Kwiatkowski_73 Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Hey all! I've been tonking away at the lessons and got to a point where I'm playing the bass line from Billie Jean. I happened to record myself playing it and on play back noticed that when I'm moving between strings I'm almost getting a hammer on and pull off sound whilst moving. Once heard, never unheard. It is doing my head in. Is this down to Technique, Set Up, both or have I not sacrificed enough skin to the Bass Gods? Help Me Bass Kenobis. You're my only hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham56 Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Are you listening through headphones? I practice using headphones and they pick up everything. All the little finger hits etc. But when I play live (remember that?) none of this comes through, especially against the sound of the band and the drunks in the audience. I don't record, so there maybe more of it coming through then. But I do find the headphones useful, in that they force me to improve on these details of my technique. Especially as I'm playing roundwounds after about ten years of flats. You get away with LOTS with flatwounds... Cheers Graham 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford13 Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 9 hours ago, Kwiatkowski_73 said: Hey all! I've been tonking away at the lessons and got to a point where I'm playing the bass line from Billie Jean. I happened to record myself playing it and on play back noticed that when I'm moving between strings I'm almost getting a hammer on and pull off sound whilst moving. Once heard, never unheard. It is doing my head in. Is this down to Technique, Set Up, both or have I not sacrificed enough skin to the Bass Gods? Help Me Bass Kenobis. You're my only hope. Keep practicing, and perhaps work on your fretting hand fingerings. Apply enough pressure until you produce a clear tone, then you don't need to press any harder, the lighter your touch the faster you can change position, plus it will help with your intonation. Don't be too hard on yourself, listening to yourself play is always tough at first, but it shows you where you need to focus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Panzer Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Might be worth giving this a watch, sounds like the left hand muting issue he's talking about at 6 minutes (the whole vid's worth a watch though tbh, gotta master that muting). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Lift your fingers off the strings, don't drag them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike257 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 (edited) I'd also go listen to some isolated bass tracks from famous recordings - there's stuff on YouTube from James Jamerson, McCartney and many more. When you hear all the buzz, finger noise and string clanks on iconic bass performances that you can barely perceive once they're sat in a mix, you'll feel better about your own! Analysing your own playing on an isolated recording is a great way to improve but without context you can also go right down a rabbit hole and best yourself up far too much! Edited February 13, 2021 by mike257 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilebodgers Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 +1 for working on muting. This is quite a good video: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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