Noob Bass help continued...

Blaendulais

I too like the noob bass thread below have decided to play some bass.  I play lone at home mainly.

Any pointers to learning bass for guitarists.  I really only now the octave trick and that doesnt work on d and g lines

Thanks in advance

MattBanshee

Arpeggios and walking lines are a good start.

ICBM

Get any - or every! (apart from Heartbreaker, which is a great album but not for this reason) - Free album and listen...

StageStruck

ICBM said:

Get any - or every! (apart from Heartbreaker, which is a great album but not for this reason) - Free album and listen...

This.... definitely this!

Funkfingers

Use a drum machine or software instrument to provide a consistent rhythmic pattern. Play a bass groove in time with it. See what happens if you play slightly ahead or slightly behind the beat.

fretmeister

Duck Dunn playlist on Spotify.

One of the classiest players in history. 

pintspiller

There are three things I do when I play bass (is actually four): 1) bang on the root; 2) root-fifth (country line); 3) simple walk root-third-fifth; 4) extended walk root-third-fifth-sixth.

Balrog68

Have a look here:
www.talkingbass.net
Loads of free utube lessons, e-books, etc.

PonchoGreg

My advice would be to pick music you like (preferably where you really like, and can hum, the basslines) and just play over the record. Tabs or YT videos can help visualise what's going on.

Echoing one of the comments above, I'm doing that for Duck Dunn tracks, as well as a bunch of soul classics - so trying to cop stuff from Jamerson, Babbit, Rainey, etc. But that's because I love soul, and more specifically bass on those old soul records. You could do the same for whatever floats your boat.

Then you should start getting a feel for it, play more cleanly, develop a feel for ghost notes, build up speed, etc.

Basically what I did for guitar when I was a teenager and should still be doing, but can't be arsed Sometimes it's very good to be a noob.

Blaendulais

Thanks Guys

PolarityMan

Lots of advice for chordy stuff...my advice for riffy stuff would be play less notes, think about where the accents are and write your bass lines appropriately. A bass can accent particular notes or phrases of a guitar riff either by duplicating to add weight or by playing nothing in order to let the guitar poke through. What the bass chooses to do is going to change the feel.

If there's fast hythmic chugs in the guitar line dont feel you always have to duplicate the rhythm, you can keep things tighter by plaing something simpler. If you are going to paly the fast rhythm patterns then get a distortion.

In fact get a distortion. 

PolarityMan

Also learn how to brrbrr-DENG

Funkfingers

PonchoGreg said:

cop stuff from Jamerson, Babbit, Rainey etc. … because I love soul and, more specifically, bass on those old soul records. You could do the same for whatever floats your boat.

Not so much floating boats as whatever motivates you to wiggle yo’ ass. 

Bass and drums are the elements of music to which people dance. From Motown groove to Adam Clayton eighth notes, da bass needs to bounce and set listeners dancing. (Even for Cardiacs devotees, pogoing in 9/8!)

Rocker

It is vital to listen to what is going on in the band.  Lock in to the drummer.  Less is actually more. Turn up your amp, bass needs to be louder than a guitar.  Go for it and enjoy the experience.

slacker

All good advice I'll add something you need to tell your guitarist if you ever play out...

"Get out of my frequencies"

Balrog68

Instead of picking hard, turn the amp up and pluck/pick soft.... You'll be able to play much faster, much longer. 

mbe

slacker said:

All good advice I'll add something you need to tell your guitarist if you ever play out...

"Get out of my frequencies"

I get sick of guitarists playing the full barre chords all the time. There's just no need for it.

PolarityMan

slacker said:

All good advice I'll add something you need to tell your guitarist if you ever play out...

"Get out of my frequencies"

A bass has waaaaay more beef on the bottom end though.I think its more a problem for the guitarist's tone than the bass player's tone. 

ICBM

PolarityMan said:

slacker said:

All good advice I'll add something you need to tell your guitarist if you ever play out...

"Get out of my frequencies"

A bass has waaaaay more beef on the bottom end though.I think its more a problem for the guitarist's tone than the bass player's tone. 

I've found from experience as a guitarist, bassist and occasional soundman that the correct solution to this is to always raise the guitar amp/cabinet up off the floor, and keep the bass amp/cab fully down - this has the effect of rolling off the bottom fundamentals of the guitar sound slightly, while enhancing the bass ones... the result is a clearer mix where the instruments are naturally separated without needing to EQ them, and you can hear both better even if one is louder than the other, without causing volume wars.

It's remarkable how effective it is - you don't even need to raise the guitar cab up much - six inches off the floor can be enough with a 4x12", but a bit more is usually better with a combo or a smaller cab. It even means that you can then often turn the 'bass' of the guitar amp *up*, which enhances the low-mid punch, without making it too boomy. (Especially useful if it's an amp like a Mesa.)