Everything feels too easy or too hard

[jfh2112]

I just spent the better part of an hour memorizing the guitar solo section of "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh. It's tricky, because there doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern to it, and for the song to sound right, you have to play it exactly like the recording.

I use Transcribe! for this; it's super-easy to mark a loop in a song and just repeat it, and play along until you get it.

 

[fearceol]

Don't think in terms of "hard" or "easy." Play songs you like. As others have said, take it slowly and in small bite size chunks.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

I’ve been playing bass for about a year now. I’m trying to learn some Rush songs. Too hard. Try to learn a punk rock song. Too easy. I can’t seem to improve right now and it really sucks. I don’t really know what to do

Note for note like the original artist played the bass line is not that important to me. What is important to me is calling attention to the root note, locking in with the kick drum, hitting the changes dead on and furnishing a groove the rest of the band can follow. That's kinda basic, but IMO, seems to work with any style.

If I have a chord chart, fake chord, or what ever - so I know when to change chords - and someone is singing the lyrics - the bass line notes needed are dictated by the song.

• Sometime roots to the beat is all that is necessary.
• Sometime roots and a five get the job done.
• Sometime the octave is nice.
• Sometime the correct 3 & 7 enter into the picture.
• Sometime the 6 adds value. The 2, and 4 can be used as passing notes, but, do not start or stop on them.
• That pretty well spells out what chord tones can/should be used. Finding which one is right for this song - I start with roots and go down the list.

Scales seldom get into my bass lines. Chord tones and the rhythm/groove is what I focus on. Again, that is generic, but, works.

My point; stick to the chord tones and if you have a chord chart and someone singing the lyrics it's not rocket science - to follow along and build a bass line that fits the song.

Yes you have to invest the time necessary to do all this, so go get in the shed.

 

[Joe Nerve]

First, this:

How about something in between rush and pop punk?


***, lol

I mean really. It seems simple enough. Punk is simple. Rush is complicated. There are billions of songs, bands and genres between the 2. Shouldn't be that tough to find a middle ground. Right off the top of my head (cuz for some reason this song is stuck there).



Tons of classic rock fall into that category also, if ya want something with a little more substance. Any Sabbath, Zeppelin, Aerosmith... they all fall right between Rush and Punk.

Then this:

Have you tried slow-downer software?

Drop $40 on on Transcribe, or find a free music slow downer that works well and work on having some patience and persistence. Take a Rush song that's giving you a problem, take a small section, slow it down RIDICULOUSLY to a speed that you can play it perfectly at, and then keep playing it over and over and over. You can use a metronome once you have the notes down. In between each practice period of playing it ridiculously slow, you can raise the tempo a notch and see if you can play it perfectly a little faster. What happens when you do that is you develop muscle memory. Your fingers memorize what you're doing as opposed to your brain, and you'll be playing the tunes effortlessly. I'll add also to start with one of the simpler Rush tunes. Spirit of the Radio's opening riff is NOT a good starting point.

It takes commitment and patience though. It ain't going to happen overnight, but it will happen faster than you might imagine. So long as you don't try to RUSH the practice and play things at a faster tempo than you can play perfectly.

I promise.

 

[Liam Wald]

Learn the arpeggios, then when you try to learn a song, it'll make more sense. You'll know what notes you could/should play.
Also, there's a whole world of music between The Ramones and Rush.

Also learn intervals. Internalize them and develop muscle memory on the fingerboard to find them. That way when you hear a change you know how to get there without thinking.

 

[telecopy]

Attempting to play some Return To Forever will make Rush real simple.

Isn't that Stanley Clarke?

 

[ZenG]

Buy a Tascam GT-R1. It's basically a headphone amp with an SD card for storage. You can speed up or slow down songs without changing the key, you can change the key without changing the tempo, you can loop parts of songs so you can learn them in sections, you can build a playlist, it has amp modeling, effects and a built in tuner. You can also record on it. I've been practicing with one for years.
View attachment 2823914

How is that quality-wise?

I had the unit that played a cd. Was called the "Bass Trainer".

Good in concept but a piece of crap actually. Donated it to my local thrift shop.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Isn't that Stanley Clarke?

Yup.

 

[telecopy]

Yup.

Awesome. Never got to see him. A schoolmate of mine who played cello once got to jam with him when he passed through our town.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Awesome. Never got to see him. A schoolmate of mine who played cello once got to jam with him when he passed through our town.

I was into R.T.F and Stanley back in '78.

By the time I discovered R.T.F,they had already broken up.
But I got to see them live in 2008 at the Chicago Theater.
Thirty years later.

 

[Thuddy Waters]

I agree with everyone who recommends buying the Transcribe software. For the price of one lesson (more like half a lesson), you get infinite lessons by being easily able to thoroughly analyze and learn from songs. Also, it gives you unlimited jam tracks because it allows you to EQ the bass out of any song.

 

[JimmyM]

There ARE songs with a difficulty level between punk rock and Rush, you know?

 

[Kmonk]

How is that quality-wise?

I had the unit that played a cd. Was called the "Bass Trainer".

Good in concept but a piece of crap actually. Donated it to my local thrift shop.

I had the bass trainer as well, until I dropped it. I like the GT-R1 much better. The only downside is that even with a larger capacity SD card, it will only hold up to 999 songs.

 

[Kujaldo]

+1.

A lot of people are self-taught on bass, for sure--me, too--but there's a lot of benefit from taking lessons, at least to get started on the good foot.

Plenty of good online materials, too--like the stuff Mark Smith (Talking Bass) and Scott Devine (Scott's Bass Academy) have developed.

This is indeed where getting lessons from a good teacher comes in handy. A good instructor is able to make you a plan and give you suitable exercises based on what you’re trying to achieve. If Rush is what you want to play, there is always an option to simplify the lines, and to gradually work your way to the original ones.

Do find a quality teacher or maybe just a couple of lessons.

 

[Thuddy Waters]

I’ve been playing bass for about a year now. I’m trying to learn some Rush songs. Too hard. Try to learn a punk rock song. Too easy.

I recommend you start learning some blues. This porridge is just right.

 

[oldcatfish]

First, this:



I mean really. It seems simple enough. Punk is simple. Rush is complicated. There are billions of songs, bands and genres between the 2. Shouldn't be that tough to find a middle ground. Right off the top of my head (cuz for some reason this song is stuck there).



Tons of classic rock fall into that category also, if ya want something with a little more substance. Any Sabbath, Zeppelin, Aerosmith... they all fall right between Rush and Punk.

Then this:



Drop $40 on on Transcribe, or find a free music slow downer that works well and work on having some patience and persistence. Take a Rush song that's giving you a problem, take a small section, slow it down RIDICULOUSLY to a speed that you can play it perfectly at, and then keep playing it over and over and over. You can use a metronome once you have the notes down. In between each practice period of playing it ridiculously slow, you can raise the tempo a notch and see if you can play it perfectly a little faster. What happens when you do that is you develop muscle memory. Your fingers memorize what you're doing as opposed to your brain, and you'll be playing the tunes effortlessly. I'll add also to start with one of the simpler Rush tunes. Spirit of the Radio's opening riff is NOT a good starting point.

It takes commitment and patience though. It ain't going to happen overnight, but it will happen faster than you might imagine. So long as you don't try to RUSH the practice and play things at a faster tempo than you can play perfectly.

I promise.

--Listen to Joe Nerve. I teach bass lessons and if you came to me that is exactly what I would tell you to do. Other advice about learning theory, to create your own lines, etc, is good and you need those skills in the long run, but what you need to solve your current problem is to increase your technical ability and to train your ear. Transcribe programs are excellent for exactly this. I wish they would have had them when I was first learning. I recommend them to all of my students. If you have Apple products, the one I prefer is Anytune...they make a light version that you can try for free. If you have a pc, then Transcribe is also excellent.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

If you try learning to play songs before learning to play bass, it will be more difficult.

And everything everyone else said.

 

[dxb]

Scale of difficulty from easy to hard:

Punk > > > > P R E T T Y - M U C H - A L L - R O C K - M U S I C > > > > Prog

 

[Charlzm]

I'm perpetually in this position, but I've found that if I really concentrate on ONE thing for a long time I can usually crack it.

Spirit of Radio was one of those things.

I've been farting around with the intro to "Spirit of Radio" for many years. Still don't have it down. Kudos to you!

 

[Spidey2112]

If you want to learn some RUSH, try your hand at a few of the songs off their first album...

... try picking them out, by ear, also... that will improve your playing, over time... if there's a difficult part, ask... check YouTube for someone's take on it, as well as what the tabs are telling you...

... a lot us had to depend on other methods, in order to learn RUSH and all the other awesomeness thrown at us, back then...

... with the resources available today, it saddens me to hear someone say I can't do dis, dat... or, the other zing.

Now get back to work...