I do love a good bass slide too. My problem is that my 12th fret is quite a bit out of tune. Iām going to do (attempt!) a full setup on my bass today.
Thanks for the tips @y.farkash @skydvr @Regina and @JT . Iāll listen to it bunch, that first run through did give me a whole new appreciation for what it must be like to play in a band. Working through this is good for the brain . Will let you know how it goes. Also you guys are awesome.
Yes I found this too and rechecked intonation and andjusted and it came right back in.
Fragile: Tech N9ne ft. Kendrick Lamar, Wrekonize (Ā”Mayday!) & Kendall Morgan
New bass with drop tuner arrived, so I had to do something in drop D. Left all the mistakes in, constructive criticism welcome.
Sounds really good, @akos . . .
I like the color and the block inlays in the neck, too! . . .
Cheers
Joe
Iāve been kind of stagnating on the lessons around 12-2. And while I love disco, in fact itās what attracted me to the bass so much, going back to work during the week kind of derailed me.
So! Jumping in on the challenge. A little late but Iām game none the less. Ran through it at 50% a few times and found I was bored and couldnāt stick to strict tempo. Ramped up to 76bpm and that helped a lot. Iām gaining an appreciation for Noteflight. And the screen shot print option mentioned earlier is just the thing!
Gonna have to work out recording gear next but by the 2nd song I should have that worked out. Thank you all for this community! Love the structure and positivity.
What mistakes? That sounded great!
How did you do the recording?
@akos That was some great playing there! I listened to the whole thing and didnāt hear any mistakes at all so like Eric, Iām not sure what you are referring to. Great recording as well.
@dave.kaina Glad to have you on board! Youāre not really late so donāt stress that. The idea is that people join in when/if they want on each song anyway. Weāre not officially starting the next song until the 22nd of March, but Iām opening a thread for it on the 15th for the early birds and to start building hype. Also, the early birds usually clarify the tab/notation, help us ensure we have the right video, put a backing track together, discuss any tricky bits in the song, etc., so it can be beneficial to have all that knowledge when you join in. For example, on this one we originally had a YouTube link to a different version of the song, we werenāt sure about how long the open D played for, and got some tips about knowing when the 7x repeat solo section was over. Anyway, enjoy the song. Itās a good one!
I love the sound quality, not sure what mistakes you are referring to, it all seems to be there though it feels to me like you are often a smidgen early. How did you do the recording? Could there be a delay offset between the backing track and your input?
Or maybe youāre just a bit early.
This challenge was the first time I recorded myself with a backing track and I found that I was kind of weaving in-and-out of sync with the band. Nothing too far, but just enough that it wasnāt perfectā¦ I was usually early too, almost like I wanted to drive the song further instead of locking in with what is already there.
I watched a video from Scottās Bass a few weeks ago that was talking about playing behind/in front of the beat. At the time I didnāt really appreciate it much, but I think I will revisit it and try to get more precise.
Also, I guess it is way better when you play with a drummer for years and you both already are on point, compared to trying to lock in with a different band, per-recorded.
You play very clean, great tone, super full but not muddy. Are you recorded direct in? Through an amp?
Some good points there. Back in the days when this song was recorded, they wouldnāt have had all the auto-grid and such they have today which aligns the song perfectly to the beat in a DAW. So, each recording of the song would be slightly different.
Also, in a live situation, clearly each one of those is slightly different as well. This is why itās crucial to follow the drummer. Just think of the drummer as your metronome in a live setting.
What helps in all of these situations is increasing your familiarity with the song. For example, lets say the tab track loses alignment a fraction of a beat half-way through the song. Thatās going to be hard to mentally keep track of. The āeasiestā remedy for that is to memorize the song.
I remember my violin teacher always stressing to me how important it was to memorize the songs when learning. He said when you arenāt thinking about what note is coming next, you can focus on all the other elements going on. In the bass context, this would be things like: fretting finger placements, plucking technique, muting, what your fretting thumb is doing, flying fingers, what your band-mates are doing, breathing, etc.
Lastly, when I get that call from David Gilmour asking me to go on tour with him because he saw my video on BassBuzz, Iāll be ready. Joking aside, if you do want to just play for others, go to open mic and be able to play the song when they shout out if you know it, etc. then you need it memorized. But, Iād only do that on the songs you think youāll keep playing after the challenge. There are bound to be some of the 50 that we individually arenāt keen on.
Now, Iām not suggesting everyone needs to memorize the songs. Do what you have time for or simply what you want to doā¦ For me though, Iām attempting to do this for the reasons above.
In addition to the timing issues (see below), the muting with the pinky was a bit sloppy. You can hear the high pitched harmonics after I āmuteā. It can be fixed by helping in with the index finger, but I couldnāt be bothered to do the recording again. And after all, seeing and hearing each otherās mistakes can be educational as well.
Removed the bass track using https://splitter.ai, audio recorded in GarageBand, video recorded in QuickTime, edited and synched together in iMovie. Bass directly into Scarlett Solo, no effects used.
Yep, exactly. I too was wondering whether itās me or the equipment, but I think if it was the equipment then Iād be always off, and always by the same amount. Iām only sometimes off, so I think itās me. It was a bit disappointing to hear, didnāt notice it while I was playing. (Yet another reason to record myself more often I guess.)
See above - directly into Scarlett Solo, no effects
That was a great rendition. I didnāt hear any mistakes or imperfections. Good job!
Itās great that you can detect all of these slight blemishes. As you say, awareness is great for improvement. I hope you arenāt stressing about them though, because your recording really was good. Iām a firm believer that some imperfections add personality to the music and make it less robotic, but obviously the key is to get the balance right.
I guess for you itās just something to try to work on in the next videos, which I think is the right approach personally (rather than re-recording, which you arenāt suggesting).
I second this, as it gives me hope.
Scratching my head contemplating what this means while trying not to be bothered by the fact that I donāt really know.
@akos: As others have said, your recording was great and I really enjoyed listening and watching. You looked very relaxed.
I watched that video too and found it very enlightening. Nothing I could actually adopt now (Iām happy when I hit the beat somewhere) but I was really impressed with the level of precision and the idea behind that. And finally I could get back to my guitar playing older brother, who has been pestering me about how I should play more at the front of the beat, and tell him that he is not necessarily right.
Iām just a couch bassist playing at home for fun, with no intentions of playing in a band, so no stress. Just trying to meet my own expectations.
And as you said, as a last resort I can just make bad timing and sloppy muting my own trademark stye.
I fret the D notes on the 5th fret of the A string using my pinky. I (try to) mute them by slightly lifting the pinky.
The 5th fret (along with the 7th and 12th) is one of the frets where you can play high pitched harmonics. You need to lightly touch the string above the 5th fret, and then pluck. This is a valid technique (I think itās even covered in B2B at some stage), and people do it intentionally. In my case it was not intentional.
You can avoid the harmonics by touching the string with more than one finger. In this song the trivial choice is index on 3rd + pinky on 5th. I should have done that instead of just using the pinky, and that would have made the sound cleaner.
If it still doesnāt make sense then I can upload one bar separately so you can hear what Iām talking about.
Thanks for the explanation! Yes, that totally makes sense. I think this level of precise muting is just something that i donāt consciously do or pay much attention to at this point. I came across the harmonics in Joshās Silent Night bass solo lesson but didnāt know that it is also something you could do by accident. Very interesting detail!
@JT A question/suggestion: Would it be possible to edit your top post when someone submits a cover of the song, and add a link to their comment? Or some other way to make the covers easier to find? I went over this thread to listen to other peopleās covers, but theyāre not easy to find among the discussion.
Edit: Obviously this is just a suggestion for improvement. Thanks for putting in the effort to set up this challenge, great stuff, etc etc.
Yeah, thatās a great suggestion! Itās Motherās Day today in the UK so canāt this second, but will do it later today or tomorrow.
Might also summarize the tips people have raised as well.