I was super excited to play bass along others in a jam, even as a complete novice. Admittedly I am a guitar pleb so I got some experience and theory under my belt but playing bass with others felt very challenging and different. I want to share some of my thoughts and hope that somebody can shine in with some tips!
The good!
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It’s just a lot of fun to lay down a solid rhythm where others can improvise one, being foundational is so enjoyable as I prefer for others to take the lead. Hence, I feel really super comfortable playing the bass.
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Actually having to listen to more closely to others and focus on your own rhythm is very satisfying.
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The bass just sounds great in an ensemble! I only played guitar in jams where no bass was present.
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Super satisfying to create grooves and to dance along, even on simple basslines.
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Playing the root, fifth, fourth and octave is already a powerful tool to create some compelling basslines.
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Adjusting from quarter notes to chugging or varying the rhythm is really powerful and creates cool dynamics
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The 12 Bar Blues was honestly the most fun I had in a while because it felt utterly badass to be the pulse for a good shuffle feel. It was basic but the formula lend itself well to experiment.
The challenge
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My puny fingers are only used to the tiny strings of a guitar, being able to play consistently on bass requires strength and solid consistency which is really exhausting at times.
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I find myself being distracted from other players and had to really focus on the base rhythm that was going on (that said we had no drums in both sessions which was a further challenge). B2B gives you great advice on how to listen to drums but without those, it can feel challenging to stay rhythmically solid.
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I don’t know any popular baselines that would easily fit into a jam so I mostly relied on following guitar or other chordal instruments, trying to follow the root and playing around that. We had some progressions that featured more chords and I was lagging behind a bit.
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Not knowing basslines of popular songs.
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Others asked me to lay down a bassline first but I improvised one that was pretty decent but otherwise it was hard for me to kind of lay down a groove with notes for others to improvise on. Despite knowing about keys and chord notes, I tried outlying chords but it was hard for others to sort of make chord progressions out of it.
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If I took the lead, I was mostly struggling because I didn’t know how to arrange notes or how to come up with something.
Overall, it was so much fun and I hope that I can continue on. This was only made possible with the help of B2B because I did the first few modules and started getting used to the technique while being able to play basic rhythms.
We try to organize some drums for the next jam as it may help greatly, even if it’s just with a midi controller. We also have a loop pedal with integrated drums, this might be helpful as well.
Cheers!
