I was curious about where I should be for the ammount of time I have been playing. I have been playing Bass for about 9 months. I started out playing Megadeth, that was alright for a while, I learned some nevermore, a bunch of classic rock, but it wasnt interesting enough. at this point I am learning Dream theater's "6:00" John Myung has become my favorite bassist, I figure I will have the song down in about 2 weeks. when it comes to timing I can nail almost anything, when listening to music on the radio I find myself creating my own groove in my head. on a good day I can pull off 1\16th at 160 bpm, with 3 finger style. I really like Dream Theater, I dont have a problem with the timing, but my left hand works like a bastard... how am I doing? are they're any specific songs that I should be learning? or should I just keep doing what I have been? I dont feel that I have been practicing enough, thats why I was wondering FYI
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skill level at this point
- Thread starter SyntaxError
- Start date
I'm a level 9 magic user myself...what more could I want 
you should be wherever you are, based not on the time you have been playing, but the quality of that time. you could play every day for 8 hours, and that would be fine and dandy, but chances are if you *practiced* with a solid and concise routine for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day you would be a lot farther a long.
Welcome to talkbass btw
I recommend you do a search for "practice routines" or "practice tips" or something like that.
to get and idea of the type of stuff beginners here are doing generally.
take a look over the various concepts of theory and playing styles and ask yourself how much you know about each one, which ones you'd like to know more about, what you can do to help learn about them..etc
and judge for yourself how far along you are.
you should be wherever you are, based not on the time you have been playing, but the quality of that time. you could play every day for 8 hours, and that would be fine and dandy, but chances are if you *practiced* with a solid and concise routine for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day you would be a lot farther a long.
Welcome to talkbass btw
I recommend you do a search for "practice routines" or "practice tips" or something like that.
to get and idea of the type of stuff beginners here are doing generally.
take a look over the various concepts of theory and playing styles and ask yourself how much you know about each one, which ones you'd like to know more about, what you can do to help learn about them..etc
and judge for yourself how far along you are.
If you can play 6:00 after 9 months then you are doing well! +90% of the songs you will perform will not be that difficult. There is alot more to it than that though. Myungs lines are great and hes a really good "teacher." He always knows what will sound good with the tune. Notice on the DT concerts, apart from playing bass solos and fast passages he is always holding down the groove. You should practice your ears as much as anything else or youll be stuck playing covers.
Joe
Joe
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
remember that the main goal is to play with others, so be sure to find yourself a drummer to play with, and then tape yourself and listen back and see how good it sounds. that's a great learning tool, in itself.
