She-Ra's Shed

[Rilence]

• Considering buying a cheap sub-$300 bass to keep at work to practice during lunch and while code is compiling. Especially because on days like yesterday&today, I'm unable to practice at home more or at all. Is this crazy?

205.5/10,00

Nah. That's not crazy, you're committed & totally immersed in this. And that's a beautiful thing ;-)

 

[Flamingo21]

What Rilence said.

 

[CallMeAl]

[*]Considering buying a cheap sub-$300 bass to keep at work to practice during lunch and while code is compiling. Especially because on days like yesterday&today, I'm unable to practice at home more or at all. Is this crazy?
[/LIST]
205.5/10,00

Not crazy at all. Brilliant, in fact.

Let the recommendations begin!

 

[adudenamedruby]

Friday's Log

Electric Bass

• Pentatonic modes - 30
  • Focused on D, Ab & E today
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, and basic 4 note

Notes:

• You guys are the worst!!!!..... and I'm already looking around for used/new cheap 5 stringers.
• This week has been really busy with things to do in the evenings and I've gotten very little chance to work seriously on bass stuff. I'm hoping to pick up some of the slack on the weekend, but, honestly, it's about the day-to-day rigorous practice, rather than "making up slack" on weekends. That doesn't work. The coming week is normal though so I'm excited to get back to 3 hours a night because I can really feel my knowledge of the fretboard and understanding/internalization of the pentatonic scale dramatically increasing with these exercises.

206/10,00

 

[juggahnaught]

One question to ask at work while you're compiling code (C#? Java? C++? Wondering what you do, as a fellow person in the field) is what you can study without the bass in your hands. You can do a lot of metronome-based exercises without the bass, like subdivisions, counting, odd time signatures, moving the metronome beat around (I think you had an exercise that you called phrase-shifting - if it's what I think it is, you can do the same thing with a voice count to the metronome); you could do some things like practicing reading (I have an app that tests my note reading on bass clef - no rhythm exercises, though - and I do this on the bus ride to work sometimes), ear training...etc.

Definitely nice to have a bass at work, but during the time that you don't, you can still use that time for music without the instrument.

Keep it up.

 

[adudenamedruby]

Sunday's Log

Ear Training

• Transcription - 60
  • Take a Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed
  • Simple song overall, but it has a lot of fancy riff bits that took a while to take out

Electric Bass

• Rhythm exercises - 60
  • SBL groove grid
    • Did a detailed breakdown of this today really spending time to have one note per bar, starting on each different beat of the bar (16th notes), and to really really feel it so I'm not counting in my head
  • Phrase Shifting ex
• Pentatonic modes - 3:30
  • Focused on D, Ab, E, B & Gb (30 mins each)
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • Basic 4 note vocab
• Blues - 30

Notes:

• Saturday was a wasted day, bass wise - I took a tumble on a patch of ice on my bike on my way home from yoga class in the morning, and my right hand hurt something fierce. I played a bit, but couldn't handle more than 15 mins at a time. So I just took it easy. This morning I felt vastly better, hence the monster practice day.
• @juggahnaught That is a great suggestion. I already do this kind of stuff at work - though I've mainly been focusing on rhythm stuff, and reading the bass clef while compiling. I'm going to be switching that to learning all the notes in every key because that's something I need to learn properly for my lessons with Anthony. I haven't been counting it as practice because I can't keep track of it in any meaningful, reliable way, really, as I'm actually focused on work at work. The bass at work will really just be a lunchtime thing, more than anything else, to keep working on internalizing things I'm actively studying at home, while I still chat with people in the office and don't be a total work-hermit.

As for code, I'm an iOS dev, so mostly Swift/Obj-C, with a tiny smattering of Python & Go when I need to interact with our backend to figure out what I've broken that day. Though I've finally finished my design bible for a game I've been wanting to make for a while, so I'm thinking of picking up C# for Unity development! How about you?​

212/10,00

 

[adudenamedruby]

Sunday's Log

Ear Training

• Transcription - 30
  • Take a Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed
  • Finishing off the riffs

Electric Bass

• Rhythm exercises - 30
  • SBL groove grid
  • Phrase Shifting ex
• Pentatonic modes - 2:30
  • Focused on D, Ab, E, B & Gb (30 mins each)
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • Basic 4 note vocab

Notes:

• My hand cramped up some today. Perhaps the six hours like yesterday is something I need to work up to?

215.5/10,00

 

[juggahnaught]

As for code, I'm an iOS dev, so mostly Swift/Obj-C, with a tiny smattering of Python & Go when I need to interact with our backend to figure out what I've broken that day. Though I've finally finished my design bible for a game I've been wanting to make for a while, so I'm thinking of picking up C# for Unity development! How about you?

I'm a dev at one of the big four companies. I generally work with Javascript and Typescript, but I've had experience working with C#, .NET, a bit of Java, and stuff like PHP. So it's mostly managed languages and web applications. I kind of wish I had experience with Apple's languages. Unity is great - it's been a while since I've messed around with it, but when I did I really enjoyed it (wanted to make a Megaman X-style game, as those old SNES games were always my favorite. Still have the console, actually.)

I don't want to pollute or hijack your thread, but if you want to talk shop, feel free to PM me. In the meantime, keep up the awesome work on bass. I should be doing what you're doing but I really lack your focus and organization when it comes to improving.

 

[Flamingo21]

Hey She-Ra, new avatar? I'm just noticing this one for the first time. Also, did you paint it?

 

[adudenamedruby]

Tuesday's Log

Electric Bass

• Rhythm exercises - 30
  • SBL groove grid
  • Phrase Shifting ex
• Pentatonic modes - 3:00
  • Played D, Ab, E, B & Gb
    
  • Focused on B & Gb as I am least familiar with those so far
  • Focusing on bringing everything up to 90bpm
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • Basic 4 note vocab

Notes:

• @juggahnaught That's awesome man! I've wanted to get into web stuff for a while, but I'm already doing too much stuff so I'm putting that switch off for a while. lol Sacrifices everywhere!
  
• @instrumentalist Yeah, I changed it from that generic picture I had. I've been teaching myself to draw for about a year on my iPad and slowly getting better. This was from a photo of me, but in the style of a gorgeous game I recently played, Disco Elysium. It's like a mix of fauvism and expressionism.
• I've been toying with the idea of setting up a stream on Twitch when I practice sometimes. Just for kicks. I'm thinking I might do it this weekend, on the Sunday, maybe. We'll see.

219/10,00

 

[Flamingo21]

Somewhere along the line, one of the zeroes of your ten thousand has snuck out.

 

[adudenamedruby]

Thursday's Log

Ear Training

• Transcription - 30
  • Goddamn by Deva Mahal & Son Little

Electric Bass

• Pentatonic modes - 2:00
  • Played D, Ab, E, B & Gb
    
  • Focused on B & Gb as I am least familiar with those so far
  • Focusing on bringing everything up to 90bpm - not quite there yet
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • Basic 4 note vocab

Notes:

• -

221.5/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

New Bass Day/The Family

So, this post is not exactly a log, I'll write one up in the evening. Today I took a day off from work so I'd have an extra long long-weekend and, having not seen anything that I wanted on kijiji/Facebook, I headed to Long&McQuade (my local music store) to see what they had. They don't have the greatest bass selection (apparently, the best bass selection they have is a store that's an hour's drive from where I live... and I don't drive, so that was out of the question), but they have some stuff. I also considered buying online, but after trying a few basses, I've realized, I can't take that chance without trying it first.

So today, I killed some time trying a few amazing basses (an Ernie Ball in this sparkly blue and it was SO comfortable to play, as well as an Ibanez something or another that was similarly comfortable but I did NOT like the amplified sound of) but these were all 2k+ basses, and that's not what was in the budget. I had 400 bucks to buy a bass that I'd keep at work and practice on during lunch. As such, my requirements were pretty loose - have a comfortable/pleasant neck to play, have 5 strings. Unfortunately, nothing in that price range had a good neck, so I started looking a bit higher. Didn't like the neck on the Squier Contemporary Jazz V, I tried an Ibanez something or another and put it down immediately. Same with a Jackson. There was pretty limited selection for 5 strings.

Finally, I stumbled over a Yamaha TRBX305, which was ok at first glance. Had humbucker pickups and a ton of knobs, which I'm not necessarily into, but this bass will rarely get plugged in so who cares. The neck was decent, although a bit narrow in comparison to my P bass, but it was really the best option from everything I'd tried that day. I had also visited Steve's Music earlier in the week and didn't find anything particularly great there, either. The Yamaha was 529, BUT, they had one with a small chip on the back for 450, and I said, "This chip is ugly. Can you do 450 with tax included." Spoilers: they could AND they did. So now I have a new bass. Huzzah!

I thought it would be a good idea to have a quick overview of my bass family, for posterity, as I'm sure things will change/evolve over time and it'll be nice to look over as I continue on this journey.

Here's what currently makes up my musical family:

• Shen SB90
  • Blonde plywood
  • Krivo magnetic pickup
  • Thomastic Spiros
  • It was my starter bass. The neck is a bit fat and a bit rough to play, but it does the job. I'd be up for selling it, but selling a blonde bass is basically impossible.
  • Yes, I tossed a vynil sticker on there. I have no taste! Luckily, it comes off leaving no trace, which was the only reason I'd put it on there in the first place.
• Yamaha TRBX305
  • White & new (to me)
    
  • Neck is comfortable but feels a bit narrow - for practicing an hour/day on it, that's fine
  • Stock everything and that won't change
  • I've plugged it in at home: it's quite versatile and sounds pretty good overall: bright & bouncy which is both from mixing of the two pickups and the roundwounds on it. Playing with the knobs and the switch, all the sounds I get out of it have something missing to my ear - it sounds like a modern bass - a bit scooped and some of that round thickness of the bottom end missing. This isn't a bad thing, but, as someone that likes that old school vintage sound, it's not the most rewarding sound. Still, I don't particularly care about its plugged in sound; it was fun to play around and discover new stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll need something like that one day!
  • I'm not in love with it. I have 3 days to return it no questions asked. So if I can find a Sterling by MusicMan or a Squire VM to try, I may switch it for that depending on how I like those, but I definitely don't think I'll find anything locally, and I am definitely ok keeping this as a backup/office bass.
• Upton Brescian
  • Stella - my upright love
  • Custom made Brescian, with a bunch of fancy stuff, in a rich brown/violet colour that's super rich in the light
  • Growls like a lion!
  • The neck on this bass is a dream.
  • Fishman pickup
  • Thomastik Spiros
  • I cannot get enough of this bass and it hurts my heart to have made the decision to put DB aside for a year. I love playing it - minus the pain - and it sounds absolutely dreamy, if a bit... restrained. Part of that is because it's brand new and so the wood hasn't had time to settle; part of that is because I'm terrible at double bass!
• Fender American Professional P-bass 5 String
  • Ella - my electric lady love
  • Mostly stock except for the pickguard which I replaced with a brushed gold one
  • Think of a P-bass sound that you heard growing up on all those funk & motown records: that's the sound I hear (more or less) coming out of my amp. I could NOT be happier with it.
    
  • Before I bought it, I tried a lot of basses - not knowing much about electric basses - and went with the sound I wanted and something I enjoyed playing. Now, I know I made the right choice. I've played a number of basses since having been practicing these past few months and my god, do I LOVE playing this bass. I've tried other P-basses with different necks, other style basses with all sorts of necks. Maybe it's just a thing where I'm used to it. But the WIDE yet thin '63 profile neck is just the most comfortable for me and what I want to do, which is to dig in and groove, rather than fly all over the board and solo like crazy. The Ernie Ball I tried today had a similar neck. Many other basses have fast necks, or big chunky necks... I do not prefer those. I'm almost tempted to save up and buy another one of this exact bass in case something happens to this one, that's how much I like it.
• Ibanez Artcore?
  • This is my old guitar. I started learning to play guitar on this when I was 15. I haven't really touched it in years, but I won't get rid of it because it both represents great failure in my life (the first time I tried to learn an instrument but was not dedicated enough, learning that even if music was my passion, passion alone was not enough) as well as being sentimental because it was from my dad, and him wanting me to learn to play guitar.
• Nord Stage 2 (not pictured)
  • I've had this for about 6/8 years now? I wanted a keyboard that had great piano sounds but also great EP and organ sounds, and I started studying piano and then that didn't catch on either because I still hadn't learnt how to be a truly disciplined person at that time. But I never sold it and I'm very glad because I can use it now for bass to help learn theory, and do other fun stuff.

Anyway, here's a closer up picture of the new bass:

 

[Flamingo21]

Ella & Stella - so the new bass will be Bella?

 

[bfields]

Nice keyboard stand there.

 

[Flamingo21]

I'm noticing only now: an entire unstrung piano?

 

[adudenamedruby]

Friday's Log

Electric Bass

• Pentatonic modes - 1:00
  • Focused on B & Gb as I am least familiar with those
    
  • Focusing on bringing B & Gb up to 90bpm - not quite there yet
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional

Notes:

• Busy day filled with chores means little bass time.
• @instrumentalist Haha. No, this one probably will not get a name. I only name things I become emotionally invested in/attached to, instrument wise.
• @bfields & @instrumentalist lol Yeah, I got picked up a free piano from kijiji, and moved it with some friends (FUN!). Then I gutted it - took out the strings, the pedals and their systems, the whole keyboard. It was messy. It was dirty. Took nearly a whole day. But when I was done, I put the Nord in the keybed (and cut out a space for its pedals where the regular piano pedals would go), and put in my mixer (hidden underneath that grey basket so the cats don't get to the wires) so that I had a little sound setup sort of thing. Plus, extra storage space inside the piano and on top of it, in my small apartment!

222.5/10k

 

[Rilence]

That's a beautiful collection of instruments you have there, She-Ra ;-)

 

[adudenamedruby]

Saturday's Log

Electric Bass

• Pentatonic modes - 2:30
  • Focused on Gb
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • 4 note vocab

Notes:

• Spent an hour just jamming along to tracks I know for fun
• Forgot to submit this again so I'm pairing it with the Sunday Log. This is the second or third time that's happened. It's funny because it's a different routine than on weeknights which is what's messing me up.

Sunday's Log

Electric Bass

• Pentatonic modes - 3:00
  • Focused on B
    
  • Consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • 4 note vocab

Notes:

• Some of the 4-note stuff has gotten tricky and it's pretty darn rough going as I ramp up on it. However, I'm really feeling a development in my finger independence because of it, so I'll keep working at it slowly.
• The new Yamaha bass, I was fooling around with it a bit. The action's pretty high on it, so I'll have to do a setup on it. Nothing too fancy, but some rough work to bring it down will be needed.
  
• I'm excited for the next lesson this week. Seeing what trouble I can get up to then!
• I'm more than a quarter into my first 1000 hours of dedicated practice. I'm pretty proud of having stuck to it so heavily. It's difficult going sometimes but it's definitely made easier when you create the habit to just do it. Then, every day when I don't play feels weird.

228/10k

 

[adudenamedruby]

Monday's Log

Electric Bass

• Pentatonic modes - 5:00
  • Picked a key and practiced consecutive, directional, matrix, matrix+directional
  • 4 note vocab

Notes:

• The difference between yesterday and today, when it comes to playing the 4 note phrases, was absolutely massive. Night and day. I know how much of a difference sleeping on something makes, but it really feels like the stuff is finally starting to wind it's way into my fingers. I have an extra two days to practice as my lesson this week won't be until Thursday.
• I ate pretty unhealthily today and felt like crap all day because of it so I just sat down and practiced pentatonic stuff instead of even trying to transcribe anything. I feel like it was a missed opportunity seeing as I had the day off. O well.

233/10k