Out of your depth.

[DJpullchord]

What do you guys do when you have trouble learning a bass part for a band? Maybe it’s just too quick for one of your hands? I’m guessing it’s unrealistic to try and recreate studio recordings faultlessly, if you’re just jamming in a room.

Do you plough on and copy the piece or just do your own user friendly version?

 

I’m officially struggling with some stuff but guess it will make me stronger.

[fretmeister]

I copy it. Sometimes I have to learn 1 bar at a time, but I learn it properly. I think about changes after.

[thepurpleblob]

It depends. Is the part something that has to be 100% right (or thereabouts) or will a reasonably facsimile do? Do you have a deadline or will the band wait until you've got it?

My band currently wants to do Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. They're probably just taking the p*ss out of me. Let's just say I'm getting there!

Edited February 9, 2018 by thepurpleblob

[seashell]

One little shortcut I do, is play the same thing on each verse and chorus. Maybe the original version varies it on each verse, but if I’m pushed for time I’ll just learn the first verse and play it like that all the way through!

It’s difficult when things are too fast though, as you say. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to play The Immigrant song, for example. 

 

[Cato]

I'm a firm believer that almost anything can be played if you slow it down enough then gradually work back up to full speed.

There are exceptions, where the part is played using a technique like double thumbing, which I currently struggle with, but I reckon with most stuff I usually get there in the end.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Cato

[DJpullchord]

Ahhhhhh the immigrant song is one I’ve been asked to learn. Not even looked at it yet.

Got a set with a new band and there’s loads of bass and toms playing together tightly. Just practice maybe.

I guess no one will notice if you go to easier fills more often than others. In fact nobody will notice but me.

[TheGreek]

Learn it in smaller bits - maybe two bars at a time then join all the parts together when you're fluent.

[thepurpleblob]

One of those "slowing down" programs for the computer is a good investment. You can isolate the hard bits and play them at reduced speed. 

[SpondonBassed]

8 minutes ago, DJpullchord said:

Ahhhhhh the immigrant song is one I’ve been asked to learn. Not even looked at it yet.

Got a set with a new band and there’s loads of bass and toms playing together tightly. Just practice maybe.

I guess no one will notice if you go to easier fills more often than others. In fact nobody will notice but me.

I think that might work to your advantage if you can lock in with your drummer early on.  He'll help bring you on.

[alyctes]

3 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Learn it in smaller bits - maybe two bars at a time then join all the parts together when you're fluent.

This. 

And also, learn it backwards - learn the bars at the end first, then the bars before those, etc. etc..  That way you are always going towards something you already know, and you won't learn the start and fall apart at the end

(I can't remember where I saw this, but I think it was on here...

[deepbass5]

We all find this from time to time, just can't pick out whats going on.

I do the best i can and much depends on your band line up compared with original band line up. maybe the duties are shared on a particular feel, i.e. no keyboard or pos no brass in your band, so guitar or keys handle the brass stabs you hold down the groove but that may mean some one has to play the exciting bass riff because you are busy holding it down.

So we often go for a sanitised version that sounds complete and right to the listener, good musicians know what parts they need to pick up and which to leave to others.

Have you checked out "Best practice" a free download that will let you change key and or slow things down without altering the pitch while you learn it.

bp.exe

Edited February 9, 2018 by deepbass5

[DJpullchord]

 Cheers guys. Some good advice.

Tomorows homework is burn by purple. Great fun to play!

[arthurhenry]

Lots of good advice here, but don't forget, once you've learnt it, play it, then play it, then play it and repeat. It's not unusual for me to play through songs 20-50 times before I feel I can say I really know them. I imagine a scenario where the original artist phones and asks me to play the song with them at a gig tomorrow. If I couldn't say "yes", then I haven't practised it enough.

[pburrows]

I use guitar tab pro on my iPad. I couldn’t learn most stuff without it

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, DJpullchord said:

Ahhhhhh the immigrant song is one I’ve been asked to learn.

Well, it looks like you got the first part sorted

 

[dontregartha]

I had 20 disco and funk songs to learn - not the easiest bass genre to cover. OK, most have a repeating hook and riff, but the middle 8s and intros are so often non-standard.

i used the Capo app on the mac, which allows you to slow down, but keep the pitch and/or micro tune the pitch on the record so its back in tune with your bass. That cost a few quid, but now Fender have bought riffstation and made it free on their website. It does most of what Capo does.

Break it down, slow it down rinse and repeat.

I played the Billy Jean Riff for half an hour solid, while I was browsing facebook just sio it 'burned' in to my brain - similarly Stevie Wonder's 'I wish'.

I never thought I'd ever be able to play 'Forget me Knots" - but now I play it live with no bother at all.

Some might say i'm unaware of my limitations!!

 

[thepurpleblob]

Oh.... I was just thinking this. If I find a bit tricky or too fast or just get my fingers in knots... I have a careful think if there's some other way to play it. That is a fingering pattern other than the first one I thought of. This can make all the difference!

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, DJpullchord said:

What do you guys do when you have trouble learning a bass part for a band?

How close does it have to be?

I've learnt stuff (from a link sent by the guitarist) then discovered that he had his own version!

[peteb]

5 hours ago, seashell said:

One little shortcut I do, is play the same thing on each verse and chorus. Maybe the original version varies it on each verse, but if I’m pushed for time I’ll just learn the first verse and play it like that all the way through!

It’s difficult when things are too fast though, as you say. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to play The Immigrant song, for example. 

 

I do that as well sometimes to save time. I doubt anyone in the audience will notice. 

The Immigrant Song isn't that difficult once you work out what JPJ is playing - just learn it at a slow speed then increase the tempo. You do realise that in the chorus he is just playing major scales and moving up a whole step then a half step (2 x Amaj, 2 x Bmaj then 3 x Cmaj)? 

[Elfrasho]

9 hours ago, DJpullchord said:

 Cheers guys. Some good advice.

Tomorows homework is burn by purple. Great fun to play!

My experience of that song is drummers quite often play it oddly, mainly in the verses...so be prepared to  make adjustments!

 

If you don't have a keyboardist and you fancy a wee tapping solo, check out Billy Sheehan on Mr bigs cover. Simple major and minor arpeggios. Pretty much 2 shapes in different positions. Stick a wee boost on and voila, instant keyboard solo done on bass! 

[Mister RLP]

Worth listening to what the original band plays for their live versions, too. Sometimes the bass part is simplified anyway. Or different. Or better! 

[darkandrew]

A couple of things that maybe will help - one I tell my kids at school and one I use myself:

Firstly, don't learn mistakes. If you make a mistake and repeat it, you will learn the mistake and it is surprisingly hard to unlearn something. So slow it right down to begin with, learn it right and then pick up the tempo.

Secondly, if it sounds right then it IS right. Many recordings will include multi-tracked bass parts or parts that have various passages punched in. To recreate these parts to technical perfection may not be possible; so have a good listen to it, pick out the main parts that either carry the groove or melody and focus on getting that sounding right. If you can put together a bass line that sounds right and compliments the rest of the arrangement then you've done your job. There's a hotly debated thread on here about Jerry Barnes, the current bass player in Chic. The debate almost entirely centres around the fact that Jerry plays his own take on what works with the songs and doesn't recreate Edwards' bass lines note for note - people on here are pretty split over whether this is a good thing or not, but if I went to Chic gig and everything sounded right together (as it invariably does) then I'd leave as a happy punter regardless of whether the bass lines had been played exactly as they were recorded - like I said at the start, if it sounds right then it IS right.

Edited February 10, 2018 by darkandrew

[T-Bay]

There are a couple I have struggled with purely down to the speed they are, I try to learn both the original and a simplified version I know 100%. I can do. Then which I use comes down to how I get on with the quick one. I have even started a song with the quick version and then swapped to the simpler one when my fingers start to cramp and then switch back again. By doing it that way I have total confidence I can nail the song one way or another andcan just mix and match as I feel at the time.

[seashell]

7 hours ago, peteb said:

I do that as well sometimes to save time. I doubt anyone in the audience will notice. 

The Immigrant Song isn't that difficult once you work out what JPJ is playing - just learn it at a slow speed then increase the tempo. You do realise that in the chorus he is just playing major scales and moving up a whole step then a half step (2 x Amaj, 2 x Bmaj then 3 x Cmaj)? 

It’s the speed of those major scales though! My fingers just won’t do it. I’ve only ever tried it for fun though. In the unlikely event that any band I was in out it in their set list I suppose I would persevere a bit more! 

 

[Dan Dare]

Better to simplify the part and devise something that is musically correct that works in a band context than to play the "right notes but not necessarily in the right order". You can always work on getting closer to the original as time goes by.