bassjamm

[quote name='Merton' post='255471' date='Aug 5 2008, 03:27 PM']I tend to get all flustered, play anything that falls under my fingers and hope no-one notices :blush:[/quote] That's how i started out i guess, not that i've progressed much beyound this. Having spent a lot of time recenly watching different videos and reading different things from most of the top players, something that stands out to me is the need to transcribe things that we feel something for. So if we hear a wicked groove that we like, learn it, drum it in, figure out why it's so cool and then mess with it until it's drummed in. Then forget about it and in time it will come out in your playing but be you. The same applies for any solos we hear, sax lines, chord sequences, horn harmonies, motifs etc...anything that makes you think 'that sounds wicked'...learn it!!! I'm trying to do this a lot at the moment, so rather than learn a whole solo, i'm working away at the bits i think sound coolest, then going from there. I've also come to realised that jammin' is seriously essential. Just learning to communicate with other players, not just that, but jammin' along to CD's, with the pro's!!! It's a tedious approach to begin with, but when you get in the zone with it and become immersed in the track it sounds amazing! This is something i'm trying to do more of. Victor Wooten is very much into this method, learning to talk Music by jammin' with the pro's, much like we learn to speak our native tongue at birth by 'jammin' with the pros around us. I guess in time, your ears become accustomed to hearing what will work or not, even if that means playing a note you wouldn't normally, the often work, but i think it's learning how to play the 'wrong' notes with the cofidence and finesse to make them sound right...something like that anyway! I'm quickly realising that there is a huge need for me to learn more melodies though in order to sound more melodic in my playing!!!

Haven't read the thread so i guess it's probably already been mentioned...but... I just get into the groove and i move as a result! I don't dance as such, well, i do but it's more that i'm just totally into the groove and kind of can't help but move. This gets great results from the audience. We once had a deaf young lady at our gig. We didn't know she was deaf until after the gig, but she was dancing away (in time) and really loving the gig. After it she came up and managed to speak to us saying that she could feel the music through our movement and from how we moved to the groove...it helped here to interact with the music, something she is normally unable to do in the way most of us are able to. That was a pretty awesome experience, but it shows how a bit of movement goes a long way. Don't forget we're as funk as funk is funk as well!!! Anyway...aren't we funk bassist supposed to move around like we own the groove? lol!