Hello! I am an aspiring self-taught beginner that will be using this channel to document my journey of learning the bass guitar. I have never played any instruments before; only during secondary school where you mess around on the keyboard and have a bash on the triangle :D I always put off learning any instruments because I have really tiny hands and short arms as I am of a small stature (4ft9"), so I thought that it would hold me back, but I decided that wasn't a good enough reason to not give it a try. I decided that I wanted to give the bass a try as it looks fun to play and I want to challenge myself to learn something new that is out of my comfort zone. I think uploading here will allow me to reflect on how I play and see what I need to improve on and maybe even serve as motivation during my journey if I see some improvement during that time. If you have any tips or advice for me along the way that would be really cool and I'd appreciate it a lot!
Hello, I'm from Brazil and I thought your learning project was really cool and I love this Evanescence song. If you want to collaborate with me in the future. I play the guitar : )
Subscribed to you a few months back, love seeing the progress! Keep it up! And yeah the lip curl is for sure a bass face thing, pure concentration haha
Aww, tysm for watching and following me along my journey! and yeah I thought so as I tend to do it so much when I play lmao, it could be a worse bass face I suppose xD
As long as you don't f*ck up your back like I tend to do: the more i tryhard and focus, the more I lean and bow towards my guitar, almost kissing the frets
@@greendestiny6068 yeah I've noticed I do that with my posture more when I'm concentrating, I'm gonna try to stand more when I practice from now on though, I think that'll help. It's because I'm trying to look at the fretboard, but I should rely more on the dots and feel of the fretboard. I'm less confident with the D and G strings that's when I tend to lean.
Congrats on the new bass! been following for a little while, it's interesting to see another self taught bassist in the process of learning. ^^ I also had this moment, when I got my second bass, and the difference was huge... Started out with a cheap bass, as most people...And I also had that issue with the frats on my first bass, had a lot of tiny cuts on my hand if I didn't keep a distance from the neck, it was frustrating, glad I don't have it on my current bass. Glad to see you also experiencing this joy of a better bass. Enjoy, and good luck! :)
Thanks so much! The difference is crazy isn't it? I suppose you get what you pay for though lol, I just didn't think a cheap bass would be THAT bad, although as a beginner you don't really understand or realise until you start playing it more and more. The worst for me was the stupidly high action, but the truss rod screw was stripped so I couldn't fix the bowed neck :/ I had to put unbelievable pressure on each time I fretted, it hurt my thumb so bad after a while. This new bass is like a dream, but now I have to kinda unlearn the gorilla left hand technique xD Good luck on your bass journey too!
@@jeyda4127 Awesome. If you had a five string, I would have recommended PVRIS - Smoke, if only because it would teach you some groove. But you might have to adapt the bass line to something you can play on that Ibanez.
@@NickG6489 I'll probably eventually get a 5 string when I'm somewhat decent at playing the 4 string (if that time ever comes lol) It be nice to have a 5 string especially as most the songs I seem to like use either 5 string, drop C or BEAD tuning. Also, funky song! thanks for sharing and yes I would probably have to do that (not really sure how haha).
@@jeyda4127 I'm sure you'll get there, especially if you keep going the way you've been. You're clearly very dedicated to this instrument, it's really awesome to see.
Doing great, keep it up!! Continue to check local music shops and pawn shops for a better set up, you’ll know when you’ve found the right one for you, Ibanez, Yamaha, and Fender Squire make some pretty good entry level basses.
@@jeyda4127 the sr300’s are pretty nice, a few weeks ago I lucked into a 2005 Fender American Jazz 5. Please keep posting your progress, it inspires me to practice more.
Keep working on making transitions between chords more smooth. Try to think less and feel the music. Beginnings are always rough, but with practice you'll only get better. Great job so far! :)
Your video popped up for me kinda randomly but I loved the idea so I checked it out. Amazing progress for less than three months!! Keep it up! What are you using for tabs? Rocksmith or something similar?
I started practicing drums a week ago, I'm going to start monitoring your progress, congratulations on your good performance,a hug directly from Brazil <3
Alternate plucking will help a lot later on. It's tough when the song is slower, but learning to use both fingers will be more difficult on faster songs if you don't get used to doing it now. Keep up the work!
51 days! You're on your way to becoming a solid bassist. I've been a professional bassist for over 30 years and can say you're playing like a natural musician. Bravo. 😊👍
I’ve just been recording on my phone but I have an audio interface now, my plan is to use Audacity, do you know if it’s any good? And thanks for your offer 😊
I’ve been practicing scales alongside but I usually just try to play songs that I really enjoy as it’s motivating me. When I don’t play I try to learn some theory and watch technique videos or other bassists :)
One trick I was told, when I first started playing. Keep your bass in annoying places, place it on a chair you use often, leave it on the bed, in front of your clothes drawers, you can come up with your own places. The idea is, because it's always in the way, you have to pick it up all the time, and when you do, you have the perfect opportunity to play a little bit; it can just be a riff you started learning, some kind of exercise, anything, just play for a minute or two every time you have to move it. Another common thing in my local bass community, is what we call shadow playing. Play as light as you possibly can with the fretting hand, at first you shouldn't even be pressing the strings down, just place your finger over the correct fret and pluck the string normally. Then slowly apply a little more pressure, till you actually get the tones to play. It's a nice way, to learn how little energy you need to use and it can help increase your speed too, because you don't grip the fretboard like it's Bart Simpsons neck. @jeyda4127 hope you can use this too and I wish you all the best on your bass journey
@@benneburg thank you! 😊 Some really good advice there. I have my bass on a stand in my pc room where I go everyday so it’s super accessible, I usually pick it up thinking “5 mins only” and then suddenly it’s been one hour later, haha. And yes to light touch, I started to try this more recently. Fretting hand still very iffy but in the very beginning my index finger was numb at the tip for over 2 weeks constantly! Thankfully it’s not now, but if I go too hard it can numb again and it’s part of building calluses too I guess.
