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I suck at bass...

Knavery

Knavery

Feb 24, 2004
1,691
1,773
Westminster, CO
#1
Hello everyone... I just bought a Pedulla Rapture J2000 5-string. It is a sweet bass, but I am playing out of an old Peavey 2x10 combo with a built-in limiter and compressor. I know I am not getting the full sound out of this bass as I would with an Edan or Ampeg, but hey... It plays nicer than anything I've owned... One thing however....

I have been playing guitar and bass for about 13 years and have been in numerous bands. I'm just starting to broaden my horizons now and am interested in jazz and other forms of music aside from the heavy music I've been accustomed to. This happens as you get older I guess. I was online last night surfing this site as well as looking at some of the lessons on Activebass.com and realized something.

I SUCK! That's right.. I know virtually no theory and I'm slower than molasses in March. The one good thing going for me is that I can tap very fast with my fingers and I seem to be ok at popping and pulling. The finger runs are what I need to work on. That and theory itself. Learning scales and modes and memorizing these is going to be no easy task. Oh well... It will make life interesting. Anyone humbled lately?

Knavery
 
#2
I've been humbled since the day I picked up the bass, almost 2 years ago now.

I have a thread in this (GI) forum called "I've assembled a spreadsheet on modes" or something to that affect. Check out the spreadsheet, maybe that will help you with modes. It's helped me.

If you don't have Excel you can get an Excel viewer at [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].
 
#4
Where do you live? You should take lessons. I've been playing for almost 20 years and I take lessons regularly. There've been long periods where I wasn't studying, and I'd start to feel like I sucked, but what you need to get over the sucky periods is someone to get you on track with your development.
 
#6
I would definitely take lessons, but I'd have to find someone that doesn't teach hotdog mississippi type tunes as I've been playing quite a long time. I've got quite a few Dream Theater and Rush songs under my belt. My problem is theory, running the fretboard and speed which can account for an aweful lot... I live in Minneapolis, MN and I think I could find someone. Maybe I should get into some music groups or something.

Knavery
 
#7
most people who teach do not teach songs per se. Or technique, for that matter, unless you're a beginner who needs help with fingerings or you're advanced and want to learn tricks.

If you are a competent player and you want to understand music theory, you will generally learn it by studying jazz. Most teachers will have studied it too. Even if you're not into jazz, I think players who are serious about learning theory should consider it an essential form to study, if nothing else, the blues component of jazz will cover a pretty huge amount of the theory you want to learn, and even rock people can enjoy blues. If you learn the blues-related theory, it will be immediately applicable to rock music.

A good teacher will start you out by taking some tune, making sure you can read it, then get you to start improvising a little over it. The other things you mentioned as goals, speed and knowledge of the fretboard, will come about incidentally as you study playing the right notes over chords.
 

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