Guitar Bad Habits For A Bass Newbie

deano

Not sure whether this should be here in Techniques or in Bass. Oh well, I'm sure a friendly mod will take care of it.

I am getting a Bass for Christmas. The Mrs doesn't know it yet, but I am.

As a guitar player over [too] many years, I have some ingrained habits. But what are the things I should watch for when making the transition to bass?

I want to treat the Bass as an instrument in its own right and not as a sub-species of guitar, but I'm sure some guitar playing habits or techniques whether physical or musical will creep in. But what should I watch for, and which are okay?

Should I, for example, try to bend notes [whether I can or not is moot at this point], turn them into slides, or not do either because it just isn't the done thing on bass?

I am not looking to become a bass solo'ist, but simply want to be able to add some underlying bass to my own recording, where vocals and guitar will provide the melodic flavour. I will almost certainly be jamming with some mates as well (We all play guitar, which is why I want a bass - to add some variety to our poor jam sessions). I just want to make sure I don't do anything obviously wrong that has crept in from guitar playing.

octatonic

The main thing is playing bass like a guitarist and overplaying.
Learn some actual bass parts, don't just play the root note of the guitar chord progression.

HAL9000

The little I know about bass is that you should lead rather than follow. None of this playing just before or just after the beat. When you play guitar you listen to, and follow, the bass and drums. If you’re playing bass then you are part of the rhythm section and part of what others will fit their parts to.

Bridgehouse

My brain dump:

- You are as much rhythm as you are tuned instrument. Work with the drums to produce that locked in rhythm section. 
- Timing and tuning are more important than anything else. Learn to play consistently in time and in tune
- Always always alway serve the song. Less is often more in bass. A bass line has to serve the song and not the player
- You want bass to be pretty much something that the listener doesn't consciously hear, but something that they would consciously miss straight away if it wasn't there

Having said that:

Right hand:

- On bass, right hand is king. It's your engine, your rhythm and defines your tone and sound
- Learn pick, finger style and slap (yeah, even slap!)
- For pick - work on consistency of volume and tone and rhythm
- Fingerstyle can be very expressive. The most common technique is fingers 1 and 2 only - with the thumb anchored and fingers 3 and 4 for muting. Floating thumb is harder but more rewarding and flexible later on - this is where you anchor the thumb on the string below the one you are playing, or on the body/pickup when playing the E
- Roll your finger off the string onto the string below for a consistent tone

Left hand:

- Thumb on the back - never hook it over!
- Play fingers 1,2,4 on lower frets when going up the frets - it's easier and stops RSI rather than stretching to use finger 3
- Play fingers 1,2,3,4 on about fret 7/8 and above
- Slides are ok - but don't overdo it. 
- Bend for a bit of vibrato but not to change pitch (unless you're into prog rock )
- Try to keep your fingers parallel to the frets for easier fretting rather than at a diagonal

Notes:

- Less is more, but just root notes are boring
- You are setting the bottom of a chord - use this to influence the tone and style of the song, and emphasise changes, choruses, bridges etc
- Learn and use fills, but serve the song and don't overdo them
- Use octaves, fifths and other incidentals to add variety and accents
- Learn some walking bass lines and how they are used
- Learn how bass fills the lower part of your songs frequency spectrum and how different notes complement or clash with other instruments and their frequencies
- Slides can be useful but again, don't overdo it - use for emphasis or slide from an accidental

Bass is there to get bums wiggling, complete a song, fill the whole spectrum of frequencies, accentuate chords and the flow/sequence of a song. Often this means less is more - but it sometimes means variety and careful note choice. It always means rhythm and timing are crucial. 

Do try flat wound strings - they give a much more traditional bass tone - and experiment with preamp plugins if you are using a SW DAW. 

Drive, fuzz etc. are all great on bass. Delay and reverb can work in moderation too. Compressors are very worthwhile using - they smooth it out and help with string to string consistency as well as attack. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

This thread has come at an opportune time for me as I've just picked up my first bass in the past week!

From the great nuggets of info on here, it's interesting that I've naturally started to do the fingers 1, 2 and 4 on the lower frets instinctively due to my midget sized fingers. (TBH I often do that on guitar when I'm being lazy and can get away with it!) 

The big challenge is definitely the right hand technique! I use picks 90% of the time on guitar but can hold my own with finger picking, however I'm shocked by just how different the technique is on bass! Gonna take a long time to get confident with that, especially getting timing right when skipping across the strings. I'm resisting the temptation to be lazy and just get the Dunlop big stubby out and 'cheat'!

Perhaps foolishly I've joined my mate's band and have my first rehearsal on Wednesday night, just 10 days after buying first ever bass!! Just the 8 songs to learn from scratch by then.... 

Lestratcaster

I've found myself playing bass quite often for a mate's metalcore band, and being primarily a guitarist there's a few differences, I often want to overdo stuff and be fancy with fills, but have since learnt to hold the song, keep it tight and drive it along and to lock in with the bass drum and make sure all riffs are same as guitars.

DLM

Bridgehouse said:

- Roll your finger off the string onto the string below for a consistent tone

@Bridgehouse Do you mean "play rest strokes, not free strokes"?

Bridgehouse

DLM said:

Bridgehouse said:

- Roll your finger off the string onto the string below for a consistent tone

@Bridgehouse Do you mean "play rest strokes, not free strokes"?

Yes - but I also find that the way the finger moves over the string as you play it affects tone and consistency

Funkfingers

HAL9000 said:

None of this playing just before or just after the beat.

That's John McVie stuffed, then!

martin8708

I would recommend putting the pick away and just getting to grips with the finger-picking technique , you can cover most styles of music with this method , and it puts you firmly in the bass player camp , guitarist's who play bass quite often just sound like a guitarist playing a bass guitar ( if you see what I mean )

Your drummer is now your new best friend , not just some geezer at the back of the band with reliability issues. You will now have to open your ears and listen to what he is playing and try and lock in with him , it's very easy to stray off the beat .
Think about note duration , this is where string damping comes in , but it makes a big difference to the sound / feel of the song .
Play root notes to start, then start to experiment with fills and bass lines.
You will get blisters on your fingertips and your fretting hand will have to get used to the extra effort and stretching of playing bass strings.
Listen to other players , Sting for space , John Deacon for tasteful playing and Billy Sheehan for flat out rock bass. ( There are tons of other brilliant players ) 

Most of all , enjoy it , 
Best of Luck .

pintspiller

1-5 works as much for rock as country. 1-3-5 is the standard walk and if all else fails just do that. Use 1-5 if 1-3-5 doesn't work for a chord (usually minor). Sometimes I just use 1.