If you read 1 thing today, please let it be this...

[mgibson]

Um, hello, this is hard for me to really get across well. I'm 15 and reliseing that playing bass is really what I want to do in life. I've been playing for less than three years but I'm like above grade 6 standard, I read sheet music (three days locked in my room), I'm playing in a band (how many 15 year old boys don't?), I'm playing in a jazz band (accredited by local big boys as the best ever school band they have heard), I'm playing scores for big bands and in a school production of Bugsy Malone and taking as many chance as I possibly can (which ain't many in rural Norfolk ). Oh I'm also taking theory lessons and DB lessons. (Blowing my own trumpet, described as 'highly gifted' and the 'best bass student I've taught')

So anyway, it's really frustraiting 'cause I see all this insane bas players, more than a few of them preside on this here sight, and I go to myself how do they get there, I woodshed day in day out I listen to whatever the hell I can lay my hands on... So yeh, what I'm trying to say is that I want your help. I want to know where you learnt stuff like how to play over chord changes, how to construct walking bass lines, what to listen to and how to survive in the music industry. (Also if you live/have knoledge of the Norwich/South Norfolk music scene where I could get gigs or go see decent jazz stuff etc.)

I know I'm over stepping the line putting all this stuff up here and expecting you to reply, but I'm coming through in the generation of tab and eighth notes, not transcribing and quavers, so please help, cause I want to be part of the future of bass and I don't want that future to be bland, dire infact, because so many other elements of music nowadays are. Thanks.

[itswac]

[quote name='mgibson' post='1065018' date='Dec 20 2010, 03:01 PM']Um, hello, this is hard for me to really get across well. I'm 15 and reliseing that playing bass is really what I want to do in life. I've been playing for less than three years but I'm like above grade 6 standard, I read sheet music (three days locked in my room), I'm playing in a band (how many 15 year old boys don't?), I'm playing in a jazz band (accredited by local big boys as the best ever school band they have heard), I'm playing scores for big bands and in a school production of Bugsy Malone and taking as many chance as I possibly can (which ain't many in rural Norfolk ). Oh I'm also taking theory lessons and DB lessons. (Blowing my own trumpet, described as 'highly gifted' and the 'best bass student I've taught')

So anyway, it's really frustraiting 'cause I see all this insane bas players, more than a few of them preside on this here sight, and I go to myself how do they get there, I woodshed day in day out I listen to whatever the hell I can lay my hands on... So yeh, what I'm trying to say is that I want your help. I want to know where you learnt stuff like how to play over chord changes, how to construct walking bass lines, what to listen to and how to survive in the music industry. (Also if you live/have knoledge of the Norwich/South Norfolk music scene where I could get gigs or go see decent jazz stuff etc.)

I know I'm over stepping the line putting all this stuff up here and expecting you to reply, but I'm coming through in the generation of tab and eighth notes, not transcribing and quavers, so please help, cause I want to be part of the future of bass and I don't want that future to be bland, dire infact, because so many other elements of music nowadays are. Thanks.[/quote]

Respect to you. Work hard and be patient. Listen to and transcribe great players that are varied in their styles and try your best to get into their minds. Listen to how Paul McCartney's bass lines work in song, how Victor Wooten's technique expands the range of the instrument, how James Jamerson bridges the rhythm with the melody. Listen to great gospel bass players like Sharay Reed to learn about putting heart into your playing:



Most important, keep playing with other musicians and seek out time with musicians who are better than you. It will help keep you humble and on the path to improvement.

[wateroftyne]

Time spent out in the real world gigging & meeting other musicians [i]GREATER THAN[/i] Time spent in bedroom widdling over chord changes [i]EQUALS[/i] success

IMO.

[LiamPodmore]

I know it might sound abit stupid, but the book "Bass Guitar for Dummies" is actually really helping me at the moment. I'm also 15, play in a band and have been playing for about 3 and a half years (Can play to a grade 8 standard, not so good at theory) and its actually got some useful stuff in it.

Liam

[OliverBlackman]

I dont think any at 15 needs to rush, just carry on enjoying what your doing. When you feel you've got as far as you can by yourself then find a proffessional in london and go to their gigs, talk to them and see what it is that their doing that makes them better than yourself. Reading books and interviews is all ok but it will never compete with the real life experiences.

If you want to get really good my best advice would be to leave school after GCSE'S and do a course in music, no matter how much your parents say no. I ended up waiting 2 years until after A levels and i consider myself 2 years behind. Good places to go would be Music College of Leeds, ICMP, ACM ect.

[skej21]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1065035' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:08 PM']Time spent out in the real world gigging & meeting other musicians [i]GREATER THAN[/i] Time spent in bedroom widdling over chord changes [i]EQUALS[/i] success

IMO.[/quote]

+ 1

Only thing I could add is that you should get a GOOD bass tutor. What I mean by that, is someone who has worked as a bass player in the areas you want to work (not a guitarist who can half-arse himself some bass lessons) and they will/should improve your practical skills like reading and your technique at a much quicker pace than if you try and work it out on your own. It's also important to learn from their experiences and discuss tips/shortcust they use to do the same job quicker.

My old bass tutor used to tell me stories all the time and I always thought he just liked talking, but most of his tales have helped me at some point. One example that springs to mind is a story he told me about the first reading gig he did.

He said he turned up and tried to be polite, shaking hands with the MD/players and introducing himself but found they all gave him funny looks and ignored him. MD pulled him to one side after and explained that the people who had paid (some posh punters) didn't know he had cobbled together a group of readers for the gig and that he didn't want the payer to click on, because once he realised the band didn't often play together, he would start listening more carefully for errors.

This particular story helped me A LOT in the way I've conducted myself professionally and helped me avoid rookie errors that he had made, thanks to his advice.

Edited December 20, 2010 by skej21

[xgsjx]

Like above, playing with other musicians is the best thing you can do.

Spend time learning each note by ear & singing them in your head so when you're listening to something, you know what notes are being played & what scale it is in. This will really only come with time & practice (obviously).

Walking basslines tend to be using the scale of the song & following the chords (in it's simplest form). 12 bar blues is a good place to get your basics for this.

Experience will come in time & before you know it, you'll be giving most of us advice (hopefully).

Anyway, you're headed in the right direction, keep it up!

[leschirons]

Bilbo is probably your man for asking what's on jazz-wise in the Norfolk and east Anglia areas. He's in Suffolk I think but probably knows about every gig there is. You could PM him if you don't want to wait too long for an answer. He'll have some great advice too.

Best of luck with your career choice, sounds like you have the passion for it.

[Mr. Foxen]

The most important thing to do is to listen to what you are playing. If you don't do that, everything else is moot.

[borisbrain]

Sounds like you're doing pretty well.

I can't help but agree with WaterofTyne - better to be out in the real world than obsessing in a bedroom, but then again, everyone has to practice somewhere. The trick is finding something that you *like*, rather than just being good at.

I'd imagine that most of the bass players here want to:

a) just enjoy being in a band. Heck, it's fun.
b} get paid if possible
c) get girls (or guys). Alternatively, they're trying to get time away from the wife (or husband)
d) get famous

There probably aren't many who've achieved all of this, but it ain't half fun trying.

So, relax and enjoy. Play music you like, with people you like. Get gigs. Get a following. Get a manager/promoter. It's bloody hard work, but just keep enjoying.

Bestaluck

BB

[fatback]

+1 to all of the above.

Especially about being a little patient - you're already way ahead of where most of us were at your age.

Maybe you could get yourself some keyboards. A lot of the very great players, like Rufus Reid, say you should give the piano a lot of time, if you want to be a really good musician.

Edited December 20, 2010 by fatback

[theosd]

I hadn't even started playing at 15. You'll be fine mate, keep at it and, as someone else here said, gigging and jamming as often as possible will earn you so much invaluable experience.

[thodrik]

Just keep playing! I found that playing double bass and learning the theory alongside was great for my understanding of music in general. However it was not as helpful as all the time I have spent playing the electric bass by myself or in band situations. After a certain point (ie six months into studying classical music at uni), I thought that playing double bass in order to be a better electric bass player was like learning to play squash in order to become a better tennis player. After a while I just wanted to play tennis, and playing squash was just getting in the way of things, even though it was really helpful at first.

After using up my metaphor and imagery quota for the month, I'll just say to keep doing what you are doing. I would say to keep doing what you are doing. I wouldn't get too bogged down on learning new techniques all at once, or adopting a clinical approach to electric bass playing as you would with classical double bass playing. Just keep on playing and after a certain period in time you just get a feeling on how to approach chord sequences etc and different techniques will come more easilly once you start to really know the instrument.

[Bass_Guardian]

Im 17 and im well rubbish compared to these guys that are 15 ( from what they've said )

Good luck with ur career, personally i dont plan to play bass. Even if i did want to play bass as a career and ive kind of excluded myself from the 'network' of musicians by not taking music at school or put up any ads for a band (except on here ). Which i suppose i could incliude myself but im scared of auditions etc incase im too crap. Apparently i play to a grade 5 approx, but this was from a guitarist and not a bassist

I suppose this is the point i try to defend my honour as THE bassist of Irvine.......na i just suck


EDIT: i also just recently found out what an arpeggio is....just says how good my theory is

Edited December 20, 2010 by Bass_Guardian

[JakeBrownBass]

Jam nights, know the players in your area.

Get a BASS teacher, not a guitar player who thinks he can teach bass.

Regarding constructing walking basslines, start looking at II V I chord progressions & the Dorian mode/scale.

If that last sentence went over your head, get some theory lessons, although a good bass teacher should do this whilst teaching.

What to listen to? Whatever you want, honestly, anything & everything.

Its more about getting your name about, talking to different players/MD's. If you want to be a working musician, forget about being flash. Turn up on time, well prepared & nail the gig. Doesn't matter if its a dingy pub gig, backing a big band in a competition, or sitting in a pit at an amateur theatre production.


It's hard work, and you'll really really want to do it.

[pete.young]

There is a lot of great information on this site, the trick is not to try and overload yourself.

Check out the major's bass boot camp [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284[/url], don't try and do all of this, and not in one go, just dip in and out when you feel the need for something new to work on.

[RhysP]

[quote name='mgibson' post='1065018' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:01 PM']....but I'm coming through in the generation of tab and eighth notes, not transcribing and quavers......[/quote]
Don't panic, you can still buy Quavers - I had a packet yesterday.

[steve-soar]

[quote name='mgibson' post='1065018' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:01 PM']Um, hello, this is hard for me to really get across well. I'm 15 and reliseing that playing bass is really what I want to do in life. I've been playing for less than three years but I'm like above grade 6 standard, I read sheet music (three days locked in my room), I'm playing in a band (how many 15 year old boys don't?), I'm playing in a jazz band (accredited by local big boys as the best ever school band they have heard), I'm playing scores for big bands and in a school production of Bugsy Malone and taking as many chance as I possibly can (which ain't many in rural Norfolk ). Oh I'm also taking theory lessons and DB lessons. (Blowing my own trumpet, described as 'highly gifted' and the 'best bass student I've taught')

So anyway, it's really frustraiting 'cause I see all this insane bas players, more than a few of them preside on this here sight, and I go to myself how do they get there, I woodshed day in day out I listen to whatever the hell I can lay my hands on... So yeh, what I'm trying to say is that I want your help. I want to know where you learnt stuff like how to play over chord changes, how to construct walking bass lines, what to listen to and how to survive in the music industry. (Also if you live/have knoledge of the Norwich/South Norfolk music scene where I could get gigs or go see decent jazz stuff etc.)

I know I'm over stepping the line putting all this stuff up here and expecting you to reply, but I'm coming through in the generation of tab and eighth notes, not transcribing and quavers, so please help, cause I want to be part of the future of bass and I don't want that future to be bland, dire infact, because so many other elements of music nowadays are. Thanks.[/quote]
Have you had your end away?

[waynepunkdude]

Sorry I already read something today.

[Chris2112]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1065128' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:58 PM']Have you had your end away?[/quote]

LOL!

[RhysP]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1065128' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:58 PM']Have you had your end away?[/quote]
Do you mean "recently" or "ever"?

[skej21]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1065128' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:58 PM']Have you had your end away?[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHA! This literally made me laugh out loud.

After re-reading this thread with that in mind, a lot of the advice works for both.

Universal advice - Plenty of practice and develop your technique so you're well prepared when the opportunity arises

[arthurhenry]

Play as much as possible:
Most importantly play live at every oppurtunity, in any situation.
Secondly, learn by ear from recordings and I mean learn dozens of complete albums and hundreds of songs and don't be satisfied with anything less than note perfect.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1065084' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:33 PM']The most important thing to do is to [u]listen to what you are playing[/u]. If you don't do that, everything else is moot.[/quote]

... and listen to what everyone around you is playing!

[Lozz196]

I`ve found that having good timing is far more essential than being flash. On bass, you are a very important part of the rhythm section, and if your timing is suspect, it can throw the whole band out. Try to play along to a favourite song mentally, without any actual music going, only to whats in yr head, and time it, then repeat, and repeat. If yr within a second or two each time, thats good work. If not, thats an area that is worth working on.

I remember reading somewhere, probably on here, that a bassist, if doing their job well, is largely invisible. Whilst not entirely sure about that, I think the jist is that most non-musicians wouldn`t know what the bass is doing, therefore they`ll only notice you if you drop a clanger, or play out of time.

I whole-heartedly agree with the getting out there and playing with other musicians though, no substitue for learning alongside others, as they will have different aspects to their playing, which you will need to learn as you go. Invaluable!