Is there a "wrong" way??

[Frank77]

Reading this post, I can think of two things:

First, there usually IS a more efficient way to play something in terms of your left hand position on the neck. Also, the same note will sound different depending WHERE you play it on the neck.

Second, giving unsolicited music lessons to shoppers in a store is dumb.

 

[2112]

The only "wrong" way to do it would be anything that causes you pain. Other than that, I wouldn't say there are "wrong" ways to play anything as long as it makes you happy. But, many times there may be "better" ways to play things.

Personally, I find it annoying for anyone to tell me their way is the best, right, or only way to play anything.

 

[mambo4]

If you play the right notes at the right time it's not wrong,
But there may be better ways to play it - in terms of safety, comfort, ergonomics, and tone.
Every part should be learned with some exploration of different approaches.
The only "wrong" technique is the one you are forced into by lack of practice.

 

[Auspuff]

I visited one of the local guitar centers up in Englewood, and one of the other customers there started playing a rif from a song (Chain of Thorns) on a guitar he was testing out that I happened to know. Having had a bass in my hand at the moment, I decided to play along.
While it was fun, one of the other customers there told me that I was playing it wrong--not that the notes were wrong, but my left hand placement and where I was playing them. Since I'm generally not that good anyway, I took his advice. Later, though, I started to think about it and wondered whether there is, in fact, a wrong way to play something. If I'm hitting all the required notes at the required time, with the required attacks/releases, and it sounds good, is there really a "wrong" way to play?

Don't give it a second thought.

BTW, there is always one of, "Those Guys," at a GC. Ignore them.

Play on!

 

[wintremute]

My reply. "That's cool. I'm not in a Liliac tribute band, so this is just the way I play it. Thanks for noticing! Want to hear me mess up a different song?"

 

[sawzalot]

No. Fingering is the choice of the player, based on factors involving the player's interpretation of the music to the player's physiological characteristics.

 

[Matthew_84]

I mean, you should be playing with your finger right behind the frets as much as you can, and playing in a way that doesn’t cause you any pain in the left hand, but other than that, I don’t think there’s anything you’d need to correct/adjust if you can play everything you’d want to

 

[rashrader]

You’re far too kind. I would have told the guy to take a long walk off a short pier….

 

[Ron Berenato]

There's a right way and a wrong way to do anything. As far as players go, I've seen some guys whose touch was so light that they had no dynamics and they were completely boring - even though all the notes were correct.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

There may be "less efficient" (requires more arm movement, hand stretching, etc.), but there is no "wrong" way if you're hitting the notes at the right time with proper attack/tone. That having been said, I take the advice of strangers like the one in the OP with a grain of salt. It's far more likely that uninvited conversation was born of that guy's inflated sense of self, and less of actual concern for your artistic growth as a bassist. "Those folks" can be found in all circles, I assure you

 

[Grinderman]

I visited one of the local guitar centers up in Englewood, and one of the other customers there started playing a rif from a song (Chain of Thorns) on a guitar he was testing out that I happened to know. Having had a bass in my hand at the moment, I decided to play along.
While it was fun, one of the other customers there told me that I was playing it wrong--not that the notes were wrong, but my left hand placement and where I was playing them. Since I'm generally not that good anyway, I took his advice. Later, though, I started to think about it and wondered whether there is, in fact, a wrong way to play something. If I'm hitting all the required notes at the required time, with the required attacks/releases, and it sounds good, is there really a "wrong" way to play?

If online bass tabs and YT videos of people covering or demonstrating bass parts to known songs are an indication, that random person could be quite possibly be wrong in regard to how the player on the original recording plays it. The right way for you to play it is the way you can play it best.

People at GC are sus enough, let alone ones going around telling other customers they're playing something wrong. //Yeah, I'm pretty much owning the fact that I basically loathe Guitar Center stores.

 

[CatOnTheBass]

There is definitely an "authentic" way to play iconic bass lines.
The real question, is it "wrong" to play a cover song in-authentically?
I say no! A cover version doesn't have to be 100% authentic to the original. Part of the fun of cover songs is giving them a bit of your own personality.

For example when I watch "Money" tutorials on YouTube, at least half the bassists use a different fingering than Roger Waters. Are they "wrong" to use their own fingering for this iconic bass line? No of course not! (But, if they are trying to give an accurate and "authentic" lesson how Roger Waters played it, maybe they missed the mark. Rick Beato's version struck me as particularly inauthentic. The little bend Beato does on the 5th fret D, I have never seen Waters do that. Waters plays the open D string. Maybe I like Beato's version a little better?)

 

[kevindahl]

I'm going to go against most of the replies here. I doubt very much if this was a question of technique, more of timbre or tone. I suggest you sit down and work out all of the possible ways of playing whatever it is in the various possible positions on the bass, then give then a good critical listening. Try to quantify the differences and evaluate which may or may not be a better fit for the music and why. There may be no single 'right' or 'wrong' answer, and each may have something going for it that the others don't have. But there will be differences that you should try to understand. HINT : Your open G string, D string at the 5th fret, A string at the 10th fret and E string at the 15th fret all sound the same basic pitch, but the tones/timbres and possibilities for 'shaping' the notes are radically different.

This^^^

SteveCS explained it quite well. There are differences in tone in regards to where you play it on the neck. Also, it is probably easier to play a lick or line where the original player played it. Whether it is incorporating open strings or not or if it is in the 12th fret range for example. Here is a good example in the song Another One Bites The Dust. The sections where the bass plays an A A A A# B G E and F# B Bb A A A F# could be played in open position frets 1 to 3 on the A string or 5th to 7th fret on the E string. I just don't like the sound or the WAY I play or how it sounds it on the A string. There is more hand movement and it might be easier to play in the open position but not for me.

Is it wrong? Who cares. Does it sound on time with the correct notes? That's all that matters.

 

[Grinderman]

I'm going to go against most of the replies here. I doubt very much if this was a question of technique, more of timbre or tone. I suggest you sit down and work out all of the possible ways of playing whatever it is in the various possible positions on the bass, then give then a good critical listening. Try to quantify the differences and evaluate which may or may not be a better fit for the music and why. There may be no single 'right' or 'wrong' answer, and each may have something going for it that the others don't have. But there will be differences that you should try to understand. HINT : Your open G string, D string at the 5th fret, A string at the 10th fret and E string at the 15th fret all sound the same basic pitch, but the tones/timbres and possibilities for 'shaping' the notes are radically different.

Between differences in bass scale lengths, strings (how balanced or unbalanced is the string set), then pickups, microphone vs DI (or combination of), compression, E.Q. and the rest of the work flow to mastering, etc, what works in terms of timbre between how it was played in the recording session versus someone else with a quite different setup (different bass type, scale, pickups and strings) could lead to a not so straight forward perception from listening to the recording, the interpretation, translation or emulation.

With most songs there's at least two ways/positions to play a song with reasonably similar timbre and of course there are ways to do it with obviously different timbre--trying to not say wrong.

That's not to say I disagree with you.

 

[jimmydean]

Not to say that person was a jerk , but who walks up to someone in a music shop and tells someone that their playing something wrong ? Every TB member has been in a shop and heard people butchering tunes /playing too loud / terrible technique and clearly should be sentenced to five years hard labour with no parole , but not told that your playing the tune wrong .

 

[buldog5151bass]

Proper technique will generally allow you to play cleaner and easier, especially on more complex parts. But plenty of people have become exceptional players on their own, doing things the "wrong" way. How many great guitarists are there who have their high E on top?

 

[JimmyM]

If the notes are right, it’s fine, but playing riffs in different spots can result in easier ways of playing things, and even if you don’t like it, it’s a good exercise that gets you used to the notes in different places.

 

[Discount Bassy]

If I recall correctly, Jaco was a terrible bassist when he started, but he figured, "If I hang around in music stores long enough, I'll get some good advice to set me straight and clean up my root-note-only 12-bar blues covers."

 

[Ric5]

I visited one of the local guitar centers up in Englewood, and one of the other customers there started playing a rif from a song (Chain of Thorns) on a guitar he was testing out that I happened to know. Having had a bass in my hand at the moment, I decided to play along.
While it was fun, one of the other customers there told me that I was playing it wrong--not that the notes were wrong, but my left hand placement and where I was playing them. Since I'm generally not that good anyway, I took his advice. Later, though, I started to think about it and wondered whether there is, in fact, a wrong way to play something. If I'm hitting all the required notes at the required time, with the required attacks/releases, and it sounds good, is there really a "wrong" way to play?

that is one of the problems with guitar and bass guitar ... you can play the same note in several places ... different locations will give you different tones and some will be easier/harder to play.

 

[Turnaround]

An artist I have performed with a number of times plays his ukulele with a fork. Is that wrong?

So much is a matter of context. Is it wrong to play a classic Pink Floyd number on a jazz bass? Certainly not, unless perhaps if you are playing the part of Roger Waters in a stage presentation of a tribute band. And in another context it may be wrong to play the correct notes in the correct time on a violin bass - say in heavy metal.