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New to bass

T

TechDeath

May 16, 2012
79
0
#1
I've been playing bass for around two months and just looking for tips and such. I can play a couple of songs Recreant-Chelsea Grin Sonnet of the wretched-Chelsea Grin partisan deconstruction-Aversions crown Aspirations-after the burial ect. I play with a pick which I will probably be dropping soon. I know some music theory and will probably be taking bass lessons soon. I am also getting a Ibanez SR605 5-string bass.

Just want to know tips and techniques to sound my best
 
#2
TechDeath said:
I've been playing bass for around two months and just looking for tips and such. I can play a couple of songs Recreant-Chelsea Grin Sonnet of the wretched-Chelsea Grin partisan deconstruction-Aversions crown Aspirations-after the burial ect.
Click to expand...
How are you playing, from standard notation, tabs, or what; and are you playing melody, treble clef, or harmony, bass clef? Either way is fine, but, to comment, kinda need to know what you are doing.
I play with a pick which I will probably be dropping soon.
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If you like the sound keep using the pick. If you want another sound then explore fingers or thumb. Don't limit yourself to just one way.
I know some music theory and will probably be taking bass lessons soon. I am also getting a Ibanez SR605 5-string bass.
Click to expand...
All three are good things to do.

Welcome to the bottom end.
 
#3
Thank you for the support. I can read standard tablature but I mostly learn by ear because I feel if you spend a lot of time playing all your songs off tabs you won't be very good at learning by ear. So I try not to use them.

I have decided that I will stick with the pick and thank you for the warm welcome
 
#6
sounds fine but i reaaaaally wouldnt advise starting on a five string, specially if you havent had any previous guitar/double bass experience. that bottom string is extreemly difficult to handle, youll injure yourself if your not careful. my advice? start on a 4 or be very very careful...
 
#7
isthimus said:
sounds fine but i reaaaaally wouldnt advise starting on a five string, specially if you havent had any previous guitar/double bass experience. that bottom string is extreemly difficult to handle, youll injure yourself if your not careful. my advice? start on a 4 or be very very careful...
Click to expand...

Thank you and I do play a 4 string atm and it is hard to tremolo the bottom string without merging my lowest hit the pickups and make a loud ass pop.
Thank you for the tip I'll practice it more
 
#9
TechDeath said:
Lol I've been told that but I have never ever found a death metal standard notation. Kind of useless in my world
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Learning to play only one genre is not going to make you a great bass player IMHO.

Just because that genre is what you are playing doesn't mean there aren't thousands of great bass lines from other genres that you can learn from.
 
#11
TechDeath said:
Thank you for the support. I can read standard tablature but I mostly learn by ear because I feel if you spend a lot of time playing all your songs off tabs you won't be very good at learning by ear.
Click to expand...

Learning by ear is probably the best thing. It is very useful to be able to read standard music notation, but if you can play songs by ear it will help you understand better what you're doing IMO.

I have a student who's been playing (sight-reading) the cello for over 5 years and can't play a simple major scale... (not on bass, just never learned it). She just read the music without understanding it. I think with playing by ear that can't really happen.
 
#12
isthimus said:
sounds fine but i reaaaaally wouldnt advise starting on a five string, specially if you havent had any previous guitar/double bass experience. that bottom string is extreemly difficult to handle, youll injure yourself if your not careful. my advice? start on a 4 or be very very careful...
Click to expand...

My only experience is with four strings. However, IMO it is technique that causes injury, not the bass. If a person uses good technique then they have nothing to fear, injury wise from using more than four strings.

Also, I'd imagine that with some time, patience and practice, playing a fiver will become second nature. Same goes for learning anything new. ;)
 
#13
StraightSix said:
Learning to play only one genre is not going to make you a great bass player IMHO.

Just because that genre is what you are playing doesn't mean there aren't thousands of great bass lines from other genres that you can learn from.
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I do understand that and alot of bassists in death metal mix a lot of genres together to create some really odd or unique sounds. Such as Attila, they mix metal,jazz, and blues riffs and licks that are really cool.

And sorry but I don't expect to be playing any other genres. In my opinion jazz,blues, and 'hard' rock are just way too simple and aren't unique. like for our 'rock' channel that plays stuff like Bobaflex, ACDC, And such, are just way to similar and no variety

I guess same could be said for Deathcore in your own opinions
 
#15
TechDeath said:
I do understand that and alot of bassists in death metal mix a lot of genres together to create some really odd or unique sounds. Such as Attila, they mix metal,jazz, and blues riffs and licks that are really cool.

And sorry but I don't expect to be playing any other genres. In my opinion jazz,blues, and 'hard' rock are just way too simple and aren't unique. like for our 'rock' channel that plays stuff like Bobaflex, ACDC, And such, are just way to similar and no variety

I guess same could be said for Deathcore in your own opinions
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yes, ac/dc is some of the easier stuff out there, but go ahead and check out something like Rock n roll soul by grand funk railroad, it is your typical classic rock stuff, but far from simple. Check out the bass line and figure it out by ear, I did and, consider it still not learned all the way, not a very easy bass line when you get into the course and bridge! Try "under my wheels" by alice cooper, fun bass line to play, but not beginner easy, especially by ear! There are a lot of good bass lines to learn, if you can play anything by Jamerson By ear perfectly, you should have no problem with anything else..NOT EASY...good luck. Also you should learn how to read, it is pretty easy and will open up a new world of bass for you!
 
#16
TechDeath said:
And sorry but I don't expect to be playing any other genres. In my opinion jazz,blues, and 'hard' rock are just way too simple and aren't unique. like for our 'rock' channel that plays stuff like Bobaflex, ACDC, And such, are just way to similar and no variety

I guess same could be said for Deathcore in your own opinions
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....WHAAA??? simple mate you really need to listen to punk jazz by jaco. And that is a really immature thing to say. There are easy and hard basslines in EVERY genre. And to educate you, jazz,blues and other genres came before metal etc...


+ playing the bass isn't about being able to play hard or easy basslines, its about getting in the groove and enjoying yourself and supporting other musicians!
 
#17
The best death metal musicians I ever heard have a pretty decent knowledge of advanced musical concepts such as odd time signatures, advanced chord structure, and many of them have actually studied jazz and know how to read music. Some may not, but many do. Death metal players are pretty technically skilled. Denying yourself knowledge and thinking that's the way to get ahead in music is going to lead to a rude awakening for you once you start looking to join a band.
 
#18
jmclearnon said:
....WHAAA??? simple mate you really need to listen to punk jazz by jaco. And that is a really immature thing to say. There are easy and hard basslines in EVERY genre. And to educate you, jazz,blues and other genres came before metal etc...

+ playing the bass isn't about being able to play hard or easy basslines, its about getting in the groove and enjoying yourself and supporting other musicians!
Click to expand...

jmclearnon said:
....WHAAA??? simple mate you really need to listen to punk jazz by jaco. And that is a really immature thing to say. There are easy and hard basslines in EVERY genre. And to educate you, jazz,blues and other genres came before metal etc...

+ playing the bass isn't about being able to play hard or easy basslines, its about getting in the groove and enjoying yourself and supporting other musicians!
Click to expand...

I listened to the song you said and it honestly doesn't sound too hard. I know there are different levels of difficulty in different genres -.-
Call me ignorant or "immature" but other genres are limited. 8-string bass sweeps just wouldn't fit in a bluegrass or hip hop song, or how people think that Black Veiled Brides have the greatest guitar players or Travis Barker is the greatest drummer in the world. Both are nowhere near it.and I'm not trying to be arrogant and say death metal players are better than everyone else because there not..

By the way I don't play/listen just because of the technicality. I just don't feel challenged enough. And dont have the same technicality.

And lol yes I know jazz and blues came before metal. I never said they did. I did say they added jazz and blues influences to there songs but I don't see where you got that.

Sorry but I have to do this for your punk jazz sing
Rings of Saturn-seized and devoured
ANY Beneath the massacre
ANY Brain drill
Or my personal favorite band Within The Ruins
 
#19
TechDeath said:
Lol I've been told that but I have never ever found a death metal standard notation. Kind of useless in my world
Click to expand...

So is tab.
Since tab doesn't give you adequate rhythmic info you need the recording to make tab work, right?
Since you need the recording why not develop yer ears and just learn the song by ear?
Learning things by ear is a [DEL]very useful[/DEL] essential skill.
Using tab isn't. It's a shortcut that will take you nowhere useful to being a good musician.
 
#20
jeffbonny said:
So is tab.
Since tab doesn't give you adequate rhythmic info you need the recording to make tab work, right?
Since you need the recording why not develop yer ears and just learn the song by ear?
Learning things by ear is a [DEL]very useful[/DEL] essential skill.
Using tab isn't. It's a shortcut that will take you nowhere useful to being a good musician.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree which is why I learn almost everything by ear. Only get tabs if I'm stuck
 

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