Bass FX

The following material is my selections of quotes from users of the Talk Bass Forum. You can find the post here. If you like the philosophy of music in here, consider reading Victor Wooten’s book. I learned ALOT from this guy.

• “for me it was record your practice” -from a teacher.

• “Keep your ears open and listen to both the sound and the band”

• My friend Ray is a phenomenol bassist. He told me to relax my right arm and hand. I didn’t realize how tense I was. Now I play better and with more endurance.

• Play each note as you would spend a dollar on each. Think it originated from BB King.

• “When you’re performing, don’t ever, under any circumstance, stop playing if you mess up.”

• “Play fewer notes and put more soul into each one you play.” – Willie Dixon, when he sat in with our band

• “Serve the Music.” – Don Bates, Community Band Director

• “Try playing with drum tracks” – Changed the way I thought about bass, got me interested again.

• “Less is more.”

• “Don’t play the song…let the song play you.”

• when you play bass, no matter what else you do, make sure you hit that one [downbeat]. if you don’t, you’d better have a good reason. – paraphrasedbootsy quote

• Play with a live drummer whenever possible. When practicing, use a metronome.

• It’s not about the notes you play, it’s about the notes you DON’T PLAY!

• I had an instructor in college tell me during jazz ensemble that if I made a mistake to repeat it the second time around and people will think your doing some cool modal thing. Most of my best ideas come from my mistakes now.

• “Spend the first few years learning what to play. Spend the rest of your career learning what not to.”

• “If you can sing it, you can play it.”

• “Practice is what you do at home. Rehearsal is what we do together. You don’t practice at rehearsal - you rehearse. If you don’t practice, you are wasting my time and the time of those at rehearsal who do. “ — Myhighschool band director, Mr. Boedges.

• “You should pick-up a bass and let me know how that works out for you.” – My drummer,

• - Relax yourleft hand

• - Play all styles of music, even the ones you don’t like to listen to
  - Learn fretting hand positions and how to play in them (this was big for me as a self-taught bassist)

• Listen to everyone you are playing with.

• One finger per fret.

• Back in 1978 I was in a band and a guy name Newt Cole once told me ” The more you know the less you play. Great advice.

• “If it sounds good it is good”

• “Keep a neutral face when mistakes happen” ..

• “dont even bother playing guitar”

• I read way back that Les Claypool recomended watching TV while practicing to keep your eyes of the fretboard and develop a good feel for it.

• Know what the note will sound like before you play it!

• Get a day job.

• Miles Davis: Something about space being as important as notes

• Don’t move your lips, when you count… My first drummer instructor (1967)