song's fake chord sheet music in a gig folder as that song will come back active in a couple of weeks. Before long you will have built a gig book on what you guys will be playing.

Using the fake chord sheet music follow the chords as they become active and play a root on the first beat and third beat.

R--R--. If the guys swing it play the Root on the 2nd and forth beat. Any walks or licks are usually done between verses. So, get the fake chord and pound out roots.

Praise will use 6 or 7 of the chords in a key so get all of them into muscle memory. Play the beat and hang on.

O'h don't step on toes, we are there for the accompaniment.
 
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#8
Learning how to get the best sound possible from your hands, is something that is really important to me. Left hand and right working together to produce different tones, volume levels and accents. I like to set the knobs where they're going to stay (on the instrument and the amp) and control all of the volume and tone with how I play, and not incessant (knob) tweaking.

One other thing I would do is try your best to tune by ear. To start with, use a tuner to tune one string (I use the A string), and then tune the rest of the strings to that. The further away two strings at the same pitch are from being in tune with each other, the faster you'll hear the sound waves clashing against one another. As you get closer in tune, the clash of the sound waves of the two strings playing the same pitch will slow down and eventually even out. There's a little more to it than that, but that is a very good place to start. Just using this tuning method has forced me into ear training on a subconscious level.

That's two things that you can do on your own that's not necessarily song based, or explicitly theory based, that will slowly and surely make your playing aurally more pleasing, if not technically better.
 
#9
A few lesson from a pro would be money well spent just to make sure posture and physical things are well in place and any bad habits from the metal band days are avoided.
After that, learning how to know what notes you need to play from some kind of written sheet is knowledge you'll need. Knowing what notes are part of a chord symbol or reading standard notation will be very helpful. With chords, you can hang on the root as a starter and then progress to other notes as your knowledge increases or the musical need dictates.
Good luck enjoy the trip. Music is a great place to be.
 

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