"Playing Along"

[Bruce Lindfield]

you're supposed to do your best using your ear... even if your best is just working out what's the best root note to ride on for each bar...

and as your ear gets better over time, the better and quicker you'll get at picking out bass lines

Yup - the more you do the better you get - in the past when there was no internet and not even bass magazines, this was the only way to do it and that's how everybody learned.

You could go to gigs and watch what was happening, but basically it's about hearing and playing what you hear.

Very hard when you start off, but gets easier the more you do and if you never start - you'll never get it!

 

[rickl289]

you're supposed to do your best using your ear... even if your best is just working out what's the best root note to ride on for each bar...

and as your ear gets better over time, the better and quicker you'll get at picking out bass lines

When I listen and try to play along, I start out with the roots only and hope by the end of the tune I can figure out major or minor (add a 3 or b3). Progression is nice (I-IV-V, II-V-I, ...) too.

Once you figure out roots, you have at least 3 notes (root, 5, 8). Add a b7 to see if it works. Now you got 4 notes. Add a passing note or two and you are done . The tune is probably over too so you will want to be quicker on the next song.

You may not be playing the exact bass riffs but you get the feeling of the tune.

 

[Spin Doctor]

I think the biggest disservice bass players do themselves is to never learn the scales and how to manipulate them. If you learn the major scale and the attenting modes, learn the arrpegios within those modes, you will be able to memorize most pop songs in about 5 minutes or less. A "hard" song can be learned in maybe 30 minutes tops. A blues based song will take maybe 30 seconds. That's becasue most pop songs are only in one key. All of the different chord changes in the song are simply chords based on the modes of that key. If you know how to manipulate the key, you've got the entire bassline, fills and riffs right there.

Blues is both weirder and easier because all (or most) of the chords in a blues based song are dominant and so doesn't follow typical "classic" western music theory. But if you know in advance that they are all dominant, then there's no problem.

These constant short cuts (tabs, learning by ear by simply chasing notes) and never taking the time to know what you are playing at all times is the longest road to learning songs you can imagine.

Once you learn how to use scales and modes, playing along with CDs and the radio by ear is a breeze because you know how to move around the scale. All music, and especially a bassline, is just notes of a scale.