usually I look straight ahead but when I record the cover my camera is slightly to the center and the external monitor is next to it. If I look at myself on the video I’d get about a half a second to almost a second delay which mess me up pretty good.
1 Like
I’m thinking of wearing a disguise, Residents style, and just look right into the camera!
1 Like
The Eyes have it!
2 Likes
Yeah, replying to myself. Instead of doing schoolwork tonight (module 8 in B2B) I went and got the tab for Siamese Twins and cranked away on that. I finally had an excuse to play with effects and threw in some compression and fuzz. It’s so easy to play that I got my bass face going while I was looking down all sullen and broodingly. I need to get the outro stuff cleaned up. The tab on Songster is missing some notes as well. For what’s going to be my first cover and a song I’ve loved since about 1983 when I was 6, I’m pretty excited to try and record it.
3 Likes
Thats awesome!
Is this correct?
Cure (The) - Siamese Twins.pdf (180.9 KB)
Before @Howard complains 
Source is Songster.
Fun fact: I have two versions and the length of none of those matches the Songster Tab:
EDIT Ooops, I did it again:
I think it depends what your long term goals are @Whying_Dutchman
If eventually like me you want to leave your room and play bass with other people then learning songs is important.
It teaches you to stay in time for 3,4,5 minutes at a time. It improves your stamina. It teaches you to listen to the song not just play video games ie Rock smith. It gives you a real no bullshit feedback loop if you record yourself and then listen back to your efforts.
There are quite a few of us who did the B2B course as beginners and then went and had a go at the 50 song challenge/post your covers. Without exception everyone has improved. Nobody has got worse.
So technique is important because it allows you to play songs and I think that’s where the fun is.
Simple equation. The more time you spend playing bass the quicker you’ll improve.
Don’t overthink this shit just play bass.
4 Likes
It’s in my nature to overthink!
So, I don’t plan to play in bass in a band as a) I will never be good enough to play what I want b) I am not looking to be on stage, playing live and c) I’m generally an obnoxious person and I don’t want to terrorize any more people than necessary ^^
I need to go back to my original motivation: except for my built-in love for music (music is my #1 passion!!!), I was just looking for a way to chill, as my brain is running wild all the time, and there is no way to tame it (I’m European, so we don’t like subscription drugs).
Playing bass relaxes me and gets my neurons in tune.
But - like with everything new: it became a serious project, where I did not only want to do it (play), but understand (music) theory, disassemble and modify the bass, get the technique right and get a feeling for the “psychology” of others (which is BassBuzz to me).
So I’m doing B2B, play along Rocksmith like songs, chat on BassBuzz and have fun.
The 50 song challenge is not for me though - I need to love the song I play. Those songs are mostly what my parents would play…
For posting my covers I need to overcome my natural and very endearing shyness, and find a way that @sundog is not laughing pitifully about my ploink-ploink-ploink. I know he will ^^
So, my eternal quest for getting technique right continues…
1 Like
If you practice enough you will be good enough to play with others. But you have to put in the work.
I’m impressed that you are self aware to realize that you might be a bit of a twat but it’s never to late to change!
If you are as old as I am you know that you cannot change anymore … even better: you start to like being a twat and don’t want to change
1 Like
Ok but I disagree, I think getting older can give you a sense of perspective that you don’t have when you’re younger.
Being kinder and more supportive to others, costs literally nothing.
I just shoveled my neighbours driveway after it snowed and they were out of town. I listened to a podcast and got some fresh air. It’s pretty easy to not be a jerk.
5 Likes
A jerk is not a twat! I kind of like the word “twat”, maybe because of Guesthouse Paradiso?
I’d turn this in its head…I’m good enough to play what I can play now, so are you. You know the stuff I’ve been playing and it isn’t all that complex - but I want to get to a point where I can play more complicated material. For me, that goal is Rio, I may never get there, but along the way I’ll play some fun tunes - by way of example, the various versions of Tainted Love. Yep, I will drop another one 
. I see no reason why you could not adopt a similar approach…
Years ago, I did the Myers-Briggs personality test. Turned out I was on the cusp of introvert/extrovert - neither one or the other. What I’ve learnt through my working life is that one has to put oneself out there, push outside the comfort zone. When recording this stuff, you’re playing to an iPhone (at least I am 
). . You then put the video on YouTube, where ummmm, roughly 7 people are going to look at it, and then for about 7 seconds.
As for me laughing, why would I do that? I’m 6 / 7 months in to this journey too, I’m a beginner. I think we’re all here to support each other, encourage each other. I can’t imagine many, if any of us heave delusions of becoming a professional bass player. I certainly don’t! It’s just a bit of fun in a world that can be crazy, beautiful, scary, exciting, meaningful, meaningless…
Post the covers, bro! 
2 Likes
Not easy, being a perfectionist
I am deeply introvert by heart. I have thought about it a lot when I was younger and concluded that introverts get nowhere.
So I learned to behave like an extrovert. Mind over matter!
I still think that extroverts are only loud and obnoxious after all , so that’s easy to mimic
Most people don’t believe that, but “funny” story: an ex-girlfriend told me, at the end of a seven year relationship, that she never knew what was going on in my head and what I would do in the next moment. She was very right, though for everybody else I was/am as outgoing as it gets!
Appearing to be extrovert helps a lot, especially in my job, where I also need to do a lot of presentations, convince unwilling management or get the team to pursue the impossible. You know the drill…
I would be laughing about my cover - especially about (someone like) me! But of course in a tender and respectful way ^^
Bro … I’m working on it, dude
3 Likes
Definitely! I’m quite the introvert as well, yet my work requires me to be outgoing and something of a cheerleader so I have to work in concentrated bursts of extroversion for public speaking, trade shows, and all that. I have to have some quiet time to recover afterwards.
More topically, I knew my bass playing sucked when I first started posting covers. It’s still nothing to brag about, but I do kinda cringe when I watch the old videos. But, it does give me a reference point to track improvement over time! And ironically, I wouldn’t have improved as much as I did if I hadn’t focused so much on practicing/learning songs well enough to post a video of me playing poorly.
Long story short, I couldn’t think of a better more supportive place than here to share that kind of content without having to worry about people being overly or nastily critical.
Would love to hear you play!
1 Like
That’s me, playing piano. I had a different haircut then and was even fatter. But Andie MacDowell apparently was my girlfriend, so never mind
I am even worse on zzzaaa bass ^^
2 Likes
I got a 30% code for his couses and was thinking about the technique builder. Is it worth $40?
2 Likes
Talking Bass courses offer training for all levels of players.
Technique Builder course is a great one for building chops after B2B.
You are right, and this is exactly what @Whying_Dutchman does all the time in this forum. Maybe he acts a lil bit overexcited, but he keeps being polite and respectful to anyone. Definitely not a jerk.
…and by the way I shovel the driveway for my neighbour for years, this doesn’t make me a kinder person.
3 Likes
@BozzerWolf - well, my friends would disagree with you. Even they think I’m trouble
And you can never be to overexcited!
But, I promise that I will shovel my neighbours driveway as soon as we have some snow again, if that makes me a better person ^^
2 Likes