So I'm relatively new to playing bass. I've been playing a little under a year so I wanted to ask some questions to seasoned players.
1)I've experienced some discomfort in the past with soreness/calluses in my fingertips but recently I've had more time to practice a few hours a day and I experienced slight pain in the joint of my index finger. I wanted to know if that was normal or should I stop playing for a while so I don't damage my finger?
There should be no pain - discomfort yes a little right at first as we are doing things with our body parts that they never have done before. If pain, find out why and stop doing that. Before playing loosen up your hands - rub them and stretch them. Right now do not play more than 45 minutes with out a break. Beyond that, I am not qualified to give medical advise.
2)I bought a bass and amp combo on ebay really really cheap about a year ago and it has a lot of fret buzz and it also cannot handle down tuning too well. Whenever I tune down to a drop D on Rocksmith it doesn't pick up any notes on the e string. That aside I usually don't even plug it in when I practice because they sent me a guitar amp not bass amp so I usually just play unplugged which gets annoying. So I have made the decision to finally get another bass because I absolutely love playing. I found an Ibanez bass guitar and amp combo from a trusted online store for $279 with lots of extras. I'm not sure if I am allowed to even mention any businesses on here so I wont say which one but you can probably guess that. Anyway I was just curious if Ibanez makes reliable versatile basses(noob question I know).
If you recognize the name they have been in business long enough to not be offering junk. Commercially acceptable - well that is another story. You pay for what you get. Skip over all that down tuning stuff for now plenty of time for that after you know your way around standard tuning.
You do need to be playing plugged so you can recognize the good sounds from the bad sounds. I learned on a guitar amp. But, there is a difference, if money is not a problem get the bass amp. I have a Peavey Max15B (15 watt) bass amp that I practice on. Cost new $109 less than a year ago. It has a built in tuner, which is not normally found on an inexpensive amp. It does everything I ask of it.
3)I want to learn to play all of bass as in different music genres and plucking/fingering/slap styles. so any advice concerning that would be greatly appreciated. Also if you have any scale runs or cool bass lines that you think will improve my playing that would be great. Basically any advice on how to be a better bass player would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for thanking the time to read my post.
Slow down and start at the beginning. I know that begs what is the beginning. IMO that can be found in the book Bass Guitar For Dummies. How to hold it, tune it, get sound from it, how to mute some of the sound, i.e. all those must know things right at first are in Dummies. Plus it has all the patterns I still use today. Yes I play patterns:
My old standby chart of generic bass lines using the major scale box as a Rosetta stone may help:
Major Scale Box.
Code:
G~~|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D~~|---6---|-------|---7---|---8---|
A~~|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E~~|-------|---R---|-------|---2---|4th string
Cmaj7 chord coming up in the song. Place the box's R (root) note on a C note on your fretboard. The 4th string 8th fret for example; then play notes from the Cmaj7 chord. I've listed below the note "spelling" for the Cmaj7 chord. Start with root on the one beat then see if you can handle, root on one and three next (R-X-R-X) Then when that goes together try R-3-5-7. Keep reading...
Basic Chords
- Major Triad = R-3-5 aka C
- Minor Triad = R-b3-5 aka Cm
- Diminished Chord = R-b3-b5 aka Cdim
7th Chords
- Maj7 = R-3-5-7 aka Cmaj7
- Minor 7 = R-b3-5-b7 aka Cm7
- Dominant 7 = R-3-5-b7 aka C7
- ½ diminished = R-b3-b5-b7 Cm7b5
- Full diminished = R-b3-b5-bb7 C with the little circle.
See a chord and play it's chord tones. As every key will have three major, three minor and one diminished chord it's a good idea to get your major, minor and diminished bass line chord tones into muscle memory so when you see a chord your fingers just know what will work. Now the song may only give you enough room for the root, or root five - adapt and get as many chord tones into your bass line as needed. Root on 1 and a steady groove from the other chord tones plus something to call attention to the chord change is what we do.
Scales: Yes we need to know our scales. I know of no instrument that does not start you off running your scale notes first. Best way to get to know your instrument and how to find specific notes on that instrument.
- Major Scale = R-2-3-4-5-6-7 Home base
- Major Pentatonic = R-2-3-5-6 Leave out the 4 & 7
- Natural Minor Scale = R-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7 Major scale with the 3, 6 & 7 flatted.
- Minor Pentatonic = R-b3-4-5-b7 Leave out the 2 & 6.
- Blues = R-b3-4-b5-5-b7 Minor pentatonic with the blue note b5 added.
- Harmonic Minor Scale = R-2-b3-4-5-b6-7 Natural minor with a natural 7.
- Melodic Minor Scale = R-2-b3-4-5-6-7 Major scale with a b3.
Let the major scale be your home base then change a few notes and you have something different. No need to memorize a zillion patterns. Let the major scale pattern be your go to pattern - then adapt/adjust from there.
Generic Notes - for your bass line.
- The root, five and eight (R-5-8-5) are generic and fit most any chord. Remember the diminished has a flatted 5.
- The 3 is generic to all major chords. So R-3-5-3 will fit under any major chord.
- The b3 is generic to all minor chords. And R-b3-5-8 will fit under any minor chord. Why the 8? Well the 8 is just another root in the next octave.
- The 7 is generic to all maj7 chords. Yep, R-3-5-7 fits nicely.
- The b7 is generic to all dominant seventh and minor seventh chords. G7 = R-3-5-b7 or Gm7 = R-b3-5-b7.
- The 6 is neutral and adds color, help yourself to 6's. Love the sound of R-3-5-6 with a major chord.
- The 2 and 4 make good passing notes. Don't linger on them or stop on them, keep them passing.
- In making your bass line help yourself to those notes, just use them correctly.
- Roots, fives, eights and the correct 3 & 7 will play a lot of bass.
OK fine, how to use all that I know is the question. And I do know most of this went over your head. Copy and paste it somewhere, too good information to just let it vanish, and then eat this monster one bite at a time.
I suggest you start by running your C major scale. Why? So your fingers get used to going to the notes you want. Place the box's R at the 4th string 8th fret and play R-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 when that flows come back down 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-R. There is another C at the 3rd string 3rd fret. Yep, the box will fit there as well. The G major scale awaits you. Where is there a G note you can start with?
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Good luck.
