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The Combo Club

#20,261
The "MTftBP" in the video title stands for Music Theory for the Bass Player, a 40 week course developed by Ari Cap. This video was for the 2021 winter cohort. The cohort is the full course, with accountability with other students and a personal coach.

Disclaimer: I'm one of the volunteer coaches Ari selected for the MTftBP cohorts, and graduated the course twice in three attempts :) (I'm known there by my first name. Morrighan is my middle name.)
 
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#20,262
WestyBassBob said:
The neck should not be gripped. You should hold the neck between the thumb and fingers like you were holding a taco and don’t want the hot grease to burn your hand. the thumb should simply serve as a counter against which the fingers push. A good exercise is just to practice fretting each finger. You can also do this without the bass. Just point your thumb and each finger together in turn. It doens't replicate what you do when playhing but it helps build the muscles and get those connective tissues in shape.
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I started playing bass in '67 with absolutely no instruction. I've always gripped the neck a bit more tightly than I should(no one ever told me different). Unlikely to change 53+years of bad habits at this stage of the game.
 
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#20,263
GonePlaid said:
I started playing bass in '67 with absolutely no instruction. I've always gripped the neck a bit more tightly than I should(no one ever told me different). Unlikely to change 53+years of bad habits at this stage of the game.
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Given your experience I’d say it works for you so why mess with it.
One of the reasons I prefer bass to guitar is that when playing chords I can’t really make it work without a death grip which means that after about 20 minutes my hand is too tired to continue. Between that and my short fat fingers I say nuts to that!
 
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#20,264
WestyBassBob said:
Given your experience I’d say it works for you so why mess with it.
One of the reasons I prefer bass to guitar is that when playing chords I can’t really make it work without a death grip which means that after about 20 minutes my hand is too tired to continue. Between that and my short fat fingers I say nuts to that!
Click to expand...
Someone say "short, fat fingers?"
0509202236-00.jpg
 
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#20,266
GwenOnBass said:
Compared to my embarrassingly long fingers? :bag:
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Trade ya.
I always envied Jim Fielder for two things: his gig(BS&T), and his long fingers.
Strangely, my 'shorties' have never been a problem on either my first bass-66 EB-3(30.5" scale)-or my second-67 TBird(34.5" scale). I prolly move my hand more than some folk, but it works for me.
 
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#20,270




Well there is my technique. It's a private link. But I'm sure it will get pulled down if it has not already. I wanted to record myself to try what @Morrighan suggested to see visual feedback on my technique. I will use this again. It's first takes so warts and all. (I forgot the end to "Something" lol because it's been weeks since I played that) I have not played in 3 days trying to rest my hand so there's that. And also the rose bush thorn in my left middle finger still hurts ouch. The tendinitis is still there but slightly better. BTW my ring finger on my left hand does not bend at the tip. It was a stupid incident with a knife and some friends when I was a kid. I do the best I can to work around it. It does help with my hammer-ons lol. Sometimes I have that thumb pinned on the neck where it belongs and some times I'm over the top. I don't know I think most people do a combination of this depending on what their doing.
 
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#20,271
I find being able to view our bass videos with compassion and an open mind is as valuable a tool as the video itself. When I began recording my videos, I held no wish for anyone to view them.
<ahem> including me <ahem>
because it's hard to watch all my "mistakes" &c &c ... it's making myself vulnerable :bag:

Three years on, I just make the video I prepared more or less as is. Sometimes one take. After two weeks of working on a lesson I committed to record, I feel pretty comfortable with the material. Over time it's easy to see my progress. Correcting my posture has been a big one.

Took this year's videos off public view only because I'm done with them and am on to something completely new. And just last night remembered a project I've been meaning to do for a couple years ... a holiday piece ... and may make that public. I've got a month :)
 
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#20,272
GwenOnBass said:
I find being able to view our bass videos with compassion and an open mind is as valuable a tool as the video itself. When I began recording my videos, I held no wish for anyone to view them.
<ahem> including me <ahem>
because it's hard to watch all my "mistakes" &c &c ... it's making myself vulnerable :bag:

Three years on, I just make the video I prepared more or less as is. Sometimes one take. After two weeks of working on a lesson I committed to record, I feel pretty comfortable with the material. Over time it's easy to see my progress. Correcting my posture has been a big one.

Took this year's videos off public view only because I'm done with them and am on to something completely new. And just last night remembered a project I've been meaning to do for a couple years ... a holiday piece ... and may make that public. I've got a month :)
Click to expand...

That's all I ever see are the mistakes lol. What was that saying someone said (maybe it was @GonePlaid ?) about their being no mistakes lol. But dam if I can't see them. I will pull these down if they don't get pulled down by someone else. It is only "private" so I have to share a link to them. But I like the idea of critiquing myself through these videos. I will do it more often. Again we were talking about technique so I sat down and did these videos a little while ago one take and uploaded them. I'm sure I can do better but that's not what these are. Thanks for the idea @Morrighan I appreciate you.....
 
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#20,273
Michael Favata said:




Well there is my technique. It's a private link. But I'm sure it will get pulled down if it has not already. I wanted to record myself to try what @Morrighan suggested to see visual feedback on my technique. I will use this again. It's first takes so warts and all. (I forgot the end to "Something" lol because it's been weeks since I played that) I have not played in 3 days trying to rest my hand so there's that. And also the rose bush thorn in my left middle finger still hurts ouch. The tendinitis is still there but slightly better. BTW my ring finger on my left hand does not bend at the tip. It was a stupid incident with a knife and some friends when I was a kid. I do the best I can to work around it. It does help with my hammer-ons lol. Sometimes I have that thumb pinned on the neck where it belongs and some times I'm over the top. I don't know I think most people do a combination of this depending on what their doing.
Click to expand...


Can't see it...says Video is Unavailable...
 
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#20,276
We MTftBP coaches discourage "helpful pointer" feedback on student videos because its so easy to go in a death spiral of "not good enough". Go forth and errorize, is my view because continuing to show up, and continuing to move forward is more important than mastery of a lesson. IME.

Meanwhile tonight's feature at the Combo Club all-nite silent movie theater and laundromat is

4521aebb285857423d1264b3bb600615.jpg
 
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