So, I just recently picked up a bass. I've been enjoying the hell out of it, but when I felt ready to learn my first bassline, I've been struggling a lot. I was trying to learn Hey Jude (by The Beatles, i mean duh) and, I've stayed on the 32nd bar for a few sessions now. I tried to slow it down and it kind of worked, started from 0.5 speed and managed to nail it at 0.75 after an hour or so, but I just freeze up after finishing that bar or maybe the second one after and just, you know stop and start over. I was mainly wondering if this is the normal method or is the song too hard for my level.
hey guys
- Thread starter nissa
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rob aylestone
Moderator
Well, good on you for having a go, but how exactly are you doing it? Are you listening bar by bar and finding the notes by ear, or are you following some kind of music - as in written down notes?
There are only a few ways of learning really, and so much depends on your temper - how long before you walk away in disgust.
Some people learn by learning to read music and they play exactly what the book says. Other people never learn that way at all and have a musical 'ear' so can identify the root note of every chord, or read it off a piece of music by looking at the chord symbols - so if the chord is C, they play a C, or of the chord is written as say, G/B then the chord is G, but you play a B in the bass.
If you do that, AND you listen hard you will find that bass music of almost any style has little habits - habits that work to connect chords. If the chord is C, then a bass line might alternate between C and G, C on the first beat, then G for beat 3 of the bar. Sometimes the C above will be played, but that C to G works for the chord of C, and then if the C changes to an F, then the bass might focus on F and Bb. Then - if the music is about to go from C to the F chord, the Bass note much walk up from C to the F by playing C-D-E-F, just before the chord change.
Of course the rhythm the bass plays is also important so it could go bum-bum-bum-bum - for notes in the bar, or just two longer ones, bum (for two beats) then another bum for the final two beats. Then the rhythms get cleverer. bum-dibum, bum-dibum or even bum di bum-didi-bum. To see how bass lines work. Have a listen to the final countdown. First listen the bass is wild, but second listen you'll discover the secret is the rhythm, there are actually very few different notes. Have a listen to the bass in Gary Moores tracks - things like still got the blues for you - it's easy to pick out what is being played.
If you have a good ear, you'll spot the common little phrases that get simply joined up.
RE: HEY JUDE - Are you counting at the right tempo? It's about 70bpm or so isn't it, so where is the bit you are getting stuck? I'm guessing its actually 16? Bar 1 starts hey Jude, don't get it - and bar two starts with bad. At 'any time you feel the pain, it first changes and then starts a descending bass line - with some less common notes that then gets repeated till it starts going down again - then we're back to the original verse line.
Tell us what you're stuck with. If you want - post a short clip of you playing so we can guide further.
So much depends on how best you play.
There are only a few ways of learning really, and so much depends on your temper - how long before you walk away in disgust.
Some people learn by learning to read music and they play exactly what the book says. Other people never learn that way at all and have a musical 'ear' so can identify the root note of every chord, or read it off a piece of music by looking at the chord symbols - so if the chord is C, they play a C, or of the chord is written as say, G/B then the chord is G, but you play a B in the bass.
If you do that, AND you listen hard you will find that bass music of almost any style has little habits - habits that work to connect chords. If the chord is C, then a bass line might alternate between C and G, C on the first beat, then G for beat 3 of the bar. Sometimes the C above will be played, but that C to G works for the chord of C, and then if the C changes to an F, then the bass might focus on F and Bb. Then - if the music is about to go from C to the F chord, the Bass note much walk up from C to the F by playing C-D-E-F, just before the chord change.
Of course the rhythm the bass plays is also important so it could go bum-bum-bum-bum - for notes in the bar, or just two longer ones, bum (for two beats) then another bum for the final two beats. Then the rhythms get cleverer. bum-dibum, bum-dibum or even bum di bum-didi-bum. To see how bass lines work. Have a listen to the final countdown. First listen the bass is wild, but second listen you'll discover the secret is the rhythm, there are actually very few different notes. Have a listen to the bass in Gary Moores tracks - things like still got the blues for you - it's easy to pick out what is being played.
If you have a good ear, you'll spot the common little phrases that get simply joined up.
RE: HEY JUDE - Are you counting at the right tempo? It's about 70bpm or so isn't it, so where is the bit you are getting stuck? I'm guessing its actually 16? Bar 1 starts hey Jude, don't get it - and bar two starts with bad. At 'any time you feel the pain, it first changes and then starts a descending bass line - with some less common notes that then gets repeated till it starts going down again - then we're back to the original verse line.
Tell us what you're stuck with. If you want - post a short clip of you playing so we can guide further.
So much depends on how best you play.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
It's not a particularly difficult pattern. Maybe this will help. It has the notes in there along with the tab fingering.
rob aylestone
Moderator
This was the very first 45 I ever bought myself. On the Apple Label here in the UK, my sister bought Amry Hopkin's Those were the Days at the same time! Wow that's a long time ago.
hey, i've been following a youtube video with tabs and sheet music. the part i got stuck on is the one that just goes "you have found her, now go and get her". hosnestly i've been playing for exactly three days and feel like i'm rushing too much, but still enjoying it quite a bit. i think the problem mostly comes from lack of proper coordination, or just not being used to string instruments yet and i'm guessing that gets fixed by just playing.
Last edited:
Steenamaroo
...
Sounds like you're doing the right things.
Isolating a tricky part and playing it very slowly is a good thing to do, in my opinion. It gives you time to get it right slowly, rather than getting it wrong quickly,
so you're building up muscle memory of the correct pattern.
Sounds like you're describing choking after the difficult part, now? That's pretty common.
We get so focussed on the difficult or important bit that our attention isn't on what comes next, so we freeze.
Persistence is key, and gradually increasing the isolated part that you're practicing can help.
Maybe try playing that one problem bar, as you have been doing,
but then as you get comfortable play that bar and the first note of the next.
Then that bar and the first two notes of the next...
Sometimes isolating certain phrases can make sense - Like, for example, taking the ascending run as its own thing and just practicing that over and over.
Take short breaks, too.
Very often repeating the same thing over and over, and failing, can feel like it's going nowhere,
then you step away and come back and suddenly you can play the damn thing! It happens.
Isolating a tricky part and playing it very slowly is a good thing to do, in my opinion. It gives you time to get it right slowly, rather than getting it wrong quickly,
so you're building up muscle memory of the correct pattern.
Sounds like you're describing choking after the difficult part, now? That's pretty common.
We get so focussed on the difficult or important bit that our attention isn't on what comes next, so we freeze.
Persistence is key, and gradually increasing the isolated part that you're practicing can help.
Maybe try playing that one problem bar, as you have been doing,
but then as you get comfortable play that bar and the first note of the next.
Then that bar and the first two notes of the next...
Sometimes isolating certain phrases can make sense - Like, for example, taking the ascending run as its own thing and just practicing that over and over.
Take short breaks, too.
Very often repeating the same thing over and over, and failing, can feel like it's going nowhere,
then you step away and come back and suddenly you can play the damn thing! It happens.