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Date Posted: 10:43:42 03/02/05 Wed
Author: BFIH
Subject: Reasons for the bass....
In reply to: chamberlain 's message, "bass...." on 06:54:50 03/02/05 Wed

I did try to learn the regular steel stringed guitar as a youth - with very sore fingers to show for it. I think I might know 3 chords. Maybe if we'd have started out on nylon instead...

Anyway later on I learned to play the tuba and actually liked it -- sick pup that I am -- but really even playing tuba it was like this really cool feeling laying down the root of the chord and it had this feel like you were playing the whole chord by yourself when everybody was really in tune.

In the process of being a tubist I had to learn to read bass clef pretty well. Then after I got pretty darn good at the tuba, I discovered to my frustration that I seldom got to play in the jazz band, the orchestra pit crew and rock n roll was definitely out which kind of sucks after working your butt off to really get good.

I tried to get my band director to teach me the bass -- he gave me one VERY LONG WRITTEN lesson (And now after learning some bass I can see he was trying to teach me bass with guitar style fingering instead of teaching me the "cup" style that you really need to groove) and then just abandoned me saying when you get all that down come back. Ha!

Well anyway a couple of years back I finally bought a bass and it sat around a lot till the last few months when I said darn - that things been just sitting in the corner for like 2 years and I'm going to do something about it. So I promised myself I'd try to play it AT LEAST 5 minutes per day 6 days a week and I've pretty well stuck to that. The hardest part is getting started each day and the second hardest part is quitting once I do get started - it usually ends up being considerably longer than 5 minutes...lol

I'd still call myself a beginner, I don't do well at muting some of the strings when I'm playing, but all those years of playing tuba kind of pay off for me because I can hear patterns real easy.

I don't have all the fret positions memorized, but I know where all the notes are in any scale relative to each other so I can just pick it up and play most of my major and minor scales without thinking about what notes I'm actually playing if that makes any sense -- I just do it and it comes out right.

I've just always loved the bass parts in bands like Rush too -- e.g. "Spirit of Radio" has a really fun part that I had no trouble picking out. So I'm not ready to go play for dough, but I enjoy playing the bass for my own pleasure.

The right hand on the bass seems to be mostly an alternative index, middle finger plucking except when you're doing octaves then you use your thumb and index finger. I read contradictory advice on which finger should start, on switching the fingers as you move up and down the strings, etc. I don't have the notes as even as I'd like right now, but that's just a matter of practice - they're getting better all the time. I at least know in my head real well what the rhythms should sound like and I try to make sure to do nothing but focus on some very nice even plucking every day.

I got a little drill I play on a video tape of a band where you basically are just playing even 8th note patterns with an anticipated chord change on the eighth of the 8 notes... e.g.

EEEEEEEE BBBBBBBB GGGGGGGD DDDDDDDD EEEEEEEE BBBBBBBB GGGGGGGF FFFFFFFF

The left hand is a bit more of a challenge for me - my hands have something like a 9 inch span from the tip of my thumb to my index finger so they aren't as big as I'd like them to be. However, the span on the bass is so wide - especially up near the neck that the good bassists all use "the cup" which basically involves using your 2nd and 3rd finger together on the same fret and only covering 3 frets at a time instead of trying to stretch for 4. I find when I need to play fret 1 and 3 at the same time (e.g. when I'm playing octaves or fifths) I have to stretch my third finger down and kind of almost lay it on top of my 4th finger to make the stretch.

Eventually I'd like to find somebody around here who knows what they're doing and take an actual flesh and blood lesson to clear up any bad habits I might be developing before they get too ingrained, but meanwhile I'm having fun.

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Replies:

  • A couple of thoughts on your right hand... -- Waldo, 17:37:07 03/03/05 Thu
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