How Can You Tell How You're Doing On Bass?

Here’s a weird question - sitting vs standing while playing. I find I play a little better standing up, although I play more sitting down because of my back. Thoughts?

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Whatever floats your boat.
If you end up wanting to play live I’d work on standing though.

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I really don’t think about it too much, I just continue to work on new things and as long as I put in the time to play and learn, I’ll progress.

I never gauge my performance in anything based on other people, my goal is always to be the best at being me.

My personal goals are generally to play songs that are fairly difficult that take some work to get through cleanly and to be working on some courses to learn new techniques or theory. Most of my playing is from songs on yousician which makes it fairly easy for me to determine which songs I can just play through fairly easily and which songs I’ll have to slow down and spend more time working through. I can usually tell by the level what speed I can start playing them at too. Some songs might take me a few hours, some songs I’ll be working on for weeks/months…

There’s a level 15 song on yousician and the lessons only go to level 9 :smiley: some day I’ll finish the last of the level 9 course… it’s fast metal stuff which I don’t really care about :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

I see so many people on forums complaining that they’ve plateaued but if you’re playing the stuff you enjoy, even if it’s easy, I don’t see a problem with that. If you want to progress, you have to identify what it is you’re lacking that you want to improve. It’s easy at the beginning, everything is new and you’re constantly learning… later on it’s more difficult to identify what it is you want/need to work on. My main goal is to be able to improvise well, I’m on the 5 year plan for that :slight_smile:

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For me, one thing that is kind of gratifying is how much I have retained without practicing much. I’ve spent a lot less time on bass over the last year than on other parts of music, so when I pick up a bass and, though rusty, the skills are still there - it demonstrates that I learned them with a solid foundation and retain the skills well.

I think the lesson from this for a relatively new player is that while they may feel stuck or not progressing, they might be surprised with how much they have actually internalized and really learned already, and solidly. They are better than they may think they are.

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Wax on, wax off. Sand the floor. Paint the fence. This is the way.

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Either way works fine for me.

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So i make it a thing to stand and play. I also run my wireless rig and walk around while I’m playing. Putting effort into playing through works for me-meaning knowing how to play it through differing conditions.

I mostly play sitting for comfort, and doing the 60s thing of standing stock still dont work for me ( i also won’t play in a suit-not owning a suit helps here), but i think standing and playing is a critical aspect? If i can only do it one way, i limit myself as a player…don’t get this twisted, i stink as a player. I’m never gonna be a star. But learning to play means learning on every level for me.

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Ah, yes. This has been a topic before.
Hopefully you’ll find some good wisdom at the thread linked here.

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so tonight while practicing… I just tore off galloping at 160bpm :open_mouth:

I can’t think about it too much or it falls apart. And I can’t maintain it for like, a song, but it was pretty glorious to do just bust it out of nowhere :smile:

160bpm seems to be my “default” speed a lot of the time when I’m just jamming.

And I think a lot less about string crossings, too. Practicing Anesthesia at a fast tempo helps :eyes: XD Bass solo, take one…

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Kickass, K! So great! Keep on keepin’ on.

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I pick a song (in what ever genre suits you) and work the bass line out. I started with songs like Sweet Home Alabama, More than a Feeling, then jet- are you gonna be my girl, blind melon no rain, System of the down- Ariel’s, now I’m working on red hot chili peppers- snow(hey oh). There were lots of other songs in between these but I track my progression by being able to play songs that I know are harder than the last song I learned. Sometimes I’m over ambitious and have to step away from a song until I perfect a technique or skill specific to that song. I don’t give up on the song I just have to be self aware that I wasn’t ready for that particular song just yet. For me anytime I can play what the “Pro” is playing and sound like the song it’s a win.

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For me it’s whether I still enjoy playing. I got into bass playing for the laughs and the women, and the women dried up a long time ago…

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Attracting women with a bass. What a unique concept.

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:grinning:

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Snow is such a fun song to play. I love that flea is celebrated for his awesome slap technique but has so many great fingerstyle lines. I been working on black summer. My music guru says it’s what they call a “wandering bassline” i dunno what that means or where to sell it. But it’s fun to play.

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Yeah. Like i ain’t got enough natural woman repellent going on here😂

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