Man do I suck!

[Koa_Top]

Is it just me, or has anyone else thought to themselves, "I'm playing pretty decent", only to then either put on a pair of headphones or record yourself and listen to the ugly truth?

I know that practicing at least thru an amp is a must, but I'm often too lazy to dig out the cords and such for the amp, or someone wants peace and quiet, etc. and I'll find myself playing with no amplification of any kind - man what a horror it was when I put the 'phones on last night I guess the other thing that I noticed is how hard I play without an amp, obviously another bad habit to get into.

Does anyone use headphones regularly, and have you noticed a big improvement or not when doing so? Or do most of yinz (sorry, Pittsburgh-ese coming out...) just crank the amp up and use that as your instant feedback on how you're playing? Many thanks!

 

[skaliwag66]

I suck too but not for long Realizing this is essential so you can work on your weaknesses.

P.s. I'd rather play through an amp. Can't really hear subtle differences through phones.

 

[elpelotero]

playing without an amp has given me the bad habit of plucking too hard so i can hear myself....try not to do it if you can avoid it.

 

[Foamy]

Everyone sucks at some level.

 

[curtis r]

amen to that

 

[bigbadbuck]

well one of the things that i do is practice in the day when nobody is trying to sleep or anything and remember how hard you pluck and everything with the volume up. Now when people wanna sleep or lazyness overcomes you just get yourself in the ballpark of how you were playing when you had the volume up and then work on exercises with that like

---------------1234321-------------------------
----------1234---------4321--------------------
-----1234-------------------4321---------2345
1234-----------------------------43212345-----

stuff like that. im not claiming to be a genius or a teacher or anything im just saying thats what i do and as far as i can tell it works well

 

[bigbadbuck]

and im talking about without headphones. if you are gonna use headphones i would think it would be very obvious if you were plucking too hard because its right in your ears and those little speakers arent gonna do the bass as well as your amp.

 

[soong]

i used to do that unplugged too.
its not only bad for technique, that kinda pressure breaks strings.

 

[Koa_Top]

Thanks for the comments - I can appreciate the bass that the amp can generate vs. the phones, but it seems that the phones allow you to hear every littly nuance or ringing strings that is there- it just seems that there's no hiding from ANY mistakes when using the phones. I dunno - maybe I'm exaggerating a little, or maybe I just need to CRANK UP THE AMP I'm still curious to know if anyone else uses phones regularly, like say maybe thru a Cafe Walter headphone amp, or anything else for that matter.

 

[luknfur]

Sounds like it might be a frequency issue in part. Higher frequencies/harmonics will accentuate slop. If so, you can shift your amp frequencies and likely get similar results if that's what you're after.

 

[mothmonsterman]

we all suck



PRACTICE MORE

 

[DWBass]

I realized the very first time I heard myself after a recording session that you can only get away with sloppy playing on 'live' gigs. It was a huge awakening for me! I've learned to be a bit more precise in my playing.

 

[K-Frog]

I practice with headphones all the time through my PX3B. Decent headpones are key so that you hear yourself well enough to not try and compensate by playing too hard.

On your first question - I'm usually opposite. I'm very critical of my own playing and usually think it's only so-so, but when I hear a recording I usually say to myself " wow, did I actually play that riff/groove/lick/whatever?"

 

[wilsonNC]

K-frog wrote:

I practice with headphones all the time through my PX3B. Decent headpones are key so that you hear yourself well enough to not try and compensate by playing too hard.

Exactly so.

I practicing for years without an amp - too lazy to hook up. The result was I learned to play too hard. After reviewing some sloppy work on recordings, I started using a Bass V-Amp w/ headphones for practice. BIG improvement for small investment. Should'a done this long ago. Developing a lighter touch was The cure for my sloppy play. MWilson

 

[LowDown Hal]

Dude,

YOU DO NOT SUCK.
You simply indentified what to work on next.

 

[morf]

Dude,

YOU DO NOT SUCK.
You simply indentified what to work on next.

Well said.

 

[mambo4]

These days I practice with a Cafe Walter headphone amp (available thru Bass NW) and some Semi-decent headphones. The amp is excellent for helping you hear those minor flaws in your technique that an amp (and a band) will usually cover up. It also helps you hear the sound of your bass uncolored by any amp/speaker considerations. Walter's motto is "this is how you *really* sound"

It also has an aux out and aux in, for tuners and iPods etc. Since I started practicing through it, I have become more conscious of when I make finger squeaks and of plucking too hard...

Can't recommend the thing highly enough. I keep mine strapped to my music stand.

 

[user101]

For me i never realise how sloppy i'm playing through an amp. Because when i'm playing i'm trying to make music. And when i'm practicing, i focus too much on technique. The only time i focus on my sound and my tempo is when i listen to playbacks. Then my head is free to concentrate and listen to the sloppy parts and then i work on them after that. So i actually record every practice and playing session.

 

[skaliwag66]

Does anyone else have trouble when playing bass through headphones where the pitch sounds off due to harmonics (?) or is it just me going deaf?

 

[Chriso21]

I find headphones sound brittle when I record them, but i use the amp and also the headphones with a click when i record songs (to show the band). I find that some days I am just "off" if you nkow what i mean - just not playing as i know I can - not fast enough - messy, not tight. Usually when i am hung over...