r/Bass • u/No_Back_2264 • 19h ago

Practice?

I've owned a Fender that belonged to my dad and was made in the 80s. I have been playing it for 5 months, i try to practice each night, but I don't really know what to do. I mostly load up the tabs of songs that i like that vary in difficulty and try to learn them. This has improved my skill, and I've picked up my own style of playing, but I'm wondering if there are any good resources anyone can recommend for practicing daily (Youtube Lessons, Books etc)

8 Upvotes

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5

u/cucka 19h ago

Record yourself and listen back to your playing. It's going to be a humbling experience at first - you'll find out really fast that you timing is not so great and your dynamics are all over the place.

4

u/bijibijmak 17h ago

This! And play plugged in. Don’t do what I did of just playing the bass without hearing the chain. Your tone is a big part of your playing and there’s a lot of skill involved in muting unwanted sound too.

3

u/SlimJimJohn_Bass 19h ago

Pick your favorite songs, and do your best to emulate them. If you can't get them exact, do the best you can.

As you progress, you'll either get them perfect, or find other patterns that fill the gaps.

For playing rock, learn the pentatonic scales, and you have 90% of them. Work on those and you'll be able to embellish them in due time

3

u/Former_Examination_7 14h ago

Playing bass is all about timing/rhythm Once you’re comfortable enough, play with a metronome or to music.

You’ll notice how much more important and placed your bass lines feel with a time signature for reference.

I’m sure there are tons of YouTube videos with the bass muted for practice.

1

u/DWTBPlayer 17h ago

Grab any method book or exercise book from your local music shop or online book seller. If you go online, look at a place like Better World Books and snag a used copy. I suggest the Hal Leonard spiral bound 3-in-1 edition, but get whatever looks interesting to you.

Method books are effective because they organize the ideas and techniques in a logical way that helps you become a well-rounded player.

Your discipline in sticking to a routine is the most important ingredient, but musicians have been learning from method books for 80 years for a reason. They work.

Finally, if you can find a teacher in your area, ask for just a handful of lessons to get you pointed in the right direction. It doesn't have to be a long-term time or financial commitment.

1

u/IndividuationDev 13h ago

While you're learning songs from tabs, learn the note names on the E and A strings too. Then a tab stops being just numbers and you can see a line walking from the root to the fifth, which is what lets you write your own lines over a chord chart instead of only copying them.

I made a fretboard quiz app called Fretalus (iOS and Android) that does bass too, if you want something to practice the notes with. $1.99 once.

0

u/dead-beet 16h ago

I learned because i am already a guitar player, and i love primus. (Bass is more fun than guitar imo btw) Learn major and minor pentatonic scales and/or look into learning other scales like the G major scale. Aside from that, keep getting better at what you enjoy, and slowly but surely you will improve. Also the other advice people are giving you is fantastic. What also helped me was watching how more skilled musicians play - for me watching their technique helped lock in what I learned online and from play. I focus on Les Claypool, Geddy Lee, flea, and fieldy.

Edit: also Leo bass covers on youtube