First, kudos for being open to constructive criticism. I’ve been playing 4+ years and still don’t have the balls to post myself playing for anyone. That being said, I don’t know how qualified I am to make any commentary, but you asked, so here I am.
You have really good right had technique. Your fingers are clearly set up for ‘walking’ the strings. That will serve you well later on. If you ever decide to switch to any other stringed instruments – beware – that technique will not fly on guitar or uke or mandolin, etc.
I agree with Zaebos_11 that learning your scales are really important. To add to that, it is also just as important to learn patterns. For me, I’ve been spending more time this year on learning patterns over scales. The beauty of bass is that the patterns are very structured (ie your III is ALWAYS a string down and one fret down from your I. Wanna flatten it? Slide your III down one.) The pattern never changes no matter what scale you’re in.
My bass teacher (who also happens to be my spouse – bonus! I get to sleep with the teacher), really stands by the ‘play everyday’ philosophy. Even if it is just for 5 minutes. Minor reinforcements like that go a long way. Plus, let’s face it. You start to play, even if only for 5 minutes to keep fresh. Next thing you know, it’s 2 hours later, you’re starving, thirsty, and have to pee, but you got 2 hours of bass in so who cares about the rest.
Finally, if you’re up for a philosophical read on bass playing, or any music playing really, check out Victor Wooten’s The Music Lesson. Some of it is a little silly (my bias - I feel like reading most philosophy books are silly), but it opened my eyes to some aspects of playing that I had not considered. It’s worth a read.
[–] wahala 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
First, kudos for being open to constructive criticism. I’ve been playing 4+ years and still don’t have the balls to post myself playing for anyone. That being said, I don’t know how qualified I am to make any commentary, but you asked, so here I am.
You have really good right had technique. Your fingers are clearly set up for ‘walking’ the strings. That will serve you well later on. If you ever decide to switch to any other stringed instruments – beware – that technique will not fly on guitar or uke or mandolin, etc.
I agree with Zaebos_11 that learning your scales are really important. To add to that, it is also just as important to learn patterns. For me, I’ve been spending more time this year on learning patterns over scales. The beauty of bass is that the patterns are very structured (ie your III is ALWAYS a string down and one fret down from your I. Wanna flatten it? Slide your III down one.) The pattern never changes no matter what scale you’re in.
My bass teacher (who also happens to be my spouse – bonus! I get to sleep with the teacher), really stands by the ‘play everyday’ philosophy. Even if it is just for 5 minutes. Minor reinforcements like that go a long way. Plus, let’s face it. You start to play, even if only for 5 minutes to keep fresh. Next thing you know, it’s 2 hours later, you’re starving, thirsty, and have to pee, but you got 2 hours of bass in so who cares about the rest.
Finally, if you’re up for a philosophical read on bass playing, or any music playing really, check out Victor Wooten’s The Music Lesson. Some of it is a little silly (my bias - I feel like reading most philosophy books are silly), but it opened my eyes to some aspects of playing that I had not considered. It’s worth a read.