How can I play what I hear inside me on bass am finding that very difficult.....any advice for me need your help brothers 
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
playing what you hear inside you on bass
- Thread starter kay prince
- Start date
Lots of practice and lots of ear training will get you there.
I noticed i had this problem in my early years playing as everything came out different than in my head.
But when my ear for the notes improved with time i succeeded alot more often.
I noticed i had this problem in my early years playing as everything came out different than in my head.
But when my ear for the notes improved with time i succeeded alot more often.
no substitute for putting your hands on the bass and getting better at knowing where the notes are...much easier to play what you're thinking when you know the instrument up and down the neck...
Also, practice singing your bass lines as you play them.
What they said! Learning all those scales, and doing all that listening and transcribing really does free you up to play what you hear in your head.
NEVER divorce listening from playing. Sing whatever you're playing- arpeggio studies, scales, technical exercises, basslines, etc. Always work to connect what your fingers are doing with what it sounds like. You want to hear each note clearly in your head before you play it.
Then you start learning that this sound comes from these fingerings.
John
Then you start learning that this sound comes from these fingerings.
John
Spend 1 hour a day practicing the skill of playing what you hear inside you on bass. Start with "baby steps" by learning easy songs you have heard a million times: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, the national anthem, holiday songs, TV/movie theme songs, etc.
Over time you can move on to more complex material. But if you ever find yourself getting frustrated then return to easier material to build your confidence. Please check back tomorrow and let us know which song(s) you learned using this method.
Over time you can move on to more complex material. But if you ever find yourself getting frustrated then return to easier material to build your confidence. Please check back tomorrow and let us know which song(s) you learned using this method.
Check out some ear training methods. Pick one and spend some of your practice time with it, on a regular basis. Time well spent, I promise! I've benefited from time with Gary Willis's book, and two of Bruce Arnold's. Prolly other folks can point you to other books. Do conservatory folks use Hindemith's Elementary Training for Musicians..? (Dunno if I'm remembering the title correctly...)
Also: if you're in a band and don't sing backing vocals, start. And figure out the vocal parts on your bass, when you're learning tunes.
Also: if you're in a band and don't sing backing vocals, start. And figure out the vocal parts on your bass, when you're learning tunes.
Interval training, solfeggio is the way I learned. Think the Do Re Mi song from The Sound of Music. In what ever key you're in tonic is Do, and you get familiar with the intervals. You will be able to know them by hearing them. Also I suggest try plucking out very familiar tunes on bass. Happy Birthday, Christmas songs, movie and TV theme songs. Stuff like that that everyone knows. Sing it and then try to find the notes on bass.
Yeah... If you've got a riff or idea in your head, hum it, sing it or la la it out loud as a guide to get it out of your head while finding the notes, riff or scale on the bass
+ 1 ^^. Can you play the tune to "Happy Birthday"? It all starts with stuff like that. Try "Somewhere over the Rainbow".... Do it in C. Why? No sharps or flats and it's in the middle of the fretboard.Spend 1 hour a day practicing the skill of playing what you hear inside you on bass. Start with "baby steps" by learning easy songs you have heard a million times: Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, the national anthem, holiday songs, TV/movie theme songs, etc.
Over time you can move on to more complex material. But if you ever find yourself getting frustrated then return to easier material to build your confidence. Please check back tomorrow and let us know which song(s) you learned using this method.
No peeking at sheet music. Three new songs (tunes) each week. Keep track - write them down. Give "Oh when the Saints go marching in" some time.
Simple to complex.........
Last edited:
I would try recording yourself singing the bassline too, so you don't lose the riff. Then try to play along with the bass.
The more proficient you become on your instrument the easier it will become to express your inner ears' sounds through it!How can I play what I hear inside me on bass am finding that very difficult.....any advice for me need your help brothers
Advice?
Practise.
I got really proficient at it when I started playing along to the radio. They mix up the music so you'll get put on the spot to instantly hear/recognise/play the correct notes.
It becomes an instant recognition-thing in short time, and I can see and feel where the music goes next.
There's only just so many boxes for the western ear, and you'll find you'll mentally form those geometric shapes when you hear the minor, 7th, etc., that soon you can hear the first note and call out the key.
Arpeggios and runs will come naturally after a while and you'll be running up/down the neck finding all the different places that same signature is playable.
Time is the greatest teacher, and playing 'name that tune'withthe radio seems to force me to just get better constantly.
A bonus: all those extra octaves and runs can fill in a small group nicely - a trill here - a run there - octaves for a gender change to acommodate a duet, etc.
Keep hammering at it - you'll get there.
It becomes an instant recognition-thing in short time, and I can see and feel where the music goes next.
There's only just so many boxes for the western ear, and you'll find you'll mentally form those geometric shapes when you hear the minor, 7th, etc., that soon you can hear the first note and call out the key.
Arpeggios and runs will come naturally after a while and you'll be running up/down the neck finding all the different places that same signature is playable.
Time is the greatest teacher, and playing 'name that tune'withthe radio seems to force me to just get better constantly.
A bonus: all those extra octaves and runs can fill in a small group nicely - a trill here - a run there - octaves for a gender change to acommodate a duet, etc.
Keep hammering at it - you'll get there.
Thanks brothers for ur free advice am putting dem into practice........ahhhhhh if I had seen this forum earlier......#lips sealed THANKS AGAIN
- May 12, 2014
- 20
- 5
- Disclosures
- find my band "MINGUS" on Facebook.... Hardcore Punk done right!! Old school
learn scales! write down on paper,,don't cheat!,,, tab out the entire scale in a given key showing the whole fret board,,this will give you a different view of passage's, voicing's, chords and more.. gives you good ear training as well,
Latest posts
-
Post a funnier picture than the one above - Parallel Universe Edition- Latest: edmidlifecrisis
-
-
-
