Bassmidget209

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm glad I'm not the only one in this boat! It can be frustrating when it feels like something's given up on me, but I feel it is happening less and less now and my current band situation is forcing me to take a bit more responsibility as there's no where to hide! If I work out the secret I'll let you guys know!

Oh Jesus I didn't even get on to gig nights....thank chirst I don't do solos....

Hey guys and gals, Do you ever feel like all of a sudden you sound like utter garbage? It's something that pops up for me from time to time. A few years back I played in a hardcore/punk/more or less metal band Where I would honestly say I was the weak link in the chain. Each member was stellar in their field, bar me. I wasn't awful it certainly didnt live up to the abilities in the rest of the band. I got those moments from time to time but out it down to my lowly status in the band at the time. I'm now in a band where I'm in the strange position of probably being the most knowledgeable music-wise. Now I have worked to improve on both my theory knowledge as well as my technical ability but the dynamic is definitely different. However I still have these times where I feel I sound like utter shite. Most recent example being a recent recording session. Our drummer struggled playing to a clickon the day and so we had to play with him. I played all morning no problems but as soon as it was time to record me my wrist started acting weird, freezing up and all sorts. Once I was over that and recorded, listening back to me I felt I was playing through treacle. It was just this lumbering noise! It was a relatively fast paced song but I just didn't sound good. In the end the song sounds decent to my ear, once the guitars were on top. Is this just a bass thing? Is it me? Does anyone else have this problem? Or do I need to get over myself and stop posting late night rants on the internet 6 beers in?

For me it was rancid 'and out come the wolves'. Specifically 'Journey to the end of East bay' made go out and buy a bass, purely cos the intro sounded rubbish on guitar. It would've been no more than a novelty instrument had I not mentioned it to my guitar teacher who got me to bring it down and then had a Eureka moment with me. "Of course, your a bassist it all makes sense now!" At the time I was chuffed, it took me a few years to work out the pejorative connotations of that statement....

Annoyingly I was so busy in work today I forgot to grab some mags to take home with me to investigate further. That will have to wait till Monday....

Yes thank you for pointing that out, didn't intend on a double negative! Clearly editing, as well as technique can improve here. I have started to look at technique. I've registered with Scott's bass lessons a while back. I had a guitar teacher back in the day who actually encouraged me to focus more on bass (insert joke here). Apart from the theory learned on guitar and some advice on bass fills I've never had much tutoring on the detail of bass. I had never noticed I played with flat fingers quite a lot, especially my pinky. I am working on technique but I would like to know what I have done to my finger. If only so I can avoid doing it to a more vital one!

Ah brilliant, thanks for the advice. I'm an optometrist so I have magnifiers up the Ying Yang. Once I've dealt with the patients I'll have a look!

Hey guys/girls, Bit of a weird one here. I've been having problems with the pinky of my fretting hand for several weeks now. On the outer edge (or the area I tend to fret with at full stretch) it is not extremely uncomfortable if I apply focussed pressure on it, for example when fretting. There's no obvious inflammation or swelling. It's a strange feeling, like there's a blister or bubble or something but it otherwise feels fine. If I'm not playing it feels absolutely fine, the only thing in real life it affects is my playing, It's really annoying! Also I do know I should be seeing a doctor rather than going on the internet, I was just hoping for a bit more insight into fellow players experience, has anyone else had this problem? Did anything help? Thanks in advance everyone!

Yeah only time so far it was something of an issue was last week at a gig in Workington. There was no stage equipment like monitors etc. So I was playing through the PA but hearing it bounce off the back of the venue, was a bit weird. However it's the first time we've ever had an encore so maybe there's something I should be looking into there! 😄 Apart from that the house amps have done fine. They're almost always DI'd anyways in my experience so I'm not losing sleep over it. The bigger battle is getting my guitarist to understand that house guitar amps are rarely as reliable for sound quality and he needs to be using his own amp, but hey ho, not my circus not my monkeys!

Hello everyone, been lurking on the forums for a couple months now, thought I should join properly. Started back up on bass after a four year hiatus. Cobwebs are well and truly blown off now and been practicing/gigging for the past 9 months. Bass Rig at the minute is a MIM fender jazz bass modified with PJ quarterpoinders. That leads into an ashdown James's lomenzo distortion, ehx microsynth, devi-ever cherry pop, ibanez DE-7, finishing on a sansamp DI. No bass amp at the moment as I have no money or space so either DI'ing or using house amps unfortunately. But hey ho the kids need trainers and whatnot. Anyways not too sure what to say just thought I would say hi! Mark

Hi (first time poster!) In my experience, with metal or any heavy genre, finding your slice of the sonic spectrum is more important. If you know how your guitartist(s) eq then work around that. I would agree that how your bass feels is probably more important. I used a fender PJ bass with quarter pounders and power slinky's (drop C# tuning) going through a sansamp and distortion pedals when necessary. I've seen guys with far more fancy stuff than me got totally lost in the mix. Most recent example being a guy in a metal band with two guitarists. The bassist had a full touring rig, rack mount power amp (I think) and some sort of laptop running modelling software with some pedals etc. Can't remember much about his bass apart from the fact it was a 6string. I had no idea what he sounded like for most of the gig till he had a solo section. Anyways long story short get something you feel comfortable with and can transmit your style of playing cleanly and enjoy the rumble 😁