Learning music to play with a church band. What notes to play?

[AdamMantra]

Hi GGWAW!

Our group has had the same issue of receiving songs late in the week, but that is being improved at the moment, and with my joining them, it’s getting pushed a little more too, so the plan is to have things planned a week in advance, or even two. Fortunately too, most of the songs we play are pretty simple to pickup, and as you say, you don’t need to be playing too many notes either.

On the fourth point you made there, when you say ‘fills’, could you explain / describe what it is you’re playing? Whilst I understand playing specific intervals, do you think about their placement in the rhythm in a specific way, an approach you might use when practicing at home? A few suggestions here have been playing on the beat of the lyrics, or adding in a walk up which can be useful to transition to a chorus for instance, but if you think of things in a specific way, I’d love to hear it!

[GGWAW]

@AdamMantra

On the fourth point you made there, when you say ‘fills’, could you explain / describe what it is you’re playing? Whilst I understand playing specific intervals, do you think about their placement in the rhythm in a specific way, an approach you might use when practicing at home? A few suggestions here have been playing on the beat of the lyrics, or adding in a walk up which can be useful to transition to a chorus for instance, but if you think of things in a specific way, I’d love to hear it!

On 4, I don’t overthink it

I’ve learned a few shapes and try to add them when there is space in the song

B2B is great but you can also have a look at Kyle teaches bass. He has a few videos on YT that I find quite usable , one ex below

THE MAGIC BOX - Pro Sounding Bass Lines

Got some news today, we have another bassist in the “band”… I will lose the opportunity to play everytime but this might give me some inspiration / free lessons (I have no doubt that he / she will be better . )

[AdamMantra]

I didn’t even think of shapes as a way to find easy fills! It’s like I saw ‘fills’ as a specific thing of its own, as if I needed to learn more to know how to do it. Just need to have a bit more confidence in my playing, I guess. Thanks for the video link, I’ve bookmarked that and will give it a run through when I’m practicing later today

I hope your band works out okay, and you get to play regularly as you’d like to. Never know, they might be a multi-instrumentalist and can pick something else up whilst teaching you!