What was the most difficult part during your Bass process

[cliffbass]

Mine was to correct a flying finger
I had to cut a habit and create my own patterns to eliminate it

 

[Dvidae]

Well, The part that hurts :S I mean, When you start playing and your fingers bleed.

 

[Nashrakh]

Getting the sounds in my head into my bass.

Still workin' on it.

 

[JTE]

Learning to shut the hell up. Just because I knew a Cmaj7 had four notes in it, doesn't mean I gotta play all of them on bass!!!

John

 

[INTP]

I keep reading that I'm not supposed to rake all the time with my RH, but it's a very difficult habit to stop.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Two things gave me the most trouble right at first.
1. Knowing what baseline to use on this specific song, i.e. Root nothing, R-5, R-3-5-3 or R-R-3-3-5-5-6-5. I guess the hardest part was deciding which of the hundreds of riffs would be my basic 5 or 6 and then which one fits this song.
2. Listening for and hitting the chord changes.

 

[bassist4dalord]

Learning how to not overplay. Once I learned the root-5th-root move, I wouldn't stop. I'm recovering finally!

 

[afromoose]

Walking bass was the toughest thing I've learned, and I'm only at the beginning now.

Aside from that probably there was a period before I started playing reggae where I wasn't really sure where my playing was going and had got bored of most of what I could do. Starting to play reggae moved me into a different perspective but up til then I was finding it difficult to have direction.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

..........but up til then I was finding it difficult to have direction.

Practicing riffs or playing from tab for the sake of doing something --- uughgh . After you know where the notes are on your fretboard and the riffs you like are down into muscle memory - then jamming along to backing tracks or with other people keeps it interesting. Always something new to learn.


OK it's C major - can't go too far wrong with the C F & G chord progression. Your baseline, for this song, can be dirt simple Root nothing or Root-5 and change with the chord progressions, i.e. don't get fancy and step on the lead guitar's toes. The lead guitar has not left a lot of room on this backing track. Your job is to set the beat and hold everything together.

Experiment with other baselines, see what works and what does not.

Have fun.

 

[DudeistMonk]

Transcription/Tonal Ear Skills...

For all the other knowledge I have I'm way behind here...I blame tab, the interwebz, and my early disinterest in simple tunes that I could have figured out myself in favor of learning flashy technique laden stuff out of books.

I've got a lot of work to do as this seems to be the skill that separates the guys who own a bass from the bassists.

 

[rosanne]

My reading still isn't very good, and I don't slap well. In fact, there are plenty of things I need to work on. I'm far from being the player I want to be. Still improving tho and that's encouraging.

 

[Valerus]

Trying to play at Steve Harris' speed!

 

[afromoose]

Practicing riffs or playing from tab for the sake of doing something --- uughgh . After you know where the notes are on your fretboard and the riffs you like are down into muscle memory - then jamming along to backing tracks or with other people keeps it interesting. Always something new to learn.


OK it's C major - can't go too far wrong with the C F & G chord progression. Your baseline, for this song, can be dirt simple Root nothing or Root-5 and change with the chord progressions, i.e. don't get fancy and step on the lead guitar's toes. The lead guitar has not left a lot of room on this backing track. Your job is to set the beat and hold everything together.

Experiment with other baselines, see what works and what does not.

Have fun.

I don't understand what you mean to be honest with the spit thing..

 

[MalcolmAmos]

I don't understand what you mean to be honest with the spit thing..

You were talking about having trouble finding a direction to take...... I was agreeing with you playing from tab and practicing riffs for the sake of practicing riffs I find distasteful lukewarm dishwater at best.

Now, jamming and trying new baselines I find exciting. Same ole same ole is not exciting.

 

[afromoose]

Oh right I get you! Yes - exactly - good to change things up often as possible!

 

[Dark Horse]

Learning to trust my ears more than I trust my ego. Fortunately I learned to do that long ago.

 

[cnltb]

there have been issues and there appear new ones. Progressing is the red line I recon.

 

[J. Crawford]

Ill go with getting over trying to be soo much better, and trying to be the bassist I am instead of what I dream of being. It will come some day, but Im happy with myself for now.

 

[JulienJeff]

the start..
I started alone, with a crappy bass and it took very long before I did something acceptable. All I played was crap. I should have started with a few lessons. It would have avoided me to spend months playing like if I had only one finger....

 

[nastyn8c]

Overplaying. I was annoying for a while.

After listening to a recording, I toned it way down.