Do you sing?

[Mog]

No I dont sing the lines but i am prone to making the dreaded wah face. looks like i've pulled a hamstring at times!

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Tee' post='703603' date='Jan 6 2010, 10:40 PM']You mean like this chap?

[/quote]

I think he's brilliant I really do. He should be a teacher, assuming he isn't a teacher.

[wombatboter]

I think that a lot of bassplayers just know certain positions on the neck but have absolutely no idea what sound is connected to that particular spot. They just know that when they fret a certain place on the neck that this is correct and that the fifth and the octave underneath it probably will be too...
We just follow our hands and I think that in a lot of cases our knowledge of the tonal values is highly overrated.
Try to sing a tune and then play it on your bass without making mistakes, that's really hard. It shows that we think in patterns and not in melodies.

[Mike]

Yes, always, as much as possible, after recommendations to do so by Richard Bona and Janek Gwizdala.

[acidbass]

[quote name='OldGit' post='699301' date='Jan 3 2010, 10:54 AM']If I'm creating a solo I'll often sing a line along with the backing track chords, then learn the line on the bass. This gets me out of my fingers' normal tramlines. I also add in octave jumps (Some-[i]where[/i] over the rainbow) and other attractive melody features that I've heard in vocals and other instrumental solos...[/quote]

That's one of my favourite techniques for writing basslines. If you look at some of the old Jamerson lines and such, his playing is so melodic that it could in essence be a vocal line and still have a catchy, sellable quality. It also helps when you're trying to come up with a bass part which forces you to play slightly differently from your usual go-to notes.