Obsess less, play better.

[dbflats]

As a long time inventive bassist, working primarily in the originals lane, I've always been able to work up good parts. I play guitar, bits of keys, bits of drums, and sing and write as well.

But in these latter days, at least right now, the only bass playing I do is working on my own material here at home on the DAW. Meanwhile, I am playing guitar in a duo situation that I find quite satisfying.

What I've found, for me anyway, is that writing the music, recording guitars, vocals, bass, adding in drums, and mixing things down, which one might think could pull a guy off his best game on the instrument with the big strings, actually has done the opposite.

Now I've had a long time to reach this point and I get it that younger players, those in busy cover bands that perhaps need to cop to new song list additions, etc may be scratching their heads at this heresy. And I respect their views.

Yet I'm just going to say it....one way to be a better bassist is to obsess less about picky bass-specific minutia....and work towards full integration of all song components.

On a side note, man am I glad I neither require nor desire amp/cab modellers, IRs, and all that. Now I m not sure live music itself can survive much longer but it's my opinion these things are fads that actually inhibit a player from developing a distinctive sound and style of their own, and will in turn go out of favor and be replaced by new marketing strategies.

All mileages vary

 

[pepj]

I don't focus anally on the part, I get the feel and the notes and add what I do to give it my personality and make it move.
So its close but its also me.
I learn enough and then go beyond it.
You can't really practice this specifically but I do make sure my playing is fluid and sharp so I can add whatever I feel when I feel it...which is totally driven by what someone else might add at any time.
It means the part evolves, imv...and stops me from getting bored.
The trick is never to veer far enough the band notices too easily... Somewhere further down the line someone will pick up on it but unlikely to do so at the time..ime.

 

[bwildt]

Yet I'm just going to say it....one way to be a better bassist is to obsess less about picky bass-specific minutia....and work towards full integration of all song components.

I sometimes multitrack songs where I play everything. It often amazes me how well all the instruments fit together as a cohesive whole. I think it is mostly because of a couple of things. 1) My playing style and rhythm/timing is similar no matter what instrument I'm playing. 2) As I add instrument tracks, I am familiar with what the previous tracks are doing and play to fit well with the previous tracks.

 

[timmus]

I tend to obsess over stuff...many times to my detriment and that carries over to my music. I suffer from perfectionism, part of my OCD (CDO?) thing which I hate! I was told that that is why I am an electrical engineer...I obsess over minutiae.

I saw a saying once that said "when the design works to spec, shoot the engineer". I totally understand the sentiment. Spec says one thing and I meet it...then I'm not satisfied until I can meet spec by half...at least. For example, THD in the design spec should be 5%...I shoot for 2.5%. No matter if the project is going to be late because of my OCD problem. It's hard for me to let stuff like that slide.

 

[J Wilson]

I've always considered myself VERY fortunate that I studied classical piano for many years before I came to bass, as with piano I could play all the parts and get a great sense of how the parts folded into the whole. I've always thought I'd have had a MUCH harder time if all I ever played was a one-note-at-a-time-only instrument in terms of understanding the other parts.

As far as the current reliance on so many digital tools (crutches), even with all that, after it's all said and done, it will always come back to the player: Whether there's a Bosendorfer grand in the corner, a Selmer horn in its case, or a desk full of DAW gear and piles of plug-ins and emulators . . . . they are inanimate objects without the musician to summon forth the magic from thin air once more.

 

[dbflats]

Mom made us all take piano lessons, for which I've always been grateful. Agreed, it's a great way to start in music, though back when I was 5 I likely didn't appreciate that fact

 

[BassBrass]

Where's the heresy? I'm also a multi instrumentalist originals musician, and what you say is more like gospel. There's a gen x reviewer on YouTube who calls himself a "producer" and he's never heard Steely Dan or Led Zepelin or the even Beatles, and he Always says "how did they get that sound way back then", or "how did they write such good songs" and the fun is reading the comments of people who can't believe he calls himself a "producer" being so ignorant. One time I explained to him that 2" 16 track was pretty good fidelity...

Oh just today he's listening to the Doors for the first time, their first album. He doesn't know who Brecht-Weill were and nobody in the 60s did breakdowns of bass and drums. He missed the first guitar solo completely. He likes it though, that's nice.

 

[mambo4]

and work towards full integration of all song components.

The thesis does rely on how you define "play better"

When you prioritize the overall sound of the whole band / tune , results improve musically, regardless of what instrument you are playing.

But if "play better" is a technical bar you are striving for you can't get there by not practicing.

 

[dbflats]

It might seem like I'm advocating for not being detail-oriented but that's not it really...more which details to pursue and which others are fluff. Kinda hard to explain.

Might have something to do with where my bass sound preference landed over the years. Not into glinty steely bass, slap, jaco-esque stuff, anything like that. I've got two identical old headless 5 strings with very old flats ( double ball flats like my moniker) that offer warm organic bass that works on everything I'm doing . I can throw an effect on the bass for some variation, and do occasionally, but more typically I've got crazy guitar madness for that. To me, the bass note sounding...then not sounding....is an effect in and of itself.

 

[BassBrass]

I've always thought I'd have had a MUCH harder time if all I ever played was a one-note-at-a-time-only instrument in terms of understanding the other parts.

There's more than one road to Rome. As a trumpet player, a one note at a time only instrument, I sat in concert band, stage band and regional semi-pro orchestra sections and that gave me a sense of my place in the ensemble and the arrangement and a special appreciation for melody and rhythm accents. I was first chair trumpet from 11th grade, but early on and later at Berkley when I played 3rd trumpet in a big band I learned a lot about harmony. First (or lead trumpet) was the high note specialist (athlete) but 3rd trumpet was the jazz chair and got to do the first solo...

 

[Lefty Joe]

It might seem like I'm advocating for not being detail-oriented but that's not it really...more which details to pursue and which others are fluff. Kinda hard to explain.

Might have something to do with where my bass sound preference landed over the years. Not into glinty steely bass, slap, jaco-esque stuff, anything like that. I've got two identical old headless 5 strings with very old flats ( double ball flats like my moniker) that offer warm organic bass that works on everything I'm doing . I can throw an effect on the bass for some variation, and do occasionally, but more typically I've got crazy guitar madness for that. To me, the bass note sounding...then not sounding....is an effect in and of itself.

This is what I usually point to, as well -- that bass is about density. Sometimes it is interesting to do this/that particular thing, but the larger picture is simply to be present or not present.

The bane of self-taught musicians is to be over-focused on what they themselves are playing, as its own thing, rather than how it fits as part of the total picture. The result is a lot like someone talking until they get to their point, rather than trimming out everything else and simply stating the point. Sometimes that can be interesting too, but then there's Aston Barrett: playing half what you'd expect and yet still enough.

Sometimes less is more, sometimes more is more, and it's always possible to have too much of a good thing.

 

[Mastiff_5]

NO. No. Nnnnnnnnoooo.
Bad bass player.
Now go practice your 1/32 ghost notes and your double-thumb technique, and look up new drummer jokes.
Right now.

 

[logdrum]

I've always thought I'd have had a MUCH harder time if all I ever played was a one-note-at-a-time-only instrument in terms of understanding the other parts.

I've written , played and recorded saxophone quartets purely on counterpoint approach. If there is harmony at times then I got lucky. Also I have done duets on laying down a bass line without particularly setting a tonality or key center and then improvising a sax or single note guitar line on top. I did start piano as a child, I may have played some classical pieces for my recital but the teacher never taught theory - who would do that to 7-9 year old. I understood the theory much later in my late teens,/ early twenties informally but by then I was playing jazz and Latin music.

Single note instruments (and playing single lines on a chordal instrument) challenge you and force you to think outside. This is one of the soloing techniques I've learned, just feed off someone's line and never stick to any tonality.

 

[Pings Bass]

Being obsessive helps you get better, but only if you obsess about the right things.

Gear obsession can make you worse IMO, obsession for technique will make you better.

 

[MrAB4003]

As a long time inventive bassist, working primarily in the originals lane, I've always been able to work up good parts. I play guitar, bits of keys, bits of drums, and sing and write as well.

But in these latter days, at least right now, the only bass playing I do is working on my own material here at home on the DAW. Meanwhile, I am playing guitar in a duo situation that I find quite satisfying.

What I've found, for me anyway, is that writing the music, recording guitars, vocals, bass, adding in drums, and mixing things down, which one might think could pull a guy off his best game on the instrument with the big strings, actually has done the opposite.

Now I've had a long time to reach this point and I get it that younger players, those in busy cover bands that perhaps need to cop to new song list additions, etc may be scratching their heads at this heresy. And I respect their views.

Yet I'm just going to say it....one way to be a better bassist is to obsess less about picky bass-specific minutia....and work towards full integration of all song components.

On a side note, man am I glad I neither require nor desire amp/cab modellers, IRs, and all that. Now I m not sure live music itself can survive much longer but it's my opinion these things are fads that actually inhibit a player from developing a distinctive sound and style of their own, and will in turn go out of favor and be replaced by new marketing strategies.

All mileages vary

The title of this thread is fantastic advice for LIFE! As someone with OCD, I have been dealing with overthinking, perfectionism, analysis paralysis, and obsessing for years. It's affected everything including my bass playing, songwriting, running my business, and my non-musical hobbies. For example, the last time I played "Creeping Death" by Metallica (just for practice), I was feeling anxious, tense, and obsessing over playing Cliff Burton's (RIP) bass part correctly. That didn't happen because my mind and body were not present. Fast forward to this afternoon. I played the song again and it was almost perfect! Mistakes were made, but that's OK. I wasn't obsessing over the part itself. I was having fun and enjoying the fact that I was playing my beloved No. 1 bass in the first place.

That being said, I'm just recently learning to ease off. Remembering that "good enough" is good enough and actually living by that mantra is crucial! For us bassists, "obsess less, play better" is not a want. It's a necessity! Life is too short to be too obsessive. You will miss everything that's happening around you.

 

[FightMilk]

On a side note, man am I glad I neither require nor desire amp/cab modellers, IRs, and all that. Now I m not sure live music itself can survive much longer but it's my opinion these things are fads that actually inhibit a player from developing a distinctive sound and style of their own, and will in turn go out of favor and be replaced by new marketing strategies.

Nail. On. The. Head. It's nice to have great gear but after playing for nearly 30 years I would be totally happy with a cheap bass and something to amplify it. Nothing else matters, but you.

 

[ryco]

I don't obsess so much. In originals know pretty much what I want to do where, but leave stuff pretty wide open so it can be changed if I think up something different. I more obsess just to play well so everything flows well = no struggling.

In cover bands pretty much learn stuff pretty accurate, but in playing as the song goes along add stuff I think up -- and fills are mine, unless it a signature lick, but even then.....