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.
How many bpm can you play?
- Thread starter MrNoob
- Start date
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
drumvsbass
Commercial User
- Aug 20, 2011
- 1,985
- 4,325
- Disclosures
- I work for Long and McQuade Musical Instruments Canada in Sales.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
i used to play death metal and super fast thrash, and i never bothered to time myself, but i could play 16ths and keep up with the drummer's blast beats or double bass. in order to do so, i often used a my ring finger as well as my index and middle fingers, and it took some practice to be able to play that way so that the timing with all three fingers was even.
Although I don't usually worry about this, this thread made me curious. so I found an online metronome, and had at it. At 140 BPM, I can do triplets, but not quarters, so that means I can play 420 notes per minute, or 7 per second - that's with fingers - with a pick it would be faster. So far, that's been fast enough, though I'm sure some folks can play much faster.
Great advice!
Just how many songs require a continual 90bpm bass part? Most of us are not going to make a living playing "What is Hip".....
Like you said, find the pocket groove and rock on.
a lot of death metal requires extreme speed as does some punk. for example -
(this is tuned up higher than the original but the bass notes are easy to make out)
btw, in 1998 i tried out for a punk band i REALLY liked, but they turned me down very nicely because i wasn't fast enough. that inspired me to practice for speed till i was really fast. arthritis and other issues have slowed me down, but playing that fast was awesome!
Last edited:
I'm still pretty fast, somewhere in the 140-150 range , and not just playing one pitch either, @ soon to be 66. Getting up and down the fingerboard at that spead is still not much of a problem.
That said, what I find is it's nowhere near as consistent. I will also say this, life got a lot easier when I realize I wasn't getting paid by the note.
Good post bro and point taken.
It's not really a metric most of us keep track of. The only people I recall caring about it are guitarists and violinists who play "Flight of the Bumblebees"
I refuse to play Ab. Absolutely useless note. Doesn't do anything that G# can't.
