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How can i get better at bass?
- Thread starter petchimp123
- Start date
There is no "fool proof" scale. There's the pentatonic which all of the notes sound 'okay'. But then you're often left with either a more bland sound, or an oriental sound and usually lacks that spice and interest that most other scales have.
Try to HUM your solo's and then play them. It's all about playing what you HEAR.
It helped me a lot think of all scales as one scale, but just a little bit different. I think of everything in terms of the major scale. The minor scale (Aeolian mode)? Oh, that's just the major scale with a b3, b6, b7. Oh, the mixolydian mode? That's just the major scale with a b7? Some of the other ones aren't as easily assimilated against the major like the blues. Then, you just gotta hear the tone and the feel.
Remember, that chord tones RULE. If you play notes that are played within the chord the guitarist or pianist or whoever is playing it will definitely sound like it is 'working'.
My next piece of advice is, buy a program called Band in the Box. You can set up chord progressions and then just practice, play, and solo over them. Enter the chords from a song you're working on and solo. You don't have to worry about flubbing up infront of your mates and can just get down and work with it.
Oh, and a solo isn't necessarily a crazy set of notes. A solo can be just the bassline with maybe a few little quirky rhythms added, or a few embellishments. Keep it simple and eventually work your way into more complicated things.
Try to HUM your solo's and then play them. It's all about playing what you HEAR.
It helped me a lot think of all scales as one scale, but just a little bit different. I think of everything in terms of the major scale. The minor scale (Aeolian mode)? Oh, that's just the major scale with a b3, b6, b7. Oh, the mixolydian mode? That's just the major scale with a b7? Some of the other ones aren't as easily assimilated against the major like the blues. Then, you just gotta hear the tone and the feel.
Remember, that chord tones RULE. If you play notes that are played within the chord the guitarist or pianist or whoever is playing it will definitely sound like it is 'working'.
My next piece of advice is, buy a program called Band in the Box. You can set up chord progressions and then just practice, play, and solo over them. Enter the chords from a song you're working on and solo. You don't have to worry about flubbing up infront of your mates and can just get down and work with it.
Oh, and a solo isn't necessarily a crazy set of notes. A solo can be just the bassline with maybe a few little quirky rhythms added, or a few embellishments. Keep it simple and eventually work your way into more complicated things.
+10
Too many people think that to solo/improvise you have to play a million notes an hour and blast up and down the fret board.
Not so, one of my tutors way back when I was at college would make us solo with 3 notes (octaves count as extra notes), then 2 notes then 1 note then muted notes ONLY for 32 bars. If you couldnt get something vaguely cool out he made you go again.
beauty of this is after you heard about 5 other people work within those constrictions and do something cool you relaxed about ever having to play like a loon and got on with just playing something catchy and good in the breaks.
It really helps people trying to get their head around the whole of soloing and improvising. Try it...
I've had a teacher ask me to do a solo using only quarter notes and half notes. Try placing some restrictions like that on yourself, it feels very confining at first but then you'll realize it opens up a lot of doors by allowing you to THINK before you play.
I'm no saint either my friend, I'm still trying to learn this lesson.
I'm no saint either my friend, I'm still trying to learn this lesson.
Well Dave I wish I was in Missouri. I could use a teacher who explains stuff this well. Nice.
I found 4 people on youtube playing a simple Scorps song totally wrong using tabs from ultimateguitar.com. I posted the same thing played correctly to show them, then commented on their videos, they got totally defensive, and said "I AM playing it right according to the tabs, and YOUR playing it wrong"....what a laugh, and how SAD that people don't even LISTEN to what they are playing. A LITTLE OUT OF TEMPO, OK, BUT OUT OF KEY --OMG.
For me playing by ear is 100%, as no teachers teach players to play upside down as I play.
Notes are notes, chords are chords, those things are universal, EVERYTHING has a pattern. Bassplaying, among a million other things require memorization, you can be the finest sheet music reader, but for most of us, it is all about MEMORY.
+1000
Some them aren't even remotely close. You wonder if the people tabbing them are tone deaf, or if they ever tune their instrument.
EXACTLY MY POINT IN MY message #26 just J.........however, 4 people playing it the exact same WRONG way, that tends to make me sad that noone can even TELL they are out of key.
It's an old joke. Perhaps they use Royal Albert Hall over there?
The punchline is PRACTICE.
he often does!! i had to say it.... dave is THE GUY who comes in with the best advise/word/answer every time i read a thread where he has posted
- Jun 19, 2004
- 4,782
- 83
- 42
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist, Schroeder Cabinets
Let's see... haven't been to England in awhile... Bring your passport. Head west on A580 (Hunter St), then turn right to stay on A580. Turn right at A5048 (Moss St) and take a left at A57 (Prescot Street). Turn right at A5058 (Queens Drive Stoneycroft), left at A5080/Bowring Park Road, and continue down M62. At Junction 10, exit onto M6 toward Birmingham. At Junction 6, take the exit toward A38(M) (Birmingham). Get onto the A5127/Aston Expressway until you get to the Lancaster Circus Queensway. Then, take the first exit onto James Watt Queensway. Follow the ramp up, and then turn right at Newton Street. Find a place to park, and take a taxi to the airport. Check in and buy yourself a ticket to New York City. Take an international flight to LaGuardia International. When you land, get yourself a Metrocard, then take the 1 to Columbus Circle, transfer to the W, and get off on 57th. Carnegie Hall is on the corner of 7th & 57th. Hope this helps.
Let's see... haven't been to England in awhile... Bring your passport. Head west on A580 (Hunter St), then turn right to stay on A580. Turn right at A5048 (Moss St) and take a left at A57 (Prescot Street). Turn right at A5058 (Queens Drive Stoneycroft), left at A5080/Bowring Park Road, and continue down M62. At Junction 10, exit onto M6 toward Birmingham. At Junction 6, take the exit toward A38(M) (Birmingham). Get onto the A5127/Aston Expressway until you get to the Lancaster Circus Queensway. Then, take the first exit onto James Watt Queensway. Follow the ramp up, and then turn right at Newton Street. Find a place to park, and take a taxi to the airport. Check in and buy yourself a ticket to New York City. Take an international flight to LaGuardia International. When you land, get yourself a Metrocard, then take the 1 to Columbus Circle, transfer to the W, and get off on 57th. Carnegie Hall is on the corner of 7th & 57th. Hope this helps.
whoa!
something that helped me...
I got a peterson tuner, and made sure my instruments were in tune and intonated properly.....--you could pay someone to do this as well--
got an MP3 Bass Trainer by Tascam and slowed down / boosted bass listened to songs
improved my playing a bit....
I have 2 years of high school theory as well --that was long long ago!-
good luck!
yes, train your ear on easy songs.....root fourth fifth 80's metal stuff
al
something that helped me...
I got a peterson tuner, and made sure my instruments were in tune and intonated properly.....--you could pay someone to do this as well--
got an MP3 Bass Trainer by Tascam and slowed down / boosted bass listened to songs
improved my playing a bit....
I have 2 years of high school theory as well --that was long long ago!-
good luck!
yes, train your ear on easy songs.....root fourth fifth 80's metal stuff
al
Let's see... haven't been to England in awhile... Bring your passport. Head west on A580 (Hunter St), then turn right to stay on A580. Turn right at A5048 (Moss St) and take a left at A57 (Prescot Street). Turn right at A5058 (Queens Drive Stoneycroft), left at A5080/Bowring Park Road, and continue down M62. At Junction 10, exit onto M6 toward Birmingham. At Junction 6, take the exit toward A38(M) (Birmingham). Get onto the A5127/Aston Expressway until you get to the Lancaster Circus Queensway. Then, take the first exit onto James Watt Queensway. Follow the ramp up, and then turn right at Newton Street. Find a place to park, and take a taxi to the airport. Check in and buy yourself a ticket to New York City. Take an international flight to LaGuardia International. When you land, get yourself a Metrocard, then take the 1 to Columbus Circle, transfer to the W, and get off on 57th. Carnegie Hall is on the corner of 7th & 57th. Hope this helps.
hahah and all this time I thought the Carnegie Hall you all were referring to was the one here in Pittsburgh, PA
or how about these other locations?
Other concert halls that bear Carnegie's name include: 420-seat [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] in Lewisburg, West Virginia; 1928-seat Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the site of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the main branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; 1022-seat Carnegie Music Hall annexed to Pittsburgh suburb Homestead's Carnegie library; and 540-seat Carnegie Hall, in Andrew Carnegie's native Dunfermline, Scotland,
I like a lot of the advice here, but I'll add a couple lil things from my pov:
First, and some of the posts above allude to this - notes don't matter nearly as much as rhythm. Moreso during a solo. Sure, you need to be centered on the key and chords, but especially during a solo there are no wrong notes, call them passing tones and accidentals. Just stick your landings, lead into them.
And second, use silence (rests). Quick bits of silence enhance the rhythm. Longer bits of silence add tension and anticipation, and are best used at the top of a solo. When I get called to solo, I often like to "start slow", one or two long notes, some silence for the drums... everyone in the room is now with me, anticipating, waiting to hear what I'm gonna do next.
First, and some of the posts above allude to this - notes don't matter nearly as much as rhythm. Moreso during a solo. Sure, you need to be centered on the key and chords, but especially during a solo there are no wrong notes, call them passing tones and accidentals. Just stick your landings, lead into them.
And second, use silence (rests). Quick bits of silence enhance the rhythm. Longer bits of silence add tension and anticipation, and are best used at the top of a solo. When I get called to solo, I often like to "start slow", one or two long notes, some silence for the drums... everyone in the room is now with me, anticipating, waiting to hear what I'm gonna do next.
- Nov 3, 2004
- 485
- 71
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Hipshot Products, DR Strings and Accugroove Speaker Cabinets
Let's see... haven't been to England in awhile... Bring your passport. Head west on A580 (Hunter St), then turn right to stay on A580. Turn right at A5048 (Moss St) and take a left at A57 (Prescot Street). Turn right at A5058 (Queens Drive Stoneycroft), left at A5080/Bowring Park Road, and continue down M62. At Junction 10, exit onto M6 toward Birmingham. At Junction 6, take the exit toward A38(M) (Birmingham). Get onto the A5127/Aston Expressway until you get to the Lancaster Circus Queensway. Then, take the first exit onto James Watt Queensway. Follow the ramp up, and then turn right at Newton Street. Find a place to park, and take a taxi to the airport. Check in and buy yourself a ticket to New York City. Take an international flight to LaGuardia International. When you land, get yourself a Metrocard, then take the 1 to Columbus Circle, transfer to the W, and get off on 57th. Carnegie Hall is on the corner of 7th & 57th. Hope this helps.
..or something like that, I can't remember.
