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How well do you play Bass..

#61
I've been playing round about 4 years now, first started when I was 14. I can't really say how good a player I am for two reasons.

I'm currently playing at Grade 8 level and I'm doing my second year of A Level Music (which requires at least Grade 7 performance (I'm not sure how these qualifications translate in America, Grade 8 is supposedly 1 level below a Degree)). I can play Jaco Pastorius' Portrait of Tracy pretty competently and some of the more complex RHCP and Primus stuff, just for example.

But, when it comes to playing in my band, I play, what seems to me to be very simple and unremarkable stuff. We were recording with a stand-in Saxophonist recently and he commented on one of my lines saying it sounded like something a guitarist would write.

I guess I can play well enough, I just can't put it into the stuff I come up with for the band :atoz:
 
#62
You just sound like you need to work on your writing. You obviously know your theory etc to be playing at grade 8 level, so scales etc won't be a problem but perhaps you're lacking in inspiration?
Listen to as much different music as possible and draw influence.
It's not really about how well you play, more about how your imagination runs.
 
#63
I've been playing for (checks math) 26 years now. I started on guitar and spent about a year beating chords on it with a chord book and a Beatles book that covered everything from Revolver on up.

When I joined a band the guitarist said "bring your brother's bass" so I did. Then within a few weeks the guitarist gave me a cassette of Fly By Night and said "you have to hear these guys."

I spent the next two years woodshedding like crazy. By the time I was 17 I had reached my first plateau musically. I could pretty accurately render most of the Rush catalogue at the time, with exceptions for the really difficult runs.

What I tell people is, if you see a musician on stage and you think what he's doing is really difficult, think again. It isn't *to him.* People get comfortable with things and play the way that is comfortable for them. That's why a well-rehearsed band sounds really good and a poorly-rehearsed one sounds sloppy, choppy, and start and stoppy.

I always practice well beyond my intended level of performance. To me the rush of playing live is not barely getting away with s**t I don't quite have mastery of; it's using the tried-and-tested tools I already have at my disposal to open a window into the emotional world of the music I'm creating. My guitar player says every show we ought to leave it all on the stage.

If people want to have serious chops, come home from whatever you do during the day, put your bass on, and play it until you go to bed. That's how you get serious chops. I have acquired, and lost, and re-gained those serious chops more times than I can count.

But there's a bedrock level of ability or musicality that persists no matter what. And the fact is I can find a downbeat, guide the rhythm, and shape the song no matter how much I practice or woodshed.

Am I pretty good? I don't even think about it that way anymore. I require of myself a minimum level of competence on the bass to even have the nerve to play it in front of people. But most of those people have NO IDEA that I'm playing a bass, what sound it is that I'm really making, or whether I'm much good at it or not. I've had people tell me alarmingly that they didn't really know what sound the bass made until they heard the band play without me (one day I came later for a rehearsal and the drummer's gf told me this).

So, I think I play pretty good but who cares? Does the music I make move people? That matters to me. My individual performance is merely the bedrock upon which my bandmembers rest their performances, and without them I ain't got jack, so I worry far more about how WE play than about how I individually play.
 
#71
#72
clefface said:
I like to think I play well but I'm pretty young, in band situations I don't really think its that hard bass is pretty easy (Its my only instrument right now) I started in 2000.

what would you guys consider a good bass player?

you decide how well I play
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/aaron-schofield/105771632789873
Click to expand...
i hate smartass kids!

:D

you were laying it down in diamonds are a girl's best friend. don't know anyone who would say you're not killer.
 
#74
Good enough for playing 7 months. Switched from guitar.

Just learned Learning To Live by Dream Theater. Took me a LONG time to learn it correctly, as all the tabs were terrible. Before that, I learned some other stuff from them- including Metropolis.
 
#76
Similar to the above, I played bass in the late 60's/early 70's, but gave it up to do the "ordinary" obligations of live (job, career, family, etc.) like most others. I always knew when I retired, I would resume playing. I now spend most of my day practicing and learning songs for a Classic Rock band I joined. I took the time time to learn more theory than I ever knew before, which I think really helps. I've also developed my ear much more than when I was younger. As far as comparing myself to my younger years, the speed and dexterity are probably not as good, but I am more tasteful in my notes, I think.
 
#77
clefface said:
I dont realy listen to dream theater but from what i know thats some complicated stuff for 7 months
Click to expand...

Meh...the bass player basically mirrors the guitar parts in many areas, so having switched from guitar would help. Still...myung is a good player, and shouldnt be underestimated!

I listened to them for years....and as i grew as a bass player...i hated them more and more. Personally...although wonderfully technical...i feel that band cant groove their way out of a wet bag. Yes...you CAN groove in metal. Portnoy especially bothers me...and please send the singer back to 1983 canada...
Jordan Rudess is the most talented member of that group and he's a KEYBOARD player. what does THAT say?!

</rant>
 
#78
I'm never sure.... I play in 3 bands and feel I can hold it down and have a few fills but not a flashy player. However, one guitartist is well skilled and educated and kinda talks down to me a little. Another guitarist in another band says I'm the best he has played with and is equally as good as the one that bashes me. The other two bands love me and one of them hired me without audition from seeing me play. I loose some confidence every now and then from the one guitarist but the others bring me back up. I just play for me and have fun!!!!!!

Listen to "Oh Darling" and a "Every Breath you take (great version)" and let me know what you think. I can take constructive critisism and would like input from my peers on things to improve. These are just some rehersal recordings and have some Studio Stuff coming out soon.

Link Removed

"slapa 'da bass"
 
#79
Been playing bass since Nov. 2007, played guitar since 1972. I'm better than some, not as good as others, but I've learned over the years not to worry about that. It's always going to be that way. I just do the best I can, and let the chips fall where they may. The best we can all hope for is that when we're on our deathbeds we can look back and say we did the best we could.
 
#80
I've been playing bass for over over 33 years. Guitar for 35. In terms of "chops" (i.e., gymnastic skills) I'm a better guitarist than bassist. On bass I neither slap nor pop, play strictly finger style, and don't know how to do very many things that make people go "wow" (okay, I admit I have a couple of pretty slick moves on fretless). My strengths are:


  • I know the basic scales for rock/pop/country, and how to get from one degree to another musically;
  • I studied West African and Latin hand drumming and Balinese gamelan for many years, so my rhythmic skills are substantially above average (plus I get what drummers are doing);
  • I know which notes not to play and how to stay in the pocket and out of the way of the singer.

Pretty average bass credentials overall, I imagine.

Generally, I would guess that the crowd doesn't notice me, but people I play in bands with, especially singers and drummers, invariably do. I've had a number of drummers tell me that they LOVE the fact that I don't try to play their fills for them! :D

Which is probably why I do about four times as many bass gigs as guitar gigs! And the bass gigs are usually for MONEY!

Guitarists always ask me, "So, Ken... how come you like playing the bass so damn much?!?"

Sure, I like that I get more opportunities to play bass, and getting paid is a plus. But the bottom line is that I just really dig moving all that air... I love the way in which the things I feel in my hands translate to what I hear in my ears and feel in my bones. It's just a more powerful musical experience for me than guitar or mando or dobro or banjo or anything else that I play.

:bassist::bassist::bassist::bassist::bassist:
 

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