Eeek! Guitar has overtaken bass

paul_c2

I was - still am - a bass guitar player. Having initially started briefly on 6 string guitar during childhood but soon switched to bass, then played it for 30 years. A gradual decline in frequency of playing meant that there's been long periods (like, months..) when I'd not picked it up at all. More recently with a lot of time on my hands, I started becoming interested in playing music and bought an electric guitar (....then another).

 So I've been playing (6 string) guitar properly for about 3 months now. I feel I have gotten on well with adapting/relearning/transferring the musicianship and techniques onto it, so much so that I felt it gave a real boost to starting off once I'd overcome the physicality of the instrument. And I've been playing the bass less and less as a consequence. And now its come to a point where I think I've caught up and possibly overtaken my skill on the guitar in 3 months, what I'd spent 30 years spending/wasting time playing the bass. The reasons I reckon are numerous:

1. Bass is REALLY BORING to practice and listen to on its own. In comparison, a guitar makes sweet melodic sounds
2. Although I'd had bass lessons in the past, I was mainly self taught
3. Although I've done loads like played in bands etc, the bass parts are basically really simple/unchallenging
4. I've approached (6 string) guitar in a much more technical way, such as structuring my practice sessions, keeping a note of progress, taking lessons, etc.

What's reinforced it is getting a simple audio interface so now I can record simple tracks and listen back. Mainly my aim was to record a chord progression, then practice playing lead guitar/improvising over it. But of course, its not too complicated to add a bass track too to liven it up. Maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself but some of the bass I've listened back to just sound sloppy. Maybe I'm having a bad day?


Does anyone else play both, and has developed a strong preference for one or another? I thought I loved the bass, in a way I still do - but to look at and think back of fond memories of the past, rather than actually play it. I don't think I'd ever sell it, but maybe I'll actually focus on the guitar and just occasionally pick up the bass like I used to?

octatonic

I play guitar, bass and drums.

Drums is the most fun to play on its own and the one that is most in demand.
Guitar is still fun to play on its own but I'll be fucked if I can find a decent paying gig for it these days- too many people doing it.
Bass is the least interesting to practice, unless you want to get into fusion-land, but you can get gigs doing it..

As far as your practice- do you play to a metronome?
What is your approach to practicing?

Bass is a fairly naked instrument- you can't hide behind distortion like with guitar- unless you are going for a distorted bass sound.
Try a compressor to even out the peaks when recording.
I don't practice bass with a compressor, because it can be a crutch but I almost always track bass with a compressor.

paul_c2

I use the built in metronome in Reaper and tweak the levels so I can hear it properly over the other instruments during recording, possibly its because I haven't tweaked/altered the levels the timing is off. Of course, there is always the temptation to cut the particular few beats and nudge it a little sideways!

I admit I'm very much a beginner to recording and basically put the tracks down with no effects at all, I have dabbled with applying some effects to the tracks. For the guitar, I mostly just record it with a clean sound, although I've done a few with a bit of distortion from the amp now that I've got a proper guitar amp which can do this. It also has some built in effects but I generally don't use these, prefer the clean tones or plain old gain with a bit of reverb. I've also tried re-amping so I could do this to further enhance the recordings - I guess that's a skill in itself too.

octatonic

Feel free to post a link to your recordings.

paul_c2

I've had another look at it with fresh fingers (and ears), I've tried a slightly different approach and muted everything else so the bass is recorded while listening to only the metronome/click. And I did 10 takes by looping it and just keeping playing etc, then selected the nicest one.

How do I upload sound files/reaper stuff most easily?

JezWynd

I've had a resurgence in my love for the bass since I started learning Bach for bass. There are a lot of challenging yet melodic pieces that translate really well to electric bass. Currrently learning Suite No 1 in G maj (You'll know it once you play the first few notes). The patterns he uses translate really well to lots of other styles, dub bass being a personal favourite.

octatonic

paul_c2 said:

I've had another look at it with fresh fingers (and ears), I've tried a slightly different approach and muted everything else so the bass is recorded while listening to only the metronome/click. And I did 10 takes by looping it and just keeping playing etc, then selected the nicest one.

How do I upload sound files/reaper stuff most easily?

MP3 to soundcloud.

paul_c2

Right, I think I've done it correctly, I've created a soundcloud account and uploaded it:



Its a simple chord progression of A, C#m, D, E E7 E6. I know the 2nd C# the bass plays (beat 3 of 4th bar) is buzzed, I left it in deliberately as "character".

octatonic

Good job so far.

You are rushing a bit in places, dragging in others- it feels a bit too straight- I would work a bit on making it a flowing bass line.
You can fix that with metronome work- do you know about the 'halftime 2 & 4 metronome' approach?

Some of the picking has uneven dynamics.
Track with a compressor and for working on your approach with fingers have a look at this.



I particularly like scale exercises in 3rds as it forces your fingers to cross strings back and forth, mixing up the index and middle order.

paul_c2

Great, thanks, I'll have a look at the stuff a bit later (and pick up the bass).

paul_c2

I've now had a chance to look at the Youtube video above. Its actually quite frustrating, but the "issue" was staring at me in the face, it was blindingly obvious but because I'd never played in front of anyone (for a LONG time on bass); and never recorded then listened back, it had passed me by. So, thank you octatonic for pointing out the faults.

Put simply, I'd not played the bass hardly at all since restarting guitar, and of course, the strings are thicker and further apart. I'd been simply "missing" reaching the note occasionally, and instead of carrying on in time I'd mentally paused then gone back to play it. Sometimes the miss would be silent to the instrument. And to compound it, I've always been a little dismissive of solid practice routine because the bass is so simple to play. I had always been playing grade 1-2 pieces, never really stretching myself etc. So I'd never (for example) played scales to a metronome, or done even simple technical exercises on controlling dynamics (like, go up an octave scale and make every note louder than the last). I remember from ~30 years ago that my right hand got lazy and sometimes I would play the odd note soft, or use my thumb instead of just fingers so it was always a bit duller than the others, etc. Just simple, sloppy stuff which I'd probably have been fried alive on had I ever sat in front of a tutor for even half an hour recently!

paul_c2

I did this today, not sure if I'm getting any better or just the same....

viz

Nice