Forumers quick tips and tricks

Florin

Florin

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Since the internet is full with great free bass lessons (scott devine, etc) I think the most uncovered things are little personal tips and tricks you learn behind close doors in studio or rehearsal rooms, details that really can make a difference in playing.
So let's post here really short messages with little tips that helped you become better players.
I can't wait to learn from your experience!
Let's do it!
 
Play bass unplugged!
There is no better way you can really feel how your bass reacts to your playing than when you play unplugged. PLaying bass should be a two way communication between you and your instrument - you play it while feeling how it reacts. This can be tricky when playing amplified. You feel the string, picking position, articulation, you feel the real voice of your bass. Because how you play it has the most impact in how your sound is, and when playing amplified is harder to find the optimal intensity and position.
So long story short, I found that playing my bass unplugged while wathing TV, 1-2 hours every day improved my articulation and sound like no other exercise I;ve ever done.
 
Nice thread! I'll see if I can think of anything useful I have learned over the last 25 years of playing. Then again being me I probably won't have.
 
That's impossible! You know so many things you get used to them, but other players even better than you have no clue about them because they never thought of them. So let's exchange personal ideas :-)
 
My two cents:

1. Play in a band.
2. A proper band has to play some gigs!
 
Florin said:
Play bass unplugged!
There is no better way you can really feel how your bass reacts to your playing than when you play unplugged. PLaying bass should be a two way communication between you and your instrument - you play it while feeling how it reacts. This can be tricky when playing amplified. You feel the string, picking position, articulation, you feel the real voice of your bass. Because how you play it has the most impact in how your sound is, and when playing amplified is harder to find the optimal intensity and position.
So long story short, I found that playing my bass unplugged while wathing TV, 1-2 hours every day improved my articulation and sound like no other exercise I;ve ever done.
Click to expand...

I've done the same when younger and I agree completely, Florin. It helped me understand the instrument, how to attack the notes and it improved my articulation a lot too.

PS It's been a while since I've last been here... :shock:
 
While having good theory knowledge is a good thing, my personal experience in over 25 years of playing mostly non jazz music is this:
- As a bass player in a band/ project, you pretty much play what other people tell you to play except of course, the songs you write.
- So knowing how to play is more important than what to play!
- In the studio, the real pain in the ass are not fast technical licks, but the main foundation of bass lines - to play straight eights is incredibly hard, same as drawing free hand a perfectly straight line may be harder than a full portrait for some. You need to play steady, but consistent.
- Same as drummers work on rudiments, we should try to discover some basic patterns we are using all the time and try to make them perfect! For example it may sound silly, but I still have problems playing those pasing notes/ fill ins that are not spectacular at all, but are crucial, like AAAA AAA[E A]AAA.
My point is that the most basic stuff is harder to master than we think, and they weight a ton in your career. I stopped studying scales and modes a long time ago, as I am never happy with the way I play straight eights, or sixteenth.
 
Here's my most important one:

Let the snaredrum breathe. Don't choke it with too much bass but do incorporate it within your own groove.
Bass + drums will sound more dynamic and funky if you do.
 
Wow Marco!!! I spent a night with TM Stevens at Frankfurt, and at one moment I asked him : please tell me only one advice coming from you, the most important one!
And he just made a sign with the hand (we had some nice groovy music as background) like - when the drummer hits the snare he stops the bass :-)
See? That was the most important advice in TM's vision, so if this was your first one, I can't wait to hear more from you!
 
Learn how to setup and adjust your own bass: intonation, truss rod relief, and string height. Bring the tools you need to do this in your gig bag along with a 9 volt battery and tuner, as you never know what the environment will do to your instrument, even in just 5 minutes in a dry/humid/hot/cold room.

Get an amp/preamp with a 9+ band EQ, and learn how each frequency enhances or detracts from your sound. Learn how to cut and boost frequencies to match different rooms and cabs. Bring an extra long cable or wireless system so you can hear how your setup sounds 25 feet away, from different vantage points. Tailor your sound for the audience, not so that it sounds good right in front of the amp. The band and room will absorb all that fretnoise or buzz when the volume is high.

Listen to what the sound guy has done with your sound post DI. If he's good it should be glorious. If not, make your DI out post-EQ and send him a signal you're happy with.

Always be on time
Always know the material well
Play for the song, don't wait for a space to throw a fill in. You will lose track of how many fills you've played and will look like you're trying too hard.
That being said, if your band likes chops than kill it!
 
Playing tips:
Have several different techniques that you're very comfortable with I.e slap, palm mute,finger style,pick. It gives you more options for sound, and can save you on faster tunes if one of your techniques is rusty.

BASS TIP #1 !!!!!!!

This one is my favorite. If your fingers are sticking to strings or feel like too have too much friction or drag, specially with steel strings, rub your plucking fingers on the side of your nose. Your face oils will lubricate your fingers and make it seem like you're playing on butter. Its awesome, and harmless, and your face always has oils. Just remember to wipe your string s down after a long gig doing that.
 
My advice to any musician is to learn how to play other instruments, besides their main one. Understanding what your bandmates are doing will help your own development as a musician a lot. It makes a lot of things easier as well. Think of communicating whith your fellow band members about what they are playing at a certain point in a song. With more knowledge about the instruments they are playing, you can adapt the part you are playing to match, for example, the drums. It works the other way as well: if you have made up a cool bassline and you have a matching drum groove in your head, you can ask the drummer to play it. You can even try demonstrating the drum groove to the drummer. I do stuff like that all the time when I'm jamming with people, when I'm working on projects.
 
DiMarco said:
Here's my most important one:
Let the snaredrum breathe. Don't choke it with too much bass but do incorporate it within your own groove.
Bass + drums will sound more dynamic and funky if you do.
Click to expand...
True. I usually try to stick with the kick.

My personal thingy is to WARM UP.
Open, close you hands, move your wrists, shoulders...
Whenever I start playing my first thing is going up and down the neck with the "spider exercise".
Not sure if i can put a tab here, but :

---------------------------4-5-6-7-----------------------------
------------------3-4-5-6----------5-6-7-8-------------------
----------2-3-4-5---------------------------6-7-8-9-----------
-1-2-3-4---------------------------------------------7-8-9-10

--------------------------------10-11-12-13---------------------------------------
------------------9-10-11-12---------------12-11-10-9---------------------------
8-9-10-11--------------------------------------------------11-10-9-8------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------10-9-8-7


one finger per fret, you get the drift.

You can of course alternate fingering and play -1-3-2-4... etc.
 
i play to warm up
----------------------------4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-------------------------------------------------------6-7-8-9
-------------------3-4-5-6-------------------7-6-5-4-------------------------------------5-6-7-8---------
----------2-3-4-5-------------------------------------6-5-4-3-------------------4-5-6-7------------------
-1-2-3-4-------------------------------------------------------5-4-3-2-3-4-5-6---------------------------
 
I like this thread and think I´ll write short tips.

This first one is a tip I can give after 20 years of playing, gigging and stuff:

Once you find a good drummer, one you have personal and musical feeling, one with groove and time, try to never lost him/her. A good drummer will make you bass work easier.

8:
 
Expanding on Flo's 8th and 16th note comments. Practice the most rudimentary of skills with your metronome. Painfully honest as it may be, your right hand will become more solid. Practice at very slow tempos to even out your timing. Gradually speed up. This will do worlds for your triplets and 16ths smoothness. I practice really tricky lines very slowly as well. If you can get the feel at 60 bpm, you can crank it up with ease.
 
While I'm driving, usually on longer trips but also around town, I'll listen for songs on the sat radio that I don't know but that have good solid and creative basslines. Simple song, complex song - doesn't matter. I pick out the bassline and follow just the right hand rhythm part with my fingers on the seams of the steering wheel or shifter as if it was a string. It lets my feeble little brain not worry about actually hitting the right place and just focus on learning and polishing the fundamentals of being on the right time. Then when I do get back to the homestead and play, my timing is much smoother and more consistent with a lot less thought being focused on keeping the beat.

+1 to playing unplugged as well. I never test a bass in a store by plugging it in. If it's used, I'll test to make sure it works before I make a decision, but whether I actually want to take it home depends on its natural performance more than electronics any day.
 
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