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Tips on how to play "Cleaner"

DuckSoup

DuckSoup

Dec 20, 2017
204
236
Colorado
#1
So I've tried out for this church band, and lucky me, they invited me to come back and play some music with them!

They gave me a couple songs to work on, and while I can play the songs....I noticed that when I record myself and listen to my playing isolated...It sounds kind of messy. Especially my 16th notes. (This is finger style by the way)

This is a problem I've been somewhat working on the last few months. I'd try and just play along to a metronome and do these constant 16th notes, or will do triplets and then change strings and try to get the transition to sound smooth.

The problem is I don't see much improvement, and I'm wondering if I'm just going about it wrong.

I'm working on consistent volume, good timing, and clean transitions when I jump to another string. (All these tend to be difficult when playing faster songs around 130bpm)

Do you guys have any practice exercises that have given you success on working with these kinds of problems?
 
#2
Practice playing extremely slowly, to account for every movement that occurs while playing, in order to play cleaner at a faster tempo you need to be able to play it at a slower tempo. Another thing is I do to help me play cleaner especially when jumping to other strings is trying to see the most ergonomic way to play a line, and I figure out the most comfortable finger to do the string change.

To recap, especially your right hand, practice slowly, and if you're playing fast, shift your hand closer to the bridge since the string vibrates in a tighter space there and will rebound quickly.
 
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#3
Gigglingbuns said:
To recap, especially your right hand, practice slowly, and if you're playing fast, shift your hand closer to the bridge since the string vibrates in a tighter space there and will rebound quickly.
Click to expand...

I actually do that on one of the songs. It's 16th notes at 132 bpm, and when I move to the bridge, it's a bit easier to play and doesn't mess with the tone too much.
 
#4
DuckSoup said:
I actually do that on one of the songs. It's 16th notes at 132 bpm, and when I move to the bridge, it's a bit easier to play and doesn't mess with the tone too much.
Click to expand...

This is something you have to incorporate long term, but exercise your speed, use a metronome that gradually increases and see your upper limits for 16th notes, and work below there and make sure you can absolutely get it clean below there, if you can't go lower, keep going until you find where you can consistently play clean notes, and practice pushing that.
 
#5
I think trying to play as clean as you can is an admirable goal, but don't beat yourself up over it. Being ever-so-slightly wonky on stuff is natural, and if you played everything perfectly, then that would actually sound way worse.

Dig around on YouTube for isolated bass tracks and you're going to find that cleanliness is not what you think it is. Especially if you search for the guys that were playing in the 60's and 70's, you're going to find a lot finger noise, fret noise, rattling, sliding into notes from above or below, and just plain old f*** ups. Things like dropping beats and slopping through unison lines with a guitar part. A lot of that ambient noise that you might think of as being sloppy, actually sounds pleasant to me, and in my opinion, adds to the overall sound of a band.

Right now, as I'm typing this, I'm listening to the iso bass for "YYZ." It's over-processed to the point of being muddy, and the pickup clicking is just as loud, or louder, than the notes being played.
 
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#6
What is 'unclean'? Is your rhythm inaccurate? Are you letting some notes ring instead of muting them? Are you fingering close to the fret, or is there extra noise there? Are you playing wrong notes and then correcting? Do you change technique (slightly) as you increase the speed of your metronome? (playing slow and then increasing the speed is not really useful if the increased speed lets you fall into technique mistakes.).

That said, and as others have noted here, don't obsess about it. Many of the things we get bugged by in private practice don't come through to the audience, or they are ignored. Get the right note at the right time at the right volume and things usually work out fine. (but don't stop trying to get better!)
 
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#7
DuckSoup said:
So I've tried out for this church band, and lucky me, they invited me to come back and play some music with them!

They gave me a couple songs to work on, and while I can play the songs....I noticed that when I record myself and listen to my playing isolated...It sounds kind of messy. Especially my 16th notes. (This is finger style by the way)

This is a problem I've been somewhat working on the last few months. I'd try and just play along to a metronome and do these constant 16th notes, or will do triplets and then change strings and try to get the transition to sound smooth.

The problem is I don't see much improvement, and I'm wondering if I'm just going about it wrong.

I'm working on consistent volume, good timing, and clean transitions when I jump to another string. (All these tend to be difficult when playing faster songs around 130bpm)

Do you guys have any practice exercises that have given you success on working with these kinds of problems?
Click to expand...
Synchronisation and coordination between your 2 hands is the key here. Make sure you are top notch on this. Play slow and make sure ALL your notes come out clean and clear, then increase the tempo by small bits. Also check your shifts, 99% of the time it is lacking accuracy(the fretting hand is often late on the note). If it is still a problem after working on it without success, you might consider changing your fingerings. This is also a great factor in playing clean, find good shifts and fingerings.
 
#9
BassChuck said:
What is 'unclean'? Is your rhythm inaccurate? Are you letting some notes ring instead of muting them? Are you fingering close to the fret, or is there extra noise there? Are you playing wrong notes and then correcting? Do you change technique (slightly) as you increase the speed of your metronome? (playing slow and then increasing the speed is not really useful if the increased speed lets you fall into technique mistakes.).

That said, and as others have noted here, don't obsess about it. Many of the things we get bugged by in private practice don't come through to the audience, or they are ignored. Get the right note at the right time at the right volume and things usually work out fine. (but don't stop trying to get better!)
Click to expand...

I want to record some stuff to show as an example, but basically...Inconsistent volumes or inconsistencies in how I strike the string with my finger. This can be most notable when playing quick 16th notes. There's also fret noise when I'm playing faster notes higher up the neck (12th fret)

Another area is when playing songs that are easy for me, but sometimes I just completely flub on some stuff. Like one song has me playing some ghost notes, and sometimes I just mess it up even though it's not hard...It's little mistakes like that which stand out, and I can play the song 100 times, and still make mistakes like that. Especially when I spend a ton of time practicing my music (Multiple hours a day) It's so frustrating to still make mistakes.

Maybe I can try to record some stuff Friday and show an example. Or maybe I'm just being to hard on myself and trying to go for Studio quality type playing.
 
#10
DuckSoup said:
I want to record some stuff to show as an example, but basically...Inconsistent volumes or inconsistencies in how I strike the string with my finger.

Being consistent is a major task and a life long journey. I asked a percussionist friend who was auditioning for an orchestral job what the audition was like. He said at one point they asked him to play crash cymbals and make exactly the same sound 5 times in a row. I kinda laughed and said, how hard can that be? Well, I tried it, and it's very hard, especially at low volumes. Point being, all aspects of our playing are subject to consistency and that should be a point of practice. Can you make 4 quarter notes have the same attack at 100bpm? 8 notes? 16 notes? etc.

This can be most notable when playing quick 16th notes. There's also fret noise when I'm playing faster notes higher up the neck (12th fret)

Your bass might need a set up to make sure that neck doesn't have too much relief.

Another area is when playing songs that are easy for me, but sometimes I just completely flub on some stuff. Like one song has me playing some ghost notes, and sometimes I just mess it up even though it's not hard...It's little mistakes like that which stand out, and I can play the song 100 times, and still make mistakes like that. Especially when I spend a ton of time practicing my music (Multiple hours a day) It's so frustrating to still make mistakes.

This is a concentration issue. Take a song that you can play well. Play it at tempo with a metronome. Drop the tempo 20 clicks and play. Drop another 20. Keep going till you get down around 30-40 bpm.
I find when I'm playing written charts (which for me is now 100% of the time) I make more mistakes playing half and whole notes. I guess there's more time to start thinking about that grocery store stop after the gig.

Maybe I can try to record some stuff Friday and show an example. Or maybe I'm just being to hard on myself and trying to go for Studio quality type playing.
Click to expand...

Don't ever forget that 'studio quality' has a lot of things involved with it. Do overs, punch ins, likely higher quality equipment than you'd have on a gig. Given time and money anyone can get a good track down in the studio. It's the players that come from home, a fight with the SO, no supper, a near traffic accident, insults from a drummer, and then lay it down beautifully on the gig that have my respect. That's the goal; to know how to put your mind in a good music place and make it happen.
 
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#12
BassChuck said:
Don't ever forget that 'studio quality' has a lot of things involved with it. Do overs, punch ins, likely higher quality equipment than you'd have on a gig. Given time and money anyone can get a good track down in the studio. It's the players that come from home, a fight with the SO, no supper, a near traffic accident, insults from a drummer, and then lay it down beautifully on the gig that have my respect. That's the goal; to know how to put your mind in a good music place and make it happen.
Click to expand...

Is it perhaps unnecessary to strive for that studio level quality when playing live? I had a rehearsal last night where everyone told me I sounded great, my tone was awesome etc. But I know through my ears that I was playing too rough, too much fret noise, getting a little carried away. Maybe it's not as big of a deal?
 
#14
DuckSoup said:
Is it perhaps unnecessary to strive for that studio level quality when playing live? I had a rehearsal last night where everyone told me I sounded great, my tone was awesome etc. But I know through my ears that I was playing too rough, too much fret noise, getting a little carried away. Maybe it's not as big of a deal?
Click to expand...

We always hear all our mistakes. Don't get hung up on it. Play your best.
 
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#17
Ronzo said:
What was the name of the tune? Is there a video available that I might see or hear?

I'm choir director at my church. I'd like to hear it, so we might possibly offer it at a service.
Click to expand...

You okay if I PM or email you? (Tried to message you over here, but I don't think it will let me.) You can PM me as well if you want and I can send you a link to the song on their site.
 
#20
one of the best things that I ever did to "clean up" my sound (unintentionally, by the way), was get an acoustic bass guitar and just play that at home unamplified. No tone except your fingers, no volume except your fingers, no knob turning of any kind. Just you and the beast (they do tend to be a tad bit larger in the neck than the standard electric bass guitar). My first acoustic bass guitar was a big cheapo Dean, and let me tell you, that was a workout.
 
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