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Dealing with Frustration?

baddarryl

baddarryl

Oct 26, 2008
1,738
1,537
Cape Fear!
#1
Hi all. I have started playing in my first cover band and I have about 40 songs to learn. I have noodled for years off and on and I guess a better player than I think I am. I did play on a church worship team for about 2 years so I am not afraid of people and am used to learning new songs every week.

I am at a point where I have learned all the easy songs and have filed them away. I am getting into some styles I don't have much experience with. I am up to the challenge, but I wonder how you guys handle when you have that uptight frustrated feeling. I learned to walk away for a bit, but I never set it down for long. Do you guys learn difficult songs in pieces or power through it and learn it no matter what? All the nuances of bass playing are getting to me.

Fortunately I have about 6 weeks to get them all down, so I don't feel a lot of pressure, I am just wondering what are your methods of balancing songs, with theory and other more regimented practice? That has taken a back seat since learning songs. Two questions here I suppose. Thanks!
 
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#5
Ask if you can have sheet music on stage? If so armed with the chord changes, someone singing the song and the drummer's kick drum beat, you should be OK.

I'm always handed fake chord sheet music on what we are to play by the director. That insures everyone is playing from the same sheet of paper, if the director has not given you the sheet music the band will be using - ask for it. I bet the rhythm guitar could get you copies.

This gives me the chord changes and the lyric word the change is over. From that I compose my own base line. Roots work. Roots and 5 even better. If I need more I'll throw in the 8 octave for R-5-8-5. That pretty well gets what I need. Roots, fives and eights, the rest is rhythm. I leave the melody notes to the solo instruments and I take care of the bottom end harmony.

If I'm still having trouble with a specific song I dumb down the fake chord sheet music, i.e. leave out a quick chord change, etc. I never use tab and I always play from sheet music.....or chord charts, even if they are on the floor. Now jamming is another thing, but, I do not expect you will be jamming 40 songs.

You mentioned playing at church - do the same thing with those 40 songs. Is it going to be a two hour gig? You will run through about 18 songs an hour so if it is a two hour gig, yep you will need 40 songs.

No way I could play 40 songs, note by note from tabs. But, give me the chord changes and someone singing the tune and the drummer laying down a good bass drum beat and it kinda all falls into place. Roots, fives and eights plus some rhythm normally get the job done.

Just in case; play the chord's root. Cmaj7 chord coming up in the song, play a C note when the chord becomes active, the five of that chord, should you need it, will be up a string and toward the bridge two frets. Always, that is where 5's live. The 8 of that chord is right over the 5 on the next string up, same fret. Always, that is where 8's live. It's not rocket science. Roots, fives and eights will get you asked back. We'll get into the other stuff later.

Google these search words; chords, name of the song.

Good luck.
 
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#8
If I am preparing for a gig their is no "balance": I only practice the material.

As for " that frustrated uptight feeling", I can't say I have ever been overwhelmed by frustration when learning new material. I Slow it down to get it right, make my own charts to seals it in my memory better. I suppose the problem that needs solving is not your frustration, but the exact thing that is currently frustrating you. Isolate the passage where you fail. Take a deep breath, give yourself permission to screw up. Plan to keep sucking until you don't.
 
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#10
RoadRanger said:
I'm guessing he's playing something besides the two kinds of music they play down in TX (country and western) LOL. He implied that he can't follow chord charts?
Click to expand...

We are doing typical well known 70’s 80s 90s classic rock bar music. I am an old rocker and have no problem laying down that kind of stuff. When I get into the blues and the funk that’s where I struggle. I did not grow up playing that stuff so it is a reach for me. Also many of the songs that we do are highly dependent upon well known basslines that establish the melody and I am the type of person that wants to get it right. If we were a jam band doing simple chord changes I would have no problem rocking R 5 8 all day, but that is not going to cut it in this situation. I could and have followed chord charts in the past, but that also makes me dependent on them and that is something I do not like as much. My experience is when following chord charts it is difficult to memorize the song. We are a live band that likes to engage the crowd and I can’t get stuck looking at a chart all day.
 
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#11
RoadRanger said:
Any particular songs you are having trouble with?
Click to expand...

Brick House, Aeroplane, Red House (almost there). What I find the hardest is all the ghost notes and dancing around the fretboard and maintaining the down beat. As in I know I can simplify Redhouse, but I just doesn’t sound right unless I play it like Noel Redding did. I have been able to take other songs like Govt Mule Drivin Rain and simplify them but sometimes it just does not work for others.
 
#13
I don’t really have enough fretboard knowledge to jump around it comfortably and always be in key. I was just starting to get into that kind of stuff when I join this band. And I think that is really the essence of where my limitation is.
 
#14
Yeah, I have had this. Here’s what I do.

1. Get a couple of sheets of paper and pencil.

2. Subscribe to YouTube Red. This is huge. It’s $9.99 a month but what it means is YouTube with no commercials. Literally the best money spent on music gear ever for me. Tired of having your life bled away 15 seconds at a time? Enough with “skip ad” clicks. Buy this.

3. Try to pick up the songs on the first listen, just like when the idiot guitar player starts into a song at a gig that you haven’t played for a long time and without calling it. Grrrr.

4. Make rudimentary chord charts for each. I’ve found that at most you need a couple lines per song. Add any rhythmic figures, formal weirdnesses or other idiosyncratic parts of the song. I usually can get 8-10 songs on a page.

5. If one is kicking your butt, cheat. Google the song’s name plus “chords.” That can be a big help. Prepare for those solutions to be wrong, however. After a while, you’ll get a feel for sites that have good info and those with lazy, incorrect solutions.

6. If those fail, head for YouTube again for someone showing a “lesson” on the given song. I had to do this for the riff on “Brick House.” Took about two minutes of listening to some kid who knew how it went. Yay. Problem solved - moving on.

7. Build a YouTube playlist with the songs. Practice playing along without stopping and just running down the tubes like in real life.

8. While running them down for real: Stand Up! Your body will learn them better as this is how you perform them.

9. Remembered to take you charts with you. Can’t count how many times I’ve been loaded and leaving with the charts still on the desk. Damn, that was close.

10. Refer to the chart before each song. Takes a couple seconds and usually a guitar player is futzing with this or that so you have time. Your band will grant you a look if it means you’ll play the song better.

You got this. Don’t procrastinate, though. Your brain needs you to sleep on these things to get them into your memory.
 
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#15
baddarryl said:
I am just wondering what are your methods of balancing songs, with theory and other more regimented practice?
Click to expand...
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mambo4 said:
If I am preparing for a gig their is no "balance": I only practice the material.
Click to expand...



also: i think saabfender 's experience/suggestions could be really helpful for you.

best of luck with your band experience! :thumbsup:
 
#17
baddarryl said:
Brick House, Aeroplane, Red House (almost there). What I find the hardest is all the ghost notes and dancing around the fretboard and maintaining the down beat. As in I know I can simplify Redhouse, but I just doesn’t sound right unless I play it like Noel Redding did. I have been able to take other songs like Govt Mule Drivin Rain and simplify them but sometimes it just does not work for others.
Click to expand...
First off, it’s good that your intuition is guiding you away from charts. We all have to play with charts occasionally but it’s way better to internalize. And from post I quoted, it doesn’t sound like memorizing the parts is the issue.

On a song like Aeroplane, it’s hard to get away from the part as played. The only solution is practicing until you have it in your hands. When you say you have trouble maintaining the downbeat, you mean that when you play along you find it hard to keep up? Are you practicing with the recordings? With a metronome? For a song like Aeroplane, if you’re not playing that type of line every day, don’t try to play along with the record right away. Play way slower with a metronome and get the part down. There’s a program called Transcribe which will allow you to slow songs down while maintaining pitch. Maybe try it or something like it?

You have lots of time. Work on it every day and the learning curve will start shooting up.
 
#18
I listen to the songs as much as possible, even if it's just background music while doing things around the house or while driving. That way, I get to know where the changes and breaks are. Then I just sit down and learn them by ear. If I've heard a song several times, I can usually learn it in about 10 minutes. If it's a complicated song, it will take longer but usually no more than 30 to 40 minutes.
 
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#19
Way too much pressure on yourself my friend...if you're stressing, it's not fun and playing should be fun. Look at it like it's a game, each song is a puzzle and you got to find your way through it. Use any and all tools available especially youtube "bass covers"(use an ad blocker to dispense with ads), I find it very helpful if I can watch someone play a song, if nothing else just to get my bearings or to help with an elusive part. Just keep chipping away and keep coming back to the hard songs. You'll get there sooner than you think.
 
#20
I would recommend The Amazing Slowdowner software. Best 50.00 I have spent as a working musician. With it you can slow down the track and loop sections (or both). I will slow down and loop a part that I am working on and when I can play it I gradually increase the speed to 100%
 

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