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Trouble finding my groove

#2
A year - OK.... but how many hours of practice did you put into that year? Feel/groove comes with time (and lots of it) - it is ultimately mostly about timing of the starts and stops of notes (most people don't work on the stop part). You need to practice every day if you want things to become comfortable - there really is no substitute for time spent with the instrument.
I took a decade off from wrist issues - had to start over. A decade and a half later (2 to 3 hours a day of practice) I am better than I ever was, but I am still improving. When people talk about 10,000 hours to get good at something, they mean it, and that number may be low for some things. You will be good before 10,000 hours, but you will be GOOD once you get there, and even better if you continue well past that.

I have gigs every weekend - the motivation to practice constantly comes, in part, from knowing that an audience will be there Sunday morning, whether I'm ready or not. I greatly prefer ready, so I practice - like a madman. I'm probably not the most naturally talented musician to ever walk the face of the Earth, but I make up for that with persistence. If you run across someone you think is naturally gifted, ask them how much they practice - I've done that a few times, and the answer is always "a lot".
 
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#3
First, 1 year.
Learn the fretboard. That’s not sassy. Just that a big part of playing stiff as you describe when “anyone is there” is you’re likely focusing on avoiding mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes so don’t stress about perfection. But the more you know your instrument the less you’ll focus on landing the note.
Practice your modes and junk. It may not be as cool as practicing songs but it will get your hands settled down sooner. Scale scale scale and up the ladder one fret and repeat.
Don't get discouraged though. When you become comfortable in your skin and can prowl the stage with ease you will be in high demand.
Lessons and homework.
 
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#5
Some good points already here.

Practice and repetition are your key points to remember. No one ever rode a unicycle on the first try. Not that I know of anyway.

I still struggle to break the habit of looking at my fretboard. Some of the best pictures of the band playing are lessened because I'm looking at the neck and not the audience. Practice in front of a mirror, for me that's been a good step to not looking down, you can still see what you're doing but you're looking at a person. Seemed weird when it was first suggested to me but I've found it helpful.

If you have friends that play jam with them if possible. If no one is available pick a song you feel even a little bit confident in, then go to Youtube or something and find a drum backing track with a similar beat. There's lots of resources now that weren't available to us old timers that can help.

Relax, it'll come, think about what you can do and improve rather that obsess over what you can't do. It's only been a year.
 
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#7
micguy said:
Feel/groove comes with time (and lots of it) - it is ultimately mostly about timing of the starts and stops of notes (most people don't work on the stop part).
Click to expand...
This is a crucial point that I didn't fully appreciate myself until I'd be playing, I dunno, maybe 15 years. I was watching a friend (and former teacher) of mine playing a blues gig. He was mostly playing very simple lines that I could easily play myself, but he just grooved so much harder than I ever did and I got to thinking about why. And then it dawned on me: He was holding every note for its full length, whereas I had a tendency to rush and cut notes short. I talked with him about it afterwards, and he agreed, so I've been working on that ever since.
 
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#8
Lobster11 said:
This is a crucial point that I didn't fully appreciate myself until I'd be playing, I dunno, maybe 15 years. I was watching a friend (and former teacher) of mine playing a blues gig. He was mostly playing very simple lines that I could easily play myself, but he just grooved so much harder than I ever did and I got to thinking about why. And then it dawned on me: He was holding every note for its full length, whereas I had a tendency to rush and cut notes short. I talked with him about it afterwards, and he agreed, so I've been working on that ever since.
Click to expand...

Being able to hold a note as long as possible is part of it, and is tougher than you think - holding a note as long as possible means you have to transition to the next note very quickly and cleanly, or it’ll be a mess.

That said, there is also groove in ending certain notes early - the use of defined spaces at appropriate places can add a lot to a groove. Playing everything legato or staccato can be boring - the right mix of both can help build a great groove.
 
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#9
micguy said:
A year - OK.... but how many hours of practice did you put into that year? Feel/groove comes with time (and lots of it) - it is ultimately mostly about timing of the starts and stops of notes (most people don't work on the stop part). You need to practice every day if you want things to become comfortable - there really is no substitute for time spent with the instrument.
I took a decade off from wrist issues - had to start over. A decade and a half later (2 to 3 hours a day of practice) I am better than I ever was, but I am still improving. When people talk about 10,000 hours to get good at something, they mean it, and that number may be low for some things. You will be good before 10,000 hours, but you will be GOOD once you get there, and even better if you continue well past that.

I have gigs every weekend - the motivation to practice constantly comes, in part, from knowing that an audience will be there Sunday morning, whether I'm ready or not. I greatly prefer ready, so I practice - like a madman. I'm probably not the most naturally talented musician to ever walk the face of the Earth, but I make up for that with persistence. If you run across someone you think is naturally gifted, ask them how much they practice - I've done that a few times, and the answer is always "a lot".
Click to expand...
I will admit I only play 3 times a week I really need to find more time every night I agree and I will soon Thanks for your reply
 
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#10
Just like staring down an animal, it knows (and believe me so does the crowd) if you're afraid. Worse, everyone else hears it.

So practice enough, LIVE with the thing, to where it becomes second nature. If you're having to watch your hands and sweat out where each next note is, OF COURSE it's going to be nerve-wracking. It was for me and most everyone else here when we started out. It's part of the learning curve, but you can pass this part over time with time spent.

You got to own it. A few blessed people are just uber-talented naturals that don't even have to think or practice much at all. This is EXCEPTIONALLY rare. The rest of us have to work at it, put in the time, as I said, live with it, eat and sleep with it, until you begin to gain some fluency.

And frankly, that's not for everyone. If it isn't for you, no shame in that, we've all tried many things that didn't turn out to be what we thought they would be. It happens.

Otherwise, it's going to take some deliberate dilligence and some dedication to put in the time to be on your way.

Best of Luck,

JW
 
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#12
Start learning bass lines from Duck Dunn, Pino Palladino, James Jamerson, Paul McCartney and pay close attention to the note lengths they use. Good easy start is Pino with John Mayer on the live version of Vultures. Play that line with the recording until you can feel all the nuances. Then stop for a while and listen to what the other guys are doing and you'll see why Pino made his choices.
 
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#13
for some of us, metaphors can be useful: dance with your bass, move yer feet, head, hips to the music and the groove should follow

back when I started out on rhythm guitar I had an epiphany: if I played to the hats or the ride I actually sounded pretty OK

even now I tend to pick out a drum/drums to play to - it's a cliche to lock bass to the kick, but it can work; kick and snare is better, but kick and hats (or even a ride or tom pattern) can work, also, if the drummer is grooving

I used to say "always play on the 1", but now I'm more like, "always know where the 1 is" - my current bassist often doesn't play the one depending on the guitars, but to start on the 1.5, ya still gotta know where the 1 is (and also being actively aware of the 3, for me, in 4/4)

and if yer tonic is on the 1 and yer octave is on the 2 and there are two hat hits in between, you can conceive of it as the tonic is held until at the 2nd hat, or 3rd hat (or between) ...

another possible practice tool is to jam to industrial or techno or hip-hop or anything else with looped or sequenced bass - because note length is important to any groove in that music, and it tends to be perfectly repeated
 
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#15
I can not trump all the good advice you were already given, in the previous postings.

I would add that the psych aspect is very important to longevity: You have to enjoy the learning as much as the objective itself, and do not set high expectations. In fact, don't put pressure on yourself of any kind.
 
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#16
micguy said:
Being able to hold a note as long as possible is part of it, and is tougher than you think - holding a note as long as possible means you have to transition to the next note very quickly and cleanly, or it’ll be a mess.

That said, there is also groove in ending certain notes early - the use of defined spaces at appropriate places can add a lot to a groove. Playing everything legato or staccato can be boring - the right mix of both can help build a great groove.
Click to expand...
It all depends on the music and the genre. For example in Reggae, note length is critical as the spaces are as important as the notes. And it's not some static rule about how long the notes or spaces are--within a single bar of a good reggae bass part they can vary greatly, and it all ends up making the part "groove" and speak in the right way.
 
#19
WI Short Scaler said:
...No one ever rode a unicycle on the first try. Not that I know of anyway...
Click to expand...

Perhaps not the most germane point, but I spent a good amount of time in my youth with circussy stuff. I saw a couple of people /really/ take to unicycling. They could basically just do it. Amazing. I spent a good chunk of time trying quite hard but could never get it.
 
#20
Williams2269 said:
Hi I am really having troubles with playing smooth you know like the grove and bass are one. when I play and anyone is there I get so stiff and nervous. I want to be able to walk around and get my grove thing one look cool ect I have been playing for 1 year any ideas?
Click to expand...

Yes, keep playing. ;)

Seriously, it's just a matter of practice and building up skill and confidence.
After a year or probably more I found it very difficult to play guitar in front of others. My hands would shake and it's like I forgot everything... Not fun at all.
Now I'm never ever nervous, big or small stage/audience... it's all good.
All I did was... keep practicing. It'll get easier, you'll see.
 
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