Newbie bass guitarist needs tips

[KeyserSoze]

I bought a bass guitar a few months ago and havent put much time into it.

Picking it up tonight and learning more difficult songs.

Are you supposed mute each string after playing it? You can get away with it on a guitar and let strings ring. But letting strings sustain on a bass makes the sound all muddy creating a 'wall of sound' rather than a smooth bassline.

any tips?

[Jon]

Are you playing with fingers or a pick? Fingerstyle tends to cause notes to mute automatically, as it were, when playing across strings. If you're using a pick, you will need to damp & mute with your fretting hand more. Good idea to learn both techniques - it'll make you a more versatile player.

You could do worse than to go over to www.basschat.co.uk - they're always happy to welcome new bassists into the fold - especially those coming over from the dark side of g*it*r playing!! :D

[DeadYankee]

That's good to hear. They probably need their confidence building after having to take a step backwards

;)

[KeyserSoze]

Are you playing with fingers or a pick? Fingerstyle tends to cause notes to mute automatically, as it were, when playing across strings. If you're using a pick, you will need to damp & mute with your fretting hand more. Good idea to learn both techniques - it'll make you a more versatile player.

You could do worse than to go over to www.basschat.co.uk - they're always happy to welcome new bassists into the fold - especially those coming over from the dark side of g*it*r playing!! :D

Thanks Jon, I am playing fingerstyle. I tend to have the problem when I play open strings so I started to mute with the thumb, which seems to work ok, hope that is correct.

That's good to hear. They probably need their confidence building after having to take a step backwards

;)

Hah, it did seem a bit like going backwards at first but im finding quick triplets a bit of a bitch with two fingers, or maybe my hands are cold at the moment.

Dont wanna get into a war though :D

[Jon]

Thanks Jon, I am playing fingerstyle. I tend to have the problem when I play open strings so I started to mute with the thumb, which seems to work ok, hope that is correct.



Hah, it did seem a bit like going backwards at first but im finding quick triplets a bit of a bitch with two fingers, or maybe my hands are cold at the moment.

Dont wanna get into a war though :D

This could rapidly descend into a round of guitarist/lightbulb jokes - but the best way to avoid that is simply to gang up on the drummers... :D

I'm probably the last person to talk about "proper" technique, but I mostly use an alternating index/middle r/h technique, open strings are muted either by my fretting hand or my plucking hand thumb, which I tend to rest on the string adjacent to the one I'm playing.

If you're playing standing up, you might want to have the bass a bit higher, (although not under your chin, 1980s slapper style! :suspect:) so your forearm rests on the top curve of the body, meaning your thumb's not supporting your entire arm, and you can move your hand freely.

Building up speed for fast triplets is just practice, practice & more practice - although I do use 3 fingers for triplet fills quite often, and it's actually quite easy to rake across 2 strings with 2 fingers for a similar effect. YYZ by Rush is a great example of this technique, and really isn't anything like as tricky as it sounds, once you work out the co-ordination.

[Arthur Fowler]

This could rapidly descend into a round of guitarist/lightbulb jokes - but the best way to avoid that is simply to gang up on the drummers... :D



OI! :mad:

;)

Watch this for some tips about what to wear and how to stand on stage if you are just starting out. You ought to be able to play like this after about 3 days of practice too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jnhTDg4mk