Learning bass: 10 things NOT to do

an excellent video from (one of my favorite bass tubers) phil conrad:

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Good one ! Thanks for sharing!

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+1 for #7.

Play with humans.

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I just started Module 5 and I feel like Iā€™m close to ready, but manā€¦ as a 45 year old introvert, itā€™s scary as hell. I live in a tiny town and donā€™t know other musicians or even where to start. I guess Facebook is going to be my friend here, but I havenā€™t told anyone Iā€™ve been playing bass. Iā€™ve just been doing it for my own enjoyment.

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Thereā€™s some good stuff in there. But at the end he asks if heā€™s missed anything and Iā€™m like ā€œyes, the last two of the ten things!!ā€ :rofl:

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100% to this!!
I appreciate the honesty and stating it boldly and plainly.

Hereā€™s my (abbreviated) cheat sheet to getting in with playing with people (for introverts):

  1. Find out if there are any open mics, jam sessions, or places in town where for-fun amateur bands can play. (Coffee shops, bars, community centers, pubs, etc.)

  2. Go to these events as a scout. Tell no one youā€™re a musician and just check out the scene to see what itā€™s like!

  • chances are youā€™ll see bands play and think ā€œhey, Iā€™m better than that guyā€ or ā€œI could do this with a few rehearsalsā€ or some such.
  • If its a community event where people are invited in (like a jam session or an open mic) youā€™ll get to see how it works, how people sign up / get on the stage, what types of things people play, etc.
  1. If this world strikes a spark of interest, keep going, and compliment the performers you like. Mention to them that youā€™re a bassist. Things will start to happen!
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Hello, my name is [xxxxxxxxx] and Iā€™m a bassist.

Itā€™s funny, but I suspect many of us have been there. Iā€™m ā€˜outā€™ as a bassist, have been for a while, but just yesterday my boss was taking the p155 when I was talking about the band Iā€™ve formed and our plans for performing. I was rather annoyed with him, after all, it takes a degree of courage to do this, to put it out there.

I was also fairly early on in the B2B course when I started to think about playing with others - itā€™s true that it really does accelerate your development - and faced the same problem, where on earth do you meet people? I my case I joined a local musicians page on Facebook and also BamdMix, like a ā€˜datingā€™ website for musicians. It was through BamdMix that I met a chap who played guitar and things started to roll from there. On BandMix, you can filter for age, experience, location etc. The guitarist I met had a similar lack of experienceā€¦ The challenge here was that I clearly practice more, so it actually got very frustrating, I was better! (This was a revelation!). Anyway, long story short, through BandMix and Facebook, plus just talking to people I know, Iā€™ve put a 4-piece band together. We are playing our first open mic on the 20th.

Am I an extrovert? No. Do I want to do this? Hell, yes! Life is short. Iā€™m on the cusp of having to call myself ā€˜late 50sā€™. I started playing the bass last August, and I am going stand on stage, I am going to feel whatā€™s that feels like!

This community is great, weā€™re all here to support each other in the journey. There is no p155 taking (back to my boss), just encouragement, advice and a love of making music.

Youā€™ve got this @cheveedodd! Weā€™re here for you! Oh, one thing I would say that really helps me is the covers thread. One step to coming out as a bassist is to record yourself and post a video. All Iā€™ve ever had is encouragement from the community. All I ever give is encouragement to others in the community, who are doing the same thing. The songs you cover donā€™t have to be technical, no one is expecting virtuoso performances. In fact, IMHO, for much of pop and rock, simple is actually better! So check out everyoneā€™s covers, pick a song yourself and dive in! As I said @cheveedodd, youā€™ve got this!

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This is a very good video.

I think that last point is fantastic, we are there to serve the song and support our band mates, enabling them to fly! I very much feel this, when Iā€™m playing with my buddies. Lock in the the drummer - I seem to spend a lot of time looking at him, grooving with him, but then just try to lay the foundation of the song, play ā€˜in the pocketā€™, so that the guitar and our front woman can do their thing.

Another point Iā€™d add, is to praise them. Our singer is new to this, itā€™s my job (and the rest of us, to be fair) to build her confidence - personally, I think it takes a hell of a lot of nerve to stand at the front and sing! Praise the guitarist when his tone is just right. Praise the drummer of absolutely kickingā€™ it!

Hell, yesšŸ¤˜

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@cheveedodd , Same here brotherā€¦ 50 yo introvert itching to play with people again but donā€™t know where to startā€¦ have to take the step soon to make thing happen! :grin:

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Thanks for the encouragement @Gio @sunDOG and @qenden

I am definitely going to take all your advice. Iā€™ve looked around for some open mics in my area and there are a few in the next town over. Iā€™ll definitely check them out. BandMix also sounds like it might be good for me.

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Sheā€™s doing a great job and sounds fantastic! Pass that along, please! You all do. Fun to listen to and watch you all together. Itā€™s been fun watching you progress to this point! Hope to be there someday!

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I will pass that on, @fennario, most kind!

The journey really has been / is fun. I think that there are many of us in this forum that started learning via B2B, and have progressed pretty rapidly. Clearly that is testament to @JoshFossgreenā€™s course, but also to the folks here.

Personally, I canā€™t believe that Iā€™ve not yet been playing a year. The course provides the foundations, but then itā€™s up to each one of us what we do next. :metal:

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Yep, same here. Iā€™m 67 and have screwed around with the bass since 2008, I would like to play with others, but my biggest issue is that after 16 years, I canā€™t mute the stringsā€¦ no matter what I do. The fingers, palm whatever just donā€™t work that way and from all the examples Ive seen on YT or even with the bass teacher that I had briefly. Foam and the Fret wrap product help some, but not enough , especially when I turn the volume up. I wanted to do the B2B course but thereā€™s really no point as I wonā€™t play with others as ā€œstrings that ringā€ probably wouldnā€™t sit well with the other players. Iā€™m doing ok playing for myself (and the cat) keeping the volume down and messing with songs/tabs here and there.
Not sure where module 5 is in the course @cheveedodd, but as an introvert as well, Iā€™m hoping the confidence will grow within you as you continue. Keep it up!!

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Thank you. I am now subscribed to a new bass YT channelšŸŽø

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Thatā€™s fantastic to be in a band in less than a year @sunDOG ; it took me 3!

I mightā€™ve been too vocal in the last band practice to one of our members :flushed: He took it well though!

This is from our group text chat

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ahahahaha

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To be fair, it cuts both ways - I sent this to our guitarist this morning. Yep, I havenā€™t properly learnt our version of a song!

(I do find it frustrating that there are frequently multiple versions of songs, and we often, inadvertently, learn different versions! I use Apple Music, not Spotify, so a Spotify playlist is useless to me :rofl:

Oh, I also have a habit of pressing send BEFORE proofreading something, hence the typos!

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Oh thatā€™s a classic for me too, having joined two already active bands with a rather ā€œaggressiveā€ take on most of the material :laughing:

But I find that now, using in-ear monitors, I can spot a lot of mismatches quite quickly. Maybe normal monitors would suffice if the room acoustic was half decent (and the guitars were not always so loud :upside_down_face: )

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@cheveedodd If youā€™re comfortable with it, try the app ā€œVamprā€ !!! Itā€™s a networking app where it lets people in the music scene connect, from musicians to producers to even photographers wanting to take pictures at a gig. If nothing else, you can find out about more local shows and see the atmosphere and meet some people. There are options you can put on your profile like what youā€™re on the app for, whether itā€™s looking for a band or just networking or making friends, etc, there are several different ones to choose from. You can also upload snippets of your demos. I live in a fairly large city and there was only about a dozen locals using the app, but plenty across the state. Worth checking out just to get an idea :slight_smile:

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I object to ā€œplay with other peopleā€ for a true beginner. If you are in the intermediate stage and can detect time signature, know what to do when someone says ā€œKey of Gā€ and know at least a few scales/keys/modes, that is when you should play with others. Otherwise, you will just be confused and frustrated and they will have a bad experience of you.

You donā€™t need to wait to be good - you need to be Servicable. I believe the ENTIRE purpose of introduction training needs rethinking. The entire purpose of ā€œIntro To Bass 001ā€ up to ā€œBass 101ā€ needs to be entirely focused on ā€œHere is the minimum checklist to get through a beginner friendly jam sessionā€. Once you are servicable, then you can grow in any direction you need to.