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What are Playing Habits/Techniques that Really Opened Your Playing Potential?

RyanJD

RyanJD

Apr 19, 2011
1,828
1,232
Iowa
#1
For me, it was the fundamentals that I never really nailed when I started playing.
Using my pinky to fret notes and my right hand position to get different tones.

But now I'm feeling a little stagnated in the growth of my playing abilities.
So what helped you guys become better players?
Just practicing a lot?

I feel like my ear could use a lot of training. What do you do to get better at that?
 
#2
RyanJD said:
For me, it was the fundamentals that I never really nailed when I started playing.
Using my pinky to fret notes and my right hand position to get different tones.

But now I'm feeling a little stagnated in the growth of my playing abilities.
So what helped you guys become better players?
Just practicing a lot?

I feel like my ear could use a lot of training. What do you do to get better at that?
Click to expand...

Get a teacher.
www.basslessonslosangeles.com
 
#4
Somebody showed me a fretting technique years ago where you play with all of the finger, not just the fingertip. It helps when songs are just too hard to keep up with.

Other than that; I think the internet, specifically youtube, has helped. If you watch enough bass instruction vids, you'll learn something, even without playing along. With youtube..you get to see a huge part of the competition that you didn't get to see as much a decade ago.
 
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#7
JimmyM said:
Sticking strictly to right hand finger alternation. Changed my life and made me be able to play fast stuff smoother and faster.
Click to expand...

Ah yeah, that's something I'm still trying to get down.
It doesn't feel as natural for me to use my index finger unless I feel like I have to to keep up.
I can do it fine, but I need to get more comfortable with it.
 
#8
RyanJD said:
I feel like my ear could use a lot of training. What do you do to get better at that?
Click to expand...

Listen to songs and play/write out the bass part. Don't check your work against a chord sheet until you've finished the whole thing.

Or play songs you barely know with other people. You'll be forced to listen to what they're doing in order to keep up.
 
#10
for me it was learning basic music theory. I still feel thats my best route as to being able to play what I want. I guess I've probably neglected physical technique more than I should but I seem relatively capable of executing what I want. Im a mostly melodic player, certainly not much of a pocket player so thats been my journey. I just wish my bandmates would be interested enough to learn it themselves!
 
#11
davidhilton said:
Get a teacher.
Click to expand...

Sounds obvious, but correct.. I had lessons when I started for about 3-4 years. Played a bunch of gigs, thought I knew it all and stopped lessons..

Then, after another 5 years or so had the feeling I got stuck and signed up for lessons again. Other than the fact my second teacher was (obviously) a much better bass player than I was, he was also a very different a bass player (in terms of style), which turned out to be great.
He taught about chord progressions, how to solo (one practice I remember was this: improvise over a simple blues scheme but YOU CANNOT PLAY THE ROOT NOTE) etc.

He never talked about how to play as many notes as possible. I don't think he even knew how to slap. Great teacher.

So yes; get a teacher :D

Regards
Mark
 
#14
For the first 20 years of playing, I only used a pick. About 15 years ago, I started using my fingers and it really made me a better player. I now switch between fingers and pick depending on the song. Learn as many styles as possible.
 
#15
Having a good foundation is critical, and from that standpoint finding a good teacher is invaluable.

Technically, my latest breakthrough came rather recently, when I opted for the non-anchored thumb and using the index and ring finger of the right hand, rather than index and middle. I picked up the "floating thumb" thing from Todd Johnson's "Technique Builders" video, and for some reason it got me into thinking about using the ring finger for the more even attack...
 
#17
Playing with other people.
Some bass lines are cool by themselves, but some need other musicians.
Playing with a recording is good too, but playing with people is better--especially when you really get to know how they play and you can lock in on the way to play that makes the song sound better.
Most of my recent improvement has been from playing with others and playing with recordings--both for bass & guitar.

I don't normally get to play with others a lot--but when I do it usually helps.
 
#19
JimmyM said:
Sticking strictly to right hand finger alternation. Changed my life and made me be able to play fast stuff smoother and faster.
Click to expand...

I'm still working on this but I can really feel the benefits already. Really useful if you play with more than two fingers.

Also, as mentioned previously, floating thumb.
Left hand economy of motion, Steve Bailey style.
Playing with a light attack.
Learning multiple plucking hand digit configurations.
Playing lots of different music.
Practicing without an amp is really handy for learning to get lots of sounds using just your hands.
 
#20


JPJ shows a timing technique at 11:54 that I've also learned over the years. It rarely gets discussed here on talkbass. A drummer told me to "lay back" years ago, and I didn't understand what the heck he was talking about. He taught me how to do so, then after all those years I see JPJ discussing that very technique in this video.

It can add feeling to rock ballads, is good for reggae etc.
 
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