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.
Most bass players are just learning licks, bits and pieces here and there from their favourite players, this is fun, it is ok, but it gets boring very quickly for the listener. Also, when that bass player goes to play in a band, the same stuff will be played over and over without developing anything original.
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.
We have already established that if you want to play like the professionals that you admire, you are going to have to advance your timing skills. The quickest way to increasing your awareness, or sensitivity to timing is to buy yourself a set of drum sticks and air drum along to your favourite music and feel the music from the bottom up. Doing this will help align your mind to how other musicians are positioning themselves within the music, great music has certain traits, one of them is great timing. It is not just about which note you play, its where and how you play it. Timing is a lifelong pursuit, once you start on the road to timing, there is no going back, your life will never be the same again.
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.
Most bass players are just learning licks, bits and pieces here and there from their favourite players, this is fun, it is ok, but it gets boring very quickly for the listener. Also, when that bass player goes to play in a band, the same stuff will be played over and over without developing anything original.
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.
We have already established that if you want to play like the professionals that you admire, you are going to have to advance your timing skills. The quickest way to increasing your awareness, or sensitivity to timing is to buy yourself a set of drum sticks and air drum along to your favourite music and feel the music from the bottom up. Doing this will help align your mind to how other musicians are positioning themselves within the music, great music has certain traits, one of them is great timing. It is not just about which note you play, its where and how you play it. Timing is a lifelong pursuit, once you start on the road to timing, there is no going back, your life will never be the same again.
Timing is not just for christmas, it is a lifelong pursuit.
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