Having my first bass lesson today after 44 years

[police squad]

Having recently bought my Dingwall John Taylor bass (and not really having a gig for it) I've started to learn my 80s duo stuff but on the bass.

It would be fun to swap between guitar and bass on some gigs ( the bass line on Rio is particularly good)

I've decided that I should do some of this stuff more authentically and play using fingers and not always with a pick

The guy in my 80s band is a music teacher and awesome bass player and he's putting together a short video of how he plays with fingers

stuff like how to keep the volume the same between different fingers

Also he says to keep the nails on your plucking hand short so they don't pick the string

 

Anyone else got any more tips for me on this, (keeping the nails short is a great tip)

[Geek99]

I read somewhere that JT learned “chucking” from Bernard Edward’s and that this technique uses the nail to get a pick like sound?

[itu]

You may have an idea of how you sound, but a looper is very good tool to reveal details from your playing. Instant playback, cheap units are really cheap. 

[warwickhunt]

1 hour ago, police squad said:

Having recently bought my Dingwall John Taylor bass (and not really having a gig for it) I've started to learn my 80s duo stuff but on the bass.

It would be fun to swap between guitar and bass on some gigs ( the bass line on Rio is particularly good)

I've decided that I should do some of this stuff more authentically and play using fingers and not always with a pick

The guy in my 80s band is a music teacher and awesome bass player and he's putting together a short video of how he plays with fingers

stuff like how to keep the volume the same between different fingers

Also he says to keep the nails on your plucking hand short so they don't pick the string

 

Anyone else got any more tips for me on this, (keeping the nails short is a great tip)

 

Well there you go, that perfectly demonstrates 'One man's meat...'!  LOL

 

I keep the finger nails on my right/picking hand at a length whereby I can use them to affect the sound but not so long that I can't change my position and use the flesh.  

 

Sometimes I also play the string below the one I am playing almost percussively with Ghost notes (I'd never analysed or even thought about it till someone asked me how I do it), a DB technique in a way; some tutors would find this an anathema to 'proper' bass playing but it works for me.  

[police squad]

well I'm glad to report that I'm not too far out with what my mate has told me

but after my playing 2 days ago, my plucking fingers are sore, so I need more playing hours to build up calluses on my fingers

shorter nails works for me too

[Burns-bass]

On 28/12/2025 at 07:51, police squad said:

Having recently bought my Dingwall John Taylor bass (and not really having a gig for it) I've started to learn my 80s duo stuff but on the bass.

It would be fun to swap between guitar and bass on some gigs ( the bass line on Rio is particularly good)

I've decided that I should do some of this stuff more authentically and play using fingers and not always with a pick

The guy in my 80s band is a music teacher and awesome bass player and he's putting together a short video of how he plays with fingers

stuff like how to keep the volume the same between different fingers

Also he says to keep the nails on your plucking hand short so they don't pick the string

 

Anyone else got any more tips for me on this, (keeping the nails short is a great tip)

It’s worth having a good compressor in your pedal chain, especially if playing with fingers.

 

Experimenting with dynamics is fun. 
 

Like everything, you’ll make rapid progress with structured practice.

[Rosie C]

I've no advice to give, but congratulations on getting a JT Dingwall, and on starting on lessons!  John Taylor inspired me to take up bass, though I've never really been able to play his lines  

 

[police squad]

6 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

It’s worth having a good compressor in your pedal chain, especially if playing with fingers.

 

Experimenting with dynamics is fun. 
 

Like everything, you’ll make rapid progress with structured practice.

I've been gigging for over 40 years but I don't understand compression.

I've used it in front of an octave pedal, to make the octave pedal track better but I'm not sure it worked any better (it was in the early 90s)

[Owen]

I hate (operating) compressors. I bought a TC Spectracomp. I tried all the programmed settings I found one I liked. I never have to think about compressors now.

 

When it comes to playing with fingers, the accepted way is to use two fingers. This is great. However, 1 finger was actually good enough for JJ and he seemed to get around just fine. I watched a vid of that guy who had a signature P bass who is a hotshot US session bod (sorry, I cannot remember his name) who was playing with one finger and it does give a subtly different timing/groove.

[Owen]

Sean Hurley. Sorry Sean. 

[Burns-bass]

5 hours ago, police squad said:

I've been gigging for over 40 years but I don't understand compression.

I've used it in front of an octave pedal, to make the octave pedal track better but I'm not sure it worked any better (it was in the early 90s)

I always thought they were pointless too, until I got an Origin compressor and the sound is just fantastic. It’s even across all strings, rich, warm and punchy.

 

I guess it smooths out the sound, and it does just sound much better. 

 

Most of my gigs are with double bass now but I still use it for jazz gigs and whatever and it really helps my jazz basses sound great.