Bass Tips
Moderators: Trooper, Tiki the Boyler
Anchor your left thumb
When you are beginning the Bass, a common question is "I know I have to anchor the thumb of my left hand. My question is, where do I put it?" Here's the answer: for playing the Low E string, rest the thumb of the left hand on the edge of the pickup. For playing the A string, rest the thumb on the E string. For playing the D string, rest the thumb on the A string, and for playing the G string, rest the thumb on the D string.
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Warp In The Neck Of Your Bass
When shopping for a Bass guitar, always sight down the edges of the fretboard. What you're looking for is a warp in the neck. Most warps can be easily rectified with a simple truss-rod adjustment. If you spot one like this in a store, ask the salesperson to do the adjustment for you. He/she should be able to do it for you on a matter of minutes. If he/she can't, shop somewhere else, because this store doesn't train its people properly.
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How to Use Picks to Play Bass
Some bass guitar players, especially rock music bass players, will want to use a pick. This is fine as it gives the bass a percussive, sharp edged attack that's called for in some rock music. If you are going to use a pick because that's your musical style/taste, start by learning to use a pick in alternating strokes, down-up-down-up etc. Playing all down-strokes will rapidly lose its appeal as your right arm begins to tire…
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Play Scales With Your Fingers
Developing the right hand for beginning bass players is of the utmost importance. Far too many beginning bass players will use their thumb to pick the strings rather than their fingers. Eventually this technique will fail you, as it soon becomes impossible to keep up with a rapid series of notes. As sooner or later you will have to play with your fingers, it's always better to do it right from the beginning, when you first pick up the bass.
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How To Buy a Starter Bass Worth Upgrading
One of the things you can do to save some money at the beginning is to buy a name brand instrument towards the lower end of the product line. Most of the time, manufacturers who have built up significant brand equity on a particular model they make, will seek to maximize on that equity by making basses with the same name and the same look and feel manufactured overseas. Buy one of these for a starter. Then when you 'get good', replace the electronics on the Bass with name brand pick-ups, good potentiometers, etc. The result will be a Bass guitar that plays and now sounds like its more expensive brother.
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Band Etiquette: Help With The PA
If you are good enough to get into a band that is getting steady work, be prepared to help with setting up and breaking down the P.A. Some bands have a crew to transport and set up much of the gear for them, but most of the time this work is done by the band members. If the band you're in has a stage crew, there may be an opportunity to earn some extra money by adding this duty to your roster.
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Jazz Solo Protocol
When you're doing a jazz gig, there is a protocol to the order of the soloing. While there are many possible solo order combinations, the default hierarchy is horns, piano (and other 'comping' instruments such as guitar, bass, and drums). However, drums are not always last, and bass and drums do not necessarily solo on every song.
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Substitute Bassist
Once you have been playing for a while and you have established a reputation as a reliable bass player with a modicum of chops, expect the odd call to "Sub in" for a bass player who is sick or otherwise unavailable. In this kind of a gig, you may be asked to read from the book of their tunes. At the same time it will be important for you to lock in with the drummer, maintain eye contact with the leader, and play at an appropriate volume.
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Ear Training And Playing By Ear
All of us working musicians are conversant with "Faking" our way through an unfamiliar song that a Bandleader has suddenly called out. The worst is when an audience member comes up to the stage requests a song, flashes a hundred dollar bill, and then walks away because only the guitar player knows it. The solution is all the work that you put into your ear training. As one great Bass player once quipped "Bassists don't get paid to play fast - they get paid to hear fast!"
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Using A Pitchpipe for Ear Training
Here's a tip for all bassists doing their ear training. Buy a pitchpipe (cheap, around 6-8 bucks at any music store) and carry it with you at all times. Now, when you listen to the radio, guess what key a song is in. Check your guess on the pitchpipe. From time to time throughout your day, sing an A. Check yourself on your pitchpipe. What you are doing is developing a sense of perfect pitch.
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Sing Intervals, Modes & Arpeggios
Once you're comfortable with singing all the intervals, modes, and arpeggios with your Bass, try singing them all without it. Get your starting pitch from your bass or whatever instrument you have available to you at the time and sing your exercises using the solfege syllables. Practice this a lot - this is an essential part of your musical development.
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Singing Chromatic Scales
Everyone knows the familiar Do-Re-Mi syllables used to represent a major scale (these are the actual solfege syllables - not everyone knows that.) But - what do you do when you need to sing a chromatic scale, a scale that includes all of the diatonic intervals? Take a page from the solfege experts and sing this: Do-Di-Ray-Ri-Mi-Fa-Fi-Sol-Si-La-Li-Ti-Do. Like to see Julie Andrews take a crack at this, hey?!
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Use Ear Training Software
Back when I was coming up as a musician, I used to have to sit by the turntable of my stereo and skip the record back a groove, listening closely to get the part. I didn't know it at the time, but what I was doing was ear training. Nowadays, you don't have to do anything like this (even if you still had a turntable.) There is ear training software available for most computers, and it's not very expensive. This is a worthwhile investment for any serious musician.
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Take The Faking Challenge
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Don't back down from the challenge of using your ears. You will get a lot more work from the reputation of being able to play anything that gets thrown at you than you will from all the best gear in the world.
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How To "Fake" A Song
Here's a short list of things you can do to prepare yourself for the day when you will be called upon to "Fake" your way through an unfamiliar song on the Bass. 1) Study the rules of harmony. 2) Train your ears to recognize intervals. 3) Study chords. 4) Practice melody/harmony relationship drills. 5) Develop your sense of relative pitch. 6) Pray to the Deity of your choice…
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Faking A Song
Here's another tip about "Faking" your way through a song. There are three critical components working in your favor here, your ears, your trust, and your common sense. Your ears refers to all the training hours that you put in to developing your abilities to listen: your trust refers to your trust in yourself and your abilities; and your common sense refers to your abilities to employ your knowledge of theory and harmonic structure in ways that make sense.
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Listen To The Melody While Faking
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Listen carefully to the melody. You'll pick it up quickly because of all the work you have done on ear training. However, the caveat here is while you're listening to the melody, be sure to pay attention to everything else.
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Stay Calm While Faking
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Stay calm. I know it sounds trite, but like most hackney sayings, it's trite because it's true. When you're calm you'll hear better, and consequentially, play better.
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Watch The Guitar Player's Left Hand
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Watch the guitar players left hand if at all possible. This way you'll be able to see the chord progressions
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Build A Chart In Your Head
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Try to construct a chart in your head as you play the song. At the next break, grab a napkin and write down what you thought you heard. Be sure to get the name of the song from the leader, as chances are you will be asked to play it again at some point in your career.
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Keep Your Eyes Open
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Always keep your eyes open as well as your ears. Someone may signal a break in the song, and you don't want to be taking a sudden solo…
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Listen To Your Own Part
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Listen closely to what you are playing as well as to what everybody else is playing. If what you're playing sounds wrong, don't play it. If it sounds right, do it again.
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Remember The A Section
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Try to remember what you have learned since the song began, retain what you gain. In other words, remember the A section, because you'll have to play it again.
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Skip The Bad Parts
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. If a specific spot is giving you trouble, remember where it is. The next time it comes around, try something else.
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Watch The Drummer
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. If you get lost in the form, watch the drummer. A good drummer will set up each new section with a fill, generally small fills for the A section, a large fill for the bridge, and something very noticeable for the top if the form.
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Groove Versus Timing
A sense of time and a sense of groove are very closely linked, but they're not the same things at all. A good sense of timing is required to create a good groove, but some great grooves are not in perfect time. It's a Zen thing…
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Hum The Melody First
As beginning Bass players, most of the intervals that we need to concern ourselves with will be sequential, rather than simultaneous. In interval is the space between two notes. As we need to hear individual notes before we can hear and figure out complex harmonies, a good place for you to begin is humming the melodies of songs that you know and like. Then figure out these melodies on your bass.
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Musical Intervals Explained
Here's the skinny on musical intervals. There are 7 notes in any scale (8 if you include the octave.) For the sake of reference, the first note of the scale in any particular key is always called the "1", or the root. For example, in the key of A, the root note is A. Likewise for C, and so on. Count up 4 letters from A to a D. That's the 4. E is the 5. This is where the term 1-4-5 progression comes from.
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Involve Your Body
Here's a tip for Bass players of all levels: get your body involved in your music. Try this when you practice with your metronome. Set your metronome to about 40 BPM (Beats Per Minute) and start playing a Bass line that you know in 4/4 time. Stomp your right heel on beats 1 and 3, while stomping your left heel on beats 2 and 4. Shift your weight back and forth. Feel the rhythm and the pulse. Remember this when you are feeling embarrassed as you practice moving your body when you play the bass guitar. First: you are practicing. You are alone. Nobody can see you. Relax and let the music move you. Close your eyes, listen, feel, and play.
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What Customers Expect from Working Bands
If you get into a band that is getting regular work, be prepared to work you butt off. An expectation of bands of this ilk is a pleasant and courteous demeanor at all times, on stage and off. They expect you to avoid the temptation to "noodle" on your ax between songs, to follow seamless segues between widely disparate songs (e.g. Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" to the B-52's "Love Shack") and the ability to instantly respond to audience requests.
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Bass Left Hand Workout
Here's a serious workout exercise for the bass player´s left hand. While this is designed for beginning bass students, it will work for the more experienced players as well. Fret the third fret of the low E string with your third finger. Then fret the fourth fret of the same string with your fourth finger. Now move to the third fret of the A with your third finger, followed by the fourth fret with the fourth finger. Keep going across the strings until you reach the top string. Once there, reverse the order of the drill and do it backwards. This is a very good exercise for strengthening the two weakest fingers on your left hand, the third and fourth.
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Bass Thumb Technique
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, remember this tip. The force required to fret the string comes from your fingers, not from your thumb. Your thumb acts as an anchor and a pivot, not as a means to "choke" the neck of your bass.
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Where To Pluck Bass Strings
When developing a solid right hand technique for playing the bass guitar, always strive to pluck the strings close to the bridge. Rest your thumb on the pickup. If your bass has two pickups, choose the one closer to the bridge for your thumb-rest.
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Be Ready For Your Bass Teacher
To all you bass players out there who have purchased a bass and are waiting to find a teacher: don't wait to start playing your bass. Pick it up and start fooling around with it. Make some discoveries on your own. Buy a book, learn some exercises, and practice, practice, practice. Remember the old Zen saying "when the student is ready the teacher will appear."
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Become A Songwriter
Here's a tip for bass players who have been playing the bass for a while. Write as much original music as possible, as often as possible. You don't have to write complete sonatas, you don't have to write complete pop songs, you don't even have to "write" in the technical sense of the word. All you need to do is take what you hear in your head and play it. Record it so you remember it. You never know where a lick or a line that you came up with will lead you.
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Bass Guitar Practice Tip: Divide Your Practice Time
Divide your bass guitar practice time so that you work on many different facets of music. Devote a certain amount to technique, devote a certain amount to theory, and devote a certain amount to fooling around on your instrument. Never lose sight of the fact that music is creative, so no matter what level you are at (or what level you think you are at) be creative!
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Fit Rhythmically
As bass players are a vital component of any rhythm section, we as bass players must remember that while it is important that our parts fit harmonically, it is equally as important that our parts fit rhythmically. Look at it this way, it's not just what you play in terms of the notes that you choose, it's when you choose to play them.
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How To Listen To Yourself Play
Record yourself every time you play your Bass, especially when you practice. The quality of the recording isn't important at all, as your listening for your technique. Listen for excessive string noise, fret buzz, etc.
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How To Position Your Bass
To find the best position for you to play the bass guitar without causing health problems in the future, do this. Stand with your head up and shoulders square, but relaxed, arms at your sides. Extend your right hand out in front of you, a little below shoulder height, hand hanging down, relaxed. Bend your left elbow so that the left hand comes up into playing position. Now bring your right elbow in towards your body, keeping the right hand relaxed and hanging down as you do so. This is the most tension free position, so adjust your strap so that the bass hangs at this height.
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Proper Bass Guitar Positioning
Proper positioning of the Bass Guitar on your body is important for many reasons, including ergonomic and basic technique. Many young bassists will try to "cop the attitude" of the bass players that they see on MTV, with the bass hanging down well past their knees. The problem with this is that with the bass slung so low, the strain the wrist of the left, or fingering hand is extreme. The degree of bend in the wrist now required to fret a note will cause severe health problems down the road, such as Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
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Don't Be A Bass Geek
Another bad position for playing the Bass is the "Neo-Fusion Geek" position. OK, you will not find that title in the official bass style dictionaries, but it fits. These are the guys who wear the bass so high up on their body that their right wrist is at the same level as their collarbone. While this position grants the left hand easy access to the upper frets for soloing, the right wrist is forced into an extreme, unnatural angle. Again, this can lead to career ending health problems down the road.
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How To Adjust Your Bass Strap
Here's a tip for beginners who are also in a band or performing in some way. If you sit down when you practice (and most of us do) take note of where the bass is in your body. Now, when you put the strap on and stand up, make sure you adjust your strap so it holds the guitar at the same point as it did when you were sitting.
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Learn From Yourself
Here's a tip that will sound a bit strange, but it's valid for the bassist just starting out to the crafty veteran of countless gigs. Learn from yourself. Look at it this way: while it's good - even vital - to have another person to show you the way, nothing gets learned until you have brought it inside yourself, internalized it, passed it through your own set of filters, as it were. What I'm saying here is this; don't stop with what you've been shown. Mess with it. Play with it. Keep what's good and discard what's not. Essentially, that's what music is all about.
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Play Fast, Count Slow
One of the things that we can do as bass players to keep ourselves "Grounded in the Groove", as it were is to subscribe to the old bass payers maxim "play fast, count slow." What this means is when you have a passage of 16th note triplets that runs for 8 bars, don't count the 8th notes. Tap your foot on the 2 and 4 of each bar instead. This will prevent you from "rushing" the passage.
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Set A Challenge Each Day
Here's a tip for bass players of all levels, but especially for beginners. Force yourself to improve a little bit every day. This sounds hard, but it isn't. If you can do one thing a little better every day, be it sight reading a measure further in the Bach piece you are working on or setting your metronome one click higher, then you're improving.
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Write And Transcribe Bass Parts
Here's a tip for all bass players. In the section of your practice time that you devote to ear training, practice combining writing and transcribing at the same time. This sounds hard, but it really can be a simple as learning a part by ear from one of your CDs, memorizing it, and then asking yourself what you would have come up with were you the bassist in that particular session. Write it down, record it, memorize it, what ever way is comfortable for you not to forget it. This will help you greatly over the long run in terms of understanding the role that your instrument plays.
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Country Bass Tip
One of the most overlooked instruments in country music today is the bass. In fact many times the only way the bass becomes conspicuous in this style of music is by its absence. While flashy chops and articulate soloing abilities aren't important in this style, a rock-solid knowledge of harmony and theory are essential. Remember this: in country music, it's not the groove so much as it's the song that's king.
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Country Bass Tip Two
Here's a hard and fast rule for playing country bass guitar. Keep it simple. If you are the bass player in a country band, or if you want to start or get into a country band, remember this old country bass player's maxim "think of the simplest part you can play. Then play half of that."
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Dropped D Tuning Made Easy
For those of you who are interested in being able to get into and out of a "dropped D" tuning at the flick of a switch, there is a device on the market today that will do exactly that. This is called the "Hipshot Xtender." It mounts right on your bass guitar, installing where the low E string tuner is. It's not very expensive, and it's really convenient - if you play a lot of songs that require the Dropped D.
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Dropped D Tuning Tip
When you're playing in a Dropped D tuning, you will notice the fatter, heavier sound due to the decrease in tension on the low E string. You will also notice a radical difference in the feel of the string to your right, or plucking hand. It will feel more "floppy" or "Spongy", and your right hand technique should adjust accordingly. Don't worry it about this at first. As you practice with this new tuning, your hand will automatically adjust.
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Hard Rock Tip
One common technique in the harder rock of yore, as well as some rock music today, is the pedal technique (no, I'm not talking about some stompbox.) A pedal is a note that's played as the chords change around it. Usually, but not always, the pedal tone is the dominant or tonic of the key in which the song is played.
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Identifying Musical Scales
It's a common thing for a new bass player to hear a "Killer Riff" that he or she thinks that they simply cannot play. Here's a fact that will help you out. Most Rock 'n Roll riffs consist of notes from a few basic scales - and if you can find the scale that the riff in question belongs to, you are well on your way to cop any riff. Remember, the "I'm not good enough to play that" excuse is exactly that - an excuse.
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Minor Pentatonic Scale
In the Fifties, with Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley and the like dominating the world of Rock, most Bass players played parts utilizing the Minor Pentatonic Scale. The Pentatonic is simply a minor scale that has been trimmed down from the regular seven notes in a scale (eight if you include the octave) to five notes (thus the 'Pent' or five in the prefix). These notes are the 1st, the flat 3rd, the 4th, 5th, and flat 7th of the key in which you are playing.
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Playing Tough
Here's something that you can do when the guitar player in your band asks you for a tougher, meaner sounding bass part. Instead of deleting the natural third and seventh from the scale you are playing to create your part, flat them both. Now, now matter what chords the guitar player comes up with, the overall sound of the band will give you an implied dominant seventh - which sounds as tough as nails.
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Rock Bass Tip 1
Rock bass playing consists of a good deal more than just pounding out eighth notes on the root of the chord. In fact, if becoming a rock bassist is the goal for those of you just starting out, you will need just as much theory as the jazz player just starting out. Like anything else in music, the fuller the understanding and comprehension of the underlying concepts of the instrument and the fundamentals of the music that you will be playing, the better you will be.
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Rock Bass Tip 2
Here's a tip for all you rock bass players out there. When asked to write or come up with a bass part to go under the guitarist's crashing power chords, play a minor scale - even when the chords are major. The notes you should always avoid playing are the major third and major seventh scale tones. They are just too sweet for Rock 'n Roll…
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Rock Bass Tip 3
Another trick that today's rock bass players utilize is the "dropped D" tuning. To get the dropped D tuning is easy. Simply tune your lowest E string down one whole step to a D. Automatically you will hear a much fatter and heavier sound, as the decreased tension on the string will cause it to vibrate more slowly. One caveat: remember to tune it back up when you have finished the song that required you to drop the E to a D. Otherwise, you'll be frantically re-working the fingering for the parts to the subsequent songs in the set.
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Sing It To Play It
Rhythm comes form an internal place. We all have an innate sense of rhythm, provided we have a pulse and a heartbeat. The easiest way to access this internal sense of rhythm is to tap your foot and sing. Sing to the radio, sing in the shower, sing everywhere you can and not drive people crazy. It doesn't matter if you can't carry a tune, what matters is that you sing the notes when they're supposed to occur, not so much where they're supposed to occur. Remember the old Jazz player's maxim "If you can't sing it, you can't play it."
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Study Solfege
Here's a tip for all aspiring bass players. Go to your local bookstore/music store and buy a book on Solfege. Solfege is an old technique based on Classical Indian Music. It arose as a means of teaching young Tabla players how to internalize their own internal "clock," as it were. Solfege is a technique using syllables that are spoken to help a student learn to internalize rhythms. The syllables ba-ch-da-ba-ch-da-ba-ch-da-ba-ch-da are an example of one bar of 16th note triplets.
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Use Your Ear
Remember this tip - especially for beginners. The more you try to cop riffs and parts - without the aid of music or tablature - the better your ear will get. Exercise like this is invaluable ear training. If you have trouble hearing the parts, find yourself a teacher who specializes in ear training. This is a skill that can be acquired.
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Create Mnemonic Tags
It will help you greatly to create a list of mnemonic "Tags" (for lack of a better term) to help you to remember some common intervals. For example the opening two notes of "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" is a major third. The first three notes are a major triad. The opening two notes of "Here Comes the Bride" are a perfect 4th. The opening two notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" are a perfect 5th. The opening two notes of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" are a perfect 6th. While these examples are a little bit corny, they are easy to remember, and that's the point.
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Developing Perfect Pitch
While it is indisputably true that some people seem to be born with "magical ears", or perfect pitch, this is actually a skill that can be acquired like any other. Developing your ear will help you in terms of finding pitch, figuring out intervals, identifying chord structures and hearing the rhythmic structure of a song. For bassists, all of these skills are indispensable.
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Diatonic Scale Explained
While there are 8 notes in a major scale, there are actually 12 tones, or "steps" within that scale. This is known as a Diatonic scale. Look at it this way: there are 12 half steps that comprise the 8 notes of any major scale. Some of the best ear training that you can do is to start singing all of the 12 half steps.
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A Good First Bass Amp
If you are just starting out, look for an amplifier in the 50 to 75 Watt range. (A Watt is a unit of power, and it translates to how much volume you'll be able to get out of it.) Look for a fifteen inch speaker in the amp (this is known as a Combo amp, speaker and amp combined into one unit). A fifteen-inch speaker is able to faithfully reproduce all the low frequencies produced by a gass guitar. An amp like this should be easily transported, and will serve you well for practicing and playing small gigs.
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Be Self Critical
When you practice your bass guitar, it will be important for you (and sometimes your teacher) to be as critical as you can be of all your techniques. Look for proper fingering, plucking, timing, excess finger noise, fret buzz - all aspects of your technique. This is the time to be self critical, never when you're in front of an audience.
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Begin Playing Fingerstyle
Start off with a bass guitar teacher who is going to teach you how to play fingerstyle (I'm talking about right-hand technique for the bass, not acoustic guitar here) as opposed to one who proposes to teach you how to play with a pick. In my experience, it is always easier for a fingerstyle player to learn to play with a pick than it is for a pick-style player to learn to play with his fingers.
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Why To Get A Bass Teacher
If you have some innate musical ability (and most of us do) you can figure out quite a bit without any help if you're picking up the bass guitar for the first time. However, this can lead to big problems down the road. Playing simple parts on the bass is exactly that, simple - but then again, playing difficult parts on the bass is really hard. That is why you need to get a bass teacher - as soon as possible. Find yourself a teacher and avoid having to un-learn all the bad habits that we inevitably create when we try to take short cuts…
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Have Fun
Here's a critical tip in regard to practicing the bass guitar. Have fun! Music is fun, and you didn't pick up the bass so you could get some more work, now did you. Play songs that you like. Find a teacher willing to teach you songs that you dig. Put a CD on and jam with it. You will be having a ball, and the best part is you will be learning and getting better on your instrument.
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Join A Band
One of the best things that you can do as a beginner looking to improve your chops is to join/start a band. As you learn the bass parts of the songs necessary for the playlist, your ear training gets better. As you work with other musicians, no matter what level or degree of proficiency they're at, your chops will improve. Call it osmosis, all it immersion call it what you will, it just happens. You get better as a part of something that is larger than you.
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Keep Your Fingers Close To The Strings
Correct Bass Finger Position. Remember this when you practice your bass guitar: an important element of speed is economy of motion. If your fingers are flying off the neck, slow down and work at playing that particular passage with your fingers close to the strings. Likewise with your plucking hand.
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Look For Ideas Everywhere
Even if you are taking lessons from a really good bass guitar instructor, don't be afraid to strike out on your own. Look for ideas everywhere. Don't limit your self to bass lines. If there is a particular song you like, learn the melody and play it on your bass. Try to work out a harmony to the melody, and again, play it on the bass. Show your teacher what you've done. He or she will be impressed with your initiative.
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Play Every Day
When you're starting out, play every day - even if you don't work at practicing at the time. Just play. The reason is, the bass guitar is a physical instrument, and they're are hand muscles, wrist muscles, shoulder muscles etc. that will get a workout when playing the Bass.
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Practice Bass Slowly And Perfectly
When you first start to play and practice your bass guitar, no matter what you're practicing or playing, work at playing it the best that you can. Playing the piece fast and sloppy will not help you at all in the long run; playing it slow and precisely is invaluable. Start slow. Use your metronome. Speed will come in time.
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Set A Bass Practice Schedule
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, there simply is no substitute for practicing. Set a schedule and stick to it. Play un-amplified if you have to but play - every day. What you play in the beginning isn't anywhere near as important as the fact that you do play, every day. Owning the best gear in the world will not make you a better player. Dreaming of the day when you make it as a rock star will not make you a better player. Practicing will.
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Study Music Theory
After you have been playing bass guitar for a while, you may want to ask your instructor (or find a new instructor) who is willing and ability to begin teaching you some fundamentals of music theory and improvisation. Mastering theory fundamentals will enable you to progress quickly; instead of learning one song a week at your lessons, you'll be able to pick up five more by yourself at home.
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Trust Your Bass Teacher
As you practice what your bass guitar teacher has shown you, or the piece that he or she has you working on, try to keep an open mind. You may not like or enjoy the piece, but if your instructor is good enough for you to respect, than their good enough for you to trust that they know what they're doing. Many difficult pieces are assigned not because they sound good, but because they require or emphasize a technique that you either need to know or are in the process of learning.
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Use The Left Hand Finger Tips
When you play your bass guitar, always try to play the stings on the fingertips of your left hand. To do this, you will have to arch your fingers and keep your palm off the back of the neck. Planting your thumb firmly in the center of the neck will help you to acquire this technique.
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Why To Use A Tuning Fork
For outright beginners, it may be valuable for them to purchase a tuning fork or a pitch-pipe as well as a tuner. The reason is, while an electronic tuner will get you into perfect tune every time, it does all the work for you, robbing you of the opportunity to work on developing your sense of relative pitch. As there will be times that you will want to tune either up or down in order to play along with/ figure out parts from your favorite CDs, you might as well start from the beginning. Learn how to tune your Bass by ear and use the tuner to check your results.
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Alternate Plucking Fingers
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, it will be important for you to developing the dexterity of your right, or plucking hand. Do this by always alternating between your index and second finger when you practice.
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Always Be Musical
Here's a tip for bass players who are just starting out (and even for some experienced players who have lost the forest for the trees). Don't get too bogged down in the technical aspects of the instrument. While good technique is desirable as a solid foundation on which to build, don't lose sight of the fact that you are learning to make music, not play really fast exercises.
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Bass Arpeggios
When you are a beginning bass player learning scales, you will soon come across the term "Arpeggio." Arpeggios are different from scale in that an arpeggio doesn't contain all of the notes in a scale. Instead, and arpeggio represents the notes of a chord that are not played simultaneously, instead they are played individually. As many bass parts actually consist of arpeggios, it will behoove you to learn these.
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Bass Guitar Exercise
Here's a good, if somewhat non-melodic exercise for beginning bass guitar players. Start with your fist finger on the first fret of the low E string and pluck the note with the first finger of your plucking hand. Now, without releasing the first finger, place the second finger on the second fret of the same string. Pluck this note with the second finger of the plucking hand. Next, place your third finger on the third fret of the same string and pluck it with the first finger of the plucking hand. Last, place your fourth finger on the fourth fret and pluck this not with your first finger of the plucking hand. When this is done, place the first finger on the second fret of the low E string and repeat the entire exercise. Do this all the way up to the twelfth fret. At this point, reverse the exercise and play it backwards. Do this on all four strings.
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Bass Speed And Endurance Tip
When working on your right hand speed and endurance exercises, remember this tip. Always start slowly. Speed and strength come as a result of assiduously doing these exercises. The secret is in relaxing the wrist and forearm of the plucking hand. When you tense up and try to "dig in," you will feel your chops rapidly start to fade. Start slowly and play for as long as you comfortably can. As your endurance increases, speed up the tempo on your metronome.
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Bass Transposition Tip
Here's a tip for all beginning bass players. Learning a scale in all the keys there are is easy. Once you have mastered the fingering for any scale there is, you automatically know it on every key. The fingering doesn't change. The position of your hand on the fingerboard does. All you need to do is start the scale on a different note and follow your fingering.
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Be Patient
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, remember to go slowly and be patient with yourself. Learning an instrument is a cumulative process, and you can't master new skills and techniques if you haven't mastered the old.
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Daily Bass Practice Regimen
When first starting out on the bass guitar, ask your teacher for a daily regimen of what you should be practicing. This will ensure that the goals you set for yourself will be met, as well as making sure that you are adequately prepared for each week's lesson.
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Where To Practice Bass
Practice the bass everywhere you are. Sing the bass parts to songs on the radio in your car. Make up harmony to the bass parts and sing them, if you can. All of this type of activity will help you to improve your ear.
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Name That Note
When you practice your scales, try this. Say the name of the note that you are starting on out loud. This note is the same name as the key that the scale is in. Play the scale all the way up and all the way down. Move the fingering that you are playing up one fret and again, say the name of the note out loud. Again, the name of the note is the same as the name of the new key you are in. Saying the names of the notes out loud will greatly help to increase your fluency with the fingerboard.
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Plucking Hand Development
Here's a tip for developing your right hand, or plucking hand speed and strength. Play all of your exercises as you have been, only this time play the exercise in eighth notes as opposed to quarter notes (e.g., one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and instead of one-two-three-four.) When you can do this easily, try it in sixteenth notes (one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a, etc.)
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Reverse Plucking Fingers
When you are practicing the exercises that your teacher gives you (or the exercise you find elsewhere), try this. Start the exercise with the first finger (index) on your right, or plucking hand. Alternate between the index and the second finger as you play the exercise. After you finish, do the exercise again, only this time begin the plucking with the second finger. Alternate the fingers as you did the first time. This will rapidly improve your right-hand technique.
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Start With Scales
Probably the best way to start playing the bass is working through scales. Not only will this help to strengthen your fingers, but also it will give you an idea of what notes are available to you in each key.
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Bass Dexterity Exercise
Here's an exercise for the left hand for Bass players of all levels - that you can do anywhere. You don't even need a bass. To begin, press equally hard thumb against first finger ten times. Press, relax. Press, relax and so on. Now do the same thing against your second finger. Move on to the third finger, and then the fourth. Remember to use only one finger at a time. The purpose here is dexterity, not strength.
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Bass Dexterity Exercise Two
Here's another dexterity exercise for bass players of all levels that you can do anywhere without a bass. Close the fingers of your left hand into a fist, with the palm up and the thumb pointing out and away from the hand. Now raise the first and third finger of the hand - without raising any of the other fingers (this one is really hard to do at first.) After you have brought those fingers back into the fist, raise the second and fourth fingers. This exercise will improve both your dexterity and your concentration, not to mention impressing strangers at bars after you have got it down!
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Improve Your Left Hand Technique
Try this to improve your left-hand technique on the bass guitar. Plant your thumb firmly in the center of the back of the neck. Press your first finger down so that both digits apply equal pressure. Now, for the notes that used to cause you to shift your thumb out of position don't shift. Instead, pivot your thumb and reach up with your finger to get the note. This will help you to stay in position.
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"Popping'' Or ''Slapping''
No-one knows for sure who the first bassist was who "popped" or "slapped" his bass, but credit bringing the popping technique to popular music is generally given to Larry Graham, the bassist for Sly and the Family Stone. According to Graham, it was his experiences in a duo with his mother that had no drummer that led him to develop this percussive style. This makes sense, because when you listen to the rhythms created by a master of this technique, the notes are being played in the same spaces as the kick and the snare.
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''Popping'' And ''Snapping''
"Popping" on the bass guitar involves two strokes occurring in rapid succession. First, the thumb of the right hand strikes down on top of the string close to the end of the fingerboard, the other either the first or second finger of the same hand pulls up on a different string so it 'snaps' back down on to the fingerboard. The thumb is the kick; the snap is the snare. Practice this doing octaves at first, playing eighth notes (one-and, two-and…Thumb-finger, thumb finger…).
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Switch The Beating Of Your Metronome
To work on your timing and your "feel" try this. When you practice your bass with the metronome, begin with setting the tempo so that you hear all four downbeats in the measure. After this becomes comfortable with you, try setting it so that you hear the first and third beat of each measure. This will sound weird to you at first, but stick it out. Then set your metronome so you hear the second and fourth beat in each measure. Now you are starting to swing a bit…
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In-And-Out Technique
There is a right-hand technique the some bass player use when they are after both speed and sensitivity in their playing. This is known as the 'in-and-out' technique. As with all new techniques, begin slowly, speed will come in time. Begin with eighth notes (one-and, two-and…) Take one finger on your right hand and gently play the string that the note is on. Pull your finger 'In' towards your body. On the next beat (the '-and'), strike the same string by pushing your finger 'Out' from your body. Practice will build speed and fluidity.
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Learn To Read Music
Did you hear the joke about two musicians chatting? One asks the other "Can you read music?" The response is "Not enough to hurt my playing…" This attitude is nothing short of nonsensical, and will become a nasty obstacle in your career as a musician. Reading music will free you up in ways that you cannot imagine - especially as a Bass Player. The ability to get a melodic line and interpret harmony and rhythm will help to get your creative juices flowing, not hinder them.
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''Slapping Wood''
There are some bass playing techniques that can only be used on the low E string. These are usually percussive techniques used to draw listeners to the sound of the bass guitar in a specific section of a song. The "Slapping Wood" technique is one of those. To get the slapping wood sound, take your right hand with the fingers extended and slap the bass. Your fingers should strike the low E string at the same time the heel of you hand strikes the body of the bass.
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Use A Metronome
Always practice with a metronome when practicing the bass by yourself. Every day, play all the scales and exercises that your teacher has shown you. In the beginning, set your metronome at the fastest possible speed at which you can hit all of the notes in the exercise cleanly, with no fret buzz or rattles. Turn it up one notch each day. If you find that you hit a point that you can't play cleanly, turn it back a notch and stay there until you are comfortable with it. The important thing here is this: Don't Cheat!
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Build Calluses
Another question that I get is "I don't practice because it hurts my fingers when I press/pluck the strings." Well, aside from that being an excuse rather than a question, it does raise a valid issue for beginners. Playing the bass guitar proficiently takes time, practice, patience - and calluses. callus builds up by repeatedly using (abusing?) a section of flesh on your body to the point where the body builds a layer of flesh that is immune to pain. It hurts in the beginning, but it's a good hurt, the kind of hurt you feel after a good workout. After the first week of daily practice, you won't feel a thing.
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Learn Music Theory
One of a bassist's primary assets is a good knowledge of harmony and music theory. In addition to this, a well-trained ear and good harmonic sense will help you immensely when it comes time for you to solo. That's right, even if you are a rank beginner, the day will come when it's your turn to step up and show off what you've got.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip
Here's a trick to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when you're playing the bass guitar. Steal a page from the upright bass players and don't use your third finger independently when playing scales in lower positions on the neck (close to the nut). Use your fourth finger instead, with the third following suit and landing on the string that you're playing right behind your fourth. This will actually improve your reach.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Two
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Keep a space between the first and second finger on your left hand - don't let the knuckles touch each other. This will help your precision and fluidity in your fingering
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Three
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Keep all of your fingers curved. Work on preventing the second finger from "collapsing." This will help your precision and your speed.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Four
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Use your left-hand thumb as a pivot when going from low strings to high strings (your elbow will move as well.) This will help you to keep your fingers curved, and prevent 'flat fingered string grabbing.'
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Five
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Whenever you can, practice in front of a mirror and watch your hand. (Remember, your watching for left-hand technique, not fingering - although that's important too). This will help you to improve the "Muscle Memory" of your left hand (so you won't have to spend all of your gigs staring down at the neck of your bass).
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Six
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Never remove your hand from the neck when playing an open string, even if the next note is another open string. This way, you will always be prepared for the next passage of notes in the piece that you are playing.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Seven
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Keep your first finger on the string when you're playing a note with your second finger. Not only will this help you to stay in position, but also help to prevent any unwanted fret buzz. Do the same with your third finger when playing notes with your fourth.
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Lock Your Left Wrist
Your left wrist, and how you hold it, is an often overlooked area in bass guitar instruction. Some teachers will advise you to keep your wrist limp. That's fine for them, but I would never advise anyone to be limp-wristed in anything that they do, never mind something like playing bass. Lock your wrist instead. This will give your fingers a firm and stable foundation for playing with conviction. (Hey. I like that. That's what a bass player does, provide a firm and stable foundation.)
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Playing Chords On Bass
Most bass players don't use chords, and this is for a couple of reasons. First: the bass is not known as a chording instrument so not much was written for it in that manner, and second, chords played in the lower register can muddy the sound to the point where the bass sounds out of tune. All that being said, in music today you will hear bass players more and more stepping up and playing simultaneous harmonic intervals (chords) on their bass guitars. Now, this is not sitting around the campfire with a bunch of Fender Precision basses and singing Kumbaya (Ugh! What a picture!) But more of a device to add emphasis and punctuation to a bass part.
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Practice All Modes
When you practice your scales, be sure to include practicing all of the modes. Sooner or later, all session bass players are confronted with a symbol that reads "F# Lydian" or something akin to that. What this means is that you are being asked to improvise a part using the Lydian mode in F#. Therefore, it helps you to know it inside and out.
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Work With The Kick Drum
In rock bands - and for that matter, most of today's popular music, the bass player and the drummer are "joined at the hip." What this means is that these two instruments are responsible for holding the rhythm of the song together, laying the foundation, as it were. Listen to your favorite rock CDs. Listen for the drummer's kick drum. Listen to how the bass player works with the kick. It's almost as if the bassist is adding melodic structure to the strictly rhythm part played by the drums.
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Bass Guitar Strings - How They Are Made
All strings, be they for bass, guitar, even piano strings, for that matter are made of wire. Plain strings are just that, plain wire. Wound strings consist of plain wire at the core of the string with more wire wrapped around the core. Most bass strings are of the wound variety as the degree of thickness required to produce the low frequencies preclude the possibility of using plain wire
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Change Your Strings Regularly
To keep good tone, you will need to change your strings from time to time. They do not last forever, and if you keep them on too long it messes up your sound. Fortunately, you won't have to do this as often as a guitar player will (Most guitarists will change their strings before every performance). Unfortunately, the strings for your bass cost about three times as much as guitar strings. Expect to pay $20 to $35 for each new set of strings.
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Free Bass Guitar Strings
Many times the strings on a new or used bass guitar are not the best. In either case, they probably have been played quite a bit and have long since lost all of their brightness and tone. Ask the salesperson to throw in a new set of strings should you decide to purchase the guitar. As many of the salespeople will be eager for the sale, they will gladly accede to your request. The worst that will happen is they will smile and say no. No harm, no foul.
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About Flat Round Bass Strings
When the wire wrapped around the plain wire at the core of the bass guitar string is a flat ribbon of steel or nickel, the string is referred to as a Flat-wound string. Flat-wound strings are a throwback to the days when all basses were of the stand-up variety. Flat-wounds give you the mellow. Round "thump" of a stand-up bass. They also prevent any string noise, as they will be 'friction-less' to the fingers of your left hand. flat-wound will last a good deal longer than round-wounds. The downside is that strings of this variety can sound "lifeless" when compared to their round-wound cousins.
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About Half-Round Bass Strings
There is another alternative to the flat-wound and the round-wound strings. These are called half-rounds, or ground-wounds. Again, the principle of the string is the same, a plain wire at the core surrounded by another wire wrapped around it. The difference lies in the fact that the wire that is wrapped around to core has been either ground down until the surface that your fingers meet is flat, or the wire was split down the middle before it was wrapped around the core, producing the same result. The advantage that these strings offer is the sound of the round-wounds (bright and crisp) with the benefits of the flat-wounds (reduced string noise and easier on the frets.)
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About Round-Wound Bass Strings
Round Wound Bass Strings. When the wire wrapped around the plain wire at the core of the bass guitar string is round, the string is referred to as a round-wound string. Round-wound strings are used today by most rock and blues players for their punchy, crisp attack of the string. One downside to round-wounds is that they will wear out your frets faster. There is also considerable "string noise" produced when your fingers run up and down the neck.
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Use Round Wound Strings For Funk
There are a wide variety of strings for bass guitars available on the market today. The type of music that you play (or want to start playing, if you are a beginner) will dictate the type of string you should use. For example, if you want to play string-poppin' funk, you should try a set of round wound strings on your bass. Round wounds have a brighter, crisper sound. If your dream is to play smooth and mellow jazz, try a set of flat-wound strings.
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Bass Soloing Tip
Here's a tip for soloing on the bass guitar. You practice scales to get your ear and fingers accustomed to the way they sound - but, playing nothing but scales in your solos will sound trite and contrived, no matter haw fast you play them. Remember that a scale is just a group of note that will sound a certain way over specific chords. Although the best improvisers use scales in their solos, they will vary both the scale and the mode so it doesn't sound mechanical.
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Buy A Good Bass Tuner
When starting out on the bass guitar there are a couple if accessories that you should invest in right from the start. One is an electronic tuner. When you're a beginner, trying to tune your bass guitar by ear can often times be an exercise in frustration. An electronic tuner will eliminate all of the guesswork. Expect to pay anywhere between $25 to $100 for a decent tuner.
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Buy Your Amp With Your Bass
Bearing the fact in mind that an electric bass is half of the gear necessary to begin playing, a good time to start looking for your amp is when you are shopping for your bass guitar. If you purchase both at the same time, there is a good chance of getting some money knocked of the price of both.
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Buy A Metronome
When starting out on the bass guitar there are a couple if accessories that you should invest in right from the start. One is a metronome. As a bass player, you are a member of the rhythm section, and as such, are an official 'keeper of the time.' Working on and building a good sense of timing early on in your career will help you immensely. Expect to pay anywhere between $15 and $80 for a decent metronome.
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Orgin Of The Precision Bass Name
Ever wonder where Leo Fender got the name "Precision" for his bass? In 1951, Leo modeled his first attempt at building an instrument to operate in the frequency range of a string bass. He modeled his new instrument on the guitar, because that's what he knew. He didn't invent the bass guitar, but he was the first to give it frets, thus making it possible to play bass with more perfect intonation, or greater 'Precision.' Thus the name and the rest is history…
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Research Your Bass Purchase
When looking for your first bass guitar, do a lot of research. Read magazines, read books, go to a lot of music stores. Not all music stores carry the same models, and those that do have the same models will often have different pricing. Be sure to read the reviews at Harmony-Central.com to get feedback from actual owners of the products you are interested in. Shop around until you find the best deal possible
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See Great Bass Players Live
It will be important for you not to limit yourself to listening to bass players that you wish to emulate. It will be important for you to go and see them as well. Every time I go to a show, be it nightclub or concert I always walk away with one new lick or concept that I didn't have before I saw the person.
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Always Bring Your Gear
At the beginning of a session, always ask the engineer where he/she wants you to set up your gear. You may be asked to set up in the control room. This usually means that you don't need your bass amp, as you will be overdubbing a part, with the other tracks already recorded. Still, always have your gear with you, because you never know idea may strike the artist or the engineer. It's always better to be prepared for any eventuality.
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Name Brand Bass Guitars
If you are a beginner to the bass, the first thing that you will need to do is to get yourself a bass buitar. OK, well that's obvious, but here's something for you to consider. Always buy a name brand instrument. The reason for this is twofold: first, the name brand instruments will generally play and sound better than the knock-offs. Second, you will maintain a higher resale value when it comes time for you to upgrade.
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Start With Demo Sessions
If you are a bass player looking to break into studio work, start by looking for demo session work. Demo recording sessions are usually a good deal less formal, and will often take place in someone's home. Not only will this be a good introduction to the world of session recording for you, but often times the contacts you make can lead to touring opportunities and more.
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Use Discretion
There will be occasions when you hear the perfect bass part in your head and you know unequivocally that your idea will make the recording a hit and you are struggling to contain yourself. This is where discretion comes into the picture. You will need to gauge the situation and ask yourself if the person who hired you will be receptive to your ideas.
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Don't Argue
Sometimes the engineer or artist won't like what you've played on the bass and ask you to play something else. When this happens (and believe me - it will happen) it does you no good whatsoever to defend the part or idea that you just played. People who hire musicians for sessions want players who are easy to work with, and who have no problem being told that their part isn't working. Bear in mind that the person who hired you will quite possibly hire you again, so suck it up, get over it, and move on. Copping an attitude on a session is a good way to get your phone to stop ringing.
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Why It Is Important To Sight Read
Why is it so important for bassists to sight-read? You have to be ready for the changes in the charts when they come - and they will come. Rarely is the producer/artist satisfied with the first go, and while you may begin the session with a fresh chart, by the end of the session it will be covered with notes (the kind you write to remind yourself of changes to the arrangement.) Many times it will be another session player who leans over, scribbles something and says, "try this." Again, if you can't read, you're outta luck…
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Make Your Own Charts
Before the session on which you have been hired to play bass begins, the artist or producer will pass out charts. Sometimes they will have a demo of the song recorded and they will expect you to learn the song from the demo. Still, it will be important for you to make your own chart. This way you will be able to keep track of any and all changes, rather than relying on memory.
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Play What You Are Told To Play
When you are in a session always remember this: you are hired to play exactly what the producer or artist hired you to play, nothing more, nothing less. Even if you are the greatest bass player in the world, your ideas are not usually welcome. The only exceptions to this rule are when you are hired because of your ideas. When this happens you will be told the reason for your hire. Until you are asked, keep your ideas to yourself.
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Be Prepared To Play A Piece Again And Again
Some producers and artists will expect to complete a song in a couple of hours. Some will take all day. Your job as a session bassist is to learn your part quickly and play it perfectly every time you're asked to play it. Sometimes the producer/artist will be happy with the first take. Others won't be happy until the 50th take. Be prepared to deliver a winning part over and over again until the person who hired you is happy.
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Best Bass Volume for Recording Sessions
When the engineer of a session that you've been hired to play bass on asks you to play, it's not because he/she is in awe of your chops and want to get their mind blown. It's because they want to set a level on the board. Therefore, it behooves you and them to play in the style of the part that you are being asked to lay down. Always set the volume on your instrument wide open, as this will generally give you the best sound on your bass (the exception being if you have an active pre-amp in your bass.). Once the levels have been set, don't touch the volume! If you do, the engineer will have to reset the levels, and at worst have to re-record the track.
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Learn How To Sight Read
Many of us bassists dream of becoming a session player, phone constantly ringing because we're in such great demand. However, the reality is that very few of us ever reach this coveted status and position. While there will always be intangibles that you cannot foresee (such as Barry Gordy walks in to the club on the night that you're sick - and he hires your replacement instead) there are things you can do to be ready when opportunity knocks. Tip number one: learn how to sight-read. Some producers will want you to come up with your own part, by and large; most producers will have a part written out for you. If you can't read it, you're S.O.L. no matter how good your chops are.
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About Bass Practice Amps
When you are considering playing the bass, remember that the bass is only half of what you will need to start playing. You will need an amp as well. Here's a tip for you: don't start with the "Big Rigs." Start instead with a small practice amp. This will serve you in good stead as you learn your instrument. When you decide it's time to graduate to a full blown bass rig, keep the practice amp. As your career develops, you will find that you will always need it.
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Learn Bass From a Bass Player
The bass guitar is quite possibly the easiest instrument to learn in the world. Many of you reading this were able to get a good sound out of the electric bass a minute or two after you picked it up. This is probably what caused 90% of the bass players in this world to describe themselves as "Self Taught." Now this is fine, but the problem is, no matter what the level of success they may enjoy is, the vast majority are cut off from the full potential of the instrument. If you want to start, start - but start at the beginning. Start with a real bassist as your teacher, not a guitarist who claims to "double" on the bass. This will help you to develop proper technique right from the beginning.
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Importance Of Scales for Bass Players
Playing scales when you begin to play the bass will help you to avoid certain 'Bad Habits.' For example, many guitar players who switch to bass because of the greater demand for bass players will play bass lines going up the neck, rather than going across the neck. This is probably due to the shorter scale on the guitar neck, but in any case, it's still a bad habit.
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About Bass Guitar Cases
Many stores will try to sell you a hard-shell bass guitar case. As bass guitars are long and somewhat unwieldy instruments and as the hard-shell case makes it even more difficult to handle, aim for the padded gig bag instead. Gig bags are about half the price of a hard-shell case, and offer all the protection most people need.
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Checking Your Bass Before Purchase
When you are beginning the Bass, a common question is "I know I have to anchor the thumb of my left hand. My question is, where do I put it?" Here's the answer: for playing the Low E string, rest the thumb of the left hand on the edge of the pickup. For playing the A string, rest the thumb on the E string. For playing the D string, rest the thumb on the A string, and for playing the G string, rest the thumb on the D string.
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Warp In The Neck Of Your Bass
When shopping for a Bass guitar, always sight down the edges of the fretboard. What you're looking for is a warp in the neck. Most warps can be easily rectified with a simple truss-rod adjustment. If you spot one like this in a store, ask the salesperson to do the adjustment for you. He/she should be able to do it for you on a matter of minutes. If he/she can't, shop somewhere else, because this store doesn't train its people properly.
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How to Use Picks to Play Bass
Some bass guitar players, especially rock music bass players, will want to use a pick. This is fine as it gives the bass a percussive, sharp edged attack that's called for in some rock music. If you are going to use a pick because that's your musical style/taste, start by learning to use a pick in alternating strokes, down-up-down-up etc. Playing all down-strokes will rapidly lose its appeal as your right arm begins to tire…
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Play Scales With Your Fingers
Developing the right hand for beginning bass players is of the utmost importance. Far too many beginning bass players will use their thumb to pick the strings rather than their fingers. Eventually this technique will fail you, as it soon becomes impossible to keep up with a rapid series of notes. As sooner or later you will have to play with your fingers, it's always better to do it right from the beginning, when you first pick up the bass.
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How To Buy a Starter Bass Worth Upgrading
One of the things you can do to save some money at the beginning is to buy a name brand instrument towards the lower end of the product line. Most of the time, manufacturers who have built up significant brand equity on a particular model they make, will seek to maximize on that equity by making basses with the same name and the same look and feel manufactured overseas. Buy one of these for a starter. Then when you 'get good', replace the electronics on the Bass with name brand pick-ups, good potentiometers, etc. The result will be a Bass guitar that plays and now sounds like its more expensive brother.
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Band Etiquette: Help With The PA
If you are good enough to get into a band that is getting steady work, be prepared to help with setting up and breaking down the P.A. Some bands have a crew to transport and set up much of the gear for them, but most of the time this work is done by the band members. If the band you're in has a stage crew, there may be an opportunity to earn some extra money by adding this duty to your roster.
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Jazz Solo Protocol
When you're doing a jazz gig, there is a protocol to the order of the soloing. While there are many possible solo order combinations, the default hierarchy is horns, piano (and other 'comping' instruments such as guitar, bass, and drums). However, drums are not always last, and bass and drums do not necessarily solo on every song.
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Substitute Bassist
Once you have been playing for a while and you have established a reputation as a reliable bass player with a modicum of chops, expect the odd call to "Sub in" for a bass player who is sick or otherwise unavailable. In this kind of a gig, you may be asked to read from the book of their tunes. At the same time it will be important for you to lock in with the drummer, maintain eye contact with the leader, and play at an appropriate volume.
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Ear Training And Playing By Ear
All of us working musicians are conversant with "Faking" our way through an unfamiliar song that a Bandleader has suddenly called out. The worst is when an audience member comes up to the stage requests a song, flashes a hundred dollar bill, and then walks away because only the guitar player knows it. The solution is all the work that you put into your ear training. As one great Bass player once quipped "Bassists don't get paid to play fast - they get paid to hear fast!"
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Using A Pitchpipe for Ear Training
Here's a tip for all bassists doing their ear training. Buy a pitchpipe (cheap, around 6-8 bucks at any music store) and carry it with you at all times. Now, when you listen to the radio, guess what key a song is in. Check your guess on the pitchpipe. From time to time throughout your day, sing an A. Check yourself on your pitchpipe. What you are doing is developing a sense of perfect pitch.
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Sing Intervals, Modes & Arpeggios
Once you're comfortable with singing all the intervals, modes, and arpeggios with your Bass, try singing them all without it. Get your starting pitch from your bass or whatever instrument you have available to you at the time and sing your exercises using the solfege syllables. Practice this a lot - this is an essential part of your musical development.
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Singing Chromatic Scales
Everyone knows the familiar Do-Re-Mi syllables used to represent a major scale (these are the actual solfege syllables - not everyone knows that.) But - what do you do when you need to sing a chromatic scale, a scale that includes all of the diatonic intervals? Take a page from the solfege experts and sing this: Do-Di-Ray-Ri-Mi-Fa-Fi-Sol-Si-La-Li-Ti-Do. Like to see Julie Andrews take a crack at this, hey?!
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Use Ear Training Software
Back when I was coming up as a musician, I used to have to sit by the turntable of my stereo and skip the record back a groove, listening closely to get the part. I didn't know it at the time, but what I was doing was ear training. Nowadays, you don't have to do anything like this (even if you still had a turntable.) There is ear training software available for most computers, and it's not very expensive. This is a worthwhile investment for any serious musician.
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Take The Faking Challenge
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Don't back down from the challenge of using your ears. You will get a lot more work from the reputation of being able to play anything that gets thrown at you than you will from all the best gear in the world.
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How To "Fake" A Song
Here's a short list of things you can do to prepare yourself for the day when you will be called upon to "Fake" your way through an unfamiliar song on the Bass. 1) Study the rules of harmony. 2) Train your ears to recognize intervals. 3) Study chords. 4) Practice melody/harmony relationship drills. 5) Develop your sense of relative pitch. 6) Pray to the Deity of your choice…
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Faking A Song
Here's another tip about "Faking" your way through a song. There are three critical components working in your favor here, your ears, your trust, and your common sense. Your ears refers to all the training hours that you put in to developing your abilities to listen: your trust refers to your trust in yourself and your abilities; and your common sense refers to your abilities to employ your knowledge of theory and harmonic structure in ways that make sense.
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Listen To The Melody While Faking
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Listen carefully to the melody. You'll pick it up quickly because of all the work you have done on ear training. However, the caveat here is while you're listening to the melody, be sure to pay attention to everything else.
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Stay Calm While Faking
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Stay calm. I know it sounds trite, but like most hackney sayings, it's trite because it's true. When you're calm you'll hear better, and consequentially, play better.
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Watch The Guitar Player's Left Hand
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Watch the guitar players left hand if at all possible. This way you'll be able to see the chord progressions
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Build A Chart In Your Head
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Try to construct a chart in your head as you play the song. At the next break, grab a napkin and write down what you thought you heard. Be sure to get the name of the song from the leader, as chances are you will be asked to play it again at some point in your career.
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Keep Your Eyes Open
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Always keep your eyes open as well as your ears. Someone may signal a break in the song, and you don't want to be taking a sudden solo…
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Listen To Your Own Part
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Listen closely to what you are playing as well as to what everybody else is playing. If what you're playing sounds wrong, don't play it. If it sounds right, do it again.
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Remember The A Section
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. Try to remember what you have learned since the song began, retain what you gain. In other words, remember the A section, because you'll have to play it again.
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Skip The Bad Parts
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. If a specific spot is giving you trouble, remember where it is. The next time it comes around, try something else.
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Watch The Drummer
Here's a tip to help you when the day comes - and it will come - that you have to fake your way through a song. If you get lost in the form, watch the drummer. A good drummer will set up each new section with a fill, generally small fills for the A section, a large fill for the bridge, and something very noticeable for the top if the form.
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Groove Versus Timing
A sense of time and a sense of groove are very closely linked, but they're not the same things at all. A good sense of timing is required to create a good groove, but some great grooves are not in perfect time. It's a Zen thing…
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Hum The Melody First
As beginning Bass players, most of the intervals that we need to concern ourselves with will be sequential, rather than simultaneous. In interval is the space between two notes. As we need to hear individual notes before we can hear and figure out complex harmonies, a good place for you to begin is humming the melodies of songs that you know and like. Then figure out these melodies on your bass.
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Musical Intervals Explained
Here's the skinny on musical intervals. There are 7 notes in any scale (8 if you include the octave.) For the sake of reference, the first note of the scale in any particular key is always called the "1", or the root. For example, in the key of A, the root note is A. Likewise for C, and so on. Count up 4 letters from A to a D. That's the 4. E is the 5. This is where the term 1-4-5 progression comes from.
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Involve Your Body
Here's a tip for Bass players of all levels: get your body involved in your music. Try this when you practice with your metronome. Set your metronome to about 40 BPM (Beats Per Minute) and start playing a Bass line that you know in 4/4 time. Stomp your right heel on beats 1 and 3, while stomping your left heel on beats 2 and 4. Shift your weight back and forth. Feel the rhythm and the pulse. Remember this when you are feeling embarrassed as you practice moving your body when you play the bass guitar. First: you are practicing. You are alone. Nobody can see you. Relax and let the music move you. Close your eyes, listen, feel, and play.
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What Customers Expect from Working Bands
If you get into a band that is getting regular work, be prepared to work you butt off. An expectation of bands of this ilk is a pleasant and courteous demeanor at all times, on stage and off. They expect you to avoid the temptation to "noodle" on your ax between songs, to follow seamless segues between widely disparate songs (e.g. Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" to the B-52's "Love Shack") and the ability to instantly respond to audience requests.
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Bass Left Hand Workout
Here's a serious workout exercise for the bass player´s left hand. While this is designed for beginning bass students, it will work for the more experienced players as well. Fret the third fret of the low E string with your third finger. Then fret the fourth fret of the same string with your fourth finger. Now move to the third fret of the A with your third finger, followed by the fourth fret with the fourth finger. Keep going across the strings until you reach the top string. Once there, reverse the order of the drill and do it backwards. This is a very good exercise for strengthening the two weakest fingers on your left hand, the third and fourth.
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Bass Thumb Technique
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, remember this tip. The force required to fret the string comes from your fingers, not from your thumb. Your thumb acts as an anchor and a pivot, not as a means to "choke" the neck of your bass.
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Where To Pluck Bass Strings
When developing a solid right hand technique for playing the bass guitar, always strive to pluck the strings close to the bridge. Rest your thumb on the pickup. If your bass has two pickups, choose the one closer to the bridge for your thumb-rest.
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Be Ready For Your Bass Teacher
To all you bass players out there who have purchased a bass and are waiting to find a teacher: don't wait to start playing your bass. Pick it up and start fooling around with it. Make some discoveries on your own. Buy a book, learn some exercises, and practice, practice, practice. Remember the old Zen saying "when the student is ready the teacher will appear."
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Become A Songwriter
Here's a tip for bass players who have been playing the bass for a while. Write as much original music as possible, as often as possible. You don't have to write complete sonatas, you don't have to write complete pop songs, you don't even have to "write" in the technical sense of the word. All you need to do is take what you hear in your head and play it. Record it so you remember it. You never know where a lick or a line that you came up with will lead you.
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Bass Guitar Practice Tip: Divide Your Practice Time
Divide your bass guitar practice time so that you work on many different facets of music. Devote a certain amount to technique, devote a certain amount to theory, and devote a certain amount to fooling around on your instrument. Never lose sight of the fact that music is creative, so no matter what level you are at (or what level you think you are at) be creative!
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Fit Rhythmically
As bass players are a vital component of any rhythm section, we as bass players must remember that while it is important that our parts fit harmonically, it is equally as important that our parts fit rhythmically. Look at it this way, it's not just what you play in terms of the notes that you choose, it's when you choose to play them.
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How To Listen To Yourself Play
Record yourself every time you play your Bass, especially when you practice. The quality of the recording isn't important at all, as your listening for your technique. Listen for excessive string noise, fret buzz, etc.
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How To Position Your Bass
To find the best position for you to play the bass guitar without causing health problems in the future, do this. Stand with your head up and shoulders square, but relaxed, arms at your sides. Extend your right hand out in front of you, a little below shoulder height, hand hanging down, relaxed. Bend your left elbow so that the left hand comes up into playing position. Now bring your right elbow in towards your body, keeping the right hand relaxed and hanging down as you do so. This is the most tension free position, so adjust your strap so that the bass hangs at this height.
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Proper Bass Guitar Positioning
Proper positioning of the Bass Guitar on your body is important for many reasons, including ergonomic and basic technique. Many young bassists will try to "cop the attitude" of the bass players that they see on MTV, with the bass hanging down well past their knees. The problem with this is that with the bass slung so low, the strain the wrist of the left, or fingering hand is extreme. The degree of bend in the wrist now required to fret a note will cause severe health problems down the road, such as Tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
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Don't Be A Bass Geek
Another bad position for playing the Bass is the "Neo-Fusion Geek" position. OK, you will not find that title in the official bass style dictionaries, but it fits. These are the guys who wear the bass so high up on their body that their right wrist is at the same level as their collarbone. While this position grants the left hand easy access to the upper frets for soloing, the right wrist is forced into an extreme, unnatural angle. Again, this can lead to career ending health problems down the road.
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How To Adjust Your Bass Strap
Here's a tip for beginners who are also in a band or performing in some way. If you sit down when you practice (and most of us do) take note of where the bass is in your body. Now, when you put the strap on and stand up, make sure you adjust your strap so it holds the guitar at the same point as it did when you were sitting.
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Learn From Yourself
Here's a tip that will sound a bit strange, but it's valid for the bassist just starting out to the crafty veteran of countless gigs. Learn from yourself. Look at it this way: while it's good - even vital - to have another person to show you the way, nothing gets learned until you have brought it inside yourself, internalized it, passed it through your own set of filters, as it were. What I'm saying here is this; don't stop with what you've been shown. Mess with it. Play with it. Keep what's good and discard what's not. Essentially, that's what music is all about.
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Play Fast, Count Slow
One of the things that we can do as bass players to keep ourselves "Grounded in the Groove", as it were is to subscribe to the old bass payers maxim "play fast, count slow." What this means is when you have a passage of 16th note triplets that runs for 8 bars, don't count the 8th notes. Tap your foot on the 2 and 4 of each bar instead. This will prevent you from "rushing" the passage.
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Set A Challenge Each Day
Here's a tip for bass players of all levels, but especially for beginners. Force yourself to improve a little bit every day. This sounds hard, but it isn't. If you can do one thing a little better every day, be it sight reading a measure further in the Bach piece you are working on or setting your metronome one click higher, then you're improving.
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Write And Transcribe Bass Parts
Here's a tip for all bass players. In the section of your practice time that you devote to ear training, practice combining writing and transcribing at the same time. This sounds hard, but it really can be a simple as learning a part by ear from one of your CDs, memorizing it, and then asking yourself what you would have come up with were you the bassist in that particular session. Write it down, record it, memorize it, what ever way is comfortable for you not to forget it. This will help you greatly over the long run in terms of understanding the role that your instrument plays.
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Country Bass Tip
One of the most overlooked instruments in country music today is the bass. In fact many times the only way the bass becomes conspicuous in this style of music is by its absence. While flashy chops and articulate soloing abilities aren't important in this style, a rock-solid knowledge of harmony and theory are essential. Remember this: in country music, it's not the groove so much as it's the song that's king.
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Country Bass Tip Two
Here's a hard and fast rule for playing country bass guitar. Keep it simple. If you are the bass player in a country band, or if you want to start or get into a country band, remember this old country bass player's maxim "think of the simplest part you can play. Then play half of that."
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Dropped D Tuning Made Easy
For those of you who are interested in being able to get into and out of a "dropped D" tuning at the flick of a switch, there is a device on the market today that will do exactly that. This is called the "Hipshot Xtender." It mounts right on your bass guitar, installing where the low E string tuner is. It's not very expensive, and it's really convenient - if you play a lot of songs that require the Dropped D.
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Dropped D Tuning Tip
When you're playing in a Dropped D tuning, you will notice the fatter, heavier sound due to the decrease in tension on the low E string. You will also notice a radical difference in the feel of the string to your right, or plucking hand. It will feel more "floppy" or "Spongy", and your right hand technique should adjust accordingly. Don't worry it about this at first. As you practice with this new tuning, your hand will automatically adjust.
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Hard Rock Tip
One common technique in the harder rock of yore, as well as some rock music today, is the pedal technique (no, I'm not talking about some stompbox.) A pedal is a note that's played as the chords change around it. Usually, but not always, the pedal tone is the dominant or tonic of the key in which the song is played.
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Identifying Musical Scales
It's a common thing for a new bass player to hear a "Killer Riff" that he or she thinks that they simply cannot play. Here's a fact that will help you out. Most Rock 'n Roll riffs consist of notes from a few basic scales - and if you can find the scale that the riff in question belongs to, you are well on your way to cop any riff. Remember, the "I'm not good enough to play that" excuse is exactly that - an excuse.
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Minor Pentatonic Scale
In the Fifties, with Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley and the like dominating the world of Rock, most Bass players played parts utilizing the Minor Pentatonic Scale. The Pentatonic is simply a minor scale that has been trimmed down from the regular seven notes in a scale (eight if you include the octave) to five notes (thus the 'Pent' or five in the prefix). These notes are the 1st, the flat 3rd, the 4th, 5th, and flat 7th of the key in which you are playing.
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Playing Tough
Here's something that you can do when the guitar player in your band asks you for a tougher, meaner sounding bass part. Instead of deleting the natural third and seventh from the scale you are playing to create your part, flat them both. Now, now matter what chords the guitar player comes up with, the overall sound of the band will give you an implied dominant seventh - which sounds as tough as nails.
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Rock Bass Tip 1
Rock bass playing consists of a good deal more than just pounding out eighth notes on the root of the chord. In fact, if becoming a rock bassist is the goal for those of you just starting out, you will need just as much theory as the jazz player just starting out. Like anything else in music, the fuller the understanding and comprehension of the underlying concepts of the instrument and the fundamentals of the music that you will be playing, the better you will be.
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Rock Bass Tip 2
Here's a tip for all you rock bass players out there. When asked to write or come up with a bass part to go under the guitarist's crashing power chords, play a minor scale - even when the chords are major. The notes you should always avoid playing are the major third and major seventh scale tones. They are just too sweet for Rock 'n Roll…
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Rock Bass Tip 3
Another trick that today's rock bass players utilize is the "dropped D" tuning. To get the dropped D tuning is easy. Simply tune your lowest E string down one whole step to a D. Automatically you will hear a much fatter and heavier sound, as the decreased tension on the string will cause it to vibrate more slowly. One caveat: remember to tune it back up when you have finished the song that required you to drop the E to a D. Otherwise, you'll be frantically re-working the fingering for the parts to the subsequent songs in the set.
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Sing It To Play It
Rhythm comes form an internal place. We all have an innate sense of rhythm, provided we have a pulse and a heartbeat. The easiest way to access this internal sense of rhythm is to tap your foot and sing. Sing to the radio, sing in the shower, sing everywhere you can and not drive people crazy. It doesn't matter if you can't carry a tune, what matters is that you sing the notes when they're supposed to occur, not so much where they're supposed to occur. Remember the old Jazz player's maxim "If you can't sing it, you can't play it."
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Study Solfege
Here's a tip for all aspiring bass players. Go to your local bookstore/music store and buy a book on Solfege. Solfege is an old technique based on Classical Indian Music. It arose as a means of teaching young Tabla players how to internalize their own internal "clock," as it were. Solfege is a technique using syllables that are spoken to help a student learn to internalize rhythms. The syllables ba-ch-da-ba-ch-da-ba-ch-da-ba-ch-da are an example of one bar of 16th note triplets.
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Use Your Ear
Remember this tip - especially for beginners. The more you try to cop riffs and parts - without the aid of music or tablature - the better your ear will get. Exercise like this is invaluable ear training. If you have trouble hearing the parts, find yourself a teacher who specializes in ear training. This is a skill that can be acquired.
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Create Mnemonic Tags
It will help you greatly to create a list of mnemonic "Tags" (for lack of a better term) to help you to remember some common intervals. For example the opening two notes of "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" is a major third. The first three notes are a major triad. The opening two notes of "Here Comes the Bride" are a perfect 4th. The opening two notes of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" are a perfect 5th. The opening two notes of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" are a perfect 6th. While these examples are a little bit corny, they are easy to remember, and that's the point.
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Developing Perfect Pitch
While it is indisputably true that some people seem to be born with "magical ears", or perfect pitch, this is actually a skill that can be acquired like any other. Developing your ear will help you in terms of finding pitch, figuring out intervals, identifying chord structures and hearing the rhythmic structure of a song. For bassists, all of these skills are indispensable.
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Diatonic Scale Explained
While there are 8 notes in a major scale, there are actually 12 tones, or "steps" within that scale. This is known as a Diatonic scale. Look at it this way: there are 12 half steps that comprise the 8 notes of any major scale. Some of the best ear training that you can do is to start singing all of the 12 half steps.
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A Good First Bass Amp
If you are just starting out, look for an amplifier in the 50 to 75 Watt range. (A Watt is a unit of power, and it translates to how much volume you'll be able to get out of it.) Look for a fifteen inch speaker in the amp (this is known as a Combo amp, speaker and amp combined into one unit). A fifteen-inch speaker is able to faithfully reproduce all the low frequencies produced by a gass guitar. An amp like this should be easily transported, and will serve you well for practicing and playing small gigs.
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Be Self Critical
When you practice your bass guitar, it will be important for you (and sometimes your teacher) to be as critical as you can be of all your techniques. Look for proper fingering, plucking, timing, excess finger noise, fret buzz - all aspects of your technique. This is the time to be self critical, never when you're in front of an audience.
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Begin Playing Fingerstyle
Start off with a bass guitar teacher who is going to teach you how to play fingerstyle (I'm talking about right-hand technique for the bass, not acoustic guitar here) as opposed to one who proposes to teach you how to play with a pick. In my experience, it is always easier for a fingerstyle player to learn to play with a pick than it is for a pick-style player to learn to play with his fingers.
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Why To Get A Bass Teacher
If you have some innate musical ability (and most of us do) you can figure out quite a bit without any help if you're picking up the bass guitar for the first time. However, this can lead to big problems down the road. Playing simple parts on the bass is exactly that, simple - but then again, playing difficult parts on the bass is really hard. That is why you need to get a bass teacher - as soon as possible. Find yourself a teacher and avoid having to un-learn all the bad habits that we inevitably create when we try to take short cuts…
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Have Fun
Here's a critical tip in regard to practicing the bass guitar. Have fun! Music is fun, and you didn't pick up the bass so you could get some more work, now did you. Play songs that you like. Find a teacher willing to teach you songs that you dig. Put a CD on and jam with it. You will be having a ball, and the best part is you will be learning and getting better on your instrument.
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Join A Band
One of the best things that you can do as a beginner looking to improve your chops is to join/start a band. As you learn the bass parts of the songs necessary for the playlist, your ear training gets better. As you work with other musicians, no matter what level or degree of proficiency they're at, your chops will improve. Call it osmosis, all it immersion call it what you will, it just happens. You get better as a part of something that is larger than you.
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Keep Your Fingers Close To The Strings
Correct Bass Finger Position. Remember this when you practice your bass guitar: an important element of speed is economy of motion. If your fingers are flying off the neck, slow down and work at playing that particular passage with your fingers close to the strings. Likewise with your plucking hand.
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Look For Ideas Everywhere
Even if you are taking lessons from a really good bass guitar instructor, don't be afraid to strike out on your own. Look for ideas everywhere. Don't limit your self to bass lines. If there is a particular song you like, learn the melody and play it on your bass. Try to work out a harmony to the melody, and again, play it on the bass. Show your teacher what you've done. He or she will be impressed with your initiative.
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Play Every Day
When you're starting out, play every day - even if you don't work at practicing at the time. Just play. The reason is, the bass guitar is a physical instrument, and they're are hand muscles, wrist muscles, shoulder muscles etc. that will get a workout when playing the Bass.
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Practice Bass Slowly And Perfectly
When you first start to play and practice your bass guitar, no matter what you're practicing or playing, work at playing it the best that you can. Playing the piece fast and sloppy will not help you at all in the long run; playing it slow and precisely is invaluable. Start slow. Use your metronome. Speed will come in time.
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Set A Bass Practice Schedule
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, there simply is no substitute for practicing. Set a schedule and stick to it. Play un-amplified if you have to but play - every day. What you play in the beginning isn't anywhere near as important as the fact that you do play, every day. Owning the best gear in the world will not make you a better player. Dreaming of the day when you make it as a rock star will not make you a better player. Practicing will.
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Study Music Theory
After you have been playing bass guitar for a while, you may want to ask your instructor (or find a new instructor) who is willing and ability to begin teaching you some fundamentals of music theory and improvisation. Mastering theory fundamentals will enable you to progress quickly; instead of learning one song a week at your lessons, you'll be able to pick up five more by yourself at home.
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Trust Your Bass Teacher
As you practice what your bass guitar teacher has shown you, or the piece that he or she has you working on, try to keep an open mind. You may not like or enjoy the piece, but if your instructor is good enough for you to respect, than their good enough for you to trust that they know what they're doing. Many difficult pieces are assigned not because they sound good, but because they require or emphasize a technique that you either need to know or are in the process of learning.
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Use The Left Hand Finger Tips
When you play your bass guitar, always try to play the stings on the fingertips of your left hand. To do this, you will have to arch your fingers and keep your palm off the back of the neck. Planting your thumb firmly in the center of the neck will help you to acquire this technique.
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Why To Use A Tuning Fork
For outright beginners, it may be valuable for them to purchase a tuning fork or a pitch-pipe as well as a tuner. The reason is, while an electronic tuner will get you into perfect tune every time, it does all the work for you, robbing you of the opportunity to work on developing your sense of relative pitch. As there will be times that you will want to tune either up or down in order to play along with/ figure out parts from your favorite CDs, you might as well start from the beginning. Learn how to tune your Bass by ear and use the tuner to check your results.
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Alternate Plucking Fingers
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, it will be important for you to developing the dexterity of your right, or plucking hand. Do this by always alternating between your index and second finger when you practice.
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Always Be Musical
Here's a tip for bass players who are just starting out (and even for some experienced players who have lost the forest for the trees). Don't get too bogged down in the technical aspects of the instrument. While good technique is desirable as a solid foundation on which to build, don't lose sight of the fact that you are learning to make music, not play really fast exercises.
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Bass Arpeggios
When you are a beginning bass player learning scales, you will soon come across the term "Arpeggio." Arpeggios are different from scale in that an arpeggio doesn't contain all of the notes in a scale. Instead, and arpeggio represents the notes of a chord that are not played simultaneously, instead they are played individually. As many bass parts actually consist of arpeggios, it will behoove you to learn these.
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Bass Guitar Exercise
Here's a good, if somewhat non-melodic exercise for beginning bass guitar players. Start with your fist finger on the first fret of the low E string and pluck the note with the first finger of your plucking hand. Now, without releasing the first finger, place the second finger on the second fret of the same string. Pluck this note with the second finger of the plucking hand. Next, place your third finger on the third fret of the same string and pluck it with the first finger of the plucking hand. Last, place your fourth finger on the fourth fret and pluck this not with your first finger of the plucking hand. When this is done, place the first finger on the second fret of the low E string and repeat the entire exercise. Do this all the way up to the twelfth fret. At this point, reverse the exercise and play it backwards. Do this on all four strings.
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Bass Speed And Endurance Tip
When working on your right hand speed and endurance exercises, remember this tip. Always start slowly. Speed and strength come as a result of assiduously doing these exercises. The secret is in relaxing the wrist and forearm of the plucking hand. When you tense up and try to "dig in," you will feel your chops rapidly start to fade. Start slowly and play for as long as you comfortably can. As your endurance increases, speed up the tempo on your metronome.
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Bass Transposition Tip
Here's a tip for all beginning bass players. Learning a scale in all the keys there are is easy. Once you have mastered the fingering for any scale there is, you automatically know it on every key. The fingering doesn't change. The position of your hand on the fingerboard does. All you need to do is start the scale on a different note and follow your fingering.
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Be Patient
When you are first starting out on the bass guitar, remember to go slowly and be patient with yourself. Learning an instrument is a cumulative process, and you can't master new skills and techniques if you haven't mastered the old.
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Daily Bass Practice Regimen
When first starting out on the bass guitar, ask your teacher for a daily regimen of what you should be practicing. This will ensure that the goals you set for yourself will be met, as well as making sure that you are adequately prepared for each week's lesson.
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Where To Practice Bass
Practice the bass everywhere you are. Sing the bass parts to songs on the radio in your car. Make up harmony to the bass parts and sing them, if you can. All of this type of activity will help you to improve your ear.
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Name That Note
When you practice your scales, try this. Say the name of the note that you are starting on out loud. This note is the same name as the key that the scale is in. Play the scale all the way up and all the way down. Move the fingering that you are playing up one fret and again, say the name of the note out loud. Again, the name of the note is the same as the name of the new key you are in. Saying the names of the notes out loud will greatly help to increase your fluency with the fingerboard.
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Plucking Hand Development
Here's a tip for developing your right hand, or plucking hand speed and strength. Play all of your exercises as you have been, only this time play the exercise in eighth notes as opposed to quarter notes (e.g., one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and instead of one-two-three-four.) When you can do this easily, try it in sixteenth notes (one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a, etc.)
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Reverse Plucking Fingers
When you are practicing the exercises that your teacher gives you (or the exercise you find elsewhere), try this. Start the exercise with the first finger (index) on your right, or plucking hand. Alternate between the index and the second finger as you play the exercise. After you finish, do the exercise again, only this time begin the plucking with the second finger. Alternate the fingers as you did the first time. This will rapidly improve your right-hand technique.
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Start With Scales
Probably the best way to start playing the bass is working through scales. Not only will this help to strengthen your fingers, but also it will give you an idea of what notes are available to you in each key.
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Bass Dexterity Exercise
Here's an exercise for the left hand for Bass players of all levels - that you can do anywhere. You don't even need a bass. To begin, press equally hard thumb against first finger ten times. Press, relax. Press, relax and so on. Now do the same thing against your second finger. Move on to the third finger, and then the fourth. Remember to use only one finger at a time. The purpose here is dexterity, not strength.
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Bass Dexterity Exercise Two
Here's another dexterity exercise for bass players of all levels that you can do anywhere without a bass. Close the fingers of your left hand into a fist, with the palm up and the thumb pointing out and away from the hand. Now raise the first and third finger of the hand - without raising any of the other fingers (this one is really hard to do at first.) After you have brought those fingers back into the fist, raise the second and fourth fingers. This exercise will improve both your dexterity and your concentration, not to mention impressing strangers at bars after you have got it down!
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Improve Your Left Hand Technique
Try this to improve your left-hand technique on the bass guitar. Plant your thumb firmly in the center of the back of the neck. Press your first finger down so that both digits apply equal pressure. Now, for the notes that used to cause you to shift your thumb out of position don't shift. Instead, pivot your thumb and reach up with your finger to get the note. This will help you to stay in position.
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"Popping'' Or ''Slapping''
No-one knows for sure who the first bassist was who "popped" or "slapped" his bass, but credit bringing the popping technique to popular music is generally given to Larry Graham, the bassist for Sly and the Family Stone. According to Graham, it was his experiences in a duo with his mother that had no drummer that led him to develop this percussive style. This makes sense, because when you listen to the rhythms created by a master of this technique, the notes are being played in the same spaces as the kick and the snare.
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''Popping'' And ''Snapping''
"Popping" on the bass guitar involves two strokes occurring in rapid succession. First, the thumb of the right hand strikes down on top of the string close to the end of the fingerboard, the other either the first or second finger of the same hand pulls up on a different string so it 'snaps' back down on to the fingerboard. The thumb is the kick; the snap is the snare. Practice this doing octaves at first, playing eighth notes (one-and, two-and…Thumb-finger, thumb finger…).
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Switch The Beating Of Your Metronome
To work on your timing and your "feel" try this. When you practice your bass with the metronome, begin with setting the tempo so that you hear all four downbeats in the measure. After this becomes comfortable with you, try setting it so that you hear the first and third beat of each measure. This will sound weird to you at first, but stick it out. Then set your metronome so you hear the second and fourth beat in each measure. Now you are starting to swing a bit…
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In-And-Out Technique
There is a right-hand technique the some bass player use when they are after both speed and sensitivity in their playing. This is known as the 'in-and-out' technique. As with all new techniques, begin slowly, speed will come in time. Begin with eighth notes (one-and, two-and…) Take one finger on your right hand and gently play the string that the note is on. Pull your finger 'In' towards your body. On the next beat (the '-and'), strike the same string by pushing your finger 'Out' from your body. Practice will build speed and fluidity.
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Learn To Read Music
Did you hear the joke about two musicians chatting? One asks the other "Can you read music?" The response is "Not enough to hurt my playing…" This attitude is nothing short of nonsensical, and will become a nasty obstacle in your career as a musician. Reading music will free you up in ways that you cannot imagine - especially as a Bass Player. The ability to get a melodic line and interpret harmony and rhythm will help to get your creative juices flowing, not hinder them.
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''Slapping Wood''
There are some bass playing techniques that can only be used on the low E string. These are usually percussive techniques used to draw listeners to the sound of the bass guitar in a specific section of a song. The "Slapping Wood" technique is one of those. To get the slapping wood sound, take your right hand with the fingers extended and slap the bass. Your fingers should strike the low E string at the same time the heel of you hand strikes the body of the bass.
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Use A Metronome
Always practice with a metronome when practicing the bass by yourself. Every day, play all the scales and exercises that your teacher has shown you. In the beginning, set your metronome at the fastest possible speed at which you can hit all of the notes in the exercise cleanly, with no fret buzz or rattles. Turn it up one notch each day. If you find that you hit a point that you can't play cleanly, turn it back a notch and stay there until you are comfortable with it. The important thing here is this: Don't Cheat!
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Build Calluses
Another question that I get is "I don't practice because it hurts my fingers when I press/pluck the strings." Well, aside from that being an excuse rather than a question, it does raise a valid issue for beginners. Playing the bass guitar proficiently takes time, practice, patience - and calluses. callus builds up by repeatedly using (abusing?) a section of flesh on your body to the point where the body builds a layer of flesh that is immune to pain. It hurts in the beginning, but it's a good hurt, the kind of hurt you feel after a good workout. After the first week of daily practice, you won't feel a thing.
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Learn Music Theory
One of a bassist's primary assets is a good knowledge of harmony and music theory. In addition to this, a well-trained ear and good harmonic sense will help you immensely when it comes time for you to solo. That's right, even if you are a rank beginner, the day will come when it's your turn to step up and show off what you've got.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip
Here's a trick to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when you're playing the bass guitar. Steal a page from the upright bass players and don't use your third finger independently when playing scales in lower positions on the neck (close to the nut). Use your fourth finger instead, with the third following suit and landing on the string that you're playing right behind your fourth. This will actually improve your reach.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Two
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Keep a space between the first and second finger on your left hand - don't let the knuckles touch each other. This will help your precision and fluidity in your fingering
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Three
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Keep all of your fingers curved. Work on preventing the second finger from "collapsing." This will help your precision and your speed.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Four
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Use your left-hand thumb as a pivot when going from low strings to high strings (your elbow will move as well.) This will help you to keep your fingers curved, and prevent 'flat fingered string grabbing.'
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Five
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Whenever you can, practice in front of a mirror and watch your hand. (Remember, your watching for left-hand technique, not fingering - although that's important too). This will help you to improve the "Muscle Memory" of your left hand (so you won't have to spend all of your gigs staring down at the neck of your bass).
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Six
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Never remove your hand from the neck when playing an open string, even if the next note is another open string. This way, you will always be prepared for the next passage of notes in the piece that you are playing.
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Left Hand Fingering Tip Seven
Here's a tip to help you improve your fingering on the left hand when playing the bass guitar. Keep your first finger on the string when you're playing a note with your second finger. Not only will this help you to stay in position, but also help to prevent any unwanted fret buzz. Do the same with your third finger when playing notes with your fourth.
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Lock Your Left Wrist
Your left wrist, and how you hold it, is an often overlooked area in bass guitar instruction. Some teachers will advise you to keep your wrist limp. That's fine for them, but I would never advise anyone to be limp-wristed in anything that they do, never mind something like playing bass. Lock your wrist instead. This will give your fingers a firm and stable foundation for playing with conviction. (Hey. I like that. That's what a bass player does, provide a firm and stable foundation.)
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Playing Chords On Bass
Most bass players don't use chords, and this is for a couple of reasons. First: the bass is not known as a chording instrument so not much was written for it in that manner, and second, chords played in the lower register can muddy the sound to the point where the bass sounds out of tune. All that being said, in music today you will hear bass players more and more stepping up and playing simultaneous harmonic intervals (chords) on their bass guitars. Now, this is not sitting around the campfire with a bunch of Fender Precision basses and singing Kumbaya (Ugh! What a picture!) But more of a device to add emphasis and punctuation to a bass part.
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Practice All Modes
When you practice your scales, be sure to include practicing all of the modes. Sooner or later, all session bass players are confronted with a symbol that reads "F# Lydian" or something akin to that. What this means is that you are being asked to improvise a part using the Lydian mode in F#. Therefore, it helps you to know it inside and out.
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Work With The Kick Drum
In rock bands - and for that matter, most of today's popular music, the bass player and the drummer are "joined at the hip." What this means is that these two instruments are responsible for holding the rhythm of the song together, laying the foundation, as it were. Listen to your favorite rock CDs. Listen for the drummer's kick drum. Listen to how the bass player works with the kick. It's almost as if the bassist is adding melodic structure to the strictly rhythm part played by the drums.
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Bass Guitar Strings - How They Are Made
All strings, be they for bass, guitar, even piano strings, for that matter are made of wire. Plain strings are just that, plain wire. Wound strings consist of plain wire at the core of the string with more wire wrapped around the core. Most bass strings are of the wound variety as the degree of thickness required to produce the low frequencies preclude the possibility of using plain wire
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Change Your Strings Regularly
To keep good tone, you will need to change your strings from time to time. They do not last forever, and if you keep them on too long it messes up your sound. Fortunately, you won't have to do this as often as a guitar player will (Most guitarists will change their strings before every performance). Unfortunately, the strings for your bass cost about three times as much as guitar strings. Expect to pay $20 to $35 for each new set of strings.
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Free Bass Guitar Strings
Many times the strings on a new or used bass guitar are not the best. In either case, they probably have been played quite a bit and have long since lost all of their brightness and tone. Ask the salesperson to throw in a new set of strings should you decide to purchase the guitar. As many of the salespeople will be eager for the sale, they will gladly accede to your request. The worst that will happen is they will smile and say no. No harm, no foul.
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About Flat Round Bass Strings
When the wire wrapped around the plain wire at the core of the bass guitar string is a flat ribbon of steel or nickel, the string is referred to as a Flat-wound string. Flat-wound strings are a throwback to the days when all basses were of the stand-up variety. Flat-wounds give you the mellow. Round "thump" of a stand-up bass. They also prevent any string noise, as they will be 'friction-less' to the fingers of your left hand. flat-wound will last a good deal longer than round-wounds. The downside is that strings of this variety can sound "lifeless" when compared to their round-wound cousins.
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About Half-Round Bass Strings
There is another alternative to the flat-wound and the round-wound strings. These are called half-rounds, or ground-wounds. Again, the principle of the string is the same, a plain wire at the core surrounded by another wire wrapped around it. The difference lies in the fact that the wire that is wrapped around to core has been either ground down until the surface that your fingers meet is flat, or the wire was split down the middle before it was wrapped around the core, producing the same result. The advantage that these strings offer is the sound of the round-wounds (bright and crisp) with the benefits of the flat-wounds (reduced string noise and easier on the frets.)
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About Round-Wound Bass Strings
Round Wound Bass Strings. When the wire wrapped around the plain wire at the core of the bass guitar string is round, the string is referred to as a round-wound string. Round-wound strings are used today by most rock and blues players for their punchy, crisp attack of the string. One downside to round-wounds is that they will wear out your frets faster. There is also considerable "string noise" produced when your fingers run up and down the neck.
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Use Round Wound Strings For Funk
There are a wide variety of strings for bass guitars available on the market today. The type of music that you play (or want to start playing, if you are a beginner) will dictate the type of string you should use. For example, if you want to play string-poppin' funk, you should try a set of round wound strings on your bass. Round wounds have a brighter, crisper sound. If your dream is to play smooth and mellow jazz, try a set of flat-wound strings.
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Bass Soloing Tip
Here's a tip for soloing on the bass guitar. You practice scales to get your ear and fingers accustomed to the way they sound - but, playing nothing but scales in your solos will sound trite and contrived, no matter haw fast you play them. Remember that a scale is just a group of note that will sound a certain way over specific chords. Although the best improvisers use scales in their solos, they will vary both the scale and the mode so it doesn't sound mechanical.
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Buy A Good Bass Tuner
When starting out on the bass guitar there are a couple if accessories that you should invest in right from the start. One is an electronic tuner. When you're a beginner, trying to tune your bass guitar by ear can often times be an exercise in frustration. An electronic tuner will eliminate all of the guesswork. Expect to pay anywhere between $25 to $100 for a decent tuner.
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Buy Your Amp With Your Bass
Bearing the fact in mind that an electric bass is half of the gear necessary to begin playing, a good time to start looking for your amp is when you are shopping for your bass guitar. If you purchase both at the same time, there is a good chance of getting some money knocked of the price of both.
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Buy A Metronome
When starting out on the bass guitar there are a couple if accessories that you should invest in right from the start. One is a metronome. As a bass player, you are a member of the rhythm section, and as such, are an official 'keeper of the time.' Working on and building a good sense of timing early on in your career will help you immensely. Expect to pay anywhere between $15 and $80 for a decent metronome.
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Orgin Of The Precision Bass Name
Ever wonder where Leo Fender got the name "Precision" for his bass? In 1951, Leo modeled his first attempt at building an instrument to operate in the frequency range of a string bass. He modeled his new instrument on the guitar, because that's what he knew. He didn't invent the bass guitar, but he was the first to give it frets, thus making it possible to play bass with more perfect intonation, or greater 'Precision.' Thus the name and the rest is history…
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Research Your Bass Purchase
When looking for your first bass guitar, do a lot of research. Read magazines, read books, go to a lot of music stores. Not all music stores carry the same models, and those that do have the same models will often have different pricing. Be sure to read the reviews at Harmony-Central.com to get feedback from actual owners of the products you are interested in. Shop around until you find the best deal possible
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See Great Bass Players Live
It will be important for you not to limit yourself to listening to bass players that you wish to emulate. It will be important for you to go and see them as well. Every time I go to a show, be it nightclub or concert I always walk away with one new lick or concept that I didn't have before I saw the person.
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Always Bring Your Gear
At the beginning of a session, always ask the engineer where he/she wants you to set up your gear. You may be asked to set up in the control room. This usually means that you don't need your bass amp, as you will be overdubbing a part, with the other tracks already recorded. Still, always have your gear with you, because you never know idea may strike the artist or the engineer. It's always better to be prepared for any eventuality.
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Name Brand Bass Guitars
If you are a beginner to the bass, the first thing that you will need to do is to get yourself a bass buitar. OK, well that's obvious, but here's something for you to consider. Always buy a name brand instrument. The reason for this is twofold: first, the name brand instruments will generally play and sound better than the knock-offs. Second, you will maintain a higher resale value when it comes time for you to upgrade.
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Start With Demo Sessions
If you are a bass player looking to break into studio work, start by looking for demo session work. Demo recording sessions are usually a good deal less formal, and will often take place in someone's home. Not only will this be a good introduction to the world of session recording for you, but often times the contacts you make can lead to touring opportunities and more.
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Use Discretion
There will be occasions when you hear the perfect bass part in your head and you know unequivocally that your idea will make the recording a hit and you are struggling to contain yourself. This is where discretion comes into the picture. You will need to gauge the situation and ask yourself if the person who hired you will be receptive to your ideas.
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Don't Argue
Sometimes the engineer or artist won't like what you've played on the bass and ask you to play something else. When this happens (and believe me - it will happen) it does you no good whatsoever to defend the part or idea that you just played. People who hire musicians for sessions want players who are easy to work with, and who have no problem being told that their part isn't working. Bear in mind that the person who hired you will quite possibly hire you again, so suck it up, get over it, and move on. Copping an attitude on a session is a good way to get your phone to stop ringing.
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Why It Is Important To Sight Read
Why is it so important for bassists to sight-read? You have to be ready for the changes in the charts when they come - and they will come. Rarely is the producer/artist satisfied with the first go, and while you may begin the session with a fresh chart, by the end of the session it will be covered with notes (the kind you write to remind yourself of changes to the arrangement.) Many times it will be another session player who leans over, scribbles something and says, "try this." Again, if you can't read, you're outta luck…
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Make Your Own Charts
Before the session on which you have been hired to play bass begins, the artist or producer will pass out charts. Sometimes they will have a demo of the song recorded and they will expect you to learn the song from the demo. Still, it will be important for you to make your own chart. This way you will be able to keep track of any and all changes, rather than relying on memory.
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Play What You Are Told To Play
When you are in a session always remember this: you are hired to play exactly what the producer or artist hired you to play, nothing more, nothing less. Even if you are the greatest bass player in the world, your ideas are not usually welcome. The only exceptions to this rule are when you are hired because of your ideas. When this happens you will be told the reason for your hire. Until you are asked, keep your ideas to yourself.
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Be Prepared To Play A Piece Again And Again
Some producers and artists will expect to complete a song in a couple of hours. Some will take all day. Your job as a session bassist is to learn your part quickly and play it perfectly every time you're asked to play it. Sometimes the producer/artist will be happy with the first take. Others won't be happy until the 50th take. Be prepared to deliver a winning part over and over again until the person who hired you is happy.
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Best Bass Volume for Recording Sessions
When the engineer of a session that you've been hired to play bass on asks you to play, it's not because he/she is in awe of your chops and want to get their mind blown. It's because they want to set a level on the board. Therefore, it behooves you and them to play in the style of the part that you are being asked to lay down. Always set the volume on your instrument wide open, as this will generally give you the best sound on your bass (the exception being if you have an active pre-amp in your bass.). Once the levels have been set, don't touch the volume! If you do, the engineer will have to reset the levels, and at worst have to re-record the track.
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Learn How To Sight Read
Many of us bassists dream of becoming a session player, phone constantly ringing because we're in such great demand. However, the reality is that very few of us ever reach this coveted status and position. While there will always be intangibles that you cannot foresee (such as Barry Gordy walks in to the club on the night that you're sick - and he hires your replacement instead) there are things you can do to be ready when opportunity knocks. Tip number one: learn how to sight-read. Some producers will want you to come up with your own part, by and large; most producers will have a part written out for you. If you can't read it, you're S.O.L. no matter how good your chops are.
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About Bass Practice Amps
When you are considering playing the bass, remember that the bass is only half of what you will need to start playing. You will need an amp as well. Here's a tip for you: don't start with the "Big Rigs." Start instead with a small practice amp. This will serve you in good stead as you learn your instrument. When you decide it's time to graduate to a full blown bass rig, keep the practice amp. As your career develops, you will find that you will always need it.
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Learn Bass From a Bass Player
The bass guitar is quite possibly the easiest instrument to learn in the world. Many of you reading this were able to get a good sound out of the electric bass a minute or two after you picked it up. This is probably what caused 90% of the bass players in this world to describe themselves as "Self Taught." Now this is fine, but the problem is, no matter what the level of success they may enjoy is, the vast majority are cut off from the full potential of the instrument. If you want to start, start - but start at the beginning. Start with a real bassist as your teacher, not a guitarist who claims to "double" on the bass. This will help you to develop proper technique right from the beginning.
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Importance Of Scales for Bass Players
Playing scales when you begin to play the bass will help you to avoid certain 'Bad Habits.' For example, many guitar players who switch to bass because of the greater demand for bass players will play bass lines going up the neck, rather than going across the neck. This is probably due to the shorter scale on the guitar neck, but in any case, it's still a bad habit.
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About Bass Guitar Cases
Many stores will try to sell you a hard-shell bass guitar case. As bass guitars are long and somewhat unwieldy instruments and as the hard-shell case makes it even more difficult to handle, aim for the padded gig bag instead. Gig bags are about half the price of a hard-shell case, and offer all the protection most people need.
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Checking Your Bass Before Purchase
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zolideathmetal
- Urednik
- Posts: 1187
- Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 02:21
- Location: Novi Sad
Re: Bass Tips
Ovo vazi samo za narodnjake!!!
E da, i za one koji ne misle svojom glavom, pa mora neko da im kaze!
E da, i za one koji ne misle svojom glavom, pa mora neko da im kaze!
Re: Bass Tips
pa dobro... nemoj biti surov,pocetnicima znaci mnogo,a "iskusni" cesto treba da se vrate na osnove... da ne bude posle 15 godina sviranja ,nemas vishe ni levi ni desni zglob od bolova i hronicne ne pravilne svirke
Re: Bass Tips
oooo, Jako(Pastorius) nisam znao da si i ti tu....kach wrote:Ovo vazi samo za narodnjake!!!
E da, i za one koji ne misle svojom glavom, pa mora neko da im kaze!
Re: Bass Tips
Ziju... CrashNS je moj stari account, skroz sam zaboravio na njega...
Kakav sam kralj; opet sam ovo procitao i skontao da sam uradio super stvar - sakupivshi sve to i postavivshi ovde
Moja omiljena...
Kakav sam kralj; opet sam ovo procitao i skontao da sam uradio super stvar - sakupivshi sve to i postavivshi ovde
Moja omiljena...
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Groove Versus Timing
A sense of time and a sense of groove are very closely linked, but they're not the same things at all. A good sense of timing is required to create a good groove, but some great grooves are not in perfect time. It's a Zen thing… 
Re: Bass Tips
Cisto da osvezim temu, mozda bi mogla i da bude stiki, nije losa, ima dosta materijala 
Zaboscu verovatno ovo za jedan sajtic koji sada pravim
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