Yet another 'critique my playing' thread!

[LagBox]

Hey talkbass! I've been playing around a year, and I wanted to know what some of you more (or less) seasoned players think I can improve on.

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It's an overdub of Smooth Operator, originally played by Paul Denman.

There's a big flub towards the end, pretend you don't hear it.

 

[chungweishan]

Sounds like you got the song down note-for-note. You have a good tone.

The two things that I do notice:
1. Timing - sometimes it seems like you're concentrating a bit too much on getting the right note, thus losing the timing. More importantly, it lacks groove. It has a clinical sound, for lack of a better expression. The original bassline has a bit of swing to it, notes flow into each other, syncing with the bass drum <-- that's key.

2. Expression - A lot of the trills and bass-slides are emphasized a bit too much and become distracting than enhancing. Just be wary of the dynamics when plucking the strings.

So, basically just try to sync more with the bass drum and you're good to go.

 

[LagBox]

Sounds like you got the song down note-for-note. You have a good tone.

The two things that I do notice:
1. Timing - sometimes it seems like you're concentrating a bit too much on getting the right note, thus losing the timing. More importantly, it lacks groove. It has a clinical sound, for lack of a better expression. The original bassline has a bit of swing to it, notes flow into each other, syncing with the bass drum <-- that's key.

So, basically just try to sync more with the bass drum and you're good to go.

That's the kind of thing I was hearing too. I'll try to listen to the drums more, and hopefully improve the feel. I assume this is one of the aspects of one's playing that improves with time.

EDIT: thanks for the help, by the way!

 

[joelns]

It will help a lot to play with a live drummer, not to mention other musicians.

 

[LagBox]

It will help a lot to play with a live drummer, not to mention other musicians.

I've been doing this some recently, and it's proving to be a good learning tool.