So I have been taking a little break from bass over the last year and have been focusing on bluegrass mandolin and guitar. It's been a great learning experience on its own, but I wanted to share some insights that are relevant to bass from playing other instruments. Here's what I learned:
1. Picks are great! The sound doesn't fit every genre but when it does fit, I feel like I can play with great speed and precision that I never could with fingerstyle.
2. Keeping time with your body is important. In bluegrass, the right hand is always keeping in time with the beat, down on the 1,2,3,4 and up on the "and". This motion really helped me to feel the time in a way that I hadn't before.
3. Simple basslines can be awesome. Most bluegrass basslines are just root-5 with a few extra notes thrown in (walkdowns and similar things) and they can groove really hard.
4. Proper posture is incredibly important. I got a tendon injury from bad posture on the mandolin and could not play at all for over a month. I've since corrected my posture but it still gives me pain sometimes. Check your posture and make sure your wrists and back are straight!
1. Picks are great! The sound doesn't fit every genre but when it does fit, I feel like I can play with great speed and precision that I never could with fingerstyle.
2. Keeping time with your body is important. In bluegrass, the right hand is always keeping in time with the beat, down on the 1,2,3,4 and up on the "and". This motion really helped me to feel the time in a way that I hadn't before.
3. Simple basslines can be awesome. Most bluegrass basslines are just root-5 with a few extra notes thrown in (walkdowns and similar things) and they can groove really hard.
4. Proper posture is incredibly important. I got a tendon injury from bad posture on the mandolin and could not play at all for over a month. I've since corrected my posture but it still gives me pain sometimes. Check your posture and make sure your wrists and back are straight!
