How to learn new songs/bass lines

@Al1885, your approach is almost exactly how Mark at TalkingBass teaches how to learn a song. He says to learn the chord progression really well, then play along with a chunk of the song using only roots, then play again with fifths added, then add thirds, octaves, etc. This approach embeds the song’s structure and melody in a comfortable, non-stressful way. Then work on the overarching bass line, then the fills. :+1:

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OK, I don’t know what Mark is teaching (and so I should really keep my mouth shut :grin:), but it seems this is an approach that works for, e.g., jazz standards, or other songs where there is no pre-composed bass line, meaning you have to develop one or “improvise” a walking bass line (made up mainly of chord tones).

But, perhaps I misunderstood this approach you were talking about!?! :smile:

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I like this method because there’s no notes no charts just play and understanding of the song. Muscle memory is key, lord know what’s gonna happen when you go live, muscle memory got me out of trouble a few times. One time a fight broke off on a dance floor I was playing the tune and saying on the mic trying to stop the fight, funny how the brain works.

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No, sorry, @joergkutter, that’s not what I meant to convey.

Here’s an example of how Mark teaches how to approach learning a piece (this isn’t the whole song, but the principles apply to that, too):

https://youtu.be/xeXkne1W6ig

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I sat down yesterday to learn Nutshell for the first time. While I was quite familiar with the song and knew how to play the rhythm guitar bit, this was my first go at the bass part. So I did go from somewhat nothing to a recorded cover in a few hours.

First off, I refused to look up the tabs as I wanted to learn as much by ear as possible. After ear training for about 30 minutes, I had all the pieces down but was struggling with getting them out of order when playing.

Stubbornly, I tried to brute force my way through it. After a couple of dozen bad takes, I printed out a lyric sheet and wrote 1, 2, 3 and 4 in their respective spots. These numbers would denote the 4 licks that make up that song.

It still took another 10+ takes after I did that to get a decent recording. All in all, I’m happy I didn’t use tabs but I think I should have drawn the diagram earlier than I did.

So, that was my experience.

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Ah, OK, I see now. That’s cool, but that is really going beyond “just” learning the piece; this is about understanding the piece (or, its bass line). What I mean is that you could choose to learn Jamerson’s lines without understanding how they are constructed. (Of course, the latter has the much more meaningful long-term potential :wink:)

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Plenty of good advice above. I don’t have any transcribe type software but quite often at some stage I search youtube for ‘song name bass isolated’ as I’ve discovered as mentioned that a bass line isn’t always what you think it is and avoids just mirroring a guitar or melody.

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I agree, @joergkutter.

If just learning Jamerson’s lines can be compared to eating fish, understanding what he played, why and how he played it is learning how to fish. :fishing_pole_and_fish:

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Thought of another tool i use sometimes, added it above…

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What a coincidence, I just mentioned this in another thread. I use the DAW to map out and analyze the song like that too.

One thing you should do first is set the DAW project BPM to the BPM of the song so the DAW measure markers line up where they should with the actual measures in the song. You’re pretty zoomed out there so it’s hard to tell if you did, but it’s critical IMO.

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It’s the one thing I always forget to do, lol

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For bass covers you can get away without it but it’s much easier to analyze the song if the measures line up :rofl:

The moment you want to add other instruments, definitely anything MIDI based, it’s required, though. It’s pretty fundamental to a DAW project to have the BPM set correctly.

Ya, never needed it as I don’t do any of that stuff

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It would so totally drive me OCD-insane to not have the BPM set correctly, and the measures not lining up :rofl:

Even for just analyzing the song, I’d want it. It’s the very first thing I do for any DAW project.

Like, how do you make the metronome or click track work correctly without it?

Don’t need it

Listen to the drummer @howard :wink:

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So, obviously, when the drums are playing, then yes.

You use the metronome/click for count-in before the first measure and until the drums come in, for songs where the bass starts before or at the same time as the drums.

If you don’t set the BPM, you’re kind of hosed :slight_smile:

Nah, there are two tricks here when the bass starts right away that I use…

  1. Slide the whole thing over in the DAW, giving you some space, zoom in on the waveform and when it comes flying by…start!
  2. Footswitch - I have a MIDI footswitch for stop/start/record which i use when recording. I just get the timing of when to start the first pluck down based on when I hit the footswitch, takes 10 seconds to sort.

No clicktrack or metronome needed.

Sure, but… wouldn’t it be easier to just set the BPM? This seems like a weird thing to want to avoid doing.

When you move on beyond backing tracks, it’s pretty important to have the BPM set correctly. Might as well get in the habit now.

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Like I said, I simply forget to do it, not avoiding it.
But you are correct, would be good to get in the habit now, will add to my routine

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