How long does it take to get decent at bass?

[f.c.geil]

It depends, mostly on your musical aptitude and degree of pre-knowledge. For instance, I was a vocal jazz performance major in college, with a minor in instrumental music education. I've been playing bass for a little over a year, and consider myself fairly proficient. A buddy of mine had no music foreknowledge, has been playing for 30 years, and he still sucks.

 

[Russell L]

It depends, mostly on your musical aptitude and degree of pre-knowledge. For instance, I was a vocal jazz performance major in college, with a minor in instrumental music education. I've been playing bass for a little over a year, and consider myself fairly proficient. A buddy of mine had no music foreknowledge, has been playing for 30 years, and he still sucks.

I agree. Which also means I could be better if I tried harder.

 

[Britbonic]

If you've been playing for 30 years but never put any effort into improving them you won't get any better. It's not just how long you've been playing but what you focus on. While its true there's no substitute for actual time on the instrument it's important that a portion if that time is spent learning new things or improving on something you can already do.

 

[Bassorama57]

I would say that one hour of playing with other people is worth ten hours of solo practice, and one hour of a gig is worth a week of solo practice

I'm 55. I started on trumpet and piano when I was 8, then on upright bass when I was 12. Granted there were a few decades in there when I didn't even own a bass - but - having worked at it (as well as all the other stuff in life):
- There's structured goal focused practice & training...and there's just screwing around. I like to screw around as much as the next guy, but honestly I spent 3 hours today alone re-mastering just 10 bars from "Diggin' on James Brown" as I hadn't played it in a while.
- Per the quoted post, you'll rarely play in performance any better than your best rehearsals; and your best rehersal will rarely be better than your best practice.
- In Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell, http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922, he basically tells us that practice is far more important than "native talent."

But to directly answer your question: I took up upright at 12, got an electric at 14, and by 16 was playing gigs at high school dances (for about the same money you'd get now; $500!) . I toured the whole summer between Jr and Sr year of HS with a professional show band. I took lessons, I practiced boring stuff (Bach organ fugue basslines mostly) and used to amaze guitards with "how fast I was." Sadly I worry about arthritis and can't practice aimlessly for hours at a time - so I have to be discliplined about it.

 

[sharp8874]

Somewhere between 20 minutes and 20 years. Maybe longer.

Took me 20 minutes to learn ukulele.... and honestly about 5 years on upright until I considered myself pretty good and about 2-3 years on electric bass but I stil have lots of room for improvement!

 

[Knavery]

Been working on it for around 35 years now, I'm starting to see some improvement.

Haha! +1

 

[Bassamatic]

I heard 10000 I think but I guess that putting a set time frame onto it leaves out too many variables to be taken serious, really.

Yes - the current discussion is that at 10,000 hours you will be competent at what you are doing, if you last that long! However, it doesn't mean you can't be good enough long before that to have a good time with a band.

Do be aware the people have different skill levels - you cannot compare your progress against others. Just do it!

 

[wrench45us]

I'm figuring it's going to take me 3 years, but I'm coming up on a year and I may have to stretch that out.
I have plenty of excuses -- I only practice in front of the TV; If I miss 2 days practice in a row (travel) it's like I have to begin where I was 3 or 4 days ago. Some days I'm so burned out from work I have no focus at all. etc etc

But here's the thing 5000 hours, 10,000 hours -- The people who put in those hours are the ones who get something back from putting in those hours. It's not like it's all effort without some reward. Very few woul put in those kind of hours without getting something back -- so the formula is self-selecting.
I'm fortunate that it doesn't take much reward to keep me going. I notice progress -- I can play/read maybe 32 bars of some piece I've been playing for 'a while' now without messing up. That used to be 4 bars. And some days it all comes together for a few minutes.
A friend of mine was taking lessons on another instrument and he had a teacher who would ask every week, "Why are you doing this? You know you don't have to be doing this." Kind of unique teacher, but it's good to be clear about motivation and intention.

 

[cnltb]

Yes - the current discussion is that at 10,000 hours you will be competent at what you are doing, if you last that long! However, it doesn't mean you can't be good enough long before that to have a good time with a band.

Do be aware the people have different skill levels - you cannot compare your progress against others. Just do it!

Completely agreed!

 

[Auguste]

Some bass players have one years experience ten times


While Other bass players have ten years of experience


- -


And others just keep repeating the same mistakes year after year after year

And then others improve every time they pick up their bass.

 

[fedenybass]

Great topic! I find myself getting better when I have inspiration to practice, and that has always come from playing with others. If I don't have gigs or peeps to play with on the horizon I find I play less. Create some reasonable goals both big and small, get a music journal, play with others, and listen alot to the stuff you like. Watch bass stuff on youtube! I Think this has helped me.
Cheers,
the dude that noodles aimlessly for hours during practice

 

[Stumbo]

About 5 years....as long as this thread has been resting in peace.

 

[NullPorch]

Took me a little under a year to play pretty average songs (developing technical skills).

About two years to get to where as long as I knew it note for note I could play pretty difficult (fast and or nuanced) stuff.

After about 5 years I could play pretty much anything I knew note for note (as far as I've tried), but I never learned certain things like pop and slap (never interested me) and had only just started playing with a pick. I was also only just beginning to improv and actually learn theory.

Now I'm somewhere around year 7 and I can improv an entire song with my buddies on a good day. That includes following chord, key, or time signature changes, stylistic variations (dynamics, or taking over chords if the guitarist wants to solo) and matching mood and feel. I also play faster runs, improv'd, during this than I used to physically be able to before year 3 or so. We can jam on a single song for 15-20 minutes easily if we're all feeling it. I'm still working on really getting all the modes down pat, but I've almost got it.

All that development in the last 2 years was from playing with others improvisationally. I never jammed with albums before but started as a way to practice finding the key. I would recommend, once your technical chops are developed fairly well, to force yourself to develop either your ear, your theory knowledge, or both. Everything progresses so quickly at that point, and it becomes way more fun as rewarding. It becomes liberating when you can play whatever you feel instead of having to learn what to play when.



Now, of course, I'm going to shake all this up and try to learn all-fifths tuning (for guitar first).

 

[RustyAxe]

Seeing this thread is five years old ... you ought to be "there" by now.

 

[DangaDanga]

I think the first turning point is when your fingers start to bleed

 

[SJan3]

thank you everyone, especially britbonic. I guess I've been one of those people who got straight into not just slap, but flea styled slapping. I can see why and how this is an error on my part. I guess I'll start learning some basic scales and what not. The main reason I picked up bass was because I've liked the intstrument for years and was under the dumb impression that it was easy... Well, it is easy for really simple songs, considering all you can do is just play root and 8th notes. But yeah, I love it now, I know I won't be great in less than a year but I guess this was the proper reassureance i needed.

My man, you may never be great. Few are. What you may become is a competent player that other like minded people wish to work with. I've been playing 46 years, a conservatory grad, have worked the local circuit and even performed with some national acts. Guess what? I'm still learning. I'm not great. I'm a competent player who can get a gig, but I'm far from having it all figured out. You'll learn till you die...if you're willing to work.

 

[SJan3]

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.

+1 on the drummer.

 

[MrLenny1]

How often do you practice and study/lessons ?

 

[dreamadream99]

This was a 5 year old question, by a guest without a profile. We will probably never know.

 

[ZenG]

I've asked this before and mainly got answers saying that "one never gets 'good' cause you can always be better" or something to that accord... So, I guess what I'm really asking is how long does it usually take to hold your own and actually be past the beginner-intermediate stage. I've been playing for almost 5 months, and I'm self taught. I pretty much get discouraged often though because I feel like I can't tell whether I'm progressing or not. Some days I feel it some days I don't. So, how long did it take you guys to get decentyl good at bass. Did it take at least year? 6 months? do tell.

and I would say I'm "alright", I can pop and slap but not well.. and everything else is in the air.

I don't think there's any specific timeframe.

Some people take to things like a duck takes to water. Some don't, so it's a longer learning curve.

I would say a lot of it depends on any talent musically you were born with before you even pick up a bass or other instrument as to how fast you progress.

Can you possibly post a couple of sound clips of yourself playing?

(There are always people, that no matter how good you are, will always find fault and jump at the chance to negatively criticize...but on the other hand there are many that can tell you where you're at in a constructive positive way as well).