It was very abrupt. There wasn’t any sort of gradual fall off. Last time I used it all was fine, then plugged in yesterday - dreadful. New battery all wonderful again!
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I psych myself out, sometimes I feel like my bass isn’t playing right or it’s quieter here or there. I’m 99% sure it’s just my playing but it’s still weird.
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Trust me there was nothing subtle about the sound coming out of my base with the bad battery. The silly thing is I have a passive switch which would have immediately told me where the problem was! D’oh!
Sometimes when I’m playing crap I’ll push through it. Other times I’ll walk away and come back in 30 minutes and all is fine. But I always think to myself, you can’t do that on stage!
I had one battery go dead. It just died. No static, noise or distortion. Just dead silence.
Not even passive mode worked.
I replaced the battery and all was good.
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This. This. This. Honestly. Doesn’t matter what you’re struggling with, this is the answer. Believe me, I’m as boneheaded as the rest of you (more, probably). It’s embarrassing how many teachers told me this, and how many times they told me, before it finally sunk in. Even now, I sometimes forget/ignore the advice until I catch myself.
You may think you’re practicing the thing slow enough. You’re probably not. Take another 10 or 20 bpm off. (You’re practicing with a metronome, right?) Play so slow your metronome is beating out eighth notes instead of quarter notes. Seriously. So slow you have time to see and feel what you’re doing each note, slow enough you have time to think and plan for the next move. And don’t speed up until you can play it at that tempo perfectly. Then speed up just a little.
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I had this experience at practice this week. (Luckily because of you I changed my battery before practice THANKS)
But I go to plug into their amp… Hmm that doesn’t sound right. Ok turn off overdrive on the amp… Nope still sounds terrible… Oh wait my Octave pedal is on! This crappy Behringer pedal only has 1 dim orange light to let you know it’s on. I mean an octave affect is kinda obvious but still…
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Has any one else mastered Barenaked Ladies and the Old Apartment? This song is kicking my butt and if there are any suggestions I’d love to hear them.
I’m using this YT video since the tabs I found were even crazier.
I’d love to keep true to all of that cool stuff but if there’s a serviceable alternative to all of that fancy I’m open ears.
I have not, but I’m happy to see another appreciator of Cover Solutions. The man is doing good work.
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He is, I’ve never bought into anyone’s patron yet but he might be the reason I do. Yeesh sorry I didn’t see the auto correct (or lack there of) butchering.
For those interested in my thought process. I’m going to try and spend some time picking this song apart today to understand the key it’s in and what notes are played. Maybe if I can see it as pieces of a scale it’ll be easier to understand and move around. Tab kinda sucks for my brain it feels yucky and robotic.
I’m also taking over for our previous bassist. I have some recordings of how he plays it and I know he didn’t play it 100% to the album so maybe I should set my bar there.
I think getting the main gist which isn’t bad is done I just need to figure out if I can fake the rest playing roots and then focus on the other stuff around the 10th fret since that’s almost like a solo part or at least the rest of the instruments are pretty backed out at that point.
Anyway, that’s me thinking out loud…
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I was a patron of his years ago for a few months. It was totally worth it, as you get access to all his tabs at that point. If you wanted, you could be a patron for just a month and download all the tabs, then rinse and repeat when there’s more tabs you want.
As far as the value for you, it really depends on how many songs he’s done that you want to learn. But I had a really good experience, and I actually don’t have any desire to learn the majority of songs he does.
At the moment, the realisation that I find it hard to keep my fretting hand straight. Again, being self taught, and being a guitarist that plays Thumb over the top, I tend to do the same on the bass which has muting advantages (as in, I don’t need to move my thumb from the pickup) but means the hand aches a bit more and sacrifices speed, which I’m looking to build.
Having been playing for nearly three decades, it’s quite a realisation!
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I play with my bass angled up (classical guitar style) and have found that makes it much easier to keep a straight wrist. In fact I find it easier in just about every respect, such as reaching the E string easier especially in the higher registers, which, of course, is why I do it 
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I’m just starting, so the better question is what am I not struggling with. 
But I think the thing that is hardest for me so far is getting a consistent volume with my plucking. I’ll get a few notes at a good volume, then all of a sudden the next one is booming and I’m like “oh crap”, then the next few notes will be super quiet cause I’m trying to not be all boomy again.
And yes, the answer to this is time and practice…
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Alternate trying to play loud and soft until it sinks in. Everything should be a trainwreck at first and if you keep practicing frequently it’ll settle out.
No matter how good you get you’ll have days where you are like,“this is sht, I play like sht, and I’m sh*t”.
My mantra is “The bass players first job is to be cool”
You can’t be cool if you are talking sh*t on yourself. You just gotta show up and be cool. No negative stuff, no hesitation. Just put on a smile and love playing. Everything else works out over time. Groove is in the heart, be cool!
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Love that.
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Slapping. I’m struggling with slapping. I just started module 13 and actually get some decent enough sound out of my violence, but slapping in general simply doesn’t vibe with me. I can’t get into the groove because of the sound. It’s giving me the chills in a ‘nails over a chalk board’ kind of way. Then I play the fragment normally and I instantly love the bass sound again. It simply makes me so happy! So… I think I’m going to continue module 13 plucking instead of slapping and maybe give it another try when I start over again (because I’m planning to go that route).
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There’s an entire thread dedicated to skipping slap. Skipping the slap lessons? - #20 by wheelcowboy
I also really struggled with slap.I feel like my fretting and plucking has gotten way better over the past few months but it’s taken a lot of really focused effort. I feel like I’ve got so much on my plate, bass practice wise, that I’m skipping the slap for now and coming back later. You’re not alone.
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Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only one! Thanks for pointing out the thread. I’m going to watch the lessons and then move along.
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I say just hammer through it regardless of how bad you may sound now.
Its about how the brain learns, a little of something new for short periods lots of the time with some sleeps in between develops the pathways.
You don’t need to finish the mod with flying colors to show huge improvements a couple weeks later with perhaps not slapping that entire time.
Put the new stuff in, let it settle in, then it grows.
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What I am struggling with right now is “Papa”
Apparently he has brand new pair of boots… and he’s kickin my butt!!
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