• 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.

So how long does it take to make progress on bass?

#21
Another important tip - take frequent breaks to renew your focus.
Most of us make a mistake and then decide we'll do it "just once more to get it right". But most of the time that "one time" also has a mistake, and so we do it "just once more" making mistakes along the way until either we get it right (by sheer luck and bullheadedness) or we give up in frustration.
All that managed to accomplish was practicing "playing it wrong" a few more times - training your muscles and nerves to "play it wrong".

Do whatever it takes to "play it right". Slow it down. Learn small chunks. Whatever. What you're doing is locking in the neuromuscular responses. If you play it right slowly a dozen times, you'll play it faster right. If you play it faster a dozen times, with 9 of them wrong and 4 of them right, you'll take longer to learn to play it at that tempo without mistakes... because you've practiced the mistakes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Groove Doctor
#22
I was horrible for my 1st 2-3 years of playing, but after 20 years I make my full time living playing bass(for the us army band)so have patience with yourself, 9 month isn't gonna get you like jaco or Stanley, but you can get there if you want, its up to you.
. I still work on fundamentals like scales and arpeggios, but I think learning songs you dig is the best approach, then understanding the theory, learning by ear too, don't rely on tablature(I hate tablature!!), with your ears it may be tough, but in time you'll see results, and the songs you learn with a metronome, not a drum machine, and see how good YOU Sound without the recording, I crank the treble and cht the bass when I practice alone so I can hear all the string noise/mistakes so I can go to rehearsal sounding as good as I can, and most important,get with a drummer or band that is above your playing level, a sink or swim scenario will make you grow leaps and bounds, hope I could help!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: HolmeBass
#23
Honestly, years and years. You're going to have to enjoy the journey, or maybe more appropriately, be slightly obsessed with the journey, to get there.

That said there is also no reason to beat yourself up or burn yourself out on it. I think as long as you play bass for at least 20 minutes a day, and play most days of the week, you won't be losing much ground. Then you can pick back up more intense study when your psyched to do so.

It's those times when you don't play for 4 or 5 days (or more) in a row that you lose some of your edge. The longer the break, the more edge you lose. That said, there is also a "once you learn how to ride bicycle you never forget" aspect to it as well. It will always come back more quickly than it took to acquire it the first time. But only continuous playing will keep your muscles and musical brain, including your ear, in shape. Only careful, concerted practice, for around an hour a day on average, will provide continued improvement.

Nine months is a good start. As someone mentioned, deep learning does come in fits and starts. I find my playing will plateau for period of time, then all of a sudden I'll make a breakthrough and something I've been working on becomes "mine" in that I can actually use it in the heat of a gig. When I started, plateau length was measured in weeks or months. Now, after 33 years, it's measured in years for sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hintz
#25
I'm stuck on a plateau right now, last time I broke out of it was when I learned /memorized "havona", that took my chops/k owledge up a notch, the first breakthrough song for me was "yyz",so you always want to challenge yourself,even if its painful, its ok to screw up, that's what practice is for, just not on a gig obviously
 
#28
Pay close attention to the muscle memory thing. The reason you are making the same mistake is because the muscle memory has locked in those mistakes. A previous poster pointed out your start slowly. What that means is you very slowly and carefully play the notes in the correct order. Ignore tempo and expression, concentrate on the fingering and picking. Once you can do it very slowly, pick up the pace just a bit. Do it at that speed until it is conmfortable and second nature. Keep increasing speed until you are playing way faster than you would play the song. After that, playing it correctly will just happen. This doesn't mean do this for the whole song. It means break it down to small pattern pieces. Work out a phrase, or a riff, or what ever small piece you need to learn the notes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Groove Doctor
#29
the funny thing is we're all right.. and you cannot substitute or underestimate "time".. no player got good without some years of practice and endurance. Jaco played.. what.. 4-10 sets a night some nights? Geddy Lee (and oddly no reporter EVER asks this man about this) played 5 sets 6 nights most weeks for 3 years in Toronto before going on a tour.. Billy Sheehan learned modes while playing in Buffalo NY live one night. He said his fretboard "exploded.." and he finally understood what modes were, what they meant, and how to use them.

The drawback to the above is.. if you don't stick with this, you can't go back 20 years later and learn the endurance or experience. Not to sound pedantic, but if you feel like quitting, ever , think ahead to what you'll be thinking 10 years from that moment and ask if you don't owe it to yourself to keep playing.

No player ever stops learning, and all players have something to offer. It really irks me when supposed musicians "rank" players like favourite colours. At the end of the day, we're all just humans (unless you listen to Alex Jones a lot) playing music. Geddy Lee struggles with playing in the same manners (per one interview I read years ago) after taking a break you do and that should encourage you to do well.

But you cannot learn endurance.. not joking. that has to come with time and that's a frustrating point for most musicians. There are no shortcuts (I sound pedantic).
 
#30
hintz said:
I was horrible for my 1st 2-3 years of playing, but after 20 years I make my full time living playing bass(for the us army band)so have patience with yourself, 9 month isn't gonna get you like jaco or Stanley, but you can get there if you want, its up to you.
. I still work on fundamentals like scales and arpeggios, but I think learning songs you dig is the best approach, then understanding the theory, learning by ear too, don't rely on tablature(I hate tablature!!), with your ears it may be tough, but in time you'll see results, and the songs you learn with a metronome, not a drum machine, and see how good YOU Sound without the recording, I crank the treble and cht the bass when I practice alone so I can hear all the string noise/mistakes so I can go to rehearsal sounding as good as I can, and most important,get with a drummer or band that is above your playing level, a sink or swim scenario will make you grow leaps and bounds, hope I could help!!
Click to expand...

I don't claim to be "good" at bass, but I'm in a band with guys who are a lot more skilled than be (or were, at least), and that forced me to get better fast, and I'm not quite with them yet after 6 months of playing together, but I'm a whole lot closer.
 
#32
Lots of good advice already. I'd only add - be forgiving of yourself. Even experienced musicians make mistakes. If you're recording a tune, you can go and do another take or "punch in" a correction (the pros do). If you're playing live, the moment you make a mistake, it's gone, off in the ether, vanished. All that matters is the NEXT note. Don't bog yourself down trying to get one tune PERFECT and never go on to do anything else... play other things and come back to it.

Having said that, if you're making the SAME mistake every time, go and zero in on that one problem section, figure out what the problem is and drill the solution till you nail it. Don't just play the whole tune over and over practice the mistake. If it's a different mistake every time, don't sweat it. That's just a lapse of attention or something.
 
#33
You often hear "Practice makes perfect." This is not quite correct. It should be "Perfect practice makes perfect."

The idea is to make sure you are doing something correctly before you start repetition of the scale, passage, technique, etc. Otherwise you are just reinforcing mistakes.
 
#35
If you don't have any formal music training, get some. It's by far the quickest way to learn the mechanics of the fret board and get a grasp of things like harmony and theory. The only formal education I ever got was learning how to dissect a song to quickly learn it. While it's a good skill to have if you are satisfied being an imitator, if you want to be a innovator you will need to go deeper into nuts and bolts of music.


If I had any regrets that would be it, not going for some formal music training.
 
#36
fhm555 said:
If you don't have any formal music training, get some. It's by far the quickest way to learn the mechanics of the fret board and get a grasp of things like harmony and theory. The only formal education I ever got was learning how to dissect a song to quickly learn it. While it's a good skill to have if you are satisfied being an imitator, if you want to be a innovator you will need to go deeper into nuts and bolts of music.


If I had any regrets that would be it, not going for some formal music training.
Click to expand...

What's the best way to learn the fretboard? Unfotunately I don't have a lot of time in the evening so I can devote 30 minutes max to learning theory. The next 30 minutes will be devoted to playing songs. Gotta keep it fun.
 
#37
You can play a song that you once could not. That is progress.

Progress is like staring at the horizon line and wondering when you will cross that point.
It will take as long as it takes and when you cross that point, you will probably not know exactly when or where.
By then the horizon is elsewhere with your eye fixed upon it the whole time.
It seems to have never moved, yet you are definitely not where your were before.
 
#38
MarshallNole said:
...What's the best way to learn the fretboard?...
Click to expand...

For me it started with just taking the E string and plucking it while saying the note, then fretting each note in turn and saying it out loud as I plucked it. I would do this with every string and did it until I could pick any spot at random and know what note it was. After that I got a book of scale diagrams and started running those.
 
#39
MarshallNole said:
What's the best way to learn the fretboard? Unfotunately I don't have a lot of time in the evening so I can devote 30 minutes max to learning theory. The next 30 minutes will be devoted to playing songs. Gotta keep it fun.
Click to expand...

Find every E on the fretboard. Then find every F. Etc. Pretty soon you will nail down the patterns of where things are, and even though it may or may not be a specific note, you will have an understanding of the patterns and how to find the note you are looking for wherever you happen to be. I think more in terms of the music structure, not the specific notes anyway. It's more important to me to know where the IV is than it is to know the name of the IV, for example. Some people think in other ways, but my brain works in patterns that way.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back