To Shaun or any of the more experienced bassists..

[innovea]

Hey guys, I've recently expanded my horizons a bit as far as my bass playing goes, and I'm looking for some help.

Most of what I've played to now has been modern rock/alternative bass, which is often clever or fast, like "sic transit gloria..." or "there's no i in team", but lacks intricate rythm and timing.

It's been great as far as speed goes - I can walk very quickly and my left hand is comfortable using all four fingers, but lately as I've turned my passion for lyric writing and jamming into actual attempts at song-writing, I've decided I could benefit greatly from some jazz, or blues, or funk, or classic rock bass in that the focus is more on rhythm and grooving than constant battery.

The theory here is that if I combine both the fast and clever with the groovy and articulate, I'll be sitting pretty and I will be that much better of a bassist than I am now...

And the question is, if I'm looking to improve on intricate rhythm and timing, where do I start? What genres or bands?

Thank you so much to Shaun or whoever can help me out!!

PS: I'll be at the Feb 19 show in Toronto! I hope you have a great time and even play a canada-wide tour someday (though I imagine the decisions for locations you end up playing at are very market driven, so if it will be, it will be)

[mrfottlefocket]

i play bass and i reccomend listening to the following bands... Parliament, The Meters, Galactic, Steely Dan, Rush, James Brown, Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Primus, Earth Wind and Fire, Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten...if i think of anymore really good bass shit i'll reply again. also, if you're trying to write songs you should look in to learning about music theory. learn your scales and arpeggios so you understand what you're playing. this will help a lot, i promise.

[innovea]

thanks a lot man!

I've been getting into some Rush lately and I will look into some of those other artists you mentioned - I'm really trying to get a feel for different styles of bass right now..

As for theory, I agree 100% I have just started to move past jamming in the pentatonic and every new piece I learn just adds so much..

Thanks again.. say, how long have you been playing and have you spent much time in bands?

[mrfottlefocket]

i started playing upright in 4th grade. when i was in 7th grade i lied to my orchestra teacher and said i played elexctric bass. she gave me the audition music, my dad went out and bought me a shitty washburn bass, and somehow i made my junior high's jazz band. so now i'm a junior in high school, and i've been playing electric for 4 years and i haven't taken a lesson yet. i was in a band for a few months in 7th grade. and i was in a band from 8th grade up untill the end of last year. good luck.

[mrfottlefocket]

oh, i forgot to tell you. listen to marcus miller, he's one of my favorite. he's on all the luther vandross records too.