Playing without looking

You should really check where Ohmura’s playing next December 26. Every year on his birthday the Kamis and Gacha Spin jam together to celebrate. Ohmura went to school with one of the Gacha Spin members, can’t recall which.

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I love it when Gacharic Spin does metal. Metallic Spin is hilarious.

Love F-Chopper’s rainbow-fretboard extreme ESP there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBWkWeknJco

those wigs rofl

I think the only reason this was released is this was Mikio’s final performance before his fatal accident a few days after. This would have been fun to be at.

That’s totally awesome. And the best pair of Priest songs. Tomo-zo rocking out, Hana singing Halford like a pro :slight_smile:

F-Chopper and Boh just kind of bopping in the background for most of it.

That’s some serious chops on stage there.

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Here’s the behind the scenes for 2020’s, starts with F-Chopper handing over the cake, then lots of charming stuff with the bands and kids.

When Ohmura is talking with the kid with the hearts guitar (which puts me in mind of a Hide guitar), he is holding the guitar Mikio’s wife gave him, and which he plays in his senseis memory; Mikio was one of Ohmura’s first teachers. He’s actually playing Mikio’s guitar throughout.
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What I did was practice in front of a mirror and look at the fretting hand through the mirror. This forces you to look forward, then eventually once muscle memory develops and you learn to feel for frets you’ll stop looking.

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When I bought my first fretless, the salesman (who was an excellent bassist) told me to play in the dark. Doing this, he said, would link my ear to my muscle memory without having to look at the fretboard. I was already proficient on fretted bass, but did have the bad habit of looking at the fretboard. The skills I learned by playing fretless in the dark transferred to my fretted playing to the point that I rarely needed to look at the fretboard on either. Also, learning to play in the dark helped when I have had to play gigs on low light stages.

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Practise, practise and practise more. No golden tickets available, but tutorials and lessons may help.

After few years, practising is awarded.

And true answer to the question “Which bass is good for beginner” is the one you like.

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Playing in the pitch black can be an interesting experiment!

Lots of blind players have a reputation for having more of a “singing” quality to their playing and my theory is that it’s probably because they have to depend on their ears so much more!

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As others have said, it’s all in the practice. Eventually you’ll develop the muscle memory and will be able to play pretty well without looking.

An easy song to practice this on for me is Feel Good Inc as all the notes are only a couple frets away. The slide up to the 12th fret on the E string took me a while to hit even while looking at the fretboard but now I can do it with my eyes closed.

No shame in looking at the fret board for more complicated pieces, or for resetting at the top of the bar.

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Whatever you do… try try try really hard to avoid GAS (gear acquisition syndrome!). If I spent half the time practicing that I do looking for, researching, and salivating over basses and amps I would be playing on stage in Vegas!!

All joking aside, focus on playing and enjoying the bass and the gear will eventually find its way to you regardless.

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@derek_m_robinson
Its all about practicing, practicing, practicing and once again practicing.

But it shoundnt be important to play without looking. Most important is to have fun! The other stuff is coming later.

I was noodling on a bass for almost 30 years before I took it serious by taking the B2B course. Last christmas I finallized the B2B course and started practicing on my own. So its a years from now I listen to music and when I like a song, I’m searching for the tabs in the internet.

Just a few days ago I knowticed by a sudden, that I’m able to take the tunes on the fretboard in the lower registers without looking.

So stay patient with yourself, have fun playing bass and enjoy every single step ahead. It will appear some sweet day by its own and you will wonder that it happened.

Alex

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A headphone amp in a good set of headphones are going to be your best friend for some time. A good one will allow you to Bluetooth to your phone so you can hear the music you’re playing with, as well as your base. I have a fender mustang, it’s been a godsend for practice.

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Pro tips probably not but a amateur tips sure. If you are the type that stare at the fingers while playing then starts with 1-2 seconds then add a second or two next, then pretty much rinse and repeats.

The bottom line though is to know your fingerboard once you know where every notes( you need to play)you’d have enough confidence and you don’t need to look at it. The best place to start is the money frets, it’s where bassists get pay to play first 5 frets. Learn every notes on the open strings, then first fret, 2nd, and so forth, soon you’ll realize that the pattern repeats then it gets very easy. You only need to learn up to 12th frets because that’s where the whole thing repeats.

Have fun.

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Yep, patience and practice, practice, practice is the key. :+1:

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