Fretting accuracy is more important, you don’t want to practice your mistakes. What I do is slow a song down enough that i can play it accurately, then speed it up 5 or 10%, play it until i can play it perfect and repeat until I’m at 100%
I play a lot of songs, over and over to build up muscle memory. First i worked on frets 1-5, then 1-8 and now i’m working on 1-12. It helped that i played in a dark room early on and couldn’t see the fret markers It took me a while to get good at playing in frets above 8 because i didn’t play there as often, especially frets higher than 12. Right now i’m working on playing more solos in the upper frets so i’m more used to moving there more quickly
Generally, if you want to get good at something, you have to do a lot of it. It’s slow at the start but you get faster
That’s great idea!
I noticed that when playing in the park, I tend to watch people while playing (there are kids playing, musicians, people doing yoga, slack lining or martial arts, hippies, bikini girls, junkies, police, leftovers from the previous party night and generally weird people).
So I ignore the fretboard often … only look at it when something siginficant is changing or I make huge mistakes.
Also I want to look reasonably cool, so that helps with flying fingers. Especially when that f#cking guitar player (he is very good!) is noodling across the field and smiles at me pityfully…
I don’t think that really changes much regardless of skill. They’ve got an unshakeable string superiority complex going.
I made myself play all night tonight on the Rev, I’m thinking my issue with it might be the roundwounds more than the bass itself. I’m just not a fan of playing on them. I’ve got a set of D’Addrio flats in the drawer, I think I’m going to swap them out this weekend and see. I really dig the range of sounds I can get from it otherwise.
Hahaha - no, that guy is really great. Plays classical guitar … I really enjoy listening to him when I’m pausing and removed my earbuds.
He seems nice, very introverted, caresses his guitar gently … and his music fits with the last singing birds remaining here in late summer.
He is on a level I will never get on any instrument.
All this while I torture my bass with playing Idles. The difference could not be larger. I love that park!
I try not to think of you possibly selling the Reverend. … hopefully the new strings will change your mind!
This is going to be a long one because you are asking the right questions.
2 are from repeating practice and muscle memory, Accuracy and Fretting. Timing is from instinct, natural or artificial. It’s what makes the bass lines popped.
Fretting inaccuracy usually comes from undiscovered techniques, “Every” bass players struggled with this. 3 main issues and usually the answer to the problem.
Second, look at the fret where you want to end up not the travel distance. If you are traveling from 2nd to the 8th fret, don’t look at how just where. just look up to where the destination fret and be there don’t smoothly move your hand, just be there. Which brings me to the last common mistake.
Third, forget smoothness when you move your left hand up and down the neck, think “Warp speed”. If you hand needs to go from 2nd fret to 8th fret don’t travel up the neck warp it down and be there ready to plug 8th fret.
I hope you get the picture.
It really depends on the song, I’d approach technical songs in 2 ways.
First, break it down into sections. Intro/ Verse/ Chorus/ (Break)/ Verse and Outtro. Usually technical bits would come from the main Groove, somewhere in the middle and at the transition to the next section.
Once I get the first 3 then I just rinse and repeat until I got it down and get ready for the more difficult part which usually towards the end.
I’ll give you a good example of a song, it would answer many interesting aspect of what @Whying_Dutchman , @faydout and what @sshoihet was suggesting.
This is a live version of Change the World, by Clapton. Nathan East on bass. Intro is well quite technical, each Verse and Chorus did not repeat they are different, and the outtro is just CRAZY!
I skipped the intro when I started, because there were skill elements that I have not yet acquired, then work on the first Verse and Chorus, I repeat that all the way til the Outtro. Once I got that down then I start the 2nd set of Verse and Chorus and then 3rd. Since the Outtro is easier than Intro I worked on that before the Intro.
When I got them all down, then the real hard work began. I’d listened to the true notes value and articulations pretty much the spunky attitude of the song. Replicating this can take some time.
This cover I played on a Short scale Multi-scale that stretches all the way for visual effect so fretting is not as intuitive as the normal MS. It usually takes about 5 minutes to recalibrate for me.
If you make it all the way down here I hope that this would help and enjoy my hard earned cover.
Exactly! That’s the set. Although after hundreds invested on song packs on RockSmith, I gave it up. It’s just too much of a hassle to setup properly. One of these days, I might setup a dedicated system for my daughter to enjoy it.
Oh! the answer to @faydout round wound woe. If you find that your rounds is too bright, you can go with Coated round wound strings. DR makes excellent sets. they are much duller than standard rounds and smoother too. They are not as warm as Flats. I have them on a few of my basses, mostly for looks. I love piercing brightness on my strings,
I love the brightness of rounds, minus the finger scraping sounds, and a lot of the things I listen to are played on them. I’m starting to find that I very much prefer the feel of flats to the point that I just don’t play the bass I have with rounds on it nearly as much. I’ve got a brand new set of D’Addrio flats but they’re the only ones I’ve tried to this point (which I really like the feel of). I was paying a lot of attention to the conversation that you, Mike, and Howard were having last week and wondering if maybe the TI Jazz flats get me some of that brightness back with the feel that I like?
Absolutely, give TI Jazz Flats a try. I love how they feel, play and sound.
I’ve played rounds on guitars for decades, and I’m totally used to them. Currently, I have rounds on all but one of my basses, my P. The TI Jazz Flats on it are perfect.
It took me a while to get good at playing in frets above 8 because i didn’t play there as often, especially frets higher than 12. Right now i’m working on playing more solos in the upper frets so i’m more used to moving there more quickly
