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Can anyone play????!!!!!

#61
Originally posted by c-ba55
Without an mp3 of my dazzling technique ;) it seems kind of pointless to say over the internet that I'm any good though.
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that's not really necessary - nobody should have anything to prove, and if it sounds that way, i think that's a mistake. i think the point that should be obvious from this whole thread is that most people who think they are totally awesome are folks who haven't been exposed to too much diversity in the bass playing that they've been listening to. i know this, i was there about 12 or 13 years ago, i thought i was the sh!t, top gun - i wasn't really arrogant, just overly confident, and then i met a few guys who totally blew my mind. what followed was one of the biggest growing phases in my playing. when i thought i was top gun, i wasn't really getting anywhere, playing-wise, but that changed when i realized how much i had to learn.

when we think we are awesome, we have a tendancy to not wish to learn or to think we don't need to. what a lot of experienced players have learned is the proper attitude for growth is one of humility and openness to other players and styles of music, and an open mind to learning, to being influenced and impressed, an enlightened sense of their place in the great bass-guitar scheme of things. it's a very buddhist concept, actually. :D
 
#63
Hey no slam intended at those of us with actual mp3s of dazzling technique. Muchos kudos to that, definitely.

I got an excellent sense of my place in the world by attending UC Berkeley and majoring in math. I realized being really, really good at math is not even close to the same thing as being really, really, really good at math. I met many of the top people in the world, and saw a gaping chasm between us. You can only improve your natural gifts so far. I have probably a one-person-in-a-hundred-thousand talent at math, and when combined with 20-something years of education, that and $2 buys a gallon of gas. Harsh world. :(

As a bass player, I have the facility to play anything, within reason. My creativity is not significantly hampered by my technique or my theory knowledge any more, so that is the sense in which I do not suck. Getting from there to the point where I crank out distinctly memorable basslines is a big step, and where I'm trying to spend my developmental efforts. Alternately, I could keep practicing technique until I could play anything, even beyond reason, but for me right now that seems the less enjoyable and less fruitful avenue. I'm listening to stuff now and not thinking how did he do that, but rather why did he do that.
 
#64
QUOTE: "My creativity is not significantly hampered by my technique or my theory knowledge any more, so that is the sense in which I do not suck. Getting from there to the point where I crank out distinctly memorable basslines is a big step, and where I'm trying to spend my developmental efforts."

- - Personally, my knowledge of theory and technique is not all that. I am happy with my playing (although I still strive to be better), but I'm certainly no Jaco.

...but, I find creating relatively original basslines and melodies very easy.

I have so many melodies, riffs, rhthyms, sounds, part-songs & ideas all backed-up waiting for the day when I can use them...

Putting a bassline to other peoples music can be tricky at times, but I always find what I'm looking for in the end. I'm currently trying to improve my knowledge of scales etc.. to speed up the process of finding the groove/line in my head...

Please don't think I'm trying to show off here, I'm just saying... after all I could be completely kidding myself and all these ditties I have could be complete rubbish!!! Who knows?


QUOTE: "I'm listening to stuff now and not thinking how did he do that, but rather why did he do that."

I don't understand? - Please can you elaborate, how do you think "why did he play that?" - surely the answer is in the sound, in the music? Like, 'he played that becasue it sounded good?'

I rarely think, how did he do that (unless it's some awesome technique) but I often think, what is he playing? What scales/notes/mode or whatever is he playing that makes that chord sound so good, bad, happy, sad, evil ,or whatever?
 
#65
Also, WRT awesome technique, I very rarely want to play mad fast stuff anymore...

I saw a streaming media clip of Wooten playing 1028th notes or some MAD sh*t (serioulsy amazing!!!) and I thought, wow - then i went home and tried it, till i got the idea of what he was doing and then thought, I could spend yeatrs rying to leanr this technique and i am never going to use it... and I gave up trying!

Maybe that's defeatist, but genuinely, much as it is impressive I have to say that I dont really see the musicality in it and I cant see how spending hours learning it, to only use it once or twice to maximum effect is worth it. Especially when the only audience who appreciate how MAD it is are the bass players, I dont think anyone else gives monkeys!!

I'm talking about Wooten or Stu Hamm type amazing technique, you know, the sort of thing that just blows your mind and the 1st thing you think, is "How much does he practice?"
 
#66
i agree there, arther. i used to give lessons when i was in college, a bunch of kids wanted to learn the billy sheehan style tapping, like on his solos, so i learned nv43345 and 3n18 3n17 or whatever that second talas solo was, along with bits of other stuff, but after a while, i forgot them all - i'm not really in a band that takes advantage of that kind of playing, so why bother.

still, though, it was good to know, even if i don't ever use it.
 
#67
Originally posted by arther daily

QUOTE: "I'm listening to stuff now and not thinking how did he do that, but rather why did he do that."

I don't understand? - Please can you elaborate, how do you think "why did he play that?" - surely the answer is in the sound, in the music? Like, 'he played that becasue it sounded good?'

I rarely think, how did he do that (unless it's some awesome technique) but I often think, what is he playing? What scales/notes/mode or whatever is he playing that makes that chord sound so good, bad, happy, sad, evil ,or whatever?
Click to expand...


I mean I have been seeking out basslines that just blow all my circuits, and spend a lot of time with them. Why play that note, that rhythm over that part of the song? Jamerson is a good one to dig into. Also Paul Chambers. I try to go through the Charlie Parker omnibook also, but that frankly just leaves me depressed. To improvise that at 300bpm is beyond unreal. Then if you go in and look at it, maybe some of it has to do with saxophone fingerings, but still he puts in these notes I would NEVER expect, that work better than any of the other 11 notes he might have picked for that spot.

Every once in a while, when I'm not paying attention, my subconscious will play a Jamersonesque turnaround or something I would typically not be able to conceive, and that's the biggest smile you'll ever see on me. Eventually, I'll figure it all out. Then you'll see me on TV like Wynton. "Jamerson would have played this ba-do-wee-da-boobie, but Chambers would be more like boo-dung-dee-da-bopple."
 
#68
In addition to the fact that a really excellent bassitst does not go around telling everyone how well he/she plays they let their music speak for them, a lot of people who are just learning come to these forums to read on techniques and ideas other bassists have in order to better themselves as a player. I have been playing for a year now and I know that I have learned a lot from reading these posts and by asking questions, in order to be "pretty good" you have to be pretty modest and ask questions as well as absorb other peoples ideas whether you agree or not.
 
#69
Aah, I thought that was what you meant...

"How on Earth did he come up with that?"

"What creative part of his brain made him think of playing that note?"

"...and how come I don't have that!"

I find it very easy to appreciate other peoples music and be impressed at how creative it is, while ignoring my own talent and thinking "I'm just not as creative".

I've recently been jamming with two guys, a guitarist and a saxophonist. None of us are amazing musos but between we can hold down a decent jam between us. We always get as stoned as possible (I'm not condoning that I assure you) before we play and record everything via a 4-track.

During our 1st session I thought I played terribley, until two weeks later when I got a copy and realised I actually played some really nice bass.
 
#70
Ok all you young boys! When you are old enough to go to a club go to a great jazz club and watch! If youre lucky go to a large city and see someone like John Scofield or Robert Walters and the 20th congress! Or maybe the gray boy allstars! If you still think that you are th shiiiittt then i will bow to you my friends! But thats what i always tell people that are too up on themselfs! I feel that iam a good bass player because ive set in with some really great bands and did just fine! But then again ive played bass for 16 years and you for 2? I wont be the best bass player that i can be till iam dead and in heaven! Then maybe some of my bass questions will be answerd! And also maybe god can tell me what the hell did he do to woman to make them so damn strange!
 
#71
Hey eric... I go to the local jazz club nearly every week in Reading. I watch bass players there who are a hundred times better than me, but that doesn't stop me being good does it?

I can be good and still have an infinite amount to learn.

My best mate plays guitar, specifically blues & rock. One night he got up and did a blues jam with the guys at the jazz club (we kinda know some of them).
During the next number the guitarist tried to play a blues solo... and failed. I'm not 'into' blues, but I know a good solo when I hear one and this was a BAD solo!

The moral being that these jazz guys may be good, but that doesnt mean they're good at everthing and while I believe jazz is a very technical form of music, it's not the be-all and end-all of music.

If you cant rock, you cant rock and that's it.
 
#76
I find it interesting that the kids who've been playing for 2-3 years are the virtuosos. Mmmm, nope, I can very honestly say that I know its crap. Sorry.

As for me...Im nowhere near where I want to be, and Im not close (ESPECIALLY with my hand condition). The more I play Jazz (funner than anything else, for me), the more I see my weaknesses and...the other weaknesses! But, because I'm playing it so much (I'll be the only freshman in high school jazz band EVER at my school next year! :cool: ), I've grown a LOT more than I would've otherwise. Most of the people who think they ARE the sh!t just haven't been exposed to the "right" kinds of materials to further their musical horizons. Like I said, I've still got a long long, slow road ahead of me. But, I wouldn't have it any other way.

In a nutshell: There is so much music left for me to learn and absorb that I don't have time to worry about whether I'm god's gift to bass or if I suck.
 
#79
I'm nowhere close to where I'd like to be. I'm only as good as any other bass player who's only been at it 2 years. There's so much I need to learn, and so much yet to be played that I always feel really puny when I pick up a bass...of course, that's part of what drives me.
 

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