Can't stay on beat

[LayDownABoogie]

This seems to be an ongoing thing I've noticed with TB and it's turning me off. Just give the OP your advice or opinion and stop arguing with each other as though we each have captured the one true path to bass playing excellence. As soon as the first negative comment is started the thread loses, the OP loses and we all lose. Give your opinion towards the OP's original question or request for help. Keep your negative opinions to yourself. There are many paths to successful bass playing. As evidence just consdier the great number of great bass players we can all name or list. Clearly they were not all taught the same way and could possibly provide different answers as well. One thing you won't find them doing is slamming each other's advice or opinion. To the OP, take all that you see with a grain of salt and try different solutions and you'll find one that works for you eventually. When you read a comment that indicates that someone else is wrong or gave you the worst advice ever, take that too with a grain of salt. There is no one school of bass mastery and many ways to skin a cat. Keep an open mind and don't be afraid to continue to ask questions. I have been been playing for 41 years and yes I do have a metronome and I use it for different types of practice. I especially use it when I am building up a certain lick or putting together a run to build it up to speed while at least having a tempo to try and stick to. I do not know of any professional bass player who is actively gigging, and teaching that would tell you it's bad to have a metronome.

Lol ! So there is no right or wrong way... But using a metronome is the right way.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

OK, well I guess I'm exceptionally awesome then

So where can I hear that?

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Lol ! So there is no right or wrong way... But using a metronome is the right way.

Using a metronome is only useful if you thoroughly comprehend that the only thing it does is show you the dead center of the beat. From there a good first step is to use it to explore five fundamental places to play the time: Way behind, a little behind, down the middle, a little ahead and way ahead. With it mindlessly beeping away on 2&4 or 1&3 under everything you practice like a lot of players do is thoughtless and juvenile and will effect your playing that way. If you're not going to make the effort to really get inside and understand your weaknesses you may as well not practice with a metronome. It's a tool to expose those weaknesses not a crutch to compensate for them. Ultimately you have to figure out where the time is independent of the metronome.

Metronomes are not the end all, be all. For most of the history of humans creating music we got along fine without them.

 

[JimmyM]

So where can I hear that?

Nowhere, because I made it up. I have really good time and my playing is good but not exceptional.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Nowhere, because I made it up. I have really good time and my playing is good but not exceptional.

OK, good luck with that.
Have a blessed day.

 

[fraublugher]

When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.

 

[Groove Master]

This seems to be an ongoing thing I've noticed with TB and it's turning me off. Just give the OP your advice or opinion and stop arguing with each other as though we each have captured the one true path to bass playing excellence. As soon as the first negative comment is started the thread loses, the OP loses and we all lose. Give your opinion towards the OP's original question or request for help. Keep your negative opinions to yourself. There are many paths to successful bass playing. As evidence just consdier the great number of great bass players we can all name or list. Clearly they were not all taught the same way and could possibly provide different answers as well. One thing you won't find them doing is slamming each other's advice or opinion. To the OP, take all that you see with a grain of salt and try different solutions and you'll find one that works for you eventually. When you read a comment that indicates that someone else is wrong or gave you the worst advice ever, take that too with a grain of salt. There is no one school of bass mastery and many ways to skin a cat. Keep an open mind and don't be afraid to continue to ask questions. I have been been playing for 41 years and yes I do have a metronome and I use it for different types of practice. I especially use it when I am building up a certain lick or putting together a run to build it up to speed while at least having a tempo to try and stick to. I do not know of any professional bass player who is actively gigging, and teaching that would tell you it's bad to have a metronome.

+1000

So true, thanks for putting in it in a well-written way ;-)

 

[precijazz]

Tapping your foot requires additional mental processes that might confuse the student even more. Introducing additional motor coordination to an already difficult process in a student's learning curve will not fix the problem. Internalizing the timing the metronome provides will.

I'm not a teacher, but I disagree anyway. I see playing in time and keeping time while playing as a way of multitasking. Your brain has to learn to take care of several things at once, and learn them well enough to do them subconsciously. One of these things, playing, you do physically. I know that, at least for me, taking the other thing, keeping time, to a physical level, too, helped me learning and still helps me doing it.

I learned playing in time in a marching band, which takes the principle of tapping your foot to the extreme. Playing bass, my time and my groove are way better when I move some part of my body (other than my hands) to the rhythm compared to when I just stand still. Maybe that's just me, but I feel I see more musicians with good time tapping/moving than not.

And regarding the difficulty of introducing additional motor coordination to an already difficult process: if drummers can do it...