videos

realitycheck · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:32 am Post subject: videos

Hey guys,
I am completely new here as you can see this is my first post. I have a question for you guys. First just a little info, I have just started playing the bass in my church youth group. I started probably about 3 1/2 months ago or so. I really enjoy it we play, rock, worship, all kinds of stuff. Anyway, for my question right now I am looking to see if you guys have used any instructional videos to help you guys when you were learning if so which ones and whats the best one you've ever used?

Also any tips you guys can give me for just starting off will help a whole lot.
Thanks realitycheck
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Low E Louie · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:06 pm Post subject:

Sorry, I haven't seen any bass videos. I just wanted to say hi, it has been really slow here lately. If it is possible for you to get just a few lessons that would help you a lot, I am sure. Or if you know somebody who you could get some tips from. Practise with a metronome. Playing with others is a great way to learn!

#monalisa

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realitycheck · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:45 am Post subject:

Hey Louie,
I really like your name that is hilarious. Yeah im actually in the band at my church. So far i've been learning songs and playing them. I want to start getting better now. I've seen lots of videos on musiciansfriend.com I just dont know which one is a good video.
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Low E Louie · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:38 am Post subject:

Thanks, buddy. Very Happy

Do you want to play with a pick or with your fingers? Either way is cool. I mean, you can maybe narrow it down if you take away those videos where the bassists don't play like you prefer.
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realitycheck · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:44 am Post subject:

Im playing with my fingers. I tried to play with a pick and didnt like it. I once tried to learn guitar and I just couldnt get the pick thing going for me. I guess I just needed more practice. I really like playing with my fingers though.
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Neil Gray · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject:

Hey Hey... welcome aboard.

Instructional vids are okay. Books are good, too. Especially ones with accompanying CD's (okay, so some are gonna be pretty ordinary, but there are some good progressive series books out there).

I would strongly suggest also that you look at getting a 'bass day' DVD. It is a festival where bassists just jam. I have learned heaps by watching it, and I've been playing since the dinosaurs walked the earth. Granted, a lot of it will be over your head (even pro's look on in awe at some of these guys!), but it will give you some great tips, and an idea about what you can aim for! Trust me, it blows all that 1, 2, 3, 4 business you find in basic books out of the water!
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realitycheck · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 5:09 am Post subject:

Hey thanks neil. I think im going to look at the bass guitar for dummies book with the cd. What you think?
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bcf717 · Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:40 pm Post subject:

Hey, welcome. I'd like to know your age, and what ages are your bandmates?
If you're playing with experienced, 'seasoned' players, I'd let them bring you along as you learn your chops. If you are all in the same age and experience levels, I'd still say learn along with each other and your knowledge will increase as you guys practice and learn. You already have a head start --- you're in a band. Books and DVD's can help but I find them 'sterile.' I've learned more from playing and interacting with musicians, be they experienced or beginner. Very Happy

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Neil Gray · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:51 pm Post subject:

Yep... That was what I was gonna say.
Books and vids will help you learn the instrument (or at least, what is socially accpeted behaviour while brandishing one). Actually playing the instrument in a band is what will develop your style. I have suggested to countless people that a great way to get better in a no pressure environment is to grab some sheet music to an album you've got at home, and just working through it. Once you can do that, choose a different album, and work it out by ear (I must strongly encourage you to do other things with your time as well. This could take months to get your head around, and if you ignore family, friends, and food for that long... you're just bound to run into trouble!!!)
Play in bands, listen to bass music (whatever you like), learn as you go. Don't wait until you have skills before you start to use them, otherwise you will be a boring bassist. Experiment and have fun. Take what books and CD's and videos teach you, and apply it to your own style... even changing it if you need to!
The book and CD you suggest are fine; I would grab it. But I guarantee if you start to do some of the other things suggested here, the book will be obsolete in about a week and a half!
What bcf717 says is priceless advice, 'playing and interacting with other musicians' is a great way to advance yourself.
So is aiming as high as the sky.
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realitycheck · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:12 am Post subject:

Well thanks guys I really appreciate it. I am 23 and just started playing the bass about probably 4 months ago. The rest of the people in my band are very good. Our guitarist has been playing 6 or 7 years. He is phenomenal though, he definately has a gift from God to be able to play, cause he can play almost anything. He also just got a full paid scholarship to college for music. He's the one who's been teaching me stuff, mainly he just hands me the tabs to a song and I go home put in the cd and learn the song. Theres been some I havent been able to learn until he showed me some about it, but then learned it.
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bcf717 · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:36 am Post subject:

That's the way to go. There's nothing like sitting down with someone and learning one on one. At this point, I don't think books or vids will offer any real insights at your stage of the game. I drummed with a band in high school waaaay back in the early seventies, and most knowledge I have of the guitar came by osmosis from being with the guys in the band. When I hit college, I, (A) found the kit didn't fit in the dorm, and (B) there was no volume control on a drum. That got me started into bass and guitar. Over all these years, pretty much everything I know is a result of interacting with players.

If you keep hanging with the guys and asking questions... I think you'll amaze yourself on your progress by the end of the year. Very Happy

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Neil Gray · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:51 pm Post subject:

That's a fair call. Playing by yourself will make you a great soloist, but playing in a band will make you a great musician!
Musicianship is something that is taken for granted a fair bit. I think at times we get blinded by stars, and think that a band is good because of one person in the same way sports stars are put on pedastals. But at the end of the day, there are more than one people doing the job, and their needs to be unity and relationship for that to happen. This only comes with interactions and spending time with the other members of the band (or the curling team you may or may not be a part of).
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bcf717 · Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 4:41 pm Post subject:

Ah yes... Neil has a way with words. Very Happy

Lennon must be smiling from the sky..."All you need is love, let's get together".... Seriously, it's true. I know several players who are great by themselves.... but put them in with others and the result is as slow and lackluster as a marching band performing '25 or 6 to 4." (Which marching bands always perform, and one would think that they should know better by now) Laughing

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Neil Gray · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:03 pm Post subject:

I am sheltered from the marching band's influence. They just don't happen over here.

We have brass bands in The Salvation Army, but even that is becoming more of a nostalgic thing.
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bcf717 · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 5:37 pm Post subject:

"I am sheltered from the marching band's influence. They just don't happen over here."

Lucky you. As a newspaper photographer I must cover many high school football games. I always pray for a blow-out in the first half. Then I know which team's photos the editors will be looking for. If it's a close game then I must stay through the second half. Thus I am subjected to the half time musical butcherings of the marching bands.

The playing of "25 or 6 to 4" by the marching band (any and all schools) is an inevitability for three reasons; 1. The band director (teacher) is a product of the seventies, 2. the piece has horns in it, and 3. the band director thinks it's cool. Unfortunately, seventies music (with the exception of David Bowie and Alice Cooper) is NO LONGER cool. Nor is it hip.

Yet, week after week, the band directors lead, nay, force their poor charges to march onto the field playing this ponderous piece, which in all probability they have never heard of before, let alone heard the original version. Music teachers shun original version use in the name of learning per-bat-um off sheet music. All well and good except this song has no relevance to kids today and becomes simply a litany of notes to be spewed out lethargically to please the teacher. Sometimes, but not often, the horns are in tune.

I blame the band directors. Get out of the past. Just because music is new, it is not evil. No one is going to tar and feather you if you let the kids play a song that's only ten years old. Band members, rise and put an end to this abomination. That said, I think any band director who continues this practice deserves a swift kick square in his bell-bottoms. Or perhaps a sucker punch to the belly of his Nehru Jacket.

Laughing

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