Site updated 18 Sep 2015

FREE BASS TUNER

Click/Unclick the button
corresponding to the bass
string you want to tune

Bass Playing Tips from Bass Player and Music Educator George Urbaszek of CreativeBassLessons.com

Welcome to BassPlayingTips.com

This website has tips and advice on how to play bass - both bass guitar and upright bass - and will give you access to free online bass lessons.

If you require structured and regular online bass guitar lessons - from beginner to advanced - that include all elements you must know about bass playing, then go to CreativeBassLessons.com and check out the highly acclaimed online eCourse available through that site.

You will find a few ads on this site - but that is what enables this website to bring you free bass lesson content, mainly in the form of Bass Playing Tips

If you want to get HUNDREDS of BASS LESSONS for THE PRICE of just ONE regular face-to-face lesson from a qualified bass teacher - INSTANT DOWNLOAD - just click on the EnableBass image below. That will take you to the EnableBassLessons website. Many of these bass lessons have been written and recorded by yours truly, George Urbaszek.

Bass Playing Tips and tricks – Some New, Some Old – All Useful

A bass playing tip concerning sound production
I know that most bass players have a set plucking/striking hand position. Try playing a riff, lick, line or melody you have often played before, this time moving your plucking/striking hand to either side of its standard position. Notice how different the string tension feels. Notice the change in sound. If it is better, use the new position for that particular sound.

Try this too
Take one of your stock standard lines and play it in at least 20 different ways. Think laterally. Hit the strings a lot harder than you have ever done before, play softer, play very legato, play very staccato, mix the two, play the line a lot faster, play it a lot slower, play it in a different position, a different key, a different register, slap it pop it, pick it, mute it, change the feel from straight to swung or vice versa, use a completely different fingering for both left and right hands, change the line from major to minor or vice versa, play it with your eyes closed, imagine a scene to suit the mood of the line, hold the bass in a completely different position… and so on. If you have not discovered at least one new and potentially useful thing through this experiment, start all over again with an open mind.

First you must consider your budget. This issue can impact considerably on your purchase.

Do you need a better amp very soon, or can it wait a while until you can afford what you want?

Portability – transport and maneuverability are important factors to consider. I prefer to carry smaller, lighter items as opposed to large, heavy items – been there, done that. (If you always have roadies, portability is not an issue for you.)

Sound – This is a major factor and depends a lot on the genres, styles and techniques you play. If you have already identified your (current) favorite sounds, then check out what equipment those bass players are using. Remember, however, as Jaco said “The sound is in my hands.”

Solid state, tube (valve) or a combination of these and other technologies?
The pre amp shapes your tone and can be a stand-alone unit. It can also be integrated with a power amp and/or a speaker cabinet. The latter is commonly called a “combo”.

Watts – There is a common misconception that the speakers should have much higher RMS wattage than the power amp. Often inexperienced bass players and salespeople believe that a 150W amp combined with a 300W speaker is a good, safe and powerful combination. It ain’t necessarily so.

Ohms – A 150W 8 Ohm amp running a 300W 8 Ohm speaker will result in ca. 80W output – not much for bass. Bass requires headroom. When you push the volume and have no headroom you can get distortion and speaker and amp damage.

My advice: Get as many watts as you can in the amp head. 500W – 800W is not unreasonable. This will even work with a 300W speaker cab. Why? Without getting technical, here’s an analogy: A large car with a V8 engine will be purring comfortably at 80MPH, whereas a small car with half the engine size has to work much harder at the same speed. The speaker is being driven very hard with the small amp but is not being pushed at all using the amp with more headroom because that amp is not straining.

If you are not convinced, go to your local music store, plug a 500W speaker into a 50W amp and check out the bass sound. Then plug a 100W speaker into a 1000W amp and compare. (Now we are back to sound.)

Also check out the sound of 8 Ohm cabs versus 4 Ohm cabs as well as manufacturer-approved combinations. As always, let your ears be the judge. I prefer the more saturated sound of 8 Ohm cabs.

EQ – Equalization can be graphic, parametric, semi-parametric, or a variety of combinations. What suits you? Usually shop staff are knowledgeable and will assist.

Compression – Most high-end bass amps have good in-built compressors. A touch of compression is not to be overlooked in your sound. All recordings have a degree of bass compression and it is an excellent asset for live playing too. (All of my lessons are recorded with bass compression. Have you noticed? If not, that’s good.)

If you purchase separate pre-amp, power amp and speakers, you can always mix and match. This is a great way of achieving your ultimate sound. You can try tube/solid state amp combinations with speakers and speaker cabs of various sizes and quality.
Many amp heads now have the option of blending tube and solid state pre-amps. Some do amp simulation (of well-known and successful combinations) too. This will enable you to find out what is most suitable.

My current setup (for the past 12 years) is an amp head containing two 250W power amps plus all the other shbang such as DI with output control, a good compressor, semi-parametric EQ, shelving (graphic) EQ, headphone jacks, tuner and effects in/out plus more. And very importantly, a tube pre-amp. This makes the amp sound better as it warms up. I run both power amps into bridged mono, giving me 600W RMS into a 350W RMS 2x10 speaker cab with an attenuateable horn. The cab can handle peaks of up to 800W.

A note on speaker cabs – 2x10 has approx. the same surface as a 1x15 speaker. Therefore the 2x10 has a similar amount of bass depth as the 1x15, yet a better, faster, clearer response, making it fine for 5-string basses.

Although the info provided above might seem in-depth, it is not really. Many issues have not been mentioned. So, just investigate further!

* * * * *
Find Out What Helps Us Continue Playing The Instrument We Love

Tips to help you stay on track with your learning diligence, whether you are a professional or an amateur musician

Recently one of my online students asked this intriguing, interesting, and very important question: “Do you have any advice for discipline and diligence when it comes to learning?”

He went on to say “I find myself too often putting my lessons off in favor of other needs, then I get frustrated that I am only at lesson 26 still.
Is there a routine or a mantra or something you can recommend that supports learning diligence?
Sorry for the weird question but I find its something that does not often get discussed when learning an instrument.”

He may well be right in saying that the issue of learning diligence does not often get discussed. We (both the teacher and the student) can easily assume that all is well with our learning as long as we see and hear some kind of progress with our vocal or instrumental studies.

In my face-to-face lessons, I will bring up the topic on a need-to-address basis, i.e. when I find students becoming somewhat complacent about their desire to progress. Such a discussion is usually just a one-time event; however it can benefit lifelong maintenance of learning discipline - not only for their bass playing, but also for other aspects of their life.

If you find it easy to get distracted in your vocal or instrumental studies, you are not alone.

Although everyone is different, with different needs and desires, I will give some generic tips and advice on the topic of “Learning Skills and Learning Diligence”.

My tips will be divided into three broad categories

• Why continue learning
• What helps us learn best
• Learning disciplines and suggested routines

Why continue learning?
There is always a primary reason why we begin learning an instrument or vocal studies (or any other skill, for that matter) in the first place. You must ask yourself what that reason was for you. I am a bass player, and I remember my reason very well, although it was more than 50 years ago! I did not start playing bass quite that long ago, but the reason was already there when I was a young boy. My reason? The sound. Yes, the sound was, and still is, my primary attraction to the bass. (In the meantime I have figured out many of the reasons behind this attraction, but that may be left to another article.)

The day I began my studies of classical double bass at the conservatory, I was invited to sit in on a lesson of an advanced student. We had a chat after that lesson and he told me that I would encounter many obstacles along the way. His advice for when I was in doubt was to “remember why you are playing bass in the first place”. That remembering would put me back on track. He was right. It helped me a lot. There were several circumstances throughout and beyond my course that put me in doubt about my skills and diligence. To get beyond my doubt, I remember “the sound” and all becomes good again. For me, the sound of the bass creates enthusiasm for the bass.

Your reason? I am sure you can easily figure that out for yourself. Sometimes it is not evident before you begin playing your instrument, but at some stage there would have been a feeling of “This is it!”. Find that moment and see if you still feel the same now - we usually do. When you become aware of that feeling, your enthusiasm becomes evident again.

What helps us learn best?
I am continually surprised at the very high percentage of people (of all ages) who  do not know how they learn. Let me explain using the term “learning technique”.

We all have prominent learning techniques. These techniques are usually not known until we consciously assess the way we learn. The way we learn has a lot to do with the way we remember. Once discovered, making optimum use of our memory techniques leads to optimum learning. We therefore create optimum results, leading to optimum joy in our achievements as well as their positive bearing on our lives in general and those around us – what a result!

Here are a few learning and memory techniques for you to take a look at. Find out if any of these techniques apply to your learning.

• Learning by rote – this may include mental and mechanical repetition
• Visualization – anything from pre-seeing, pre-hearing, pre-feeling etc, to photographic memory
• Associative memory, i.e. associating something you are learning with something you already know (such as a name)
• Learning and remembering with the aid of colors – this technique is often a favorite of the female learner

Although there are other learning and memory techniques, it is up to you to investigate and become aware of your best learning technique – then put it to good use.

Learning disciplines and suggested routines
First, you should work out your circadian rhythm, the way your “body clock” operates. It is of no value if you have the time to practice at 2PM if that is your physical and mental downtime. Find the times of day or night that suit both your schedule and your body clock.

For some people it is more beneficial to do a few short practice sessions as opposed to one long session. Some trial-and-error attempts will help you find what best suits your lifestyle.

Accept that you have to practice to improve your skills. Without acceptance your sessions will be tedious and fruitless instead of constructive and bountiful.

Before you actually practice, work out what you are going to do and the process of your actions. You may need a reason for what you are practicing today, be it part of your long-term goal or something more pressing, such as mastering your part of a song for tomorrow’s band rehearsal. (Practising and rehearsing are not the same.)

Practice what you can’t do first! This is crucial … and I’ll tell you why. At the beginning of a session, our minds are generally more able to concentrate, and therefore our intake of new material is higher than at the end of a session. Furthermore, what if we get interrupted during the session and cannot continue? We have learnt nothing new and leave the session with a sense of incompleted-ness, possibly leading to a bad conscience, resulting in too many negatives.

End your session with something you were already familiar with before the session (such as playing over a chord sequence) but add what you learnt during the session. This creates great satisfaction and a sense of true achievement.

Most musicians start their practice session jamming with something they already know. Instead, I advocate to have your jam at the end of your session, incorporating your new skills.

Below is a suggestion for a daily 30-minute practice session for an instrumentalist. All elements of this routine can and should be changed as often as required to suit your circumstance.

• NEW ITEM – Note identification     5 minutes
• Sight-reading                                     5 minutes
• Technique development                     5 minutes
• Groove playing                                  5 minutes
• Playing a song                                    5 minutes
• Revision                                             5 minutes

Along the way, either with or without instrument in hand, you may find it helpful to use mantras to help your learning. Mantras are very powerful in the most positive way. They can be as simple and focussed as “C is on the third fret of the A-string” to something more general, such as “Every note is coming through my instrument in its best possible form to suit the purpose of the song”.

In summary

• Find the reason that enthused you in the first place
• Find your best learning technique
• Accept that you are practicing for a purpose