Hi Jeff.. Thanks for sharing. Quick question. I have a 3 year old child, and I would like to know when is a good age to start taking music classes, and what instrument do you believe is the best to start with. (I'm thinking piano?)
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Hi to all from Jeff Berlin
- Thread starter JeffBerlin
- Start date
- Status
If I complimented you, it was because you represented the chart, you played in time with the other musicians (which never became a skill of yours via using a metronome) and you had a good bass tone. I am sure that you deserved to know that you sounded good as a player that afternoon.
hi jeff,want to pick your brains.i've recently joined a 'who' tribute band and one of the songs i've got to learn is 'the real me'.when i play along to the song i'm pretty good,when i play it at rehearsals my timing isn't as good sometimes.sometimes i'm a train wreck.i can pick my cues up on the cd but live i'm struggling.is there any tips you can give me on this one as i really love the song?thank you.mike.
Hey Jeff, cheers for coming online and sharing your knowledge with the world yet again.
My bass teacher recently asked me what I thought the hardest 'genre' was to play bass in. I hazarded a guest at million notes a minute jazz fusion but turns out the question was a trick.
My teacher reckons that Country is one of the hardest genres to play because you have no room to manoeuvre on notes and rhythm, just simple root and fifth with the odd scalic passing note all day long. Therefore in order to be really good at playing country you've got to focus on much more subtle areas of playing like note length and tone.
I tend to agree with him, do you?
Oh and I don't really think that any genre is the hardest, it's more an insight into areas of playing that I think many players tend to ignore
My bass teacher recently asked me what I thought the hardest 'genre' was to play bass in. I hazarded a guest at million notes a minute jazz fusion but turns out the question was a trick.
My teacher reckons that Country is one of the hardest genres to play because you have no room to manoeuvre on notes and rhythm, just simple root and fifth with the odd scalic passing note all day long. Therefore in order to be really good at playing country you've got to focus on much more subtle areas of playing like note length and tone.
I tend to agree with him, do you?
Oh and I don't really think that any genre is the hardest, it's more an insight into areas of playing that I think many players tend to ignore
What everybody (and I do mean everybody) doesn't know is that each situation of playing has a different element connected with it. Playing in your room is different than playing in the garage, which is different than practicing which is different that showing your teach what you practiced. Rehearsals bring a totally different reality than the reality and privacy of learning music off your CD. There is no answer to fix this except to either get used to the different playing spaces that you cooupy, which happens over time, or count. Counting solves everything because it synches you up with the other rhythmical players in the band. If you and they know that you are supposed to come in on a G after 1,2,3,4,5,6, (for example) then you can't miss. But you have to rehearse this. Good luck.
I loved my playing until I began recording my gigs(thanks to new technology) with a mp3 recorder (Zoom H2). I was amazed how bad were some things I did. Do you have the same bad experience as I have? After listen and recording and focusing in some areas I discover my style and how to be a consistent player. How do you think this help other players / musicians?
That's true. I never played with a metronome. In fact I've always found it very difficult when I tried to do it. I was paying so much attention to the click, I wasn't minding my music.
I can still lock in and groove with a drummer or drum machine easily.
I've found a click or a machine useful once I had already learned a part, lick, or piece and wanted to work the tempo up but only after I Knew what I was playing.
I just started working on transcribing that tune the other day, the bass part is fantastic, what a groove!
No! Country music is so easy to play that anybody can do it and do it well. I have students at The Players school of Music who play country bass parts inside of the first month that they come to the school, having never played nor read muisic before. Music that is challenging is music that we do not know how to play. That is it!
Sure anyone can pick up the parts quickly, it's just root and fifth. But I've heard very few players who utilize tricks like note length quite like a country player who is shackled to root and fifth.
I don't know the country music scene at all well but I'm guessing that there are similar numbers of pro -bassist than in any other genre (I'd take a punt at their being less country bassists than most other areas). If it's so easy then surely there should be loads and loads of limited players getting country sessions? (After all capitalism works on supply and demand, if there were thousands of players who had country down then the pay for a country bass session would be minimal as the companies use the lowest bidder.)
My point is about the subtle aspects of tone and precision being as important as more obvious elements such as notes and rhythm. Yet we tend to focus on notes and rhythm much more. For me being able to control the subtler aspects is harder than playing millions of notes a second.
Btw I don't like country. At all.
Country bass players never think about note lengthening or anything else except to play the part. They don't worry about the time, they never think about how the notes are played. It is simple experience in style that makes an authentic player.
I also noticed that some guys use a metronome to play behind, equal to, and ahead of a beat thinking that this is a good exercise.
It isn't because no one in music plays this way. Live players regard their fellow musicians in a live performance situation and try to provide a good feeling bass part. The practice of such a princicple, of playing behind next to, and ahead of a metronome provides not a single benefit because people who practice this way are practicing a principle that doesn't exist anywhere in music.
Ultimately, there is only two things worthy of discussion, a musician and their instrument. If we are left these two elements, either we will play by sheer will and effort and desire, or we won't! I want everybody who plays to do something so controvertial that it shakes up our industry; I want you all to learn music, nothing but music! If you throw away a metronome, if you get rid of a tuner, if you toss out a handgrip, if you cancel your appointment to the rock or groove class, then what is left?
Answer: you and your instrument! Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
Answer: you and your instrument! Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
Not that it's a bad thing...but I've seen too many technical questions today. How about just a feel good jackass question Jeff?
How do you honestly (and I know you have no problem with being frank) feel about bass in current and recent music, where most of it is either buried in the mix, electronically induced, or no more than the follow the guitar with eighth and quarter notes? Is there some music out there that we may not be aware of that you enjoy, that is both pop and bass driven?
Thanks again
How do you honestly (and I know you have no problem with being frank) feel about bass in current and recent music, where most of it is either buried in the mix, electronically induced, or no more than the follow the guitar with eighth and quarter notes? Is there some music out there that we may not be aware of that you enjoy, that is both pop and bass driven?
Thanks again
- Jun 25, 2007
- 4,531
- 135
- 63
- Disclosures
- Artist:TC Electronic RH450 bass system (original test-pilot)
I actually have no opinion about this because this is what the leader wants. It is artistic choice and I am never bothered by artistic choices.
My thoughts on this are that while you are often blunt and forthright with your views you offer a lot of truth with little sugar coating, all good advice aiming to get us away from the cosy world of our comfort zones and get us to improve as musicians!
I recently spoke with Kai Eckhardt and he offered me advice in much the same vein: tackle the hard stuff, bit by bit, and you will improve to your greatest potential.
Now, with you and Kai both being players with an incredible command of the bass guitar, getting to play with the best guys in the business, I am led to believe that there is some crediblity in what you say
By note lengthening I'm talking about subtle changes rather than the extreme difference between staccato and legato. For example fitting the end of your note to the drummers snare hit or playing slightly shorter quarter notes to change the feel of the song slightly, to increase tension.
I'd agree with you that these things aren't thought about when experienced players play, but the same thing applies to notes and rhythms - top players generally just get on with what there playing as it's natural too them.
However tone and feel is 'learned' IMO, though others might say it just comes from experience.
I suppose it depends on what you define as the 'part'. TO me the part is the notes your meant to play. Tone and feel etc is interpretation
I wasn't talking about using a metronome to learn feel either, I'm with you on the subject of metronomes btw.
I have to say...I find your answer interesting in that you also say we should "shake up our industry"! So you feel that if it's just an artistic choice that the bass just do it's job and be in the background and it fits that music or song, well fine then. But in general, we should be breaking out of that mold and even when asked to keep it down, krank it up a notch?
I'm not even trying to argue either point...I just like picking your brain while we have you here.
My thoughts on this are that while you are often blunt and forthright with your views you offer a lot of truth with little sugar coating, all good advice aiming to get us away from the cosy world of our comfort zones and get us to improve as musicians!
I recently spoke with Kai Eckhardt and he offered me advice in much the same vein: tackle the hard stuff, bit by bit, and you will improve to your greatest potential.
Now, with you and Kai both being players with an incredible command of the bass guitar, getting to play with the best guys in the business, I am led to believe that there is some crediblity in what you say
I want to be kind, but sugar coating isn't my style. I like people and I want them to be better players since this is what many state is in their interest to be.
Some guys are sweet, good hearted guys, with little musical background. Players mean that people play, not that they know about musical issues off the bass, and often not on it either. Rocco Prestia is the first guy to say that he knows little about music, but he knows a lot about the style of bass playing that he excelled in. Elvis Presley said it best when he said, "I don't know anything about music. In my line, you don't have to!"
I only wish that bass players in the position to offer good musical advise would guide players to the people who really know what they are talking about in musical terms.
- Status
