So Anyway, my advice is always to look for some people to play with.
Welcome back and Good Luck.
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Learning Bass with a Laptop
- Thread starter Steady Eddie
- Start date
Welcome back and Good Luck.
Ringo learned the drums with real human musicians on his laptop?
You learn something new every day!
You learn something new every day!
Sitting with John in Mimi's kitchen with a couple of upturned frying pans on his lap?
I find Laptops are nearly essential to progressing quickly these days! Here are my methods, which I really dove into during the pandemic - excited to see what others say as well!
1. YouTube videos of songs I want to learn. Some offer tabs transcriptions at the bottom.
I later decided to pay for Apple Music and prefer to use that whenever I can because it’s more focused, no ads and deals only with published songs (ie not “gee whiz look at me” or gear comparison videos). Once I learn a song I can always go back to youtube and see if there is a “bassless backing track” version to practice with.
For Jazz songs where the lines are improvised I will usually start with a real book chart, and then look for a bassless backing track on YouTube. Great for practicing solos.
Nice thing about Apple Music is it keeps playing in the background even if I change the screen, and I can control it from the keyboard (start stop, replay) this allows me to have another window open with a transcription open and not have to switch.
2. Online transcriptions. (Or tabs if you prefer, but I personally hate tab)
Just search “bass tab + (song name)” or “bass transcription + (song name)”.
I have also occasionally paid for downloads of specific transcriptions, (some even come with a bassless backing track), or I have also paid to download whole sets of transcriptions. I am pretty cheap but I find I get my money’s worth on stuff like this.
I also pay for ultimate guitar and use the “pro” or “official” transcriptions that they offer a lot. they aren’t perfect but can really shorten the time to quickly learn a pop/rock song if it doesn’t come quickly by ear. Can print out also if needed, or just pdf a copy on your laptop. I only wish they’d learn how to use repeats!!!
3. I also like the Hal Leonard bass song book and then use the above options for a backing rack.
4. Have a project! In the pandemic I got down the entire album to Steely Dan Aja. Starting with transcriptions, which I printed out for study and ease of playing along. Very satisfying to be able to just hit play on an epic album and play these recordings from beginning to end. I have done this with other works as well. Some are quite challenging just to read, but I take them in chunks and work them through. (Jaco transcriptions, Bach Cello Suite, Jamiroquai etc)
5. Drum loops on YouTube - just enter 100bm drum beat, for example. Indispensable practice tool for me. Especially for hard to play passages on songs I am learning. I can loop these over and over until I get it and I find this better than trying to nail a part of song each time it comes around. Can also slow the part down (80bpm 90bpm etc) until I get it up to speed.
Could also use garage band/logic for this as well but YT is just as easy and all I am really looking for is a groove metronome.
**What I personally don’t like.
1. YouTube videos with too much talking. SBL looking at you
These can be entertaining or educational for just watching but not practice.
2. Looping backing tracks. I’ll try them from time to time. But I find these just so boring and unmusical that I rarely come up with good ideas. Drum loops being the exception.
1. YouTube videos of songs I want to learn. Some offer tabs transcriptions at the bottom.
I later decided to pay for Apple Music and prefer to use that whenever I can because it’s more focused, no ads and deals only with published songs (ie not “gee whiz look at me” or gear comparison videos). Once I learn a song I can always go back to youtube and see if there is a “bassless backing track” version to practice with.
For Jazz songs where the lines are improvised I will usually start with a real book chart, and then look for a bassless backing track on YouTube. Great for practicing solos.
Nice thing about Apple Music is it keeps playing in the background even if I change the screen, and I can control it from the keyboard (start stop, replay) this allows me to have another window open with a transcription open and not have to switch.
2. Online transcriptions. (Or tabs if you prefer, but I personally hate tab)
Just search “bass tab + (song name)” or “bass transcription + (song name)”.
I have also occasionally paid for downloads of specific transcriptions, (some even come with a bassless backing track), or I have also paid to download whole sets of transcriptions. I am pretty cheap but I find I get my money’s worth on stuff like this.
I also pay for ultimate guitar and use the “pro” or “official” transcriptions that they offer a lot. they aren’t perfect but can really shorten the time to quickly learn a pop/rock song if it doesn’t come quickly by ear. Can print out also if needed, or just pdf a copy on your laptop. I only wish they’d learn how to use repeats!!!
3. I also like the Hal Leonard bass song book and then use the above options for a backing rack.
4. Have a project! In the pandemic I got down the entire album to Steely Dan Aja. Starting with transcriptions, which I printed out for study and ease of playing along. Very satisfying to be able to just hit play on an epic album and play these recordings from beginning to end. I have done this with other works as well. Some are quite challenging just to read, but I take them in chunks and work them through. (Jaco transcriptions, Bach Cello Suite, Jamiroquai etc)
5. Drum loops on YouTube - just enter 100bm drum beat, for example. Indispensable practice tool for me. Especially for hard to play passages on songs I am learning. I can loop these over and over until I get it and I find this better than trying to nail a part of song each time it comes around. Can also slow the part down (80bpm 90bpm etc) until I get it up to speed.
Could also use garage band/logic for this as well but YT is just as easy and all I am really looking for is a groove metronome.
**What I personally don’t like.
1. YouTube videos with too much talking. SBL looking at you
These can be entertaining or educational for just watching but not practice.
2. Looping backing tracks. I’ll try them from time to time. But I find these just so boring and unmusical that I rarely come up with good ideas. Drum loops being the exception.
