I just had a sad realization about technique on bass

[smogg]

Let go of the vids and start listening to the music. Play it with your ears, not your eyes.

 

[mbeall]

Am I overthinking this? I'm not crazy I swear

Nope. Copy as many people as you want. You will never sound exactly like them, all of it will be incorporated into your playing with your own stamp. But I think you have the right idea picking where you invest your time. Don't spend all your time just trying to become Flea. Learn what attracts you to his playing and move on to the next guy. We all do it. It's how we learn. It never stops, or shouldn't anyway.

BTW, I love all the Geddy stuff. Him and Neil were the foundation for my first 10 or so years playing music, much to the chagrin of every alt rock band I was ever in during high school.

Later,

Mike

 

[JimmyM]

Ya, it's true...we all do it to a degree. I remember when I saw Stanley Clarke play live when I was 17, I spent a month playing with my right hand angled like an upright player the way he does it. I thought that was the secret to being able to play like him because I never saw anyone play like him before. But I never could play like him, and my wrist started aching to boot. Last time I tried that!

Tupac will come to that realization, too. I get it...you do stuff like this when you're young and developing and you think you're onto something when you start to play it well, not realizing that you're playing it that well just because you were practicing.

 

[barebones]

I guess I don't watch all these famous players out there and think to myself, "That guy does nothing but what I'm seeing right now." Therefore, I tend not to think I have to pick one style myself and "stick with it." I like having a lot of tools in the toolbox.

I ASSume most of the players we admire share this same sentiment, but I could be naive...

That said, I can totally picture Cliff Williams and Nikki Sixx sitting down on their couches in their posh apartments somewhere, with the TV droning madly in the background (and maybe some fireworks and a fountain and half a dozen crazy women), trying to learn Flea and Jaco riffs. I can also picture the reverse scenario.

It just seems intuitive to me that people who truly love music want to learn absolutely everything they possibly can, taking into account mortality and the time constraints it imposes and whatnot, etc....

Wait, what?!

 

[Tupac]

Really?

I've tried... just can't. I'd bet someone might be able to though. I will give infinite +1s to the first person who can do it on video.

Ya, it's true...we all do it to a degree. I remember when I saw Stanley Clarke play live when I was 17, I spent a month playing with my right hand angled like an upright player the way he does it. I thought that was the secret to being able to play like him because I never saw anyone play like him before. But I never could play like him, and my wrist started aching to boot. Last time I tried that!

Tupac will come to that realization, too. I get it...you do stuff like this when you're young and developing and you think you're onto something when you start to play it well, not realizing that you're playing it that well just because you were practicing.

That's my exact mindset! I've always thought my mimicking a pros technique, I'm completely skipping the whole natural development process and getting right to where his years of practice took him. I guess that isn't true...

 

[JimmyM]

Nope, I think all of us can safely say that there are no shortcuts to getting good. Got to put the work in.

 

[Epitaph04]

Does this count?

 

[DanRJBrasil]

I can play rhcp and jamiroquai using the tech that I dev playing over the years I do not change the way I slap or pzzicato, stop seeing how these cats play and start to listen

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Does this count?

Nice one !

Tupac will someday realise that the shortcoming he has aren't something everyone have or if he can't play it know one day he will if he continu to work toward that goal.

Maybe he try to play and do stuff too advanced for his level ?

 

[Tupac]

Does this count?

 

[preside]

I don't mean to be snarky but do you actually think about this stuff? Do you really think Flea or Ged does? Just do it. why put some kind of discrete label for multiple slap methods, as your playing do you stop and think , ok in 4 bars I need to go to the "open hammer claw tech" thats F*%#ing hilarious.

 

[Epitaph04]

Was it that bad? Ill try uploading a better one soon!

 

[Tupac]

Was it that bad? Ill try uploading a better one soon!

No no, good enough for me.

 

[henry2513]

Ya, it's true...we all do it to a degree. I remember when I saw Stanley Clarke play live when I was 17, I spent a month playing with my right hand angled like an upright player the way he does it. I thought that was the secret to being able to play like him because I never saw anyone play like him before. But I never could play like him, and my wrist started aching to boot. Last time I tried that!

Tupac will come to that realization, too. I get it...you do stuff like this when you're young and developing and you think you're onto something when you start to play it well, not realizing that you're playing it that well just because you were practicing.

I think mimicry is a very important part of finding your own voice and technique on any instrument.

For the past year I've been studying Gary Willis's technique and have been studying his phrasing and "sound" for longer than that.

Why?

A few reasons:

1) He's a bad mother#$&@! on bass.

2) His technique makes sense to me, it's logical and efficient. It was a real pain in the ass to get under my fingers but now that it's really beginning to gel the work I put in was definitely worth it. My technique is at a much higher level than what it was before I started.

3) Learning how to sound like him will eventually help me in developing my own voice because I'll know what to avoid.

He's a huge influence and as a result my voice on the bass gravitates towards his style but I don't want to become as a Gary Willis clone. As awesome it might be to play exactly like him I want to develop my own sound eventually.

It doesn't help that I play his signature bass but a ramp is a necessary evil!

 

[Thrill-House]

Also, i may be wrong, but i dont think many people go to a show to hear an exact replica of a studio track. They want to hear the performer try something a little different, add extra notes, hear it with a little more distortion, etc.

Also, isnt raking pretty much a basic technique used by every bassist?

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Also, i may be wrong, but i dont think many people go to a show to hear an exact replica of a studio track. They want to hear the performer try something a little different, add extra notes, hear it with a little more distortion, etc.

Also, isnt raking pretty much a basic technique used by every bassist?

In the case of a cover yeah you are right unless they don't do the sig lick ( if their is one ). If it is original I prefer when they do song like it should be.

And I don't rake. I removed that from my playing because it gets in the way of playing with clarity.

 

[wong99]

+++1 Edward. Just be yourself and your fingers will do all the talkin'. let it flow, let it flow.
no need to put a label on it.

This is great advice.
Every technique that you describe is an effort to sound like someone else.
I really think the key to it is to just let your own style develop and emerge so that other aspiring bassists will want to figure out how to "sound like you".