Pro Tips To Improve Your Bass Playing

As you know by now playing the bass can be challenging. The sign of a good bass player is how well you can hit the bass notes when they need to be hit. Very often, bass and drums set the tone of the song, so even though you are not the lead guitarist you have a huge role filled with responsibility.

We all want to get better at our crafts, or hobbies, and playing the bass is no exception. Experts from all over the world have different views on what you can do to get better at playing. We cannot cover them all here, but we will touch on some of the most common pro tips that are given to help you improve the quality of your bass playing.

Transcribe: You may have already been doing this without even thinking about it, which is a good thing. When you transcribe a song, you are basically listening to it and breaking it down in your head as it goes. You break it down into the sections when the bass is playing, when it is not, and then you begin to know by sound when you should be playing. Go ahead and give it a try. Pick an easy song at first and play along with it, paying close attention to the beat and how the bass smooths the song, especially during the transitions.

Use a Metronome: You have seen these many times, but if you do not know what they are we will explain really fast. A metronome is a device that will sway back and forth, and it makes a click every time the beat should hit. They can be adjusted to accommodate any type of song, and it will help you with your timing.   

Live Drummer: As the bass player you are responsible to play along with the drummer. You should have an almost psychic connection with them because when they are hitting the drums, you will be strumming the bass. For the most part, anyway. Get yourself some easy bass tabs, grab a drummer, and set up some time to play together. The apps and songs online are great, but there is nothing like playing with a live drummer.

Use A Pick: All the time you see guitarists and bassists play their instruments without using a pick. This may be alright for band members that do not want to move up to the next level of perfection, and it may even work great for some. For most of us, though, we need to make sure that we are always using a good pick so we can hit the correct notes at the correct times without having the chance of missing a string with big fingers that are getting tired.

Make Music: The whole point of playing an instrument is to make some music. Music can soothe even the roughest sole, and it can turn a frown into a smile. Music has shaped cultures for over 35,000 years so let your heart and soul guide your fingers. If you do not ever feel that amazing feeling of your body being in tune with the music you may have picked the wrong profession, or hobby.

These pro tips can help you improve your bass playing but it all boils down to one thing. That is the music itself. Your fingers should strum to the beat automatically, and your heart should be full of joy. Music is the number one way to solve any type of emotional problem, and when you play the bass, you bring the boom to all the people that love that part of any song.