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For Beginners, especially if you're learning "Eight Days a Week"

Alkali Ike

Alkali Ike

Gold Supporting Member
Jan 1, 2011
2,852
15,650
Pacific Northwest
www.xdrguy.com
Disclosures
I never actually learned to play very well
#1
Elsewhere another beginning bass player like myself related how his video cover of "Eight Days a Week" had been trashed on YouTube. Several TB'ers encouraged him to ignore the haters. I said I wouldn't even have the cojones to post a video of myself playing bass, at least not until I get a lot better. Which probably means never.

Well after further consideration, I decided I would do it. I give you my cover of Eight Days a Week. You have no idea how much I've practiced this, and it still has some rough spots. To stack the deck in my favor as much as possible, I play it on an Ibanez Mikro! It's just like cheating!



Let the critiquing begin! :hiding:

If you're a beginner and you can play "Eight Days a Week", I challenge you to post your rendition in this thread, even if it's just the audio. :) Or whatever other song you can play. Just do it!
 
#2
I liked it. First off, I could hear everything that you were doing and I like your sound. Remember that Sir Paul used a pick on flatwounds. He was a great- perhaps the greatest- slider... sliding his finger as it rings. Try "Bathroom Window" next! It would be a good fit for you. (You can check my site under "Abbey Road side two")

What's the scale length on that bass, and how did you record it. I see you had headphones.
 
#3
OldDog52 said:
Elsewhere another beginning bass player like myself related how his video cover of "Eight Days a Week" had been trashed on YouTube. Several TB'ers encouraged him to ignore the haters. I said I wouldn't even have the cojones to post a video of myself playing bass, at least not until I get a lot better. Which probably means never.

Well after further consideration, I decided I would do it. I give you my cover of Eight Days a Week. You have no idea how much I've practiced this, and it still has some rough spots. To stack the deck in my favor as much as possible, I play it on an Ibanez Mikro! It's just like cheating!



Let the critiquing begin! :hiding:

If you're a beginner and you can play "Eight Days a Week", I challenge you to post your rendition in this thread, even if it's just the audio. :) Or whatever other song you can play. Just do it!
Click to expand...


Sounds good, you have good tone.

Just try to keep your fretting hand fingers under control...They shouldn't fly off the fret board like that. They should all stay close to it, ready to fret.

Really, if an observer can tell which finger you're using to fret at most any given point, your economy of motion can probably be improved greatly.
 
#4
Thanks. I know I need to work on keeping the fretting fingers under control. It probably explains why I tend to play a little too staccato or something, need to hold the notes longer.

The Mikro's scale is 28.6". Small!

I was surprised how the recording turned out because I didn't spend any time tweaking it. The Mikro is plugged into a basic Behringer mixer. The backing track was ripped from CD and played back with iTunes, the computer line out also going into the mixer. Then back from the mixer to the computer line in. I listened to the backing track & myself with headphones plugged into the mixer. Recorded it with Audacity. It might sound even better if I normalized the audio. I recorded the video separately and sync'd it up with the audio in Sony Vegas 10, rendered it at a fairly low resolution for YT to keep the file small.
 
#12
As a fello noob, I had to watch. Glad I did, well done I thought. Now that you've set the bar, I may have to learn this song too. I also have the excessive-finger-movement thing, not sure how best to try to remedy that.

Few questions though -
How long have you been playing?
How'd you get the backing track w/ no bass or vocal?
 
#13
Well, I think you did a good job. Where I would work is on the fretting hand that move a lot and on your picking hand to let the note ring a little longer.

Otherwise very good, you are on the right track
 
#16
Well done! The timing is very good. I would try to concentrate on keeping your thumb behind the neck and the fingers closer to the frets. Your fingers have to move less distance that way. It is a problem I have to concentrate on myself. It looks like you have very good reach, have you tried a full scale bass?

...'LOOK!-A squirrel...' LOL! I see them all the time.
 
#17
MrM said:
As a fello noob, I had to watch. Glad I did, well done I thought. Now that you've set the bar, I may have to learn this song too. I also have the excessive-finger-movement thing, not sure how best to try to remedy that.
Click to expand...

Slow down, a lot. Give your hands the time to learn how to do it the right way. It takes awhile.
 
#18
I thought it was great.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to focus more on enjoying the part than on making it sound perfect.

Loosening up relieves the pressure you put on yourself to get everything exactly right, which will improve the way you sound.

I believe that if you allow yourself to make mistakes, you're less likely to.
 

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