Bass Player Tips and Advice

Hello All

Today, we have our resident Bass expert penning some top tips just for you 4-string slingers out there!

Enjoy!

7 Vital Bass Lessons

OK . . . this is going to piss off a few bass players, but I’m just going to say it:

Bass is easy to learn.

Come on bass players, let’s just admit it to ourselves and everyone else. The bass guitar really wasn’t that difficult to figure out, was it?

Unlike guitar players, who had to figure out chords, scales, leads and solos, or drummers who had to figure out how to make their four limbs work together and separately at the same time, we had it pretty easy.

If you could afford a couple quick lessons or had a decent ear, you were off to the races, thump-thumping to your heart’s content.

At its most basic level, bass is a pretty simple instrument. Unless you’re into some weird, freaky-ass jazz fusion kinda shit, you can get away with banging out root eighth notes most of the time. Learn to play the right notes, more or less in time, and you pretty much have a gig for life.

And there’s the problem — so many bass players learn to get by on so little skill because their services are so in demand.

Let’s face it, we all get lazy. Especially when no one is pushing us to get better.

So here’s my challenge to you: Is your playing sub-par? Get better. Already pretty good? There’s always room for improvement.

Here are 7 ways to improve your playing:

1. Play with musicians who are better than you.

Nothing will motivate you to get better as much as the prospect of being a band’s weak link. Nobody wants to be the guy that can’t keep up. So seek out opportunities to play with musicians who are more accomplished than you are — and then work your ass off so you don’t embarrass yourself.

2. Explore different genres.

I’ve always been a rock guy. But a few years ago I spent some time with a band that did some country music. I HATE country music, but it was a great learning experience — especially in the art of walking bass lines. I later put those skills to use in an original hard rock project.

3. Play only with the best drummers you can find.

Everyone knows that drums and bass go hand in hand in creating a band’s foundation. A great drummer will elevate your bass playing to new heights. A shitty drummer will drag you (and the rest of the band) down into a pit of mediocrity. The drummer needs to be the most accomplished member of the band. He’s the quarterback of the team. And it doesn’t matter how strong the offensive line is, if the quarterback gets sacked, or fumbles the ball, the play is over. So if your drummer sucks, get rid of him — even if he’s your buddy.

4. Think like a drummer.

Better yet, think like YOUR drummer. Your job as a bass player is to lock in with the drums. Period. You need to tune into your drummer on a much deeper level than other members of the band. This takes time, but you can speed up the process by studying your drummer’s playing. Watch his kick drum foot. Pay attention to how and when he plays cymbal accents and fills. Over time, your playing will begin to take on some of your drummer’s characteristics. This is when you know you’ve found your groove as a rhythm section.

5. Find a bass guitar that you’re comfortable with.

Don’t play a bass just because you think it looks cool or because your favorite bass player plays it. A bass has to fit you and your playing style. Basses come in a variety of styles and shapes. There are different neck sizes, pick-up configurations and on-board electronics. Even a bass’ inherent tonal qualities will affect your playing ability. A bass that doesn’t feel or sound the way you want it too will impair your playing ability and negatively affect your playing enjoyment. Try different basses until you find the one that feels right. Experiment with different price points. Don’t assume that a higher-priced bass is the answer. That $3,000 boutique bass may feel like the worst piece of crap you’ve ever played, while the $400 Squire Precision fits like a glove. Be open minded and don’t worry about what other people think about what you’re playing.

6. Practice with a metronome.

To get the most out of your practice time, make sure you’re using a metronome. A metronome keeps you focused on what’s most important to your role as a bass player — rhythm and timing. Start at about 100 beats-per-minute and work on playing nice steady quarter and eighth notes. Every few minutes, bump up the beats-per-minute so that you’re spreading your practice across a range of tempos. Do this for 30-45 minutes every day and watch your chops improve dramatically.

7. Ask your band mates for feedback.

Finally, no one knows your playing better than the musicians who play with you all the time. So don’t be afraid to ask them for some constructive feedback. They may be able to point out things about your playing that you are completely unaware of. As musicians and performers, we tend to be a little sensitive and resistant to criticism, but a little feedback can go a long way in motivating you to get better at your craft. Your band mates rely on you to be the steady, driving force that keeps things nice and tight — so give ‘em what they want and everyone will be happy!

Get a great bass guitar sound

How to get a great live Bass sound I have always been struck by preponderance of poor live bass sound. Bassists show up at gigs with thousands of dollars worth of rig and bass yet the results are often dismal. The bass sound seems clouded with extraneous noise. The sound person's best efforts are usually for naught so the sound person takes the bass down in the mix, inevitably filling in the mix with extra kick drum. Many bassists are oblivious to their predicament, having long since relegated such responsibility to others.

The challenges to getting good live bass sound are many. First is the source, the bass itself. Most players imagine their sound in a vacuum. Unfortunately what sounds good solo in their bedroom has little in common with what is needed at the concert hall. When bands practice there is seldom enough thought given to how the instruments blend, who will fit in where in the sound spectrum. Guitarist thrill with extended bass in their sound, while bassists think that every sibilant nuance of their new strings must be broadcast to the masses. Drummers rightfully cover the spectrum from bass drum to high hat. The result is that no one is heard correctly, a volume race ensues in the practice room and on stage. Bassist must compete with their best foot forward; clear, fat fundamental tone enriched with some clean midrange and not much else.

We could start by taking our cues from the electric bass pioneers of the 50s and 60s who, with modest equipment were able to propel their music in a most effective and memorable way, often using short scale basses or hollow bodies and flat wound strings of prehistoric vintage that they played with felt picks. Few of us today would stand for dead strings but we should consider that much of a new string's sound is high frequency clutter. On stage most of those highs will be masked by the guitar, cymbals and other high frequency sources. Trying to poke through the mix by boosting mids and highs won't clear up the bass part since the upper content is mostly finger noise, sympathetic ringing from adjacent strings and buzz or hiss.

Much can be gained by filtering the sound before it is amplified. Bass intelligibility is determined by wave shape. Certain wave forms can cut through better than others. Of course it's best to fit the song with an appropriate tone and then strive for intelligibility from there by cutting out the parts of the signal that aren't essential. In practice this might mean having a couple of different basses. In general it means playing cleanly and staying away from effects. Many times the culprit is too much low end in a misguided attempt to fatten the bass. It is better to get a solid 60 or 80Hz center and cut out everything below 50Hz than to pile up standing waves at 40 or 30 Hz.

If you play several styles during a set you will need to sound check each permutation from reggae to smooth jazz to see how the room will respond. If you are touring a regular circuit, you should take written notes on each venue. Always talk to the local sound person to find out what works. They in turn will appreciate your concern and do their best on your behalf.

If you own a big rig and are playing in a small venue, stay out of the house mix entirely. A single point source is better at avoiding wave cancellations around the room. For a deeper sound, set your rig against a back wall or in a corner to enhance the "boundary effect". If the low end is overpowering move the rig up towards the middle of the room. 10" drivers tend to focus sound in a narrow beam and aren't as good for filling big rooms. You can try bouncing the sound off a back wall to get better propagation though you will loose some highs in the process.

If you mic your amp for the house feed, make sure you aren't distorting your amp unintentionally on stage. A D.I. (Direct Inject) is a much better way to go and you should probably buy one that you like, it's a small investment that can make a big difference. Most bass pre-amps and amps now come with built in D.I.s that work well but you might want to experiment. Some of the best bass players I know simply use a D.I. and the house monitors for their signal and leave their rigs at home. They sound better because they avoid interference between their rig and the house mains while they are more conscious of what their bass sounds in the house. These lucky guys save their backs too. Some of my favorite DIs:

AVALON U-5 Radial Reichenbach DB- 1:12 Little Labs

Keep your stage volume at an absolute minimum if you are going through the house mains.

Smaller enclosures are better suited for monitoring, set them up at ear level or angle them up from the stage. Use them for side fill rather than aiming them indiscriminately out at the audience. This will let the mains sound their best and won't confuse the sound person with a hot bass signal beamed right at the mixing board from the stage. The latest trend is in-ear monitors for the whole band with Plexiglas baffles around the drummer. These in-ear systems are still expensive but can be built up slowly starting with the vocalists who seem to love them. You will probably love not hearing the vocalists in your mix. Drummers seem to be the most monitor-needy after vocalists. Consider a "shaker" throne for the drummer so that she can feel her kick drum and your bass meshing rather than blasting her with 2 monitors and side-fill.

Tell the front of house engineer that you want less overall house volume. A house system running at 100dB will have headroom and will sound far better than a system that is maxed out at 129dB. Sound engineers often believe their job is to wring as much volume as possible out of the house system. Bass requires most of the power in a house system but if all the power is used up with kick drum reverb and vocals, your low frequencies will never get a chance and your audience will go home with their ears ringing and won't have benefited from a note you played. I just heard about a club that uses a low power FM broadcast instead of house sound, each patron gets their own FM headset and can adjust their volume as they wish. Now that's utopian.