Post your practice fragments!

[joergkutter]

@John_E

I dunno about that.

Ha, yeah, I am beginning to doubt my previous statement myself now… and my apologies to Gio for potentially citing him wrongly. I guess it all roots in the fact that I am a “rusher” myself… and also shows how hard it is to “describe” this vs. learning to develop a feel for this!

Here is the one of the pieces of advice I got from Gio back when as I was playing over a jam track he had provided:

@Gio

The main stuff I hear to work on would be rhythm related.
It sounds like your ear is really tuned to the notes and the melodies you want the line to carry, but the rhythm feels a bit pushed through.
The rhythm could be much more accurate.
And by that, I don’t mean metronomic. I mean: the drum feel on this is a behind the beat, kinda sloppy, relaxed feel. You want to emulate that and match it on bass.
Your tendency in the recorded track is to rush, and against this soundscape and drum feel, it stands out to me.

This is a problem that I’ve had for the entirety of my playing career. It has to do mostly with what you focus on. If you’re a melody-tuned player (guilty), it is easy to focus on the notes you want to hear, and the sounds you want, and not so much on the precision of when they show up.
Guilty, guilty, guilty.

If I were your teacher, I would subscribe the following:
Find live drummer loops on youtube, or download the funk drum loops on Drumgenius (that app I love).

THEN - listen to the drum patterns until you’re singing them. Until you are feeling like you could dance to them - until they are deep in your bones. THEN - lay your left hand over the strings so they’re all muted.
THEN - play a bass line on the muted bass.
Only pay attention to how your rhythm is phrasing. The only mission is for your non-pitched muted plucking to groove completely with the drum loop.

THEN… if you’ve got it… you can play ONE NOTE. A groovy one note bass line.

That’s it.
And do that for a different groove every day, or every time you sit down to practice. Hopefully it will transition your ear a bit deeper into the rhythm.

I think this also applies to your “challenge”, @Ed

And here is a quote from Josh himself:

@JoshFossgreen

And @joergkutter, recording oneself and listening back is very often humbling, I can verify from extensive personal experience.