Learning the Bass

G-MAN2004 said:
No. Most bass players are in the background providing just the bare minimum for each track. They don't stand out or anything. Play me anything from the Arctic Monkeys or any other popular modern bands and I won't be able to tell you what the bass line is because it's just not interesting. Flea is the complete opposite in all of the bands he's been in.
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He stands out because he has only ever been in terrible bands.

I agree though a lot of bassists are lazy, I was and that's why I didn't really enjoy it. I guess you've got to have a passion for bass that I never had.
 
Got treated to a Ibanez SR300 and little Fender AMP,

This is not going to be easy in any shape or form, lets hope a old dog can learn new tricks every sound it makes now make children cry and birds fall out of the sky, roll on new year so the lessons can start.
 
G-MAN2004 said:
No. Most bass players are in the background providing just the bare minimum for each track. They don't stand out or anything.
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And that is what the bass is supposed to do but you know when it's missing. Flea on the other hand might as well be playing a lead guitar.

Also OP know when to use a plectrum.
This is one of my biggest bug bears over the last 46 years of gigging.
There are times when fingers are needed and times when a plectrum is needed.
My new bass player is now just getting the message what works best in what song.
 
To truly learn the bass you have to

... catch it first! :p
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SPG said:
Even Homer is better atm :(

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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Out of interest have you got people to jam with? Even just an informal band or mates?

The electric bass is the most soul destroying instrument to learn solo. It sits in that category where it's neither a classical instrument like a double bass so doesn't have that soul nor is it melodic like pretty much everything else bar percussion.

I assume you play keys/guitar or something else or are you starting from scratch?

Bass is great if you have some music theory, circa up to grade 3/4 to underpin it; then at least you can pretty much pick up and play once you know the notes and can read music. Still a real drag if playing solo though and learning from scratch.

It's not like keys/guitar where you can read tab or chord charts and play some reasonable basic tunes within a week or two.

For bass you need to learn perfect rythm, to read music/bass notes, note positions on the neck, picking tempos and techniques to even start to sound remotely competent.

All that aside, as an average / beginner with 6 months of lessons and practice you would be able to find a band and gig. Bassists are probably the most in demand band member going.
 
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Scrutinize said:
Bassists are probably the most in demand band member going.
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Not round here, Bassists are 10 a penny.
Singers & drummers have always been in short supply and keyboard players are virtually non existant.

I've never understood why people take up the bass guitar, I've got 3 bass guitars and two bass combos but it does nothing for me. Earlier this year I was playing bass for my new band when the practise room owner started to copy me and he ended up joining us that night so I could go back on guitar.
Of course to play the bass well it does take skill and I've been lucky over the last 46 years that I've had some great bass players next to me.
And I'll say this again, know when to pick up a plectrum.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Not round here, Bassists are 10 a penny.
Singers & drummers have always been in short supply and keyboard players are virtually non existant.

I've never understood why people take up the bass guitar.
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I had excluded drums as it is in its own category really. Plus it is also the one instrument you need the musician to be at very competent level before they can support a band in a live performance or on a recording or even just a jam session.

Bar one, all basists I know have migrated from another instrument, usually guitar, out of necessity due to saturation of guitarists.

A good singer though, yep there is a rare thing. Keyboard is out of fashion which doesn't help.
 
Scrutinize said:
Bar one, all basists I know have migrated from another instrument, usually guitar, out of necessity due to saturation of guitarists.
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I was going to mention that, most bass players do play other instruments well but for some strange reason prefer to go back to 4 strings.
Last year I had to play with one of the worst bass players ever. He thought he was John Entwhistle so every song we did he would have to bang at his bass but he was obviously not very good at it. I kept asking him to change his style because John Entwhistle doesn't work with Blondie, Fleetwood Mac & Mike Oldfield but he refused so I had to sack him.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
And that is what the bass is supposed to do but you know when it's missing. Flea on the other hand might as well be playing a lead guitar.

Also OP know when to use a plectrum.
This is one of my biggest bug bears over the last 46 years of gigging.
There are times when fingers are needed and times when a plectrum is needed.
My new bass player is now just getting the message what works best in what song.
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Yeah I understand that, but it's nice when they come out and smash down a great bass line that stands out. Check out any Atoms for Peace track (Reverse Running for example) and they just sound awesome with that bass.
 
Nope just me, dont know any other musical people apart from a friends son, who is rather good and doesn't really need a old git like me cramping his school style :)

No idea on Music theory, I was the kid as school always given the triangle.

So it really is from scratch. One thing I have is time in the evenings in winter. As i say i will start lessons soon, and maybe in 6 months or so find folk to play with.
 
My first instrument was a bass. You really don't need music theory as you can just read tabs, and you don't need lessons (IMO) to become "proficient". It took me just a handful of months to get to a point where I could play most songs from my favourite bands. Of course I must have had some bad habits but I didn't notice, or care, and it's certainly nothing a bit of research and self-teaching wouldn't have been able to fix, again, in my opinion.

Within about 6 months I found I had outgrown it, as I was attempting to play lead/rythm guitar riffs instead, which didn't work all that well on a bass funnily enough :o
 
SPG said:
No idea on Music theory, I was the kid as school always given the triangle.

So it really is from scratch. One thing I have is time in the evenings in winter. As i say i will start lessons soon, and maybe in 6 months or so find folk to play with.
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Although there are some amazing bass players out there the bass can also be the most simplest instrument to learn because all you need to do is play a single note when the guitarist is playing a chord, this is called playing the root notes and can get you through a gig. So if the guitarist is playing C G Am Em F G that is all you have to do, even though in the original song the bassist may be playing notes in between. When I was around 14 my next door neighbour took 3 strings off his bass and only played on the E string. He had a successful local Glam Band for a number of years while playing root notes on 1 string.
Earlier this year I walked into a band rehearsal and their bass player hadn't turned up so I stayed for a couple of hours. All I did was play root notes.
 
Bass - just play the root notes.

Urgh. Nothing worse to say about bass guitar.

I know that's not what you're saying. But I've heard that a lot over the years.

True, bass is an easy instrument to start on, but there's so much more to it than boring root notes.

OP - If you want somewhere to look for lessons, ideas and techniques for what the bass is capable of, then your first stop should be Scot devine on YouTube. 'Scots bass lessons'.
One of the best bassist orientated channels on the Internet. Others are good too, 'marlowdk' for one. But scot takes understanding the instrument to another level.
Everything from styles, techniques, to practical demonstrations with a live band, music theory and how to play and improve - something for the beginner and experienced alike. I cannot recommend it enough, if only there had been something like it when I was learning to play.
 
jumpy said:
Bass - just play the root notes.

Urgh. Nothing worse to say about bass guitar.

I know that's not what you're saying. But I've heard that a lot over the years.

True, bass is an easy instrument to start on, but there's so much more to it than boring root notes.
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And that's exactly what I wrote however it can be the easiest instrument to learn to feel as though you're getting somewhere and a few months up the line you can jump to be Geddy Lee, Flea, Victor Wootton or just stay like Dee Dee Ramone.
Some bands wouldn't be the bands they are/were without the bass player sticking to root notes - Ramones, AC/DC, Status Quo, Airbourne and the list goes on.
 
One of the reasons I began with bass was because it had less strings than guitar :)
Also because Steve Harris.
That said, I loved zztop for easy to learn rythm based tunes. Get a solid foundation in those tunes to get a feel for the instrument - that basic affinity for the bass guitar drove my enthusiasm to learn more.

You'll have to forgive my aspiring inner jaco pastorius when it comes to the bass :o :p
 
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Week 1 update.

OMFG - I must have the fingertips of a Victorian lady (the life of a Design Engineer) I think i need to take a couple of days off to let nature do its work after trying to fly up and down the fret board.

But so far ---

5 seconds of Another one bites the dust
5 Seconds of Killing in the name of

And a 30 second composition to Carrie Fisher and George Michael
 
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