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How long does it take to get decent at bass?

#24
It all depends on how you play and what you consider good.
People all see good differently.

I've been playing for 6 years and I definitely would call myself high intermediate (I rank beginner, decent, intermediate, expert, master) whereas some would label me decent or even expert.

It's all just dependent on you, man.
 
#25
I too am self taught, though I had music lessons for trombone in school for 5 years. I have been playing bass for 5 years.

I wouldn't consider myself a proficient bassist, but I have been surprised at how quickly I have come up with lines to go with the guitarist when writing new stuff.

I'd say a few things that are advantageous to getting better more quickly are:

1) Take some lessons from a bass teacher. It's much quicker and more efficient for someone with some knowhow to show you in person what you're doing right and wrong than just looking at videos and reading things on the internet; you might not know if you're doing something that could make playing more difficult in the future. (bad wrist angles, poor technique, playing too hard, etc.) I would still like to take lessons.

2) Play with real people. Doesn't matter how good or bad they are, you'll learn so much from the experiences. I personally think improvisation jams are most helpful, but never discount learning songs as there's a lot to be gained there too.

3) As suggested several times on TB, keep a bass somewhere in sight so you're more likely to play it. Play it often during the week, but listen to your body and don't overdo it. Listen especially to your wrists.

4) Listen to music. Both actively and passively. Don't always just focus on one instrument, there's a lot going on in even the simplest songs. Recognising what works and what doesn't as well as patterns in the music is really helpful.

5) Learn. Learn as much as you can about bass and music in general. You'll know how serious about bass you are by how much you want to improve and learn about music.
 
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#26
On the subject, but not quite - I always have a hard time defining decent, good, excellent etc. I've been playing bass since 1997, sometimes more sometimes less, but I have since never gotten around to actually know how good I am. I tend to always compare myself to people better than me - thus I am never quite at the level of those people. Now if you would have asked my 1997 self I would be excellent at bass now. The same goes for the 2001 me or the 2004 me. But if you ask me today I know Im not bad but I still hesitate to call myself good. Its just one of those things. Right now I value creativity and improvisation - which I know I am bad at. Playing what others have been playing before me is in general not a big deal - just a matter of practice. So now, in 2012, i value myself in relation to what I feel I need to develop more. Im just never quite satisfied with where I am at :/
 
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#27
5 months is plenty of experience to join your first band. Find some guys who play music you enjoy that isn't too challenging and go for it!

Also in my opinion you will progress much faster if you find a good teacher.
 
#28
Great advice here.

Much is your own setting or context. The people I play with think I'm great. Myself, I know there's room for improvement even in that setting. When I hear truly great players I'm humbled and it reminds me that it's a continuous journey of learning and mastering.

Find people to play with, if they like what you do that's a level of "being good at bass". Then just grow from there.....
 
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#30
Interesting question. Can really get you thinking. This response was closest to my first thoughts regarding this:

gavinspoon said:
The truth is that it depends upon 3 things:

1. How you define "decently good";
2. How much you play; and
3. Natural talent.

Number 1 is most important.
Click to expand...

I'll add to it by saying that I think a goal of being "good" might be dangerous, as it's not concrete, and depending upon your standards could be a setup for total failure. You may very well never get good, as it's dependent upon your definition. A clearer goal such as be able to play a song perfectly along with an album would be more concrete. Or to learn 10 songs and be able to play them all. Or to come up with your own clearly definable goals, as someone else I believe mentioned already.

Natural talent goes a long way, but if I guy with natural talent practices 15 minutes a day, and a guy without that natural talent practices 5 hours a day - guess whos going to be a better musician at the end of 5 years.

And the how much you play thing... this I believe has to do with the amount of desire you have. Not as many people think, the amount of time. You can make the time, if you want to badly enough, and I'm certain of this. Whether you're inately talented or not, the amount of time you put into the instrument is going to have everything to do with how quickly you progress. If time is important to you and you want to get good fast, as it seems from this thread, then put a lot of time into it. If you practice 10 hours a day you'll "good" a lot more quickly than if you practice 2 hours a week.

The only real answer to your question is that it's up to you. That's how long it will take.
 
#31
I've been playing for 11 years and I'm still crap. The way I've always figured it, playing a rhythm instrument (drums, bass) you have to jam with people alot to get the hang of it. With melody instruments like guitar (where you lead usually) you can get somewhat farther with solo woodshedding.

Considering I haven't jammed with people since the mid 2000's, it's fairly safe to say I'm really out of practice (I always stank). Life just got in the way with cancer, work, etc. Though a setup where I can play along to drum tracks is better than nothing for keeping what very little skill I have up.

*sigh*

When I graduate mortuary college next Nov I might try again, but as an intern I'll be averaging 60 hours a week. UGH!!!!!!
 
#32
Oh yeah... also wanted to say that the best way to get better as a bassist is to play with others. And as many others as you possibly can. As much as you can. That's how you learn to lock in, listen, imporivse, and develop the skills I consider most important to bass playing.

While a little off topic, I think playing with a lot of different people has lots of advatages over playing with the same people all the time. Especially drummers. If you're inexperienced, you may not know the difference between a crappy drummer and a great one, and all drummers play differently. By playing with different musicians you learn to listen better, and adapt your feel to what they're doing. Same goes for the people on other instruments too, but the drummer is most important. You also can play with one group of people and learn nothing, find another group that will teach you tons of stuff that only they would have been able to teach you, and play with yet another that introduces a whole new part of the picture that you haven't even considered yet.

Playing with others, even if you don't think you're ready yet, is I think the quickest way to progress. It's a great motivator also.
 
#33
From an absolute beginner to being able to function in a band with confidence seems to take about 1 year to 18 months for a lot of my students. The variables are the amount of practice time they have and the amount of access to playing with other musicians. Both of those will dramatically increase a students improvement, IME. YMMV.
 
#34
re: playing with others

The best players I know are those who hooked up with a bunch of 'old-timers' who were very patient and forgiving when they were young.

It very well could be that playing with a lot of different people esp drummers could have the same result -- except you'd have to take even more of the burden of figuring out what was working and what wasn't.
 
#38
if you are already a musician with a good ear then all you need is technique to be able to play bass and you slowly develop your own style as a bass player with time.
but if you dont know much about music and cant instinctively sing or pick out bits of tunes then you are going to need to work on your ear and playing the bass while adding musical knowledge along.
so it depends on where you are at right now!
 
#39
It's different for everybody. I know people that have been trying to play for years and have never improved. Other people can learn to play much more quickly. There is no easy answer. You just have to be patient and practice.
 
#40
I agree about forgetting about slappin and poppin for now. Most local bands NEVER use that stuff, unless that's their vibe and it gets real old, real fast to my ears. I was raised on funk and love it, but the slap fest thing going on lately is pretty annoying. I can only listen to Marcus Miller tunes for about 15 minutes. He slaps way too much. But if Hutch Hutcherson in playing a song I can listen to them all day and night.

You'll be more useful as a bassist if you can learn to hold down the groove, embellish the melody and serve the band in general. And learn different styles...

Anyway, I'd start by getting into a blues band and then branching out from there. Everything is the blues... You should be able to start gigging after about a year of study.
 

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