Where do you learn your covers?

[daofktr]

+1 to all, +10 to jazzbo for initiating the intelligence!!
tab is mostly useless. too many kids i know, including my youngest son and my stepson, use tab. i would much rather they learn the nashville system after learning intervals, but what do i know, right?
learning by rote has it's place...but not in playing bass.
i've played by ear for years and years. i can read, but i'm not a good sightreader, so my ears have taken up the slack. i can also do rudimentary number charts, which is a hades of a lot smarter system than any froofin' tab...
the upshot...take the time to connect yer ears to yer fingers to yer fretboard. it's completely worth it.
btw...my ears have been getting me gigs and respect from other musicians...tablature would get me laughed into ohio.

 

[toddsterbassist]

I blame tab and the reliance on tab by younger players for the overall decline in skill level I have witnessed in younger players recently. Use your ears.

 

[jay_t]

I blame tab and the reliance on tab by younger players for the overall decline in skill level I have witnessed in younger players recently. Use your ears.

+1! I bought the Chili peppers greatest hits tab and I use it when I just can't quite get something. I'm very careful to not use it until I HAVE to. I never play the bassline the same way they do anyway. I always mix my style into it. I love learning songs by ear. It's a good challenge and it's helped my with matching bass lines to a guitar parts in a band situation as well. I can listen to the guitar and get a mental picture of the bass line I want and work it out the same way as a cover. The more you use those ears, the better they work. Just make sure you use ear protection when playing loud otherwise youu'll find that you can't hear &^$% anyway!

 

[steveksux]

Get a good stereo or use headphones so the bass is clear and loud to help you out. Then just do it. You will struggle with the first ones, but eventually you'll start hearing the changes and know where to go. Now I learn tunes in the car on the way to work, by the time I pull the bass out, I can run through it once or twice to verify and make sure the distinctive bass parts are correct.

Think in terms of the Nashville system, in C it would be C=1, Dm=2, Em=3, F=4, G=5, 6=Am 7=Bdim. You learn soon that there are a handful of very common patterns, in rock, country, and even jazz. I IV V in various combinations covers a whole lot of rock/country stuff. Often a II is substituted for a IV. A II V is very common and distinctive change, you will learn to hear that one quickly. III VI II V is another. Once you know those and can recognize them, you can learn 90% of most tunes in a couple of passes.

Once you know the tune goes using I IV V II V VI, etc, you can play it in any key on a bass, just move up/down or across the neck. Makes transposing simple in case you have to change keys to accomoate the singer.

Once you get good at picking this stuff up by ear, you will find jamming with new bands much easier, you can hear what the progression is. You can tell where the guitar player went when he got lost, and just follow him if he can't get back on track. Very useful to recover a potential train wreck and get back in sync.

The biggest advantage: If you can pick out chord progressions from songs you hear on the fly, any song you can remember hearing.... you can play!!!

There is no more important piece of equipment than your ears. If you can't translate what you hear on the radio to your fingers, you have no hope of translating what's in your head either. You'll never learn 40 songs in 2 weeks to join a working band if you can't pick them up by ear. People are amazed when you pick up songs quickly by ear.

That's what distinguishes the pro's from the basement bands and wannabes.

Randy

 

[ross]

I blame tab and the reliance on tab by younger players for the overall decline in skill level I have witnessed in younger players recently. Use your ears.

Wow this is a very harsh statement.Though I suppose I could blaim that statement on older players becoming overbearing and jaded comparing their skills to other younger players or in otherwords forgetting what its like starting out.

As far as attempting to learn by ear or even using tabs this often seems so simple it gets overlooked. First make sure your instrument is in tune or nothing will sound quite right to begin with.

 

[steveksux]

Wow this is a very harsh statement.Though I suppose I could blaim that statement on older players becoming overbearing and jaded comparing their skills to other younger players or in otherwords forgetting what its like starting out.

Harsh? Maybe. Necessary? ABSOLUTELY! Partly because the older players don't remember what they sounded like at that stage in their career? ABSOLUTELY!!!

But bear in mind that TAB IS AN ABOMINATION. Pure and simple. Before you jump on me, hear me out. You spend all this time learning to read tab, and as you know, the available tab is totally inaccurate crap for the most part. But assume you can sightread tab, you're a virtuoso tab reader. Any song you can find tab for, you can now play incorrectly. What good does that do you? NOTHING AT ALL!!! You're playing the songs wrong. Now you STILL have to use your ear to tell you what is wrong, and how to correct it. But your ear sucks cause you've invested all this time learning to read tab.

Now compare spending the same amount of time training your ears instead of your tab skills. Now you can play nearly any song you've ever heard. You can follow the guitar player who in a drunken haze veers into a chorus instead of a verse in a song. If everyone else knows a song but you, you can follow along as if you know the song, just by listening to them! Even a song you've never heard. Some drunk just left the band a $100 tip cause you played his favorite song. Having a good ear gets you gigs, prevents train wrecks.

Playing music is the art of translating what you hear in your ears OR YOUR MIND to your fingers and instrument. Learning tab is like rollerblading to prepare for racing motorcycles instead of spending time on the motorcycle.

People with good ears play that cool lick that pops up in their head in the middle of a solo. Tab readers think to themselves, wow, I really like that cool lick that popped up in my head, wonder how to play that????

Randy

PS.... Just for being so smart-alecky, I'm gonna REALLY go old school on you now, boy!!!!!

Probably the most important thing you can practice on is a METRONOME! If you're meter sucks, you can't groove worth a damn even if you DO know all the notes.... Play you're favorite tricky bass line against a metronome. I guarantee the first time you try it, you'll cry yourself to sleep for weeks when you find out how far off you really are.... and how hard it is to really play in time.

Nobody said this was an easy business, you have to EARN all those chicks, man!

 

[PlayTheBass]

But bear in mind that TAB IS AN ABOMINATION.

I'd like to add that while I agree with that, I don't want to give beginners the idea that everything has to be learned by ear. Yes, I firmly believe most things should be learned by ear, but I also think a lot can be learned by picking up a piece of sheet music, or any music written in standard notation, and figuring it out on bass. It teaches the written language of music, and helps those ear-brain-finger connections as well. It also exposes you to music you may never hear otherwise, which is always helpful in musical growth.

Nobody said this was an easy business, you have to EARN all those chicks, man!

What?!? I thought it was money for nothin', and the chicks for free!

 

[kalo]

Maybe, I have no right to reply to this since I am new....

But in playing guitar for 6 years (I hope I don't get flamed) it helped when my teacher wrote down EVERYTHING in tab...

The reason why? By my teacher learning the song for me and tabbing it down in rhythmic notation it OPENED UP my ears....

No time was able to figure out songs for myself... I soon heard the same licks or lines in other songs...I have a good ear, but my teachers tab helped me out quite a bit in the beginning...

Tab does have it's merrit if it is done correctly and done by a good teacher.....However, the problem is that MOST if not all songs that are tab by people on the internet are just play WRONG!!!

Get a good teacher and it will help as well as learning scales and theory....All this takes time.....Kalo!

 

[steveksux]

I also think a lot can be learned by picking up a piece of sheet music, or any music written in standard notation, and figuring it out on bass. It teaches the written language of music, and helps those ear-brain-finger connections as well. It also exposes you to music you may never hear otherwise, which is always helpful in musical growth.

I don't have a problem with learning to read music. Need that if you want to go into studio work. I agree completely.

I was classically trained on trumpet before taking up bass, 9 years of reading music by then. I could sightread, transpose piano music on sight, the works. I'm the guy you'd expect to push for reading music.

But they don't do ear training on trumpet, so I had a HECK of a time learning to play by ear when I picked up bass. 29 years later I've been in 1 band that used sheet music, none that used tab. I would have been WAY better off with ear training from the start.

Reading tab will tell you the chords are C A- D- G7 in song A. How do you play that in F? Oh my...... uhhh... um. Tab, and sheet music makes you focus on the chords themselves, not their relationship to each other. Not hearing their relationship to each other. You're thinking, where's the C, where's the A, where's the D, where's the G. What notes are in those chords that I can use for passing tones. Seeing G E- A- D7 in song B, you'd learn that progression too. And maybe never really notice its the same progression as song A but in a different key. You wouldn't recognize that same pattern in another song.

If you were ear training, you'd know that's a I VI- II- V7, you could play it in any key, you'd recognize it instantly when you hear it again as a really common chord progression.

Tab focuses you on the chords individually, statically. Music is about how the chords flow together. You can learn every progression X 12 keys, or learn them by ear once.

Learning tab or reading music can help you learn where the notes are on the bass, that's good to know. That's great. Just don't skimp on ear training to do it.

There's nothing more useful than that in the real world than playing by ear.

Randy

 

[FriscoBassAce]

Having been trained formally as a brass musician, AND learning to play by ear when I picked up the guitar and later the bass, I would say that a good combination of all the methods listed would be best. If you can read music, you will open yourself up to more opportunities. TAB, while sometimes incorrect, is often times pretty darn close. Certainly you must be able to "feel" the music by ear, but you must also be able to use your intelligence to tell you when a tab when played the way it is written is different than a recording you have. Common sense should prevail.

 

[c-ba55]

half the time the Distorted guitar kills the bass....

If you can't hear any particular bass line on the original, the particular bass line the original dude is playing can't be that important. Just play whatever sounds OK.

 

[PlayTheBass]

Reading tab will tell you the chords are C A- D- G7 in song A. How do you play that in F? Oh my...... uhhh... um. Tab, and sheet music makes you focus on the chords themselves, not their relationship to each other.

This is interesting, because I had a similar path through music, learning theory before my ear was developed (I actually started with theory before playing, oddly enough). But I wrapped my brain around theory so fast, and spent so much time doing it (music minor in college), that I had no problem with chordal relationships even though I couldn't hear them very well. Indeed, the focus of our analyses (mostly classical music, i.e., "sheet music", and some jazz) was primarily the relationships among and within chords, so I ended up being able to easily recognize patterns on paper. On paper, it still seems ridiculously easy to me.

BUT... All that being said, I still agree completely with:

There's nothing more useful than that in the real world than playing by ear.

My growth as a player has completely paralleled the growth of my ear (that brings a picture to mind!). And learning music by ear, rather than by reading, has been the single greatest factor in that growth.

 

[QORC]

actually, I've found tabs to be INCREDIBLY helpful - it's often impossible to pick out the precise bass line in many recordings.

I use a combo of written tabs (and yes, you DO have to find ones that sound right. That's where the ears come in), Power Tabs (download their free software), and GuitarPro4 - many of their files can be found at http://www.mysongbook.com and other places, and midi files can be converted.

By isolating the bassline using these programs, it takes me less than half the time it would've to learn songs, I swear.

 

[Atshen]

I think it's important to have a good-sounding stereo system when picking tunes by ear. Your walkman (or iPod or whatever gizmo-of-the-week) may not be your best option, since they often come with crappy headphones.

You need something with clear and loud low frequencies, even better if it features a graphic EQ.

 

[Meyekul]

I think tab is a good thing as a reference, but not as your only guide. Ears are the way to go. If you're learning a song and you just can't get a part right, find tablature for it and see what they say. Compare that with what you're doing, and eventually you'll figure it out.

+1 on learning with MIDI files. I used to have a program that could generate sheet music from midi files, but I can't remember what it was... anyone else have a clue? However, you run into the same problems with midi files and tablature... most of them are created by home users, and may be totally wrong...

If you use Windows Media Player to practice, you can slow down the difficult parts to learn them. Go to the "Play Speed" option in the "Play" menu at the top of the window, there's options to speed up or slow down the playback.

 

[The Clap]

Like some have said - IMPROVISE. If you've heard the song at least a few times, and can gauge the feel of the tune in the context of your band, AND have the chords available, you often need not sweat the specifics. I like to let my own feel show in the covers we play, and in the vast majority of songs my current band covers, I don't play at all the same lines as heard on the original. I've never heard anyone complain, so I'd say that unless you definitely need to be playing the same line as on the original, it's better to rely on your ability to listen to your band than the 'right' line. Of course, this doesn't work in a lot of situations where you have a more domineering band leader that wants you to play what's there and little else.

For the new musician, using tab promotes the idea that there are specifically right notes, and that they aren't really notes at all, but rather locations to put your fingers on the neck. This can stunt attempts at one's own personal improvisations, when a bassist has only played music as written. And, unlike real notation, it has no educational benefit applied to anything of areas of musical undestanding but fingerings on a guitar/bass.

With those things in mind though, tabs are still pretty useful in developing one's ear, so long as you aren't using the usual online fare that's so often hit-and-miss.

 

[sparktone]

I occasionally look to tabs when I'm really stumped on a part, but more often than not, there is no tab for the song I'm learning or the tab is so obviously wrong that I tell it at a glance.

I usually spend a few days driving around listening to the tunes on my car stereo. It's a good opportunity to get familiar with the songs, and for some reason the speakers in my car produce a better defined bass sound -- not deeper, but easier to pick out from the rest of the mix.

(My wife has gotten used to me running in the door after I get home from work and immediately strapping on my bass.)

By the time I can hum the bass lines by heart, I can usually figiure them out pretty quickly, especially if I'm familar enough with the chords and progressions.

 

[kansas666]

chord progressions and major minor is kinda outta my league though. I do know the notes on the fretboard if i count them out... but i havnt memorized them.

Don't worry about major/minor. You are a BASS player. You play one note at a time. You do need to know the notes on the fretboard. Many times people will transpose a song a song and you will need to know what key they are playing in.

 

[ras1983]

Its great to hear that many TB'ers play by ear!!! playing by ear is a genetic thing from my dad's side. i can figure out a basslines within an hour generally speaking, if it is a top 40 song from the radio. i just play while the song is playing. the best tip i can give you is try to listen to the melody of the vocalists voice, as many times the bass line is a reflection of the melody. or, just turn up the bass settings on your radio, and turn down the mid settings. this should give you a clearer sound to the bass line.

The biggest tip is, if you actually pay attention to the bass line, your ears will adapt and will eventually become frequency specific. i.e. you will be able to single out the bass line much more.

 

[PlayTheBass]

Don't worry about major/minor. You are a BASS player. You play one note at a time.

This is bad advice. As a bass player, at least one who aspires to play anything but root notes, you ABSOLUTELY need to worry about major/minor!!!! You must understand (either by "brain" or by ear, but preferably both) chord theory in order to construct competent bass lines.

The good news is that chord theory isn't rocket science. And just the basics (triads) will get you a long way as a bass player, in just about any style you want to play.