• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Why Is Playing Bass So Damn Hard?!?

Status
Not open for further replies.
#121
Sulu, You're telling me if Paul McCartney came up to you and said "hey man, let me give you a lesson!" you'd turn it down?

Lessons, IMO, are the most beneficial way of learning.

DO you think teachers are wasting their time teaching kids
English? Cause after all, if they just talk more, they'll learn more!

Comon man, seriously.
 
#124
May have been said already, but for the record; bass and guitar are two totally different animals. It's like saying that playing oboe and bassoon are the same because they're both double reed instruments. Stupid.

There's a totally different style, technique, genre and over-all feel for the instrument than guitar. I'm sorry to tell you, but you can't just be a bass player in 11 days! Personally, that's pretty insulting. That's like saying you'll pick up the saxophone and be great right away! Give it some time; give it some listening to the style of playing; give it a chance, or give it up!
 
#125
sulu said:
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.
Click to expand...

Well, it HAS been 11 days. You should have mastered the instrument by now. And those easy sitars too...

:scowl:
 
#126
well, I feel that if it is in your heart and you really want to learn it, you will. I have ADD and concentrating on things is hard for me, but when it came to learning the bass, it wasn't bad. I was and am determined to learn it. I would talk to someone and say "I can't do this YET" I wouldn't ever say "I can't do this." Like tonight, I was trying to slap. I am having trouble with it, but practicing the slap part to be able to bounce...sounded like crap, but I told myself, I don't have it YET, but one day I will. I have only been playing like 10 mths, and today I got thinking, I learned this much in 10 mths, I can't wait to see what I am gonna know in another 10 mths!!! Think positive, keep your chin up, the bass loooowwww and practice...make it fun! I love playing and if I don't play at least once a day, I go nuts!! Like withdrawals or something! :)
 
#127
sulu said:
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.
Click to expand...

So don't take rigid lessons. Find a teacher who will teach you songs you want to play, how to get the tone you hear in that song, and in doing that you'll be getting better. You'll be learning to get different tones with your fingers, not your wallet.

Also, your lessons aren't about creative flow. They're about honing your chops to the point where they don't inhibit your creative flow. When you hear something in your head, you need to be able to play it. Lessons help you with that. So really, you're limiting your creativity by not taking lessons. Just something to think about :)
 
#128
Sulu, just do what YOU want to do.
Whatever it is that makes you want to play, do it.
The problem with a lot of beginning musicians is that they think that they need to "learn" how to play from other people. Then they get frustrated and quit because they lose the desire to play because they are learning the "rules" which are meant to be broken anyway, especially in music and the ARTS. Breaking rules is how people start something new and fresh. Imagine if Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, or Paul McCartney followed the rules.
 
#129
Refusing to take lessons is pretty much resolving yourself to a longer learning curve and increasing the chance of developing bad habits.

I spent close to 20 years being a guitar player who never took a lesson. When I started playing bass a few years ago, I wanted to accelerate my learning curve as much as possible and started working with a teacher on a regular basis. I'm now a better bass player than I ever was a guitar player. A big part of it was learning to have a different mental approach - you have to think like a bass player.
 
#130
EricF said:
Refusing to take lessons is pretty much resolving yourself to a longer learning curve and increasing the chance of developing bad habits.
Click to expand...

Do you realize that most of the guys on TB who rarely agree on anything are telling you to take damn lessons?! From years of piano, you may understand music theory. The bass guitar is a very technique driven instrument. There are always debates that the tone is all in your fingers vs. in the bass. Truth be told, there is a lot of tone that come from your fingers AND from the bass. Even if there were a best bass in the world, it's not gonna sound good unless you are employing proper technique.

Talk Bass is a good resource for general questions, but having an actual bass instructor will help much more than we ever could because they can see what's working and what you're doing wrong and give you the proper feedback to correct you before you get too set on your bad habits. One member suggested your bass might not be set up properly. This may be, but since none of us are seeing you or hearing you, all we can do is guess. Teachers won't just guess.
 
#131
Man if you think playing bass is hard, try to play trumpet or even better: try to play trombone. I mean bass is quite easy, you don't have to worry about your lips and your airflow. With the fretboard you can overlook all the notes very quickly. You can't play a note out of tune. Wasn't bass designed to be easy? Didn't Leo Fender design a musical instrument that was not only 'affordable' but also easy to play? Otherwise, why would so many people play bass instead of trumpet or trombone?
 
#132
DutchDude said:
Man if you think playing bass is hard, try to play trumpet or even better: try to play trombone. I mean bass is quite easy, you don't have to worry about your lips and your airflow. With the fretboard you can overlook all the notes very quickly. You can't play a note out of tune. Wasn't bass designed to be easy? Didn't Leo Fender design a musical instrument that was not only 'affordable' but also easy to play? Otherwise, why would so many people play bass instead of trumpet or trombone?
Click to expand...
How many ads do you see for rock bands looking for oboe, trumpet, & trombone players?
 
#133
What a bizarre thread. Ok.
- Bass is a different animal than guitar. A long time ago, bassists played large upright bass violins (which was what I started on).
- Many bass players also played tuba - the gentleman that taught me played tuba, bass violin and bass trombone professionally.
- About the time I was born, Mr. Fender invented an amplified precision bass, so named because the frets made it easier "precisely" play on pitch.
- Because the bass now started to look like a guitar, the misconception that it was a "guitar" (technically it is actually!) led guitarists to presume that it was the same thing. It's not.

I've never been a guitarist, but I can certainly pick one up and passibly play one. It's really a completely different mission than guitar. Good luck. Take lessons, not just to speed up your development, but because bad habits can cause you physical injury over time.
 
#134
spade2you said:
Do you realize that most of the guys on TB who rarely agree on anything are telling you to take damn lessons?! From years of piano, you may understand music theory. The bass guitar is a very technique driven instrument. There are always debates that the tone is all in your fingers vs. in the bass. Truth be told, there is a lot of tone that come from your fingers AND from the bass. Even if there were a best bass in the world, it's not gonna sound good unless you are employing proper technique.

Talk Bass is a good resource for general questions, but having an actual bass instructor will help much more than we ever could because they can see what's working and what you're doing wrong and give you the proper feedback to correct you before you get too set on your bad habits. One member suggested your bass might not be set up properly. This may be, but since none of us are seeing you or hearing you, all we can do is guess. Teachers won't just guess.
Click to expand...
+1
 
#135
coming from 6 years of violin, I thought bass was pretty dang easy...
The Pot by Tool was my first
then some Rage Against the Machine tunes
after I got the hang of fingerstyling (started on a pick) I learned Leave That Thing Alone by Rush

not that hard bro...
 
#137
any instrument is hard.

if you never touched a guitar in your life, it will hurt.

it will take (if you practice every day) like 2 months until you get calluses and your finger tips wont hurt.

maybe like 6 months to be able to open your hand wide with less pain. If you can pickup a basketball with one hand then you alright.

try picking up a trumpet that is frickin' hard alright.
 
#138
You all do realize that there are a lot of people that can't afford to take lessons, don't you?
I was in that situation, I was just lucky to be able to "rent" a Series 10 bass from a local shop when I first started. Then I saved up enough money to buy a Barrington Foxxe bass that had been sitting around in the shop for a long time. They kept knocking down the price because it was bubblegum pink and it had a crack in the finish. Go ahead and laugh. Lessons were out of the question, so I taught myself and I got information anywhere that I could. Magazines, televised concerts, and sometimes I'd sit at the music store and watch people play because I wasn't old enough to go to clubs. I wish I would have had the internet and the ability to go to a website and ask questions back then.
So stop badgering someone cuz they don't want to take lessons. Maybe you don't know the whole story.
 
#140
To the OP: Trying to recreate someone's sound (especially on bass) comes from technique more than gear. Where you place your right hand closer to the bridge, or neck; how hard you pluck/pick, and how also what you're left hand is doing. Come to think of it...Paul was left-handed...are you left handed? LOL All these factors combined...:ninja: it all comes down to technique...

My advice: try to find your own sound and write your own songs. And if you must cover other people's stuff, like the Beatles :rollno:, then take your sound for what its worth and make them your own and have fun with it. Good luck and welcome to the forums!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back