Do you count or feel rythms?

[Manny Bernardez]

Ever since day one I started listening to the song and bass part enough times so that I can sing it. This is how I learned to pick apart bass lines from records. Then I grew more proficient and critical with my listening. And began to learn every instrument and part in my head. This critical listening/ being able to sing every part has incredibly helped solidify my feel, groove and pocket dominion. Also allows me to write better, more balanced basslines. That are more coherent with the other instruments/parts.

Last tip I have for ya. I learn grooves and feels better when I slow them down (by allot). I do this by singing the bass part super slow. Then I learn that on the bass. Once you have the feel internalized at that slower speed it becomes super easy to nail all the subdivisions in your head when you speed it up.

Granted we are all different but this has proven very fruitful for moi.

Hope this helps!!!!

 

[delta7fred]

Both, but by feel mainly.

 

[OogieWaWa]

The only things I usually have to count is during rests, but where I don't come in on the 1. Like slides into the 1 (Fat Bottom Girls comes to mind), and those things that "lead into and include the 1, but are actually part of the previous measure." I don't know the term for that. Same for lyrics that do that. Always had a hard time with that concept for some reason.

 

[NoSlapForYou]

Depends on how complex it is. It also depends on what you mean by "count." I'm rarely going "1 and, 2 and, 3 and" etc. But I might be nodding my head and tapping my foot to help feel those subdivisions.

 

[bolophonic]

Feel.

 

[WhenTheDrumsStops]

I feel. I started out with a bad feel, because it got disrupted by rational counting and the narrative from teachers that counting is good and a must, but over the 30 years of playing I lost most of that bad influence. The more I feel the better I start to play.

 

[Robscott]

It is hard for me to not count...

I played classical for 3 years when I was doing my music degree and you have to read and count when you have long section with out playing

Nah, just follow the guy in the next seat

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Nah, just follow the guy in the next seat

Good luck if you are the only DB

 

[zontar]

For me it's not an either/or scenario.

Sure, sometimes it is more by counting & sometimes more by feel, but there is also no reason it can't be both at the same time--because I know I do that.

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Mostly feel, but I can and do count them out if I need to.

 

[juggahnaught]

Honestly? Feel. I use my ears and my sense of pulse for everything; I couldn't play music without them.

If I have to LEARN a complex rhythm that I can't listen to to internalize it (if I'm reading music or something and I don't have a recording) then yes, I'll count it out until I can internalize it; I learn it so that I don't have to count it to play it.

If I'm having trouble with a section or something, I'll count.

If I'm explaining a rhythm to someone or showing someone something, I'll count.

If I'm trying to sight read music (a skill I lack) I have to count it out. This might get better as I learn to instantly recognize rhythmic phrases and figures.

But if I can listen to it or I know the piece - the "counting" happens automatically. It's like reading text - you can't look at a street sign without reading it, if that makes sense. It's like a different thought process, a different part of the brain. (Granted, I grew up with music, so maybe that's why.)

Of note, this means that I tend to "count by feel". I don't have a really good explanation for this, but Take Five by Brubeck is a good example. It's in 5/4. I don't count 1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5 - I feel it as "ONE - - four five ONE - - four five ONE" and I go by the pulses. If I'm counting in 7/8, I generally count it in half-time - so (for lack of a better way of saying it in text) "ONE two three fourONE two three fourONE two three fourONE...". I realize that it's hard to explain this in text - this probably doesn't make any sense - but I pretty much do this for all odd meters.

I don't think I could play if I had to try to count every beat. It'd be like trying to run while thinking about how to move all of your limbs.

 

[rufus.K]

Most is by feel.
Occasionally i count.
I endeavor to internalize it into by body so i don't have to count.

 

[IamGroot]

If i am playing a gig, i am feeling the pulse, but if the drummer throws in a polyrhythm, i instantly visualize the response as sheet music.

Wierd.

 

[jdh3000]

I have been playing bass for a very long time, but I don't know much about music theory. Some people have told me that I don't have any issues with time in my playing. I play rythms by feel and don't think about anything when I play.
But...
Sometimes I come accross rythms that I just can't "feel". One good example is Metallica - Anesthesia (the bass solo). In the very beginning there are basic 4/4 bars and 8th notes. But for me it feels really hard to keep track of time when I'm repeating 3 notes in 8th notes. The song makes me count "one two three one two three" so I don't know where the real "one" is.
I tried to bob my head and keep counting the time but then I couldn't hear or "feel" the notes I was playing.

I guess practicing more with a metronome would help
Does anyone else have problems with these kind of rythms?

I don't consciously count, but I feel a counting going on, I am aware of timing happing, it is definitely more feel.

Rarely when we are working up something in practice, the drummer and I may do some counting together if the song has some weird beats, but it's just to lock it in.

 

[dan1952]

Both.

 

[Element Zero]

Both

 

[Fergie Fulton]

We start by learning to count.

Counting is a system that repeats the passing of time...many use numbers, many do not
I have worked with players that cannot related to 1234, or the words, one two three four, but can related to, cat dog cow duck.. Or any other similar phonetic words or letters.. ABCD will work as good.

So long as you can repeat them they will show a relation to the passage of time.

Once you can relate to the passage of time you develop feel.
Feel is the internal passage of time, no thinking required.

Some people have the opposite, a relationship to feel without being able explain why they can do it.
So they can never teach what they do... Just saying "Feel it and play" is not a lesson anyone pays for.

So when we learned to read, we used our finger on page to follow the words, this is following time, after we learn to follow time we stop using our fingerr to follow the words and just feel them, we feel. Thw rhythm of the text we read... But no-one will ever remember the day they stopped using their finger and felt the rhythm of reading...

So it is with learning to count and relating it to music, we learn to count and that turns into feel, we never really remember when we stopped counting and stated feeling.

For me, i teach counting in 8s so it is,
12345678, 22345678, 32345678, 42345678, 52345678, 62345678, 72345678, 82345678.

Counting in 8s,.and learning to feel in 8s helps develop feel within tempo.
So you have to feel the "1" over a longer period of time passing rather than a shorter time of time passing.

 

[2F/2F]

There is a part/riff here or there for which I will kind of count (not necessarily counting the meter if the song, but counting whatever I need to count to nail the part). Other than that, I don’t tend to count. It’s more distracting than helpful, and often makes me feel “stiff.”

 

[ComesATime]

For me, it's something I feel pretty quickly, and I would assume most bassists are good about locking into a feel.

If there's a part that is a bit more complex, I will keep count while playing it until I have it down to the point that I can play by feel. Granted, most things I play are your typical time signatures, and I wouldn't say I'm particularly skilled, technically-speaking.

If the music is more technical, included poly rhythms, or fast time changes (for me, something like math rock), I definitely count in my head.

 

[Kukulkan61]

Feel...