cytania

Good idea, I've been posting beginnery stuff on 'Theory and Techniques' but there's quite a gulf there between my simple grooves for 60s garage punk/early soul and the transcriptions of Miles Davis spectaculars. One of the problems with learning is that as you gain in proficiency you forget how challenging simple stuff once was. This ends in the kind of snippy 'hey it's easy, maybe you should try another instrument' answers that just put a beginner off. Hence I make an effort to post of the stuff I've had trouble with while the tips that helped me are still in my head. Bass is an instrument with a false reputation for being easy. Some players get stuff like timing and note choices straight-off but others can end up stuck slavishly playing tab vaguely around the beat. Beginner's forum should be great for anyone who has the guts to say 'help! get me out of this rut'.

Part of the reason Gibson are running with this one (apart from the obvious novelty) is their guitars are notorious for going out of tune. Some say that's down to the headstock angle but I think part of the blame is their heavy use of vintage tuner designs.

Have I complained before of having two authorised tabs for the Who's 'I Can See For Miles', neither of which tallied with what I hear in my head? Well I 've found a tabla rasa in the Monkees (and many, many 60s garage punk bands) 'I'm Not Your Steppin Stone'. A wonderfully simple heads down riff of a song; [font="Courier New"] intro/chorus riff verse riff "not your steppin' stone" riff G|------------5-57|------------5--57|---------| D|----555-7-7-----|----5--57--7-----|-----5-75| A|7-7-------------|7--7-------------|77--7----| E|----------------|-----------------|---------| [/font] Now this isn't meant to be a sterile Colplay/Satriani post, but the Who often jumped off from other hits and created their own unique song that usually surpassed the original starting point. The verses of ICSFM are E G A structured around those amazing words. The pre-chorus build is A B A B and then chorus runs up to E on the 9th fret. Well that's what I'd do to slavishly lead the guitars but Townshend and Entwistle have structured challenging and interesting parts for themselves. Now I have to go back and listen for the embellishments.

This is not how most internet tabs have the bassline or as the Mysterians play it. But it is a good exercise for your little finger and there's no need to keep shifting between 3rd and 5th fret. I always thought of 96 tears as proto-Punk rock but listen to 'Big Maybelle' on iTunes (cheaper than rare CD prices) and by golly she can belt it. ---------|-----------|----------|-------|--- -5-7--------5-7------------5------5----- ----(5)-----------5-------7-------7------ -------------------------8-------8-------- Pick players will probably be able to double up the first note of every bar for a Mysterians feel, and the note I've bracketed can be a ghost note once you're grooving. Mysterians probably play this around 96 bpm, soul versions are up at 112 bpm. At the chorus there's an E line; ------------------------- ------66 7 --99-------- ----77------------------ -------------------------

The trouble with not thinking about it is you could be playing way off the beat and nobody will tell you. Guitarist don't hear it. I was lucky in my last band that a seasoned bassist put over to me how off-kilter I was. It doesn't sound gig-killingly awful, just not upliftingly great. Being off beat is the reason why perfectly decent playing can drag. When I start practicing I try to nail the beat from the word go but I rarely get it straight off. It's only after I've leaned in and then eased off that I feel the groove happening right. My main hope is that practice will give me time chops. Personally I'd rather play a simple line with no timing faults than a flashy run that wavers.

Hi Steve, first thing I'd look for if I were you is some kind of drum machine/metronome. Make sure it has decent drum sounds and can give you a 4:4 kick/snare beat without too much hassle. This will give you something to work with outside of rehearsals. The real test of playing along is to slow down the beat, this is actually harder than song speed as the groove gaps open up encouraging you to slip. In rehearsals see if your drummer is open to turning up early and working through without guitar. Try to do extended workouts on the main song parts rather than wallop through the song structure. If your drummer does all the fills see if he can't drop them and play it straight. Drummers like to do fills because just like a variation in a repetitive bass line it gives them a break, but at this stage you want to be practicing together till the groove gets deeply ingrained. When you do get the guitarist in invite them let you play through a whole verse before they come in. Maybe arrange a signal for them to take a bridge or break. That should get them listening for cues in your playing rather than working from 'how the song goes'. Think of it as the extended mix. Oh, and are you moving the bass head where the drummer can see it? Drummers have timing issues too and if you keep a visual reinforcement going they play better. My first drummer (who may I may play again with next year, if the stars line up right) was always losing sticks, but if I kept hitting the one she'd come straight back in on beat like a trooper. Much harder if you are rigidly standing still like Killer Kane from the New York Dolls. Jake - sort of know what you mean. I suspect that kind of confidence will come as the steps I outlined take hold at a deep muscle-memory level but for now I'm keeping my crutches close by ;-) Happy New Year to all of you, keep on the one throughout 2009!

Thanks Jennifer, nice to know it's not just me seeing this/having trouble with this. I find 'easing off' is a constant pitfall waiting for me if I drift into the passenger mindset. This is equite different from playing softly, in fact in the last few weeks since I got the Roland metronome thingie I've found once I get right on the beat I can then play softer but still in time and it's really cool. Nice website by the way your comments on flatwounds are encouraging me to see what my Ibanez sounds like with them and break from my 'I'm just playing not recording so it's roundwounds'.

My first post here was when I was having real problems hearing the beat and getting any kind of groove going. Here's some of the things I wish I could send back in time to myself. 1) Listen for the bass kick drum and seek to obliterate it by playing your first root note right on top of it. You can't do this in a wimpy way, attack! 2) If you can still hear the bass kick drum then lean into it or ease off. You should find a pocket of calm like the eye of the storm. Suddenly the snares or hi-hats will ring out and you'll be perfectly positioned within their pattern. In fact when you get this effect it can feel 'wrong' causing you to wobble and lose it. Keep practising ignoring entering the pocket effect and keeping in it for longer and longer. 3) Get a good metronome with good drum sounds not just clicks and claps. 4) Never practise without something behind you be it a drum loop, a CD or a metronome. 5) Never ride the beat like a passenger. This is a surefire way to remain off the one. Create the beat, push forward by adding a controlled bit of extra punch to notes and a dash more grit to the groove. 6) When you think you are getting a song try it with just you and the drums. No backing tracks, no actual CD. Can you create the feel out of mid-air? 7) Look for songs where the bassline and the drums fit together really well. Beware grooves where the drums do a complicated pattern you can't replicate or the bassline is tricky and doing it's own thing. 8) At certain points in some songs the bass does come off the one and plays in unison with the guitars. Saw Thin Lizzy do this a few times on 'Live & Dangerous', usually as a way of ending. Assign this to the 'advanced stuff to do later' bin along with slapping and popping. Work on imprinting the one as a deep down habit.

My wife got me Bass Culture, the book about John Entwistle's guitar collection. Must have seen me looking at it but not buying. I was pleasantly surprised, the text comments are by Entwistle himself (I had assume it was posthumous) and he lets it be known which basses he liked and which are unplayable curiosities. About the Gibson EB02 the Ox says 'Boom, Boom, Boomity, Boom' and later the Epiphone Newport is described as even better. Makes me want to try one (if I ever see them for real). Also the first place I have ever seen Gibson's 'Moderne' shape. Great record of a now scattered collection.

Goddamn sticks! How do drummers cope with them! Naergh! (sound of sticks flying out of window). Have started using the coach in my lap like the pad was a guitar body and the display the lower cutaway. It's sensitive enough to give me decent scores by tapping with my two fingers, just like playing the bass. This is more like it!

The actual item works alot better than their web page. I am finding my accuracy improves if I 'lean in' but not too hard. Sort of Zen thing. So far I'm so bad it's a surprise when the voice clocks in with a 'Good' or 'Excellent'. However after I've worked out on the pad I do my usual bass practise pieces and I can feel/hear the difference. Has prompted me to simplify some lines into a pulse and drop arpeggios that I now realise didn't work.

Managed to get one of these gizmos cheap from Anderton's. Unit had been on demo duties at a few NEC type shows but shows little sign of drummer abuse. It really is a hard task master but if I 'push into the beat' in just the same way as I might trying to tighten up a bass groove I _can_ improve my scores. Now all that's needed is a bass version. Some kind of MIDI pickup instead of the drumhead. Do they make MIDI pickup for bass guitar?

Hi Ric, yeah that sounds a bit rubbish. Part of being in a band is helping each other. You should hear me in some past rehearsals singing the chords 'A A A G F A A A' to get my idea of the changes over to the guitars, must sound stupid but sometime that was what was needed. Groups have power relationships. Guitarists often think it's all about them. Which is like the bodywork thinking it's what makes a car go fast. Make sure you and the drums are working right and then let the guitars know if they are ahead/behind. As regards songs if you can crack the key, then you can play that note good and low in a meaningful way (take cue off the bass drum if needs be). I did this for a Green Day song I hadn't even heard until a few weeks before we played it live. No one noticed my lack of flash playing. Song was 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' which is a guitar and drum fest. Bass role was to rumble with the drummer in G.

Oh, I finally got to see an Indie rick copy a few days ago. These are different from the 'Rockinbetter' copies I've seen. Indie actually have their logo on the headstock swoosh. The neck is more modern less clublike compared to Rockinbetter but neither have the recent comfortable Rick neck shape. Where the Indie copy really goes awry is using a Fender type bridge and having no mountings for the pickups at all. The pickguard and knobs are wrong. Overall I'd say avoid. It's like someone had described a Rickenbacker to Indie maybe even drawn diagrams but the makers had never really seen one...

Looked at in terms of 60s/70s basses the Rick has several key features. It's neck thru at a time when most were bolted or pocketed. The Rick bridge is huge compared to most other basses of the time and there's more metal round the bridge pickup. If those didn't make for a different tone then Rickenbacker decided to varnish the fretboard. I was amazed by this when I handled one. It's not a subtle lacquer but a real glassy varnish. That's got to affect the way the neck resonates. It certainly affects the way your fingers interact with the frets. Oh yeah, and it looks brilliant!

"'Scuse the n00b question, but are "soapbars" humbuckers in disguse? If so, are they always? Or is "soapbar" just a generic name for large p'ups? " I must be a n00b too because I thought soapbars referred to the white/cream coloured plastic pickups usually found on Gibson guitars (usually P90 single coils). Not seen that sort of thing on a bass but...

The first thing you are hoping for is a quick flash or 'oh that's a little bit like tune X'. If it does match a song you're already proficient in great, it's a matter of rejigging key and so forth. Funk is a wide berth. When soul was morphing into funk/disco in the late sixties the bassist is often grooving the same strong pattern through the whole song, some of those grooves work right through the key changes. Once you get into the late seventies the funk is more complex and there's some devilish jazzy scale stuff at work. Part of all this is slap'n'pop technique where the groove has to work with the fingers making the slap/pop sounds. Funk _can_ be approached as a straight root the note. Was doing this to the live version of 'Games Without Frontiers' last night. I don't have flying funk fingers but Peter Gabriel's 80s band gave that song a 'jump in the air and clap your hands' groove that is funky but bog basic. At the end of the day a simple effective groove is better than funk flash that fails. I took my tutor 'Get It On' (funky T-Rex/PowerStation) having learnt the solo and fills. He gave me a simple groove to play all the way through that was rock solid. But on the record the horn section/crunch guitar make the groove happen and the solo bass is playing up front like a guitar which is why my original line failed terribly. As ever, if in doubt simplify until bottoms start to waggle to the beat.

As you learn bass you should get to learn where notes are on the strings to an instinctive level. Eventually you'll find your fingers itching to go to the right note (impressive/scarey). Tab gives you the notes to play and when it's good and accurate that's all you need. However substituting other choices is never far away from a bassists mind. Does an open note sound wrong? Would the E string give it more deep grunt? Do the alternate's play easier/feel more natural/give the right vibe? If you are beginner put reading sheet off unless you can already read or will be getting scored music to play. Many trained musicians will emphasise reading from the start but unless the session room or orchestra pit beckons don't worry too far in advance. Having said this find out about notation so you can at least puzzle the notes and tempos out slow and surely.

Alternatives are to get a digital recorder and listen back to myself playing to drum loops but there the trap is thinking 'good enough' (which I do when I ain't).

Googleblundered into the Roland RMP3 and RMP5 Rhythm Coach. [url="http://media.roland.com/en/IT/RMP-3_IT/index.html"]http://media.roland.com/en/IT/RMP-3_IT/index.html[/url] I'm sorely tempted to get one since my timing sucks and there's no kidding yourself with this little hitler. On the other hand it's a pad and presumably going for the snare hit. Opinions. Anyone played drums to improve their bass skills? Does it work? Any similar products/software for bass? The ahead/behind meter and scoring looks fab... (I'll make the jokes about hitting the bass strings with sticks or my foot and get them out the way!)

What a fantastic song, so simple, so beautiful. C C# D# G# and round again, everything is in the vocal phrasing really.

Tried one of these out in the wonderful MORMusic shop in York on Wednesday. Very different sound from the Ibanez I already have. SRX is very bright, very piano. The Iceman base has got more thud and thunder. Previous player had left it in drop D with volume turned low for a dirty rock sound. Very impressive. Sits on the knee great. How is it on the strap? Neck stud is in the middle of the bolts I think...

Doesn't everyone start as a guitarist? Guitar is the show-off instrument, the camera natural goes to it (even in the case of Substitute when it's a bass solo and Townsend has his back turned). When you hear a Queen record you want to be Brian May even though it's Deacon making the rock beat. Then when you actually try electric guitar you realise how divorced from the song alot of the parts are. Sure there are crunching AC/DC epics but alot of stuff the lead plays is an ethereal shimmer, and that's how it's meant to be. Once you realise that the real meat in the song is usually the bass then guitar parts start to feel lightweight.

Guns Of Brixton bassline is based in yer basic reggae. Throughout the song it goes. ------------------- -------444-------- -2---5------5-222- ------------------- Occasionally the groove emphasis on 5th fret G for the raised vocal bits. If it were a classic 70s Top Ranking type reggae it would have a second part like this. ------------------- -------222-------- X2 -0---3------3-000- ------------------- I suspect that's what's used in 'Invasion Of The Estate Agents' and 'Dub Be Good To Me'. Unless anyone knows better...

Alot of wrong guitar tabs for this about. Good news is bass is quite simple. Really wish this was still part of Stu's 'Solo Arrangements for Bass' book as I could then see the embellishments. Song is a B G# B G# E progression, two 'verses' then a chorus 3 times over. Fingers just need to adopt a bouncing walking pace (found a great live video where the bassists walks and plays on a circular stage that revolves, Pete Gabriel goes for a bike ride whilst singing!). Then you add a basic arpeggio. In B it would be; ------------- ------9----- ---9----9--- -7---------7- Anyone know what I should call this arpeggio? It's very useful. For instance with a 70s reggae groove it's the 'Up Town Top Rankin' line. Also reversed it's what I use for G chord bit in the chorus of 'Brown Sugar'. -------------------- 55-------------5--- ---5----------5----- ------3-----3--------