Im Thinking About Playing Bass Guitar Again
This is a guest post from bassist and Smart Bass reader Jeff McWilliams
I had a friend in high school who was a pretty proficient guitarist. Not a great lead, but a really solid rhythm guitarist who had a fairly large repertoire of songs that he could belt out pretty well. Good enough for me to catch a 12 pack and mind to music beingness made correct upwards in my face up. He had a small drum kit and a bass that a couple of his friends left behind and rarely played.
On 1 of my visits, he encouraged me to pick up the bass and larn how to play along. I constitute that I could pick upward the notes by ear pretty hands and with a lot of do, learned to play fairly well. I could keep up and rarely hit the wrong notes.
That'due south where I learned to dear the bass guitar and ultimately why I bought my own Fender knockoff and I giant Peavey amp.
We spent many afternoons jamming. I can't remember better times during that part of my life (unless they involved girls). That is when I learned to love the instrument.
I played music and bass through my last ii and a half years of high school and a bit into college. While in higher, I also picked up a Strat copy and learned a few chords to aggrandize my music knowledge. I learned plenty to play some of the simpler archetype rock songs. In my listen, I "played" guitar and bass. In reality, I kind of did.
Fast forward a few years into college and across, I quit playing and sold all of my gear. I had likewise many other things to practice, besides much money to make, and too many places to travel. I thought 'I could always pick it dorsum up in a couple of years when I settle in one place, correct?'
That didn't happen. Just I thought about picking information technology support quite oftentimes.
25 years of life blew by pretty fast. I accept no regrets, just here I am, pushing fifty, learning how to play the musical instrument again later 25 years. Learning music once more wouldn't quite be the aforementioned uphill challenge similar it was the first fourth dimension. This fourth dimension I would be armed with some basic musical education and structure and would need to rehash my one-time knowledge.
My family unit helped me relearn and call back my old musical instruction. I have a couple of brothers-in-law who played guitar at small gatherings around New Orleans and at family functions and thought perhaps I could join them some day and play along.
Learning to play bass and music again has been a fantastic experience. I am a technical guy with a technical task. I'm an engineer whose job doesn't permit much room for creativity. Since learning to play again, I've plant that playing bass helps fuel that other side of my encephalon and a part of me that had atrophied long ago.
If you're an older person like myself and you lot put away your bass a long time ago and gave up playing, or just lost interest until recently, mayhap this niggling commodity volition assist yous starting time up again. If you are picking it upward again, maybe this will aid.
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Get-go affair to exercise is to buy a bass, manifestly. I decided to become inexpensive until I am a respectable player again, and a cheap bass would exist sufficient for this purpose. There are enough to cull from on eBay. I ended upward choosing a Davison Chinese made bass. It is a Fender body style that I picked upwardly for $100, but it looked absurd with the gold metallic flake pigment job, and it stays in tune. I also bought a $50 Orange "Micro Crush" 3-watt amp which and measures 6" x 6" 10 iii" – I plug in a set up of headphones and it sounds merely fine. Perfect for learning and won't disturb my wife or my neighbors.
I had decided to try and practice this thing as close to right as I could do on my ain. Doing so meant learning a little bit of music theory and technical information on how to play.
I researched websites such as this one and many different video lessons on YouTube (Billy Sheehan has some pretty good lessons). I rounded out my rehash of my music instruction with a chip of musical theory including a refresher on the bass fingerboard chart, steps, how to read music a bit, tempo, and scales.
For me, going through the basic scales has been the single most valuable tool for learning how to play the bass correctly, and with minimal misfires. At least they are minimal for me.
I accept found that the most fundamental and useful (at least for me) bits are as follows:
- Know the physical parts of the bass and how to adapt the instrument. I learned to adapt the position of my strings until I hit the notes as easy every bit possible with nominal buzzing. It's a cheap bass (its going to buzz), but at least I was able to adjust the saddles until the strings were pretty close to the frets, helping me striking the notes with minimal effort.
- Acquire where to position the bass along your trunk. Also low and you lot won't be able striking the notes forth the fingerboard very efficiently, likewise high and you will have trouble with your plucking hand. Position my bass somewhere along your torso so that is hangs "balanced", with the headstock at about a 15-30 degree bending from the horizontal. This has worked for me, with the center of the body at about my waistline. Play with it and see what works for you lot.
- Larn how to change the strings! Yes, there is a right and wrong way to do this and you want to stay in tune every bit much as possible. Even with my cheap bass I am able to stay in tune for long periods of fourth dimension.
- Learn how to tune – many little gadgets that will help you with this. My Orangish 'Mini Shell' amp has a built in tuner, and then that has been enormously helpful.
- If you pluck with your fingers, (instead of a selection) piece of work on plucking smoothly every time you lot play. I am even so learning to pluck with my kickoff and centre fingers in a way that is even and steady. You might find (like I did) that your 2nd (centre) finger will pluck a petty harder and less even than your first finger. Merely practice and focus can set your technique. Effort playing "Under Pressure" and you'll encounter what I mean.
- Play softly at commencement – focus on playing soft and slow. Work on smooth plucking, and positioning your mitt along the fretboard every bit close to the fret every bit possible. This is easier said than washed. I yet generally hit in betwixt frets which takes more effort and increases the adventure of buzz, simply information technology will come along with practice.
- Learn your scales. This has been invaluable in relearning how to play and know where the notes are along the fretboard. Although they are non particularly hard to play, I take to really concentrate on my mitt position and the notes. Play the scales up and down the fretboard, and really pay attention to the notes. I started with four scales: Major, small, Major Pentatonic, and Pocket-sized Pentatonic. I constitute these four to be all I demand at this time to both learn my notes and play several bass riffs.
- Play songs in betwixt exercise exercises. It's a fun way to measure progress.
- Obviously, y'all demand to practice on a regular ground, as ofttimes as yous can, for at least 30 ,minutes to an hour or and then. I try to practice every solar day, and accept found I can make it at to the lowest degree five days per week.
By learning some fundamentals, I take not (yet) regressed in my playing, I have but improved. Although I am still a novice, I selection something up, perchance something very small, each 24-hour interval and I get just a little amend each time I practice. I am betting these small and obvious tips will help you as well. Afterwards all, if you dearest the instrument, practice will be a pleasure.
Works for me – and I'm hard to please.
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Source: https://smartbassguitar.com/relearning-bass-guitar-after-a-25-year-hiatus-its-not-like-riding-a-bike/
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