A bit of RHCP/Incognito/Bill Withers/Marvin Gaye (newbie so go easy!)

[mingsta]

I picked up a USB interface on the 'bay last week, here's a few rough and ready bass parts that I recorded with a midi backing track.

[url="http://soundcloud.com/mingsta88/"]http://soundcloud.com/mingsta88/[/url]

I've not recorded before, so I found it hard to relax and get in to a groove and there's lots of small mistakes that I can hear when playing back (most of these were done first take as I only had an hour on sat night) - but nevertheless I reckon doing more of this would be a great way to improve technique and become a more consistent player.

I've just come back from a ten year break from playing, and am blown away by all the easily accesible technology that we now have. You can jam to backing tracks on your ipad, recording direct in to a laptop and upload to soundcloud and facebook to share with your mates - awesome!!!

Any constructive criticism appreciated. Would also like to hear of any good online resources for learning more about home recording and how to record a good bass sound.

[Mornats]

I'll have a listen later on but just wanted to say that you shouldn't worry about hearing small mistakes. REcording yourself is a brilliant way of analysing your playing so that you can improve. I was terrified of recording myself at first but a mate of mine encouraged me by saying that only I have to listen to the messes I make It gives you a nice confidence boost when you nail a bassline and you can listen back to it.

I totally agree about how accessible all of this is too. You can see a list of software that I use in my signature. EZDrummer is brilliant at letting me get some decent drum tracks down very quickly and easily. It's just a case of selecting a drumkit and dragging and dropping a midi loop into it. I can use my midi keyboard to record synths, pianos and all sorts of other instruments too. A big surprise was finding out how easy it is to get some decent string sections going on with the midi keyboard.

[mingsta]

Cheers Mornats, you're right its a good challenge and it must be very satisfying when you really nail a track. I found I tended to start off badly and then improve as the track went on.

PS just checked out your soundcloud, there's some really good stuff on there...are those your own compositions? Really impressive if they are.

Edited May 14, 2012 by mingsta

[Mornats]

Thanks Mingsa, yeah they're my own compositions (except where the vocals have been supplied by someone else in which case they're collaborations I guess). I only started playing the bass again a year and a half ago after having not picked up one for about 17 years. I had no clue about music theory and still only know some basics now. For me, the best way of learning was to have an idea in my head and then attempt to get it down. Got loads of books, read a lot on the web about it and only learnt what I needed to at the time. It's well worth jumping into just to see what you're capable of!