Anyone who can REALLY play remember when they were proper rubbish and largely clueless...??

[REDLAWMAN]

I just want to get this off my chest.

I'm very much a beginner and still largely in root/5th land, very slowly starting to learn how to join-up chords a little more creatively.

I was really happy on the whole with how things are going until, that is, I put some SLF on today. It didn't have to be SLF: it could just as easily have been Abba.

I find it completely impossible to conceive of how the hell people both know what notes to play and once they know that, how on earth they actually get their hands moving so fast and creatively.

I can't see myself being able to do that in a million years.

Anyone who plays at gigging/band/recording standard remember feeling just this way: in awe really of proficient players and not having any clue how to emulate them and seeing it as 'mission impossible'?

How did you get from there to where you are today and just how tough was it?

It also made me realise that proper musicians don't always get the respect they deserve for their talent and skill, save for perhaps those very fortunate few who enjoy heavyweight, commercial success.

[RhysP]

[quote name='REDLAWMAN' timestamp='1323033303' post='1458563']
Anyone who plays at gigging/band/recording standard remember feeling just this way: in awe really of proficient players and not having any clue how to emulate them and seeing it as 'mission impossible'?
[/quote]

I've been playing for 32+ years now & I still feel like that on a fairly regular basis.

[chardbass]

Yes, yes, yes.
You said it- you're very much a beginner. It all falls into place in time.

When I'd just started playing I can distinctly remember hearing a bass noodle fill in a rock tune- literally a root, flat 7, 5th kind of thing- and thinking "I'll NEVER be able to play that fast"
That was about 30 years ago.

Don't worry about what you CAN'T play- make the most of what you CAN play, play it well, play it like you mean it, and enjoy it.

Don't look for short cuts- enjoy the journey :-)

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='REDLAWMAN' timestamp='1323033303' post='1458563']
I can't see myself being able to do that in a million years.[/quote]

I'm fairly certain that there are plenty of pro bass players who have [i]that[/i] feeling from time to time. In fact, it seems to be a fairly common sentiment among the best players that "there's always so much more to learn".

So you're not alone. 99% of us here are striving to get better than we currently are. For most, there's no big 'breakthrough' moment. Just a flow of small wins and a growing pot of knowledge. Check back on your original post a year from now and you'll feel a little glow of satisfaction.

[color=#ffffff].[/color]

Edited December 4, 2011 by skankdelvar

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='REDLAWMAN' timestamp='1323033303' post='1458563']
Anyone who plays at gigging/band/recording standard remember feeling just this way: in awe really of proficient players and not having any clue how to emulate them and seeing it as 'mission impossible'?

How did you get from there to where you are today and just how tough was it?

[/quote]

I picked up a bass guitar for the first time in my life just after Xmas 2005, so I'm coming up six years of playing, Yes, I remember.

I now play in three gigging bands, each in a very different style, and I doubt if many in the audience have the faintest notion that I haven't been playing for >30 years (I'm in my 50's).

I am NOT a genius or a bass-playing God. There are entire areas of playing that are a closed book to me. But I can play most of the stuff that I want to play, and I can see that I will be able to play more and better with more time and more effort.

The key to getting to the stage you described (for me, anyway) was summed up by the teacher I had when I'd been playing for about 18 months. He started talking about hearing certain things that "were in my playing", which might be riffs, or turnarounds, or little chromatic walk-ups, or whatever.

He was right. I hadn't noticed it until he pointed it out, but you start to build a library of "auto-licks" which you play automatically and instinctively. The more of that there is going on, the more time you have to think about where you're going next, or to decide whether to throw in that riff or not. As your playing gets more relaxed, you sound more laid-back and (IMHO) better.

Eventually you find that you can be thrown into a song you've never heard before, in a style you don't usually play, and within a minute or two you'll be playing a perfectly reasonable bassline to it.

[OliverBlackman]

im afraid the further you delve into music the more of a beginner you feel. There is so so so much to learn and its not often anybody truly "masters" their instrument. But i still remember when i was first handed a bass guitar in a music store by my dad, my response being.... "what the hell do you expect me to do with this"

of course if you only want to cover tunes and songs you can pick it up to a good level in 2 or 3 years with the right teacher.

If like me you want to know the in's and out's, well i'm at 10 years now and im definitely not there

[TimR]

Yes. I think the most important thing is to get into a band as soon as you can, don't worry about how good you are. I started in a band playing 3 chord wonders and plodded along on the root for most of them. As we leaned more tunes I had to learn more and harder basslines. Knowing that you have to learn a song by next week will give you focus.

[Lozz196]

Excellent, a fellow SLF fan. Assuming it was the early stuff, Ali McCordie certainly played some fast and inventive stuff. And Bruce Foxton taking over, another excellent bassist.

Anyway, onto the actual question. I suppose, because at virtually all of the gigs I did in my early music career, in my late teens/early 20s, I was generally rather drunk, I had the utmost confidence, because if I even heard/saw what another bassist was playing, it probably didn`t register in my brain what level of ability they had. So using some twisted logic, I had to have been better.

Nowadays, in my mid 40s, I have a lot more humilty, and realise just because I was playing all over the fretboard, at 1000 miles an hour, although this probably made me look like a good bassist, it`s doubtful that I sounded like one.

So relax into the instrument, take your time, it isn`t a race (I don`t mean that in a condescending manner). As long as you continue to learn - I still am, every now and then I learn a song which is completely different to my natural way of playing - and be aware that you`re still learning, that is the main thing.

As Happy Jack said, certain things will turn up in your playing, and this will build your own style, you`ll know where to place them, and that`s also a valuable part of the process. Knowing when and where to play certain things. It`s a great journey, none of us on here have reached the end of it - at least I hpe that is what we will all say.

[pietruszka]

I remember that stage well! Still feel lm in it at times and iv been playing 12 years. There's plenty of good suggestions here, practice by which I mean play and enjoy it, and find a band to join. It's all very well learning but if you can't play in a band then it's near worthless knowledge.

Ultimately enjoy yourself. We all get to the point where we hear something and think "damn I wish I could play that!". Basschat is a wonderful source of first hand knowledge with plenty of people to ask!

Keep playing!!!



Dan

[Hobbayne]

I was the same way till I learnt some basic scales. You,ll be surprised how it will fall into place.
Listen to a lot of the music you like, and learn a basic minor/major scale and see how it fits together.

[ZMech]

I had one of these moments where I realised how much progressed I've made in the last few years recently. Was chatting to my mate, who was the guitarist in my teenage rock band back at school, who is just starting to get into playing jazz. I ended up telling him all about how I like playing 9ths these days, and other assorted goodness, which he'd only vaguely heard of. It only struck me afterwards that the my 18yo self also wouldn't have had a clue, and back then I couldn't even walk over a 12 bar blues.

In summary, stick at it, your skills will do nothing but improve.

[REDLAWMAN]

At risk of putting other people off posting (which I really don't want to do), thanks very much everyone.

There are a lot of really helpful, humble and magnanimous people on here and I appreciate hugely all your comments and the benefit of your collective experiences.

I feel much better and I shall sleep easier tonight!

[ZMech]

I should also mention that the feeling never truly goes away. After every lesson with my bass teacher it slightly upsets me just how ridiculously better than me he his. Just view it as 'motivation'.

[Wylie]

[quote name='ZMech' timestamp='1323043065' post='1458721']
I should also mention that the feeling never truly goes away. After every lesson with my bass teacher it slightly upsets me just how ridiculously better than me he his. Just view it as 'motivation'.
[/quote]

+111 And yet my bass teacher, who is a killer bass player, has [i]his [/i]higher-level goals as well; and so it goes. Like Skankdelvar said, it's a flow of small wins.

[Twigman]

I definitely still feel like a beginner...I can only play our songs....yet I've been playing 30odd years!

But I only need to play our songs so I just try to play them well.

[flyfisher]

Bass-wise, I can't really add anything more to the above excellent posts, but I'd suggest that the OP's basic point can be applied to so many things in life. The more I learn about a subject, any subject, the more I feel there is so much more to learn about it.

It seems to be a natural thing to underestimate all the stuff we do know as we become more aware of all the stuff we don't know. In that sense it can sometimes feels as we're making no progress at all, or worse still that we're going backwards - like climbing a small mountain and suddenly being able to see all the other mountains out there.

Ignorance may, perhaps, be bliss but it's not as much fun as getting out there and climbing that mountain!

[JTUK]

I have to ask... SLF..????

As for the OP... just listen and practice.

[johnny_frog]

[quote name='REDLAWMAN' timestamp='1323033303' post='1458563']
How did you get from there to where you are today and just how tough was it?
[/quote]

From wikipedia...

Carnegie Hall joke
An old joke has become part of the folklore of the hall. One of the earliest print versions of the joke runs as follows: Rumor is that a pedestrian on Fifty-seventh Street, Manhattan, stopped Jascha Heifetz and inquired, "Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?" "Yes," said Heifetz. "Practice!"[sup][size=2][19][/size][/sup]


I am still very much at the practice stage...

Edited December 5, 2011 by johnny_frog

[thumperbob 2002]

I have been playing for 35 yrs- since I was 14 and the best bit of advice I can give is dont concentrate on fast runs etc but concentrate on your timing or "groove" Keep it simple- the runs and "flashiness" will come. I have found that only musicians notice these things- the normal audience will not- but they will instinctively know if you can groove.

Oh- and find a good drummer- this will make you sound much better than you are- Always worked for me!!

If you are looking for a line to impress if played correctly- try Good Times by chic- seen loads of bands do this but hardly any with the correct groove....

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='thumperbob 2002' timestamp='1323071847' post='1458791']
Oh- and find a good drummer- this will make you sound much better than you are- Always worked for me!!

[/quote]

Nail ---> Head!

[xgsjx]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1323070033' post='1458782']
I have to ask... SLF..????
[/quote]
Not sure if you're asking "why SLF" or "who's SLF"? If it's the former, I agree . If the latter, it's Stiff Little Fingers.

Redlawman, best thing to do is learn some theory (what notes are & how they fit into a scale & so on).
Like's been said, get a tutor (or YouTube).
I started on keys some 35 years ago & transgressed to bass, & after 20 odd years of bass I still think of things like a keys player).
Unfortunately I can't recall when I couldn't play good as I was born good at playing.

[LiamPodmore]

I do remember feeling that i'm a bit crap and will never improve to the level that i wanted. Now, 4 years later, i have reached and surpassed the level i wanted to be at. It doesn't show in my main band (As thats more of a root/5th/octave kinda thing) but in my newly formed band it will do. I'm now playing stuff i couldn't even dream of when i started.

Liam

[BigRedX]

First off what does "REALLY play" mean?

If you can do root/fifth then IMO you are ready to join a band. It seems to me that the stumbling blocks that you are describing are ones that are most efficiently overcome by playing with other people. You learn and develop by doing and I've always found that being in a band is a great way to learn and develop.

[LiamPodmore]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1323079238' post='1458861']
You learn and develop by doing and I've always found that being in a band is a great way to learn and develop.
[/quote]

Just to add to my previous post, i have to agree with this BigRedX, i joined a band after about a month (Yes, we were sh*te) of playing. I joined the band i'm in now after a year, and progressed pretty quickly as soon as i did.

Liam

[seashell]

Thanks for starting this thread, Redlawman. Sums up pretty much how I feel at times.
It has been great to read all these helpful and encouraging replies. The more I read the more I think I will just have to try and get in a band somehow.
Not sure how many bands would accept a middle aged woman who can't bloody play. But I guess I just have to get out there and start looking. They're not going to beat a path to my door!

I sense a New Year Resolution brewing....