If you start browsing on the Internet looking for creative bass playing, it may take you quite a while to find some original players, as most aspiring bassists today are all just imitating what has gone before. Musicians don't seem to want to create their own original pieces of music.
When you have been playing for as long as I have, which is pushing thirty years, you can see that a lot of new bass players havent realized, or learnt the basics of rhythm and timing. I am not talking about complicated music theory or sight reading; I am talking about basic time keeping as a musician. Most bassists have timing in varying degrees, but it is an unconscious knowing, just feel it man. Although this attitude is ok to get you started and have some fun, if you want to get serious and write or perform your own material, you need to bring the knowledge of timing and rhythm to the forefront of your mind.
Bass players today are copying licks from other famous bass players without really adding anything new, we keep hearing the same phrases. When the time comes for the bass player to join a band, we will then again hear more of the same without any real innovation.
There is a reason why bass teachers tell students to practise with a drum machine or a metronome, it is the same reason James Brown use to say Give me the one. You have got to understand where the pulse of the music is, even if there is no audible beat or click.
If you want to play like a professional, you will have to develop your timing skills. The quickest and easiest way to improve your timing is to get yourself a set of drum sticks and air drum to all the music that you like, you will start to hear music differently. Regular practise with sticks will help you understand how all the music fits together.
Timing is not just for christmas, it is a lifelong pursuit.
When you have been playing for as long as I have, which is pushing thirty years, you can see that a lot of new bass players havent realized, or learnt the basics of rhythm and timing. I am not talking about complicated music theory or sight reading; I am talking about basic time keeping as a musician. Most bassists have timing in varying degrees, but it is an unconscious knowing, just feel it man. Although this attitude is ok to get you started and have some fun, if you want to get serious and write or perform your own material, you need to bring the knowledge of timing and rhythm to the forefront of your mind.
Bass players today are copying licks from other famous bass players without really adding anything new, we keep hearing the same phrases. When the time comes for the bass player to join a band, we will then again hear more of the same without any real innovation.
There is a reason why bass teachers tell students to practise with a drum machine or a metronome, it is the same reason James Brown use to say Give me the one. You have got to understand where the pulse of the music is, even if there is no audible beat or click.
If you want to play like a professional, you will have to develop your timing skills. The quickest and easiest way to improve your timing is to get yourself a set of drum sticks and air drum to all the music that you like, you will start to hear music differently. Regular practise with sticks will help you understand how all the music fits together.
Timing is not just for christmas, it is a lifelong pursuit.
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