Duff McKagan's top 5 tips for bassists

TL;DR…

  1. Find a good drummer
  2. Serve the song, first and foremost
  3. Learn some Larry Graham and Roger Glover licks
  4. Versatility is important
  5. Ultimately, find your own sound

I best find out who Larry Graham and Roger Glover are :blush:

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Love all of these.
The list is eternal and infinite and there are some killer lists out there. Someone shared the Creativity Manifesto from MONONEON and I loved that too.
Cool stuff.

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Haha, I love this:

“Bass playing is about the fuckin’ groove. Your band is gonna suck unless you and your drummer have got your shit going on."

2.5 expletives to get the point across, I dig it. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Haha very funny thing in there:

“Learn from someone like John Paul Jones for dexterity, something like Immigrant Song, which he actually plays with a pick. Do those weird major runs with a minor seven during the build-up and learn how to play them fast.”

“weird major runs with a minor seven”… that’s a mixolydian scale, Duff! (those runs are at 0:44 on the studio track)

Is it still weird after being commonly used for (at least) hundreds of years? And it’s in, like, every blues tune ever? :stuck_out_tongue:

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Love it.

Find a good teacher to accelerate past the teething issues without forming bad physical habits. It’s quite physical and none of us are getting younger. Very useful trying to get in the head of your best friend in rhythm. I found my approach to bass playing improved dramatically. Still pretty shit as a bass player mind you, just less than before.

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I really like this, @iRecordless! And - even with these modules - having a real live person to check in with every now and again can be very helpful! Josh has all the information and guidance, but he can’t SEE YOU! Having just a few real life lessons with someone who can spot you in real time can be real cool.

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