Learning Bass Guitar From Reggae

[Klaus5]

A few months ago I got myself an accoustic bass cheap from the free ads, Ive been playing (standard) guitar for 5 years but this is my first real bass playing.

I have so far been playing along to Jammy's Strictly Dub and Scientist's ..Vampires LPs which are nice and simple bass lines, good practice for fingering, timing, sound, and keeping a steady line going.

The most complex song i have figured out so far is Skin Flesh & Bone's Solitary Man.

Can anyone reccomend any slightly more complex bass lines to learn, but still beginner level? (Reggae, Ska, rocksteady, even non-JA genres, maybe funk, blues etc?)

What are some of your favorite songs to play? (Again, mainly JA music, but other genres as well)

What are good songs for fingering practice (both hands), that is, slightly more complicated, requires stretching and moving about the kneck etc?

Any general bass tips?

Ive been almost tapping rather than plucking the strings up by the bridge, which on my accoustic bass gives the best low reggae style unamplified sound and experimented with playing close to the neck also tried a cut down sponge to dampen slightly at the bridge. Ive got some flatwound strings coming in the post in the next few days which will hopefully be fun to experiment with and aybe get a bit closer to a upright bass sound, even though i am very happy with these roundwounds (i think they are pretty old)

Thanks a lot

[Return of Jesco]

"King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown" gives the fingers a bit of a workout, a lot busier than most reggae basslines but not too difficult...

[I-Lion Tafari]

Greetings Klaus!

I would recommend a good bass teacher. So no beginner mistakes can creep in.

Have fun rehearsing!

[abey]

I have one Lp favourite to play bass along: (1977) Tappa Zukie - Escape From Hell


I can enjoy playin Java, and Jah Jah children dub mixed by King Tubby singed by Linval Thompson.... its just great

but you have to enjoy every line you play as if it was the last!

one thing that was good to me was play with metronome at 40 bpm........ and tryin to make sound as clean as you can.

The most complex line I figure out was King Tubby & Glen Brown - Father For The Living Dubwise.... insane

Have you seen Alionbass channel in youtube? He play good.

[Klaus5]

Thanks for the ideas, i will definitely check those albums/songs out!

A bass teacher is not something ive thought too much about to be honest. Partly out of arrogance and liking to work things out myself, and partly frugality, mainly using the internet for free basic bass technique instruction. But you are right i may be picking up bad habits which will be hard to change.. its certainly something to think more about.

Playing slow in time sounds like a good practice which i will give a go. Currently i am struggling to finger with the left hand consistantly, particuarly the E string i often hit too hard and make it buzz against the frets. Also im working hard to minimise right hand fretting and sliding noise. I often get a clunk noise of fretting if i dont dampen the string, playing nice and slow might help me to get a better techniqe in that department.

Yes i am a fan of Alionbass, #1 bassist on the tube!

Father for the living dubwise, thats some lovely bass. Thats now on my to-learn list, im prepared to set aside several evenings, many many play-pause-rewinds, but one day I will play it! Thanks for the tip there, long time i no listen to Termination Dub!

[abey]

im prepared to set aside several evenings, many many play-pause-rewinds, but one day I will play it!

Yeah, this play-pause-rewinds thing sounds familiar for me.... what I would do without it?

[Uppie]

first of, get a tech to set up bass this helps eliminate the fret buzzing

second, flatwounds flatwounds flatwounds flatwounds, the rotosound black nylon flats are superb!

third , get some good foam (they grey one that is used in studio's) put that in between body and strings right after the bridge. gives a good ol'skool thumping sound.

fourth, use your thump, make a thumps up hand and pluck away using the thump, gradually get more fingers involved

fifth, don't stick to dub/ reggae only!!! classic Motown tunes, blues, jazz, rock, ... a bassist needs to be versatile !

six, enjoy every minute of playing, love every note you pluck, learn the chords/ triads/fifths/...

think about buying a play a long cd player that can slow down tunes without affecting the pitch ... costly but oh so worth it! can be found as software ...

before starting, warm up hands, fingers wrist arms ... pain will kill your sound and stop you from practicing!

greetings, Upright

[Klaus5]

first of, get a tech to set up bass this helps eliminate the fret buzzing

No can do, the bass has no moving/tweakable parts other than the machine heads. I set up my standard elec guitar myelf usinger internet guides and free tuner (AP Tuner) to get the action jut right and perfectly (or as close as the cheap guitar allows, give or take a few cents) intoned. This was both free and highly educational!

second, flatwounds flatwounds flatwounds flatwounds, the rotosound black nylon flats are superb!

I put on some thomastic-infeld jazz flats yesterday. I am a litlle worried about them though, they are very bright, other than the 2nd string which sounded perfect from the second it was put on. I have read that it will take a few weeks at least of playing to settle them in and lose the brightness. Is there any way to speed this process up? I am fighting the urge to switch back to my old roundwound strings.

Could the fact that they are designed for electric bass (i have electro-accoustic) mean they are not suitable? I did quite a bit of reserch and saw other people using them on accoustics fine, i didnt think it mattered. But i am quite woried about their sound..

third , get some good foam (they grey one that is used in studio's) put that in between body and strings right after the bridge. gives a good ol'skool thumping sound.

I have been using a cut down synthetic foam wash-up sponge sometimes!

fourth, use your thump, make a thumps up hand and pluck away using the thump, gradually get more fingers involved

Now that is interesting! At first i was using my thumb alot (with hand parallel to strings like guitar style), because it sounded so right, but the last week or so i have switched to practicing "official" fingering (just using 2 fingers and occasional thumb so far though slowly trying to work a 3rd finger in without much luck so far) because i wanted to try to learn the "propper" bass techniques. Now i can play with both styles and feel better about it, thanks!

fifth, don't stick to dub/ reggae only!!! classic Motown tunes, blues, jazz, rock, ... a bassist needs to be versatile !

That sounds like very good advice. I have been trying to play a few Soul tunes (many are more or less reggae bass), when i get round to it i will look into some Jefferson Airplane. Could you reccomend anything else i should look into?

six, enjoy every minute of playing, love every note you pluck, learn the chords/ triads/fifths/...

think about buying a play a long cd player that can slow down tunes without affecting the pitch ... costly but oh so worth it! can be found as software ...

Ive been using the play a few seconds-pause-work it out-rewind-play-pause-rewind etc technique so far. (also used a youtube vid to teach me a michael jackson tune, but i always feel kind of fraudulent being told how to do it)
Ive never got on very well with the theory side of music, every so often i will read a bit, but end up getting distracted by playing.. Prehaps if i actually purchased a book (i read online) i might have less excuse not to try harder. Are there any good all-round bass books anyone could reccomend? (though i am really not interested at all in metal/alternative whatever)

before starting, warm up hands, fingers wrist arms ... pain will kill your sound and stop you from practicing!

Do you mean like stretching kind of thing? Hand yoga? I will google to see if i can find any specific exercises

greetings, Upright

Thank you very much for your big reply! Do you play upright bass by any chance?

[donstrumental]

Sounds like your doing all the correct stuff to me.

Save your money,you don't need a teacher at this stage.Your teachers are Robbie Shakespeare,Flabba Holt,Leroy sibbles and Family Man.

Just emulate what these masters of reggae did and you will be fine.If you hear they are coming through your town go and check them out ,they are all nice people and will give you more through inspiration than you will get from most (not all) music teachers.

Yes,theory is important but none of the bass players above knew anything about theory when they created those masterpieces.

A few reggae bass tips

1 Buy an electric bass

2 Join a band (don't wait till you're great,dive in now!)

3 go to as many live shows as possible

4 learn every Bob Marley bass line you can get your hands on.(note for note),all the theory you'll ever need to play reggae is hidden in those songs.

5 After you have learned Concrete Jungle,One Drop and Is This Love.PM ME!

Oh! buy the way,i'm a bass teacher.

pm me if you get stuck anyway.

[Uppie]

those thomastic's are great strings, keep them on!!! play play and play .. the brightness will fade and then ... magic happens! i've got some flats stringed for over three years ... they just keep getting better!

hand yoga ... yes! i come from upright bass (hence the name) trust me you need it and it will improve your playing.

as finger technique ... there are several ways, thumb/two or more finger, slap/pop, plectrum, ... the overall rule to this is ... if it sounds great without damaging string, bass, amps hands, wrists, ... then keep playing like that!

google james jamerson aka the hook! wacht listen and learn!

the complete electric bass player by Chuck Rainey, start with book 1, covers ritme, scales, ... comes with soundfiles, it's not complete but it will sharpen your skills and knowledge of the instrument

enjoy

greetings, Uppie