The low frequency conspiracy... and playing with yourself...

darthed1981

mrkb said:

It would have been ‘filly’ in a carry on movie.

Damn fine filly that Dua Lipa, and look how much fun her bassist is having here...

Stratavarious

darthed1981 said:

Hi All,

Don't come in here much, but have discovered across recent jams that I really rather love picking up a bass, certainly beats being "rhythm guitar #3"... and there is a lot of hidden fun involved, like you are part of a low frequency conspiracy, nobody notices you are there... but they would notice when you are gone... like the band illuminati

I've also noticed the bass lines more on songs, pop songs ironically, where the bass can vary from simple root notes but reinforces chord sequences with climbing bass notes (like on George Michael's "Praying for Time", which I'm a bit obsessed with at the minute) or whacks in nifty passing notes, and so on.

I should note, I'm a very poor bassist, I play with a plectrum, and mostly will happily busk with some root notes, rather than try to be clever... but I do enjoy working out where you can slip in a fifth, or a passing note... I probably get it wrong, but it's fun.

So apart from sharing the fact I've "discovered" that bass is pretty cool as an instrument for ME (should note I've been fortunate enough to play with bassists off of this parish, who are fantastic musicians, and I was aware of this before!)...

How do you try to play with yourself? (snigger), - sometimes you can pick up a guitar and just widdle pentatonics for ages and have a ball - though I suppose it can be the same on a bass - do you all play along with recordings?  Is it worth investing in a bass amp, or are headphone solutions (like the nux mighty plug, wot my mrs got me for xmas, and the Vox bass amplug, which I also have) good enough?

Thanks all

Get midifiles of tunes you like and pop them into a DAW. You can mute the bass or view the bassline as notes.

When recording potential new tracks for the band, i get the drums from a midilfile and then play all the parts starting with bass.

The ‘pro’ tabs on my Tabs Pro app allow same,

slacker

I don't play bass much at all. I've been playing so long and to answer the playing with yourself question, no.

When I started I practised for hours each day and was in at least two bands at any given point. Most of them rarely gigged but I was playing in a band.

I got to a point in 2004 where I never played at home but I was playing in 3 bands.

Imho playing bass gives you so much opportunity to drive the band. Take an average band with a decent drummer, you can make that band a lot better. You are a step away playing guitar. 

My advice would be to play along with YouTube, get some recording gear, pester bridge house to play bass at jams and maybe form a little jam band. You've already got bass covered, there's loads of guitarists. Look out for someone who says I used to play drums...

Ossyrocks

I'm a bass beginner too, having bought my cheap Squire P-Bass a few weeks ago.

There's a couple of youtube channels I have subscribed to in order to go over basics. These are:

Scott Whitley Bass
Scotts Bass Lessons

The latter has a whole fee paying academy section which I haven't got into. He also has a free "Groove Trainer App" available to download, which is basically lots of drum loops, and other cool features. I can groove and jam to some of those for ages.

Scott Whitley has some great free lessons on things like blues bass, walking bass etc. Very easy to follow, sometimes a little bit slow actually, but you can fast forward if you think you've got that bit nailed.

I've bought a Fender Rumble 15 for the lounge. It has an input for my iPad, so I can play the drums loops through it. There's also a headphone out (which I haven't used).

Rob

Funkfingers

Ossyrocks said:

Scott's Bass Lessons … has a whole fee paying … section.

Scott seems a decent chap and does a good job of explaining things to beginner and intermediate level students. Unfortunately, the "monetizing" side of his YouTube site tends to get on one's tits after a while.

Ossyrocks said:
Scott Whitley has some great free lessons … easy to follow, sometimes a little bit slow actually but you can fast forward if you think you've got that bit nailed.

Even if you think you have nailed something, it is worth playing it a while longer to build stamina and prove that you can sustain a groove for as long as a musical director requires you to.

Ossyrocks

Funkfingers said:

Ossyrocks said:

Scott's Bass Lessons … has a whole fee paying … section.

Scott seems a decent chap and does a good job of explaining things to beginner and intermediate level students. Unfortunately, the "monetizing" side of his YouTube site tends to get on one's tits after a while.

Ossyrocks said:
Scott Whitley has some great free lessons … easy to follow, sometimes a little bit slow actually but you can fast forward if you think you've got that bit nailed.

Even if you think you have nailed something, it is worth playing it a while longer to build stamina and prove that you can sustain a groove for as long as a musical director requires you to.

@Funkfingers ;Agreed on the "monetising" thing on SBL. I follow him on Facebook and sometimes I have to snooze him for a bit as it floods my feed. But, he must be doing something right, his vids get 1000's of views.

Good advice re building stamina and sustaining the groove. It's what us feeble guitarists struggle with when picking up a bass. It's a much more physical experience.

Actually, Scott Whitley is an old mate of mine. I think we did our first gig together in about 1995, and we've done hundreds since in multiple different bands. His overall approach and style are not what I'm aiming for, but the basics stuff he presents on his channel are really useful.

Put it this way, I'll never slap.....ooerrr

Rob

DLM

Ossyrocks said:  he must be doing something right, his vids get 1000's of views.

  He'd get loads more if he could figure out a way of being less annoying. The rambling on to up the overall length of the video so the algorithm will push it more drives me bananas. That's saying nothing of the ridiculous clickbaiting, etc.

Zoonyboy

The bassline (& chord sequence) on Last Christmas is a direct lift from Kool & The Gang's Joanna.
Also, learn major & minor scales, but never be afraid to just play simple root notes, it often works best. Use your ears.