1. Get a copy of Booker T and the MG's Greatest Hits
2. Put on headphones
3. Listen carefully
4. Repeat
5. Repeat
6. Repeat....
2. Put on headphones
3. Listen carefully
4. Repeat
5. Repeat
6. Repeat....
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How to reframe from playing so many notes and play just enough for the song?
- Thread starter Jalen Fuller
- Start date
IME: almost every tune i've ever played had a form to it. and while exceptions abound: most tunes have 'naturally occurring' places where things change (verse to bridge, bridge to chorus, turns, turn-arounds, codas, yada yada). limit your fills to those that make the next section 'more valuable' because of your fill. evaluate your playing. adjust accordingly.
that advice is very basic and it's based on playing with others in ensemble fashion.* good luck with your over-playing!
* if you're playing along with recordings: who cares?
A good starting point is vocals. When someone is singing be sure to not give much attention to your line. Keep a groove and be a cushion. Then when there is a lead, do the same, maybe a little less, add inspiration without taking the spot light. Never kill the groove, bounce around but get back to the groove without loosing it. There is such thing as a non-repetitive groove (Phil Lesh, style) that can keep it interesting. Listening to the recording after the fact is quite enlightening.
Listen to the first album by the band Boston. It's a textbook lesson on overplaying and overproduction. Notice how fatiguing and repetitious it gets to listen to after a couple of songs? That's what you want to avoid.
There's nothing wrong with strutting your stuff, throwing in a little flash, having some fun, and adding all those "tasteful little touches" you've come up with. Just don't do it every single minute of every single song.
Best way to get a solid handle on how you really sound is to record yourself at gigs and rehearsals. Because there's always the chance we can get so caught up in the act of playing bass that we stop listening to what it is we're actually playing. It's an easy trap to fall into. There's been more than a few times when I came up with what I thought was an absolutely killer bass line for something only to want to cringe when I heard it on playback. Trust me, it happens.
Best way to fix any problems and improve if you're a musician is to put as much emphasis on listening as you do on playing.
Or so I think anyway.
Luck!
There's nothing wrong with strutting your stuff, throwing in a little flash, having some fun, and adding all those "tasteful little touches" you've come up with. Just don't do it every single minute of every single song.
Best way to get a solid handle on how you really sound is to record yourself at gigs and rehearsals. Because there's always the chance we can get so caught up in the act of playing bass that we stop listening to what it is we're actually playing. It's an easy trap to fall into. There's been more than a few times when I came up with what I thought was an absolutely killer bass line for something only to want to cringe when I heard it on playback. Trust me, it happens.
Best way to fix any problems and improve if you're a musician is to put as much emphasis on listening as you do on playing.
Or so I think anyway.
Luck!
This is a great thread, have no idea how Im just seeing it now for the first time. Great idea!
No disrespect but the word you are looking for is refrain not reframe. Carry on...
When it comes to the groove, you can say a lot with the groove. I get what you mean, I was there for a long time, always gotta throw some fill in somewhere. So then one just ends up sounding like an attention-starved wanker.
You've heard it before, often, it's about the spaces between the notes.
Bring a mirror so you can see your face!...but what if I am the BL???
LISTEN!!!
Just listen, to everyone else that is playing.
Its as simple as that.
Sometimes, other players will be filling it out and sometimes they won't.
...be ready to react accordingly.
Playing boring music just because you are afraid to "overplay" is just as bad as overplaying!!!
Just listen, to everyone else that is playing.
Its as simple as that.
Sometimes, other players will be filling it out and sometimes they won't.
...be ready to react accordingly.
Playing boring music just because you are afraid to "overplay" is just as bad as overplaying!!!
I was playing drums in a reggae band, and the leader stopped me after the first couple songs at our first rehearsal and pointed out I was putting in a fill every four bars.
The biggest part of not over-playing on any instrument, particularly a core rhythm instrument, is listening. As a bassist, you want to support the melodic line, but you can't just jump into every gap, because there's gonna be somebody else (drummer, guitar, piano) with fills up their sleeve, too. It's a conversation, and just like a real multi-person conversation, you can't all be talking at once. You've got to be listening more than you're talking.
The biggest part of not over-playing on any instrument, particularly a core rhythm instrument, is listening. As a bassist, you want to support the melodic line, but you can't just jump into every gap, because there's gonna be somebody else (drummer, guitar, piano) with fills up their sleeve, too. It's a conversation, and just like a real multi-person conversation, you can't all be talking at once. You've got to be listening more than you're talking.
I'm a bit of a noodly player, I will admit. A few things that keep it under control:
1. Play in a genre that suits it! I'm in an originals jam band and playing a lot of notes is not stylistically inappropriate
2. Shift some of your note playing to ghost notes — keeping the groove rolling but pulling back on the "extra" stuff.
3. Don't just lock to the kick but to the snare — the perception is a tighter delivery of the music overall. I play a lot of riot notes on the kick and fifths on the snare. Just naturally, without thinking too much about it, but it keeps things locked and opens up the space in the overall sound of the band.
Maybe helpful, maybe not. This is how I play though!
Check out this video for the kick snare thing. It's maybe simplistic but I think it works.
It's off of this three song EP we did in March
1. Play in a genre that suits it! I'm in an originals jam band and playing a lot of notes is not stylistically inappropriate
2. Shift some of your note playing to ghost notes — keeping the groove rolling but pulling back on the "extra" stuff.
3. Don't just lock to the kick but to the snare — the perception is a tighter delivery of the music overall. I play a lot of riot notes on the kick and fifths on the snare. Just naturally, without thinking too much about it, but it keeps things locked and opens up the space in the overall sound of the band.
Maybe helpful, maybe not. This is how I play though!
Check out this video for the kick snare thing. It's maybe simplistic but I think it works.
It's off of this three song EP we did in March
Never stop asking this question.
Try to leave a hole for the snare. See what happens to your playing.
Try to leave a hole for the snare. See what happens to your playing.
That must be why classic rock radio stations play those songs on 10 minute intervals.
Look into "ghost notes". Don't think "what cool little lick could I stick in here". Think "what cool little rhythm could I stick in here".
These guys explain int way better than I could
ghost note bsss lesson - YouTube
I like the Scott Devine Stuff, Talking Bass is good, I'm sure there are several on the list that might resonate with you.
There are a few tunes in the repertoire I typically play where the drum part is a cool syncopated thing - on one of them, after trying to figure out what to play, I realized that if I played a parade of quarter notes on the beat, the drum part sounded really cool. We're there to make the band sound good - if the way to do that is simple, play simple.
