Cool then, I've just seen so many bizarre fingerings etc worked out by people. Or worse, one guy is playing the right notes and is corrected by another because the tab'ed notes are in a different area! A lot of guys couldn't do what you do, change fingerings or position on the neck.
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Bass in a Year
- Thread starter Mike Saville
- Start date
Cool then, I've just seen so many bizarre fingerings etc worked out by people. Or worse, one guy is playing the right notes and is corrected by another because the tab'ed notes are in a different area! A lot of guys couldn't do what you do, change fingerings or position on the neck.
It is a valid point. The question was partly rhetorical.
I do realise that I have a big advantage over complete beginners and as a result I'll never have that 'totally new' feeling when learning bass. This would be the same whichever instrument I chose to learn.
What I do hope to achieve is a more 'back to basics' understanding of the trials and tribulations of learning a new instrument. The practice on my other instruments is not so much about learning but more maintaining current standards and exploring things of interest - not the same challenge at all as learning something new. I don't for example have to struggle to overcome a new technique or fight to understand how to do anything new. It's these experiences I hope to have and learn from.
I did consider guitar for this but my leanings are much more towards the 'low' end
Anyhow, really grateful for input from this forum so far.
Tomorrow is day 1 and I'll record a short vid to mark the occasion - warts and all
Believe me, I understand how inaccurate and/or really odd TAB can be. The reason I use them is because I never have access to the sheets for the songs I'm trying to learn. Usually all I have is chord charts, sometimes not even that, so finding tab for a song at least gives me a place to start.
Would be really nice if I could just play by ear.
You're already 3/4's of the way there with your prior knowledge. My only question is why not play a 6 string. As I said you've got the hardest part of learning a instrument down already. So why not go for broke. As good of a musician as you are, and if you really find you like playing bass, you'll end up there anyway. JMO
Very true. But that's not the purpose of tabs. They simply demonstrate finger positions.
Today was day one of practice!!! 
I'm exploring at the moment before formulating some more firm practice plans for next week.
Today I spent some time going up and down each string trying to learn the note names for each fret - a slow process at the moment which I'm hoping will get faster.
Also had the metronome on to do some right hand fingerpicking - just trying to keep in time - amazing how uneven the rhythm is that my fingers seem to produce!!
I've also tried a couple of left hand finger exercises from TAB. 1. To try and read TAB. 2. To get them fingers working. Pinky and Ring finding it particularly difficult. I'm not going to push it at this stage. Just want to get a feel for things.
Anyhow more to follow
I'm exploring at the moment before formulating some more firm practice plans for next week.
Today I spent some time going up and down each string trying to learn the note names for each fret - a slow process at the moment which I'm hoping will get faster.
Also had the metronome on to do some right hand fingerpicking - just trying to keep in time - amazing how uneven the rhythm is that my fingers seem to produce!!
I've also tried a couple of left hand finger exercises from TAB. 1. To try and read TAB. 2. To get them fingers working. Pinky and Ring finding it particularly difficult. I'm not going to push it at this stage. Just want to get a feel for things.
Anyhow more to follow
That's the right approach. Get into the habbit early on to play pure notes, whatever you play. No buzzes, no rattles, nice pitch. Only once you achieve that at slow speed, you start speeding it up - without comprimising the 'clean' sound.
This is what I have been doing the past couple of days:
It's going OK I think but pinky seems to be very weak atm.
- Learning notes up and down the strings - trying to get familiar with which notes are on which frets.
- Working with metronome on right hand picking - trying to get it rhythmic and even.
- Some finger building exercises that I found on Invalid Link Removed
- Major and Minor Scales and arpreggios.
It's going OK I think but pinky seems to be very weak atm.
It's going to be interesting to see how this goes. I especially want to see how you handle those aspects that don't have to do with technique. I think you said you already know theory, so that's a huge hurdle you have already gone over.
As a new bass owner a couple of things have really helped out. Knowing the fretboard, knowing chord structure being the two biggest IMHO. Playing with others and learning songs is right there. Playing the piss out of my bass. My family is complaining I play 24/7(obviously not). I'm gaing confidence and the bass is starting to feel like an extension of my arms. This is love like your first girlfriend as kid. I have about 7.5 months in playing...working on around 55 tunes...a dozen or so by recall.
This is what I have been doing the past couple of days:It's going OK I think but pinky seems to be very weak atm.
- Learning notes up and down the strings - trying to get familiar with which notes are on which frets.
- Working with metronome on right hand picking - trying to get it rhythmic and even.
- Some finger building exercises that I found on Invalid Link Removed
- Major and Minor Scales and arpreggios.
For me, learning the fretboard just came naturally with the scale practice.
How good can you get in a year?
Wish me luck!
This is way cool in my opinion. You have to keep posting progress reports. But my guess is that you'll do really well. You have the background, you have the discipline, I think you'll do well.
I would ignore TAB. If it's there you might use it, but don't seek it out. If you already read music, you're already past TAB.
Keep us posted.
Hehehe, good luck.
I don't use time as a measure of my practice - but I sometimes wish that I had 24/7 to devote to my projects such as this. Little thing called work tends to get in the way
It's going OK I think but pinky seems to be very weak atm.
Yeah, the pinky is the weakest link. It does get stronger with time. When I started I would focus some practice time solely on developing pinky strength. Not a lot of time, but maybe 5 minutes or so when I was practicing.
I also found, at the time, that it helps if you can keep another finger (I usually used my ring finger) behind your pinky on the same string, helping to hold down the string until your pinky is strong enough to handle the task.
Here's a link you might want to check out:
Free downloadable fretboard interactive learning tool for Microsoft Excel or Open Office spreadsheet
Which begs the question: if you are listening to the record to get the rhythm anyway what good is the tab?
