Why Is Playing Bass So Damn Hard?!?

[sulu]

I have ....As always, just my .02

Thanks for the post. Good stuff.

While guitar and piano came quite easy to me (I just somehow knew what to do with my fingers, I could figure songs out, what the artists were doing) this bass business is a challenge. I was completely stumped by drums. I never liked drums anyway. But I love bass. It gives the rock and roll its roll.

As for now I am sitting with my head one inch in front of my speakers just listening for the subtleties behind the bass lines. Those ghost notes I hear in bass lines are the ones that are stymying me. They seem accidental but they are intentional - they add so much to the song. But how to "accidentally" play them so lightly while doing the bass line itself I find tough.


And to Parabolic Box, nope, no flatwounds. I'm using strings that are thick as telephone poles. Learn on something hard and the rest of the way is easy.

 

[marwady]

Thanks for the post. Good stuff.

While guitar and piano came quite easy to me (I just somehow knew what to do with my fingers, I could figure songs out, what the artists were doing) this bass business is a challenge. I was completely stumped by drums. I never liked drums anyway. But I love bass. It gives the rock and roll its roll.

As for now I am sitting with my head one inch in front of my speakers just listening for the subtleties behind the bass lines. Those ghost notes I hear in bass lines are the ones that are stymying me. They seem accidental but they are intentional - they add so much to the song. But how to "accidentally" play them so lightly while doing the bass line itself I find tough.


And to Parabolic Box, nope, no flatwounds. I'm using strings that are thick as telephone poles. Learn on something hard and the rest of the way is easy.

Excellent attitude, IMHO!!!

For me, extracting the nuances of what you hear will eventually make it to your hands if you keep at it. I also find that the more I can keep my bass in my hands, the less I need to think about what I am trying to play. In other words, it needs to feel natural instead of a like foreign object. Playing while watching TV or some other task helps to do that for me.

Someone once told me that God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth so as we should listen twice as much as we speak. I think that translates to playing bass, also.

Cheers

 

[prattguy]

What's the matter, no sense of humor? Do you take everything you read seriously? Do you honestly think I was serious when I put that on my profile? Don't even, for a second, go judging someone by what someone puts in their sig line or you're going to be wrong about that person 99.9% of the time. I'm simply trying to encourage someone who seems to me like they want to learn something. If you have a problem with that well then you just a have a problem.

Mhmm...i guess i do

Good luck with the encouraging though

 

[sulu]

I also find that the more I can keep my bass in my hands......

Exactly. We think alike. The best advice I give anyone who wants to learn guitar is that a ten dollar guitar stand is the most important thing needed to learning guitar. Without that stand, the guitar will be in a case, under your bed and you will be less apt to pick it up. But on a stand, everytime you watch TV the guitar is in your hands; you walk by it, the guitar goes in your hands; reading the newspaper you see the guitar on that stand, you put down the paper and pick up the guitar. I have my basses on guitar stands. I don't even own a case for one of them!

 

[TimWilson]

I'd bet my best compressor that your bass is set up poorly. I've known MANY guitarists who bought a bass so they could double, and they were ALWAYS horribly set-up. It seems most guitar players EXPECT a bass to have mile-high action and heavy-gauge strings. When I've properly set up basses for those guys, they're always amazed at how much easier it becomes to play bass.

I'd suggest taking your bass to a local shop and tell 'em you want it set up for a light touch and pickstyle playing, such as you use on guitar (you may feel that you don't play guitar with a light touch, but compared to bass, you do).

 

[AndyLES]

Hey there,

I've been playing guitar for 12 years, and a month ago, I started playing bass (and I'm loving it!)

But yeah, only now, after a month, am I BEGINNING to feel comfortable. I play fingerstyle, and can pluck 8th notes at 85 BPM. String muting, adapting scales, the longer stretches for the left hand, etc. are tough, but the results have been very rewarding. You simply CAN'T do this in only 11 days.

Keep at it!

 

[Bass Viking]

I will never take lessons. Never did for guitar, never will for bass.
I will take advice and tips from others, but lessons are school work. Music should be in you, not from a rigid lesson plans.

Here's a novel thought: lessons can be actually be beneficial. And they don't have to be rigid. A good teacher can tailor the material to the individual student.

 

[Bass Viking]

Which did you decide on, the Strat or the Les Paul?

LMAO!

 

[Stumpy]

As you may have guessed...Bassists are underrated. Guitards think that it is just blah, blah, blah.

Relax. Learn the piece slowly, then speed up as your dexterity and accuracy get better.

The idea is to find YOUR sound NOT Paul's sound. If you want to copy that is fine...but at the beginning you, IMHO, should be searching for your sound.

Welcome to the world of "Dude its only got 4 strings...what the hell."

I am a bass player of exactly 11 days and it took me less than two weeks to realize whoever invented the elctric bass was a nut. A more difficult instrument could not be made.

When I first started playing guitar I chose a favorite Beatle song to learn - "Mother Nature's Son." In one weekend I had that complete song down. From when I first picked up a guitar it only took four days to play that song in full. Not only did I play it, but I tweaked my amp and had my Fender Strat sounding exactly like Paul's acoustic. Perfect.

With bass I chose my favorite bass song - The Beatles' "Glass Onion" - and it is damn hard to do. The notes don't flow like they do with my guitar playing, and the sound I get can not duplicate what I hear on the record -- and I am playing the exact model Paul played on that tune, the Fender Jazz. With guitar I can make a Fender Strat sound like a Martin acoustic, but with bass I can't make a Fender Jazz sound like a Fender Jazz!

Why is bass so difficult? The required dexterity is a million times greater than guitar; and the perfect sound (flatwounds, roundwounds, what gauge, pick, slap, fingers, amp...) is elusive as hell.

Just a rant. Maybe I should have bought a sitar...probably a million times easier to play.

 

[sulu]

Here's a novel thought: lessons can be actually be beneficial. And they don't have to be rigid.

Come on. A lesson is on a specific day and at a specific time. Music is creative, it is not rigid. How would you like to be told to write a song at 5:30 Tuesday night? Do you work creatively like that? No one does.

I never saw the sense in being told, "Seven o'clock, Monday night...piano lessons time." Man, then it becomes a job.

 

[sulu]

Relax. Learn the piece slowly, then speed up as your dexterity and accuracy get better.

Yes, that is what I have to do. I am trying to play these pieces at the same tempo. Eleven days of bass playing and I am trying to do Paul McCartney on his level. You are right. Sloooow down.

The idea is to find YOUR sound NOT Paul's sound.....

My sound IS Paul's sound. He was born before me and got to it first.

 

[Parabolic Box]

Come on. A lesson is on a specific day and at a specific time. Music is creative, it is not rigid. How would you like to be told to write a song at 5:30 Tuesday night? Do you work creatively like that? No one does.

I never saw the sense in being told, "Seven o'clock, Monday night...piano lessons time." Man, then it becomes a job.

How old are you?

 

[capnsandwich]

Come on. A lesson is on a specific day and at a specific time. Music is creative, it is not rigid. How would you like to be told to write a song at 5:30 Tuesday night? Do you work creatively like that? No one does.

In the professional recording world that happens more often than not.

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

should I read every post of this thread or not....hmmmm.......

 

[sulu]

In the professional recording world that happens more often than not.

I see your point about time constraints - booking studio time, having a record company requesting an album from you - but I am not a professional musician. To me music is like sports -- a challenging and enjoyable thing to do. The minute it becomes rigid, then it is just another chore on a long list of chores that need to be done. Don't need that from a fun pasttime.

 

[basspraiser]

Come on. A lesson is on a specific day and at a specific time. Music is creative, it is not rigid. How would you like to be told to write a song at 5:30 Tuesday night? Do you work creatively like that? No one does.

I never saw the sense in being told, "Seven o'clock, Monday night...piano lessons time." Man, then it becomes a job.

I agree that music is creative, BUT music is also measured AND Rigid (to a point) and has "rules" which need to be followed in order for music to "sound good"....I have taken a few "lessons" in my day and wish I would have taken more....

learning the theory and rules allows you to make those rules work for you and allows you to be what I will call "efficiently creative". Without knowing the rules you have to "experiment" and "hunt and peck" to find what sounds good (like I do)....

ALL of the best improv bassists (and other improv musicians) know, understand, and can work within the musical structure.....

Take a word of advice from a person who did not take enough "serious lessons".....take some - also - if you can, take some music theory classes...they WILL make you a better musican all around!

Good luck...

Doug

 

[Mikeyd74]

I never thought of learning how to play the bass as being "practice." It was always that same feeling I'd get when I got a new game for the PC or Playstation. To me it was "guitar hero" before "guitar hero" was invented. Screw practicing, I just sat down with the radio and started learning whatever song came on next. Even to music that I normally didn't listen to. It opened my mind to new ideas on how the bass works within the music.
I have no idea how many songs I know how to play at this point. In my last band alone I learned somewhere around 80 songs. In fact, sometimes I'm amazed at what I actually know cuz I don't remember ever learning it. Someone will say, hey do you know this "so and so song" and I'm like, "I don't know, maybe. I think it's something like this." Then the next thing I know I'm playing it. Or when I've tried out for bands and they will throw something at me like one of their originals and they will say, "Here's the way it goes, and they will start to show me slowly. I always say, "Just play it and I'll jump in." Their jaws drop when I start playing along and anticipate the breaks and the changes right on time. Plus I never learned how to read music so that really confuses them when they hand me notation and I say no thanks.

You also have the benefit of knowing guitar. You can look at the guitar player and see what chord he's playing and follow along. I have so many bass buddies that don't have any idea what the guitar chords are, even bar chords. You are already ahead of the game. You should actually find a band as soon as you arre comfortable enough. That was probably the best learning tool that I had. Even though my first band was terrible it was so much fun and I learned so much in a short amount of time.
Sorry if I rambled on. Your post reminded me of when I first started playing. I wish I could go back in time and coach myself on what I should focus on and what not to worry about.

Also, as the previous poster said, getting lessons is always a good idea. But in my case learning the theory behind the music was boring and turning it into work. Don't ever let music become work.

 

[EliasR]

I think mike has a great point. I have had a Jazz piano background, and just 2 years ago got into bass. I've never thought of it as work, even though today I probably was woodshedding Jaco for 6 hours.

 

[sulu]

I never thought...

Nice post. Good stuff in it.

I do play with a bunch of guys. We were in the studio last Friday night...me with my shiny new bass. And it really dawned on me then how far I have to go. With guitar I could always jump in on anything any guy started. Last Friday, you are right, I was looking at the guitarists' hands to see what chord they were jumping to.

I hit guitar hard. Music theory books, playing all styles (I bought Metallica albums just because it was a fast style of music that I felt would help my rhythm playing), all the guitar magazines, song books...anything to push me along, even stuff I didn't like. It all worked. I am approaching bass the same way. Gleaning a little from all styles of music. From The Beatles to Prince to The Ramones...all will help my bass playing. (Well, maybe not The Ramones. )

 

[Human Bass]

Get some lessons. And cut the "but music is creativity, blah,blah,blah" crap, because your problem seems more technical. And during a lesson, you are able to exchange ideas with a much more experencie person that is actually trying to be useful.