arabassist

Hey, My 'problem' is that i don't know what level i'm at right now. I've been playing for a year now, been using the same bass since i started. i always thought i was sh**e, but after playing in front of some guitarists and then a couple of bassists ive been told im far ahead for the amount of time ive been playing. the same compliment i get each time is that my finger picking is very good and very flexible. I was wondering how other people assess themselves and decide what 'level' they are at? or should i ignore this and simply keep practicing harder and enjoy it more? to give you an idea of what i can do, i can play songs like: californication, if, hard to concentrate by RHCP, a lot of songs by RATM such as bombtrack, and other random stuff i pick up. i find it hard to pick up notes by ear, tho im good at figuring out rhythm (i think im half-tone-deaf :|). i find it almost impossible to write music or simply improvise something when jamming. cheers

lol yeh....suck my kiss...higher ground etc all amazing

ah cheers mate. out of interest, why do u dislike warwicks?

what the hell....why did i not know of these!

it used to be a bitch for me. but playing songs like if, hard to concentrate (and a couple of metallica stuff like 'my friend of misery') helped me get the whole bass chord crap...once after getting bored of plucking arpeggios i just strummed like a g-tardist and made one go "hmm....interesting..."

Hello all, I think it's time to ditch my hollow artcore and go for a 2nd bass - a bass that has a suitable neck for my small hands and a nice slap tone. The other day i picked up a warwick and i think i experienced orgasm....and then another one when i heard the price. my budget would be max £350 so sadly the warwick is tossed out of my imagination, i've been reccomended the following: Squier jazz, the vintage squier jazz, G&L SB2 or the OLP stingray Any suggestions? CHeeaaars oh and about my budget, in a few months when i go to uni that will go up a significant amount

i thought that too. but its very similar to pretty little ditty. you just need to practice the plucking rhythm and ur sorted - the chord patterns are easy to learn and sound lovely! i started by playing very slow and speeding up once i got the jist of it.

i love playing 'If' [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGETQgHBxD8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGETQgHBxD8[/url]

Hello, The only bass I've played for the past 10 months or so is my ibanez artcore, which i taught myself with it. The other day i went to a guitar shop and tried out a random bass. It was a 5 string ibanez priced at £225. I've never played a 5 string, and haven't played a solid body bass since i bought my semi hollow one, so i thought what the heck. But for some reason, playing that bass felt so much easier. I remember my legs shaking with excitement when I played. It felt like it was half the weight the neck felt like half the size. It also felt like the frets were tiny. I got home and tried out my own bass and thought, 'it can't have been that much smaller, could it?'. What was it about the 5 stringer that made it so much easier for me to play? Is my artcore simply too big for me and needs to be gotten rid of?

hah yeh i don't do it much either, i've noticed in genres like funk rock (RHCP) the slapping and popping with the bass is something my g**tarist friends deny about cos they know its uber.

Hello, Sorry if I'm ranting like an old man. I'm just curious if all Bass-tards (bassists) get slagged off by their smaller, weaker and more feminine cousins: the G-tards (g**tarists). People say to me "Oh bass is so easy, only 4 strings...bla bla...you have no sense of melody...". What do most bassists come back with? I generally insult their lack of rhythm, or if i'm really annoyed I insult their lack of manliness. Sometimes, I say to them "two words for ya: slap and pop...you try doing that...." and they immediately shut up. Frankly I find it quite arrogant and annoying cos I get slagged off cos what I play is 'easier' or it 'doesn't hurt my fingers'. I've played guitar several times and I find it so much less painful to play (and more painful to hear). I don't see what's so much more difficult about strumming loads of strings 75% of the time. Anyone feel the same? I may have to resort to counseling

lol ok i forgot about this thread and just the read the load of posts saying that i shouldn't change it, it seems like I've offended a few people. I wasn't criticizing With or Without You for being boring, I love the bassline otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it, I was just curious on how people manage to change basslines into making them their own. The bassline doesn't need to be changed, I just wanted to know how I could change it just for experimentation.

lol no one will teach me, my mate ditched me and i got no money for a pro.

Hello, Firstly, sorry for my musical ignorance. I classify as a newbie at bass and know little about music theory. What I'm trying to figure out is how to make a boring bass line more fun. For example, if we take something simple like 'With or Without You' by U2 which is just D--A--B--G. How do I go about adding variation, whilst immediately knowing that it will harmonise? (sorry if my terminology is wrong) The first thought that came into my head was to make it octave based and slap it but that doesn't exactly fit the mood of a song like that. I see people bass covers on youtube where they randomly improvise stuff with the confidence that the notes will fit the tune. I spoke to my pianist friend and he told me about fifths and tenths etc and i realised they're very common in the basslines I play but can't figure out how to use them in my own variations. I ask my guitarist friends for advice and they're just like "I dunno...bass is meant to be boring..." (idiots) Thanks

Ello, I've been inspecting the fretboard and strings and noticed it's quite dirty. I took a camera shot with flash on and compared it with an older one and realised it's so much dirtier. The fretboard has bits of dust, sweat and other bits of manky animal crap. What's the most effective way to clean the mess? Scrub it with a wet cloth? Cheers

i dunno about you, but something smells like fish in here