So how's the bass playing coming along guys?

Are you all making good progress? Have any of you given up?

How much did my lessons help? What did you do after learning my lessons?

How many of you are out and gigging now? Wouyld anyone appreciate gigging tips? Setting up, approaching venues, charging etc?

Just checking that you are all ok!

Im getting alot better!!

Ive learnt 3 "complicated" songs.

By that I mean the notes are complex and of a fair speed

2 mudvayne songs.Not Falling and Death Blooms and a Protest the hero song, Sequoia Throne(Minus the fast complicated tapping solo nearer to the end that I just cant nail >.<).

All thanks to you Dman, youre the reason I started and the reason Im still going!

Ima start doing covers with a guitarist for youtube on wednesday

Ive also made quite a few lines myself.

Havent even given up once yet

I would never have learnt those little things that people miss without ya Dman!

Such as "Your Thumb hits HERE" and "Thats a bad sound"

Noone else on the net gets those little things, and fill it with horrible jargon!

Still struggling on slapping right on strings other then the top one though. But Ill get better!

Whats everyone elses updates?

Looking into getting a band together actually. Ive been playing a good few years now and I feel the need to play with others. I feel that as a musician you are only as good as the people you play with, if that makes sense lol. I mean that with others you can learn your limitations and learn to fit in with theirs. You know fitting in with a drummers style etc. I played with a 'band' in my younger days when I first started playing bass, I was the weakest link and was removed from the equation. I got a lot better since then. In college every week I would jam with other students in the studio, we recorded Led Zeppelin's Rock N Roll (Wish I still had the recording of that )and was fortunate enough to play with a very very good drummer and guitarist. That was nearly three years ago and my playing has improved drastically since then. So I feel the need to start a band.

The thing is I'm not sure how to go about starting a band. When I look for ads and such its usually established bands looking for a replacement bassist, I feel that I would like to start something fresh. Maybe Ill just advertise looking for like minded musicians wanting to jam and see what happens.

Sorry for the long post lol

I think I'm doing pretty well

I think I'm stuck in a little rut where I'm just playing the same stuff over and over. I'm gonna try to break out of that somehow and work on my improvisation and learn how to read music (which I've already started, and I'm starting to get the notes from the notation pretty quickly. Not quickly enough to play anything with any normal tempo though ). I've printed out the Cantina Band tune (just the main intro riff) from Star Wars IV in standard notation and it's pretty simple (mostly roots and lower fifths and stuff), so that should get me started on reading

Dmanlamius wrote:
How many of you are out and gigging now? Wouyld anyone appreciate gigging tips? Setting up, approaching venues, charging etc?

!

Yes please

Pastichio wrote:
Sorry for the long post lol

Never seen mine before, er?^^

No seriously... To be honest, I don't know. My situation is that I work together with an instructor and try to learn stuff from this site also as an addition. Well, I'm just playing since the 23th of April this year, and I feel that my expectations should not be too big. But - as some of you might know already - I'm always looking for the "system behind things". I am not one of these guys who think "Oh, this song would be nice to play", to learn it and afterwards to think "Nice, I know another song". I am not satisfied with this kind of learning, 'cause this would automatically lead to these two points:

- I would never know if I become "better" or anything like that because I would not know and understand (!) what I am really doing on this instrument. If I learned the first song, the next one's already waiting and I'd start all over again from scratch. And believe me: During my Drumming- and studio-years I got to know a lot of guys knowing about 8.000.000 songs but not being able to play one single piece of real MUSIC!

- This doesn't follow a certain structure and I NEED structures (that's why I was so happy to see your "tree" on the site the other night, Dman. Remember?). Structures are really good to lead a certain way first of all and also to enable you to play the next song NOT from scratch, because you already know this or that technique, style, whatsoever...

Even if I'm tought by an instructor, I would like to know more about the musical structure (not the rhythms, that's boring^^), the harmonics, the feel, the technique... And to be honest: I don't know where to start and where the "guiding line" is (if there's one). My instructor unfortunately seems to be one of the "song by song"-guys. This might not be bad, but it's kind of not mine if you know what I mean.

But still: If there's one thing I learned so far, it's that bass is the coolest instrument ever and I was wasting more than 20 years on drums :-)))) Bass-Playing makes me addicted to music again, which was gone for at least 3 years. I LOVE being addicted to music! It makes me feel good altogether. Plus the fact that I learned a lot from the videos up 'til now. Some songs or at least sequences, a good amout of technique and stuff like that. So I'll surely stick to that.

If you can make a video about "THE clue" about music (the golden god-like finger reaching out of the sky or something similar), please put it onto your page as soon as possible^^

Well, I'm not doing near as well as I had hoped, I've learned more from Dman in a few weeks than I did paying for a teacher for three months.

I just cant seem to wrap my head around learning the notes.

Dr.Sterni wrote:

Pastichio wrote:
Sorry for the long post lol

Never seen mine before, er?^^

No seriously... To be honest, I don't know. My situation is that I work together with an instructor and try to learn stuff from this site also as an addition. Well, I'm just playing since the 23th of April this year, and I feel that my expectations should not be too big. But - as some of you might know already - I'm always looking for the "system behind things". I am not one of these guys who think "Oh, this song would be nice to play", to learn it and afterwards to think "Nice, I know another song". I am not satisfied with this kind of learning, 'cause this would automatically lead to these two points:

- I would never know if I become "better" or anything like that because I would not know and understand (!) what I am really doing on this instrument. If I learned the first song, the next one's already waiting and I'd start all over again from scratch. And believe me: During my Drumming- and studio-years I got to know a lot of guys knowing about 8.000.000 songs but not being able to play one single piece of real MUSIC!

- This doesn't follow a certain structure and I NEED structures (that's why I was so happy to see your "tree" on the site the other night, Dman. Remember?). Structures are really good to lead a certain way first of all and also to enable you to play the next song NOT from scratch, because you already know this or that technique, style, whatsoever...

Even if I'm tought by an instructor, I would like to know more about the musical structure (not the rhythms, that's boring^^), the harmonics, the feel, the technique... And to be honest: I don't know where to start and where the "guiding line" is (if there's one). My instructor unfortunately seems to be one of the "song by song"-guys. This might not be bad, but it's kind of not mine if you know what I mean.

But still: If there's one thing I learned so far, it's that bass is the coolest instrument ever and I was wasting more than 20 years on drums :-)))) Bass-Playing makes me addicted to music again, which was gone for at least 3 years. I LOVE being addicted to music! It makes me feel good altogether. Plus the fact that I learned a lot from the videos up 'til now. Some songs or at least sequences, a good amout of technique and stuff like that. So I'll surely stick to that.

If you can make a video about "THE clue" about music (the golden god-like finger reaching out of the sky or something similar), please put it onto your page as soon as possible^^

So long posts are good then lol. I know what you mean about learning song after song, I've half given up on learning songs. I still do, but I mostly play my own thing. Ive probably forgotten how to play more songs than I can play now. Some songs I knew so well, if I try to play them now I wouldnt know where to start. These days I'm more into doing my own thing, I can jam for an hour or so just coming up with ideas. Learning songs can be helpful but I feel that you can just limit yourself to those songs and not branch out into your own music making. Although learning a song and then using that as starting point to come up with your own thing can be good to.

But I do understand what your getting at, you want to learn how to play the bass guitar, not learn how to play songs on the bass guitar.

I have lost bit of interest but then also i have lost bit of interest to guitar playing too. Still i am playing both almost everyday. Most likely this is coming cause somehow i dont feel to have time so much on my hands and cause i don't have band to play bass with and my second band is kinda standing still which is annoying. We need bass player both those seem to be hard to find. Specially these who want to play hcpunk/crust/sludge/whatevermix stuff that we are doing. And in this band i really want to play guitar and not bass. So without bassist there will be no gigs and we have been talking of making demo but somehow that has frozen too. Sorry this maybe went too offtopic but this really sucks and this frustration influences also my bass playing interests. Also i would like to get in to band to play bass but don know do i have time before autumn.


In other hand i have got some progress first bass seems to be more fun to creating some song structures and even leads. Also i have noticed that my three finger technique has advanced and i have been thinking to try learn some maiden song or something if i could manage it just with fingers and not with pick.
Another really cool thing when i found this new way to do(not sure what is called in english) harmonicpick/pinch/orsomething with my right hand.

I found dmans videos from youtube while i was looking for tips how to slap n pop havent done that so much that i could say that i have learned something. Should just do it more and practise but im have been enjoying more to trying to learn three finger technique. Funny thing now when im playing something that "raises" like on fretboard goes 123 my right hand goes index, middle, ring... and when im playing like 321 on fretboard my right hand fingers goes ring, middle and index. With no reason.
At some point i tried learn to play like index, middle, ring, middle and then start again so it would be more witting in 4/4 kinda style when your fingers goes all the time back and forth and not just index, middle, ring and start over or ring, middle, index. And cause that is only 3 notes. But i haven yet figure which is best for me. But still i am trying to build more speed and get it more fluid.

Also that major scale video open a bit more where i can go on neck but should maybe trying to study it bit more.
And i think or at least i would be interested of hearing/reading about gigging tips and how to book gig etc. Even if it isnt must to have info at this moment but at some point it most likely would help alot.

I feel like I've been progressing at a fair rate since I started about 3 months ago. I don't feel like I've tried my absolute hardest to get better all of the time, but I'm pretty happy with the progress that I've made thus far. I don't feel like I have lost interest in playing at all so far which I am very happy about. I still have that same feeling to want to play as I had when I first got my bass.

I would say that Dman's videos have helped a lot in my learning. It obviously is easier to learn a song when someone is explaining it to you rather than just looking at a tab. I know that learning to play by ear is important but for the time being, I'm focusing on my technique. After learning your lessons, I usually practice them a lot until I can play whatever you taught perfectly. So far you haven't taught anything that is very hard so I usually don't have a problem with learning the lines in your videos (except for slap and pop, but I'll get to that eventually )

I'm not out and gigging due to my lack of skill but I would love to one day go out and play for an audience.

Well I would say that I have learned alot since I started playing back in March. I have not even thought of giving up. I love the bass and hope to find someone in my area that I can maybe jam with and have a good time just playing some music, and maybe it will turn into doing some small gigs

Pastichio wrote:
But I do understand what your getting at, you want to learn how to play the bass guitar, not learn how to play songs on the bass guitar.

EXACTLY!!!! Thanks for summing it up so well! And Dman: thanks for opening this thread! I think it's interesting to hear not only the success-stories but also the guys with problems. Makes me feel even more "at home"

mts wrote:
Sorry this maybe went too offtopic but this really sucks and this frustration influences also my bass playing interests. Also i would like to get in to band to play bass but don know do i have time before autumn.

No need to say "sorry" here, buddy! This is another problem I think a lot of guys do in fact have! Of course this can't be solved with some tutorials, but still it's obvious that this is bringing you down musically also. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll find a band asap!

Hmmm, where I am I at with my bass playing? My best parts, worst parts, what I've learnt & what I'd like to learn? Hmm....

Dman's Questions:
Are you all making good progress?

Yup! Although it's slowed down recently because I haven't had much time, but playing at my blues jam nights has propelled me quite a bit.

Have any of you given up?

Nope! I made that mistake first time round, and regret it HUGELY.

How much did my lessons help? What did you do after learning my lessons?

Umm... I actually have only ever watched one or two of your lessons all the way through, mainly when I was trying to learn slap bass over a year ago now Why am I here if it's not for the lessons? To learn from others, pass knowledge on, and be part of a great community

How many of you are out and gigging now? Wouyld anyone appreciate gigging tips? Setting up, approaching venues, charging etc?

I jam at the local blues night, but apart from that the band situations around here are pretty lacking!

I seem to have gone through cycles in my bass playing - learn a lot, play a lot, learn a lot, play a lot... I think I'm in the part where I just play at the moment, and am not learning much in particular. I would like to change that though, theres so much more that I'd like to learn - more ideas for blues playing, double thumping, and work towards my aim of joining a local covers band kinda thing.

I struggle to sit down & spend time learning though, I can never bring myself round to doing it, it's normally pretty spontanious. I'm not sure weather it's the distractions of being on my PC whenever I play (so I can jam along to tracks) or not, but I have thought about possibly a) setting up a 2nd PC, which just has music & bass resources on or b) moving my basses into our garage, but I'm not sure I want to leave any gear in there as it's not ideal conditions. Hmm...

I'm also considering going back to college, and studying music - possibly performance, or anything that'll a) develop my bass knowledge or b) allow me to play with other musicians & get active. I'm not sure if I can actually do this though, as it might mean giving up work & I don't think I can financially do that.

Reading music is also on my to do list - I can work things out, but I'm very slow at it, plus have more to learn about the key signatures or whatever.

I've also considered starting a blog or something & collecting everything I find on the web about bass playing etc. that's useful. I should give that a bash....

I've got a short day at work tomorrow - I think I'll spend the time clearing my room, eliminating distractions & start learning some bass again

Umm... I actually have only ever watched one or two of your lessons all the way through, mainly when I was trying to learn slap bass over a year ago now Surprised Why am I here if it's not for the lessons? To learn from others, pass knowledge on, and be part of a great community Wink

Ditto.




































holy crap my enter key got stuck!!!!!

The bass playing is great. I just started playing with a band again for the first time in two years. I forgot how good it felt. It felt so good, in fact, that someone called the po-lice.

Thank you D for answering my cry for help on myspace, and helping me out of that horrible rut I was in.


Also, thank the rest of you for being a great community. I've not been part of it long, but I've learned a lot from all of you. Thanks for not being douchebags.

Hi guys! It's been a while since I picked up my bass and posted on these forums (just over 2 months now) but I have a good excuse

Me and my Girlfriend bought a house so thats been keeping me very busy. Can't wait to dig out my bass and annoy my new neighbours

Dmanlamius wrote:Are you all making good progress? Have any of you given up?

How much did my lessons help? What did you do after learning my lessons?

How many of you are out and gigging now? Wouyld anyone appreciate gigging tips? Setting up, approaching venues, charging etc?

Just checking that you are all ok!

Hi Dman,

No I haven't given up but progress is slow. I keep watching your lessons and they really do help but my short term memory and co-ordination are stopping me getting all the way through a song. My timing is poor and my back hurts after bending over looking at the computer screen, so I can't practise for too long at a time.

I'm trying to do music theory as well. Very frustrating, it's never taken me this long to learn anything else. Age I guess, you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Gigging isn't on the horizon for me.

Thanks for asking.

Drop, I agree with you totally man.

I'm so frikkin proud of what this forum is becoming. Really good community.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this, and not let any people try and ruin the experience (this being the internet, people will try at some point).

Dmanlamius wrote:Drop, I agree with you totally man.

I'm so frikkin proud of what this forum is becoming. Really good community.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this, and not let any people try and ruin the experience (this being the internet, people will try at some point).

You refer to the dreaded internet troll. In a situation like that I think the best policy is to ignore the problem, these people crave the attention and if they don't get it they get bored and move on.

Dmanlamius wrote:Drop, I agree with you totally man.

I'm so frikkin proud of what this forum is becoming. Really good community.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this, and not let any people try and ruin the experience (this being the internet, people will try at some point).

totally agree. When people do try to ruin it, just ban them. Only way for it

Some good people on here

danthewelshy wrote:

Dmanlamius wrote:Drop, I agree with you totally man.

I'm so frikkin proud of what this forum is becoming. Really good community.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this, and not let any people try and ruin the experience (this being the internet, people will try at some point).

totally agree. When people do try to ruin it, just ban them. Only way for it

Some good people on here

Make sure you ban they're IP instead of just their name or they WILL return under a different alias. Even if you do that they'll probably be back on a different IP address from time to time. I know on a forum I used to moderate there was a way to ban their PC's MAC address. You should look into that should we ever get those trollers. That'll keep them from getting on anywhere from the same computer (say they have a laptop).

mistawac wrote:

danthewelshy wrote:

Dmanlamius wrote:Drop, I agree with you totally man.

I'm so frikkin proud of what this forum is becoming. Really good community.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this, and not let any people try and ruin the experience (this being the internet, people will try at some point).

totally agree. When people do try to ruin it, just ban them. Only way for it

Some good people on here

Make sure you ban they're IP instead of just their name or they WILL return under a different alias. Even if you do that they'll probably be back on a different IP address from time to time. I know on a forum I used to moderate there was a way to ban their PC's MAC address. You should look into that should we ever get those trollers. That'll keep them from getting on anywhere from the same computer (say they have a laptop).

We got good moderators here, I'm not worried .

As for my bass playing.. I don't feel like I'm getting any better at all. I'm playing everything I know how to play over and over and it looks like it's getting even sloppier.

I started learning a few Mudvayne songs, Dig and Not Falling - I learned most of Dig, but never bothered to learn the fills after the verses.. Not Falling, I haven't practiced much because I can't get the intro and like parts to sound out at all. That was a while ago,

I haven't played either recently. My bass dreadfully needs a neck readjustment and new strings soon. The nut is way too low for it as well. Making tuning down that low painful on the ears, and in effect, making it difficult to know if the bad sound is my technique or the bass.. I don't have the money to fix any of it, and I need a special wrench to adjust my truss rod (some sort of ratchet.. damn Yamaha.)

I started learning how to play Schism by Tool all the way through, good stuff. I don't play with a pick, but need to for this song, that's part of my problem, no practice with it. But I just can't play some parts of it, not even close.. made me mad, haven't played it in a while.

I'm in two 100% inactive bands, both of which have people who don't know how to play their instruments save for the drummer in one and vocalist in the other. I can jam with a drummer pretty often, but when I do I just don't know what to play - neither does he.

I looked back at D'man's videos and played Under The Bridge / Creep / 7 Nation Army with no problem at all.. I need something to learn to play, bad. Everything remotely difficult I try to play I just fail in some way, I believe my left hand technique needs work.. don't know where to start.

I'm down to 1 hour a day of playing. I just don't feel the fire anymore when I play. I miss my bass, help!

I looked back at D'man's videos and played Under The Bridge / Creep / 7 Nation Army with no problem at all.. I need something to learn to play, bad. Everything remotely difficult I try to play I just fail in some way, I believe my left hand technique needs work.. don't know where to start.

I'm down to 1 hour a day of playing. I just don't feel the fire anymore when I play. I miss my bass, help!

^^
Thats more or less where I'm at.

yea im getting better alot quiker then i thought i can play only a couple full songs like under the bridge killing in the name of and naked in the rain. i can play heaps of other riffs from other songs cos thats all he shows ya http://www.slappyto.net/Cours/?p=0#R
hes really good.
my fingers are getting stronger to.
it funny i'v never had any trouble with my slaping like my thum never got sore, probly cos i'v been hitting it on things pretending for years lol good tip there lol
hope its alright to put another bass lesson teacher guy on there,
he only show it he dosnt really teahc its ok hes got nothing on u

Protoplm wrote:

mistawac wrote:

danthewelshy wrote:

Dmanlamius wrote:Drop, I agree with you totally man.

I'm so frikkin proud of what this forum is becoming. Really good community.

I think it's important that we try and maintain this, and not let any people try and ruin the experience (this being the internet, people will try at some point).

totally agree. When people do try to ruin it, just ban them. Only way for it

Some good people on here

Make sure you ban they're IP instead of just their name or they WILL return under a different alias. Even if you do that they'll probably be back on a different IP address from time to time. I know on a forum I used to moderate there was a way to ban their PC's MAC address. You should look into that should we ever get those trollers. That'll keep them from getting on anywhere from the same computer (say they have a laptop).

We got good moderators here, I'm not worried .

As for my bass playing.. I don't feel like I'm getting any better at all. I'm playing everything I know how to play over and over and it looks like it's getting even sloppier.

I started learning a few Mudvayne songs, Dig and Not Falling - I learned most of Dig, but never bothered to learn the fills after the verses.. Not Falling, I haven't practiced much because I can't get the intro and like parts to sound out at all. That was a while ago,

I haven't played either recently. My bass dreadfully needs a neck readjustment and new strings soon. The nut is way too low for it as well. Making tuning down that low painful on the ears, and in effect, making it difficult to know if the bad sound is my technique or the bass.. I don't have the money to fix any of it, and I need a special wrench to adjust my truss rod (some sort of ratchet.. damn Yamaha.)

I started learning how to play Schism by Tool all the way through, good stuff. I don't play with a pick, but need to for this song, that's part of my problem, no practice with it. But I just can't play some parts of it, not even close.. made me mad, haven't played it in a while.

I'm in two 100% inactive bands, both of which have people who don't know how to play their instruments save for the drummer in one and vocalist in the other. I can jam with a drummer pretty often, but when I do I just don't know what to play - neither does he.

I looked back at D'man's videos and played Under The Bridge / Creep / 7 Nation Army with no problem at all.. I need something to learn to play, bad. Everything remotely difficult I try to play I just fail in some way, I believe my left hand technique needs work.. don't know where to start.

I'm down to 1 hour a day of playing. I just don't feel the fire anymore when I play. I miss my bass, help!

To this I suggest two things. Stop learning to play songs, and concentrate on playing bass. I think a lot of people believe that learning song after song is a good way to learn bass and to some extent they are right but you will get nowhere as a musician if all you can do is copy other artists. Now this is just my opinion from playing bass a few years, and my bass playing improved x10 when I stopped learning song after song and got down to actually playing the instrument. Write a song on the bass, use your ability to create rather than recreate, you may find it more rewarding and easier to continue with the instrument.

Second (and this may go against what I just said lol), if you are after a new song to learn then I suggest The Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin. Now you don't need to learn the entire song, but I suggest you try learn the bass solo about half way through. I don't even see it as learning a song, I see it as a bass lesson as it covers most of the fretboard and really really helps improve your fretting hand. Learning that solo really helped me improve as a bass player. Plus its funky as hell.

hi guys, just had jam with guitarist who wants to play in my punk band, really enjoyed even with fractured right hand. did respect by aretha franklin PUNK VERSION!! dont get stuck in rut, playing with other musicians is good practice.