Bass for beginner

[Ant1972]

23 minutes ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

How are you getting on with this one? 

Lol, that was as far as I got with that one... Have mainly just been playing around learning various riffs rather than whole songs. All good fun, but I need to put my head down and learn the scales!

[DoubleOhStephan]

19 minutes ago, Ant1972 said:

Lol, that was as far as I got with that one... Have mainly just been playing around learning various riffs rather than whole songs. All good fun, but I need to put my head down and learn the scales!

As long as you're having fun, that's a great sign. 

All I'd say is practice one finger per fret as much as possible 👍🏻

[nilebodgers]

Crikey, that action looks high! It'll be so much easier to play if you get it set up so you don't need to fight it.

[Ant1972]

On 02/08/2019 at 22:21, nilebodgers said:

Crikey, that action looks high! It'll be so much easier to play if you get it set up so you don't need to fight it.

Lowered the action the other day and it's getting easier to play 😁👍

[Grangur]

Hi Ant, good luck with your learning journey.  It looks like when you're playing you're moving your fretting hand around a lot. There's a way to avoid  this, making it quicker and very much easier. You need to look into what we call "One finger per fret".

If you watch this vid you'll see how Scott keeps his hand stillm but has each finger covering each of 4 frets at the same time.  When you've watched you may also like to go to www.scottsbasslessons.com and book into a 14 day trial. There are 100s of hours of lessons on there. It's also a lot cheaper than 1-2-1 lessons, to get you started, if you actually stay with him that is.

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Grangur

[DoubleOhStephan]

3 minutes ago, Grangur said:

It looks like when you're playing you're moving your fretting hand around a lot. There's a way to avoid  this, making it quicker and very much easier. You need to look into what# we call "One finger per fret".

+1 👍🏻

[Ant1972]

17 minutes ago, Grangur said:

Hi Ant, good luck with your learning journey.  It looks like when you're playing you're moving your fretting hand around a lot. There's a way to avoid  this, making it quicker and very much easier. You need to look into what we call "One finger per fret".

If you watch this vid you'll see how Scott keeps his hand stillm but has each finger covering each of 4 frets at the same time.  When you've watched you may also like to go to www.scottsbasslessons.com and book into a 14 day trial. There are 100s of hours of lessons on there. It's also a lot cheaper than 1-2-1 lessons, to get you started, if you actually stay with him that is.

 

Yeah, that is something I am struggling with... My fingers really struggle to stretch across the frets (maybe a combination of practice and finger exercises will help). But, yes, it's something I need to work on 👍

Plus I've got disproportionately small fingers... And no they do not correlate to the size of another part of my anatomy 🤣

[DoubleOhStephan]

8 minutes ago, Ant1972 said:

Yeah, that is something I am struggling with... My fingers really struggle to stretch across the frets (maybe a combination of practice and finger exercises will help). But, yes, it's something I need to work on 👍

Plus I've got disproportionately small fingers... And no they do not correlate to the size of another part of my anatomy 🤣

Don't feel you need to stretch, you can move your hands, it's just a case of reducing the movement to a minimum 

[Stub Mandrel]

When I started my mate leant me a precision on the condition I learnt to play it one finger per fret.

Now I play a mixture, one finger per fret is easier to play faster, and I hate tab that has you flying up and down the neck for no good reason.

BUT there are plenty of songs or parts of songs that I play with just the three biggest fingers.

I never use my ring and little fingers together (like an upright player) because (IMHO) a bass that needs that much pressure just needs setting up properly! But plenty of people do use this technique.

The answer is very much down to what feels comfortable for you, but if you can deploy different techniques as it suits thw song, you will be at an advantage.

[Grangur]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

When I started my mate leant me a precision on the condition I learnt to play it one finger per fret.

Now I play a mixture, one finger per fret is easier to play faster, and I hate tab that has you flying up and down the neck for no good reason.

...

I'm no expert on tabs, but in my experience tabs that have you rushing up and down the neck are generally wrong.

Bass lines are written by bass players, playing what is easy (for them) and feels "right" to them at the time. Few will have been written as an athletic dexterity test.

One finger per fret is, btw, a good starting policy to make life easy. But like all these things, it's not compulsory to be kept to at all times. When it works, do it. When it's not helping, then move your hand a bit. 1FpF is all good most of the time, but at the "first position"; at the bottom of the neck, it can be tough to stretch. So don't wreck your hands by doing it all the time.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Grangur said:

I'm no expert on tabs, but in my experience tabs that have you rushing up and down the neck are generally wrong.

Let me correct that for you...

I have lost count of the tabs that play a repeated note then move up or down five frets and across a string to continue on the same note.

I suspect some of these are 'frankenstien' tabs assembled from several others or produced by beginners who have worked out each 'section' separately and don't actually realise they are playing the same note, but I'm sure some are just bad.

[Grangur]

17 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Let me correct that for you...

I have lost count of the tabs that play a repeated note then move up or down five frets and across a string to continue on the same note.

I suspect some of these are 'frankenstien' tabs assembled from several others or produced by beginners who have worked out each 'section' separately and don't actually realise they are playing the same note, but I'm sure some are just bad.

I have a Beatles Bass book with some great transcription of the foot bass drum transcribed into the bass line.
I would have expected a book to be right, but this too has your hand moving so fast up and down the neck you'd get friction burns.

[PaulWarning]

very rarely are tabs 100% correct or where your personal preferences is for fingering is, I like to play near the nut, for instance B is nearly always shown at the 7th fret on the E string whereas I prefer the 2nd fret on the A, but as a guide tabs are valuable tools, unless they're totally wrong.

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

very rarely are tabs 100% correct or where your personal preferences is for fingering is, I like to play near the nut, for instance B is nearly always shown at the 7th fret on the E string whereas I prefer the 2nd fret on the A, but as a guide tabs are valuable tools, unless they're totally wrong.

I'm the same. I use tabs as a template (not to followed religiously), and also prefer to play up near the nut, so I look at what note needs to be played and work out where best to play it at the top of the neck.

[SpondonBassed]

6 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

personal preferences is for fingering is, I like to play near the nut,

[SpondonBassed]

Yeah, the books aren't always right.  I have a publication from a respected house saying that the bassline for Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now was overdubbed when clearly it's just a nice little run of double stops during two breaks.  I suppose it's aimed at novices.

Edited August 16, 2019 by SpondonBassed