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Rocksmith taught me bass. Now I need your help!

#41
Just watched the rocksmith video from the first post. It was confusing for a bit, then I saw what they're doing. Again... I can see it being useful to get launched, but start moving beyond it. For one thing, start thinking about what NOTES you're playing and where you WANT to play them on the fretboard. That Jessie's Girl tab has you skipping back and forth between the 3rd fret on your E string (G) to the 7th fret on the same string (B). Why not play the B on the 2nd fret of your A string? Then you can position your hand with your middle finger at the 3rd fret (on G), index finger at the 2nd fret, and play the song simply without your hand jumping all over the place. But you can only do that if you're asking what your choices for getting a B note are, not what the program is telling you to play.
 
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#46
Practice, practice, practice........Ball players didn't have good jumpshot right out of the gate, the more you play, the better you'll get.

From what I saw from the video, you may want to practice your hand posture (think of it as economy of motion), try spacing (widening) your fingers out, one finger per fret and in the event that there's a note outside of that 4, "shift" your hand (keeping the 4 fret spacing), instead of cramping your fingers into a tiny space.

Also, don't be afraid to use your ears, to learn songs, do not entirely rely on rocksmith. I'm sure that it's a good tool, but not the only tool.
 
#48
Looks like you are approaching the bass simply because you like to play. That is very good.

As far as what I have observed, I think you are ready to work one-on-one with a teacher.

I see that you can successfully do many things.

The thing I believe you need (and will want) to improve on is your technique. You seem very tense - too much muscle constriction in the wrong places in you hands, wrists and arms. This unnecessarily takes away from the fluidity that you need. Relax. Breathe.

I would guess that you can sense this. I think working with another person/teacher would greatly improve your technique.

If you occasionally play this way, you probably will be okay. But any extended periods of time, day-after-day, will take its toll.

However, keep up the good work! As long as it's fun, what-the-hell.
 
#49
I have watched all 3 of your videos and I now more concern with the trajectory of your progress. The very first video showed your skills after having been self-taught by Rocksmith for a year. However, in just one month, you have become much more relaxed with better posture, based solely on the free advice on this forum.

If you want to go without a formal instructor (nothing wrong with that) you must seek out the best instruction available given your means and particular situation and be disciplined enough to reject bad instruction which will hold you back or even cause harm to your progress.

The biggest problem I see with your playing is that you are reacting to the game, whack-a-mole style, as opposed to grooving with the music. You have to learn to project the rhythm not just react to it by pushing the strings down when the screen tells you to. Judging from your technique it would seem that you are not practicing scales and arpeggios. Do you try to figure out songs by ear or is it strictly the game?

If you are serious about getting better, put the game away forever; it's served it's purpose. It's now a broken crutch that is too small for you. Starting practicing scales, use a metronome, teach yourself simple songs by ear, and definitely find some people to jam with on a regular basis. This last one will help you immensely by pushing you to be self-reliant on creating your own groove for the group you are playing with as opposed to just playing along with someone else's.

I sincerely hope you take most everyone's advice and stop using this game cold turkey, not even to learn new songs. Sell it at GameStop to remove any temptation to use it. If you keep using it, you won't be much better in another year and in fact you may be worse since you will have to unlearn all of your bad muscle memory.

Rocksmith = Forest Gump's 'special shoes'.

Time to take 'em off.
 
#50
I don't think you're doing badly at all. I'm new to bass too, and am learning finger style because playing with a pick would just be too easy after 30 years playing guitar.

One think that jumps out is your right hand technique. I would really work on alternating between the two picking fingers. You're a little erratic there, playing several notes on one finger and then jumping to the other one.

Looking at your left hand, your thumb seems to be hanging over the edge of the fretboard a lot. I had to break that habit that I carried over from guitar. Try to keep your palm off the back of the neck and your thumb pressed down in the center, pointing toward the headstock if you get my meaning. Change of posture might help here.

Again, not claiming any special expertise. Just passing on things that were taught to me.
 
#51
The timing on My Girl is actually fairly decent! As neckdive said you've got to learn to groove with the song (and in Motown it's all about reacting/interacting with the backbeat), not hit notes whack-a-mole in response to a video game. You're ready to start transcribing simple rock bass parts by ear. The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" is probably the seminal starting place.

I would strongly advise you to pay for just one or two hours of private lessons to review left and right hand technique. Hell -- I'll gladly give you FREE lessons -- just PM me. Your bass is a bit too low which is really hampering your left hand technique. Consequently your LH wrist is too sharp at times and your fingers are not forming a good curvature across the fretboard. They're jagged and unorganized -- and unergonomic -- as a response to your "playing along" with the video game and not stopping to think about how you're approaching the instrument. And remember to use that pinky!

Your right hand is decent for a beginner. Your wrist has too much bend IMO. I like a perfectly straight wrist, which means your entire arm moves up and down to reach across the strings, not just your wrist. A floating thumb or floating anchor technique will work wonders. To me it's the most ergonomic approach for electric bass, so you might as well learn it now. Because good RH technique relies on a loose, straight wrist and entire arm movement, you'll find that the muscles below your shoulder quickly tire. That's good -- you'll build up strength over time. Don't let that wrist droop!

Your plucking fingers are also OK. They could use more curvature so that the attack is even across fingers. The best way to practice this is by sitting with a metronome and simply striking one note with alternating fingers while closely examining their positioning. Try changing their curvature and the part of the finger pad where you strike the string and see what works for you.

Again, you're at the point where an hour or two of lessons on bass ergonomics would take you far. And if you're strapped for cash, I'm happy to do some tutoring via Skype.
 
#53
henry2513 said:
Yeah I get you but "slides, hammer ons, right hand finger techniques" aren't learning music. Scales aren't music either.

Like I said If you just want to learn songs that's fine but you can get higher quality instruction from a well made youtube video and a few lessons.
Click to expand...

I understand the point you are trying to make but RS breaks the ice and helps you get into playing, when I was a kid and started to learn guitar I would have killed to have something like this to be my primmer, it takes away a lot of the days of not knowing were to start and playing at home alone with no feed back. It is a game, but it is also a teacher depends on how you use it. you can play it as a game just hammering out notes to get a high score or you can take it further and learn from the game and taking the lessons you have done and songs you have learned and played over and over. take my daughter for example she started this game 2 months ago in two months she has learned 10 to 15 songs on rocksmith and can play them with or with out the game she has developed a ear for notes and has learned to dissect songs she wants to learn , for example Love Cats by The Cure not in the game but has learned by playing songs over and over to hear the notes and learned love cats. So I look at it as a way to break the ice and introduction to the bass or the guitar
 
#58
Passive Jay said:
So what am I doing wrong? I am sure you guys can give me some tips.
Click to expand...

i wouldn't say you're doing anything "wrong". i would say that learning how to count (musically) seems to be something the rocksmith program is missing (based on the video, my only exposure to it). also maybe look at improving your hand position. it seems you have some wasted motion. the main thing is to have fun playing music of course. keep at it.

ps- i didn't read the whole thread, so if the discussion's moved on, sorry.
 
#59
I have both versions and Rocksmith 2014 is way better. It added more instruction and tracks things like mutes and slides better. I would suggest looking into it. You can play your rs1 games in it. It's no substitute for a good teacher, but it's more interesting and I would take playing it "incorrectly" over putting the bass down completely because lessons are expensive and the teacher has you memorizing scales only. That's why I'm playing bass now and my Piano has dust on it. :bassist:
 
#60
I think most of the people blaming the lack of finesse on the game forget how hard it is to bust out a smooth relaxed perfectly on time line when you are still finding your way on an instrument. I have audio recordings of my first year after I started (I did not learn with a game) and my playing wasn't that different.

I'm sure the game doesn't teach you to play imperfectly, its just how you play until you have enough experience that the notes start to glide effortlessly off your fingers.
 
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