I don't seem to be progressing much.....

To rephrase the question, should I - after about 6 months of practise - be playing more than root notes?

Not necessarily, I may not be a bass player but some of the best bass work is simple. That being said, you could look into learning some blues and jazz bass work, that stuff is usaully more complicated: basically it's learning how chord tones work into constructing bass lines. You could always start by taking a simple progression (like a I - IV - V) and play the arpeggio over it, or if the chords are power chords, you can use both the root note and the 5th note.

It's hard to say what works and what doesn't: sometimes playing the root will fit, other times an arpeggio or riff will.

Vic,
Buy Bass Logic -- it's a great help, especially in working out common bass arpeggios and inversions. That gives you a lot more to play around with. It also teaches you some different 12 bar patterns.
(I also own the Beatles scores and have found it fascinating to learn some of McCartney's bass lines, especially the more melodic ones. "Penny Lane", "Let It Be", "Hey Jude", etc.)
At any rate, that's what I've been doing -- and we're both following similar trajectories here. I think we each add the bass to our arsenal almost a year ago.

Tim

Yup, been there... This is a normal part of learning your instrument.

When you listen to songs you know well, you probably try to play what they play, which is good sometimes, but limits your ability to create your own bass melodies. If you pick songs that have active basslines (Only the Good Die Young, lots of Beatles - as mentioned above), then you can learn the possible riffs, which you can carry to other songs. The lesson books mentioned above and elsewhere, as well as some of the Bass Lessons on GN, can give you tools to help you create your own lines.

The one thing that helps a lot is to find someone else to play with, and play those songs you know well, but now you are not echoing the other bass player, it's just you. And you can play whatever you want.

-Laz

Hey Vic, good advise as usual from the fellows here. I've been playing bass for a number of years, and most times I still find myself playing the root. I feel it's my job to play the root, lol, but I know what you mean about the slower, more ballad like songs where you're going "Man.....when....does....the....next....chord............happen?"

A lot can be said for the 5th of each chord though, as already mentioned. I feel it's my second-job to hit that, but sometimes I purposefully say away from it if one of the other instruments is already hitting it pretty hard, or the singer's on that note already. It's at times like those that you start trying to think 'melody' or sometimes 'harmony' to the main line that's occurring at that point, or within that bar. That's where you'd whip out your scale knowledge and put a couple things in between the root and fifth maybe. You have 3 notes to choose from (2nd, 3rd, 4th) though you'd probably stay away from the 4th in any chord. Just use it in passing, while you're heading for another chordal tone. I just always think of the fingerboard and where the root, 3rd and 5th are for each chord, and then most times just doodle around those a bit before I'm called back to do my job and hit the root on the next chord change.

In a typical 3 chord song, which is what we do a lot in our stuff, playing roots allows me 3 notes. playing the 5ths gives me 6 to choose from, and adding the 3rd gives me 9 things I can hit - between having to land on the root for each chord - but especially for the One of each measure. I mean, sometimes when you're walking a bassline you can 'miss' a root here and there if you're onto some melody that sorta stretches over the bar lines; like hitting some 3rd on a downbeat because the logic and strength of the line you're working on is stronger than the need to be root-oriented at that point. It's like the melody, the phrasing of it is now half the speed of the actual chords going by and so if there's a 3rd or a 5th on the downbeat here and there, it still sounds good because the whole phrase makes sense. It's part of what's called 'playing outside' where you just step out for a second, for a beat or two to finish up your musical thought, and then come back in, BLAM!, on the one.

But this is still thinking root-fifth-third. Lots to be had there.

And then another whole subject is the rhythm of the notes you're playing. Even in balads, the bass can, because it's like a sub-melodic line, break things up a little bit. Not to say to totally funk it up rhythmically, but because he was already mentioned, take McCartney. Yes, he has this incredible sense of bass melody, but also note his *way* of playing the notes. Sometimes he'll play the same note two or three times, but it's got this...sweetness to it, this sort of singing quality which goes beyond playing bass notes all punchy and hard. "Lyrical" I guess you could say; he has this lyrical style of playing when he wants. And it's his note selection, but *also* his rhythmic sense. He's not just beating the thing to bits; he's allowing the melody to come through. Sometimes it's real long notes, like actual half or whole notes, and then he'll put in a little dibbly-dup-dup to close out the phrase, and if you analyze it, it's not that complex, but it fit perfect.

That kind of thing. I mean, even if you're given a single note to play through 4 measures, there's tons you can do with the length of the notes, how you stop the notes or let them sustain one into the next, or chop things up short, play with long winded triplet feel (ignoring the beat seemingly) and even showy stuff like doing a long, long glissando right down to the first beat of the next measure (usually right where the verse starts over again).

Anyhow, hope this helps and adds to what's been said. :)

Hey Vic. I don't play bass to say, but I can if I wanted to. I have borrowed basses in the past, and can play simple bass parts with ease. Most of this is because of root notes. They're easy, plain and simple. However when I write a song, I like to write the bass too. Often times I'll do a blues shuffle, or make the power chord shape or the chord being played, and appregio the bass line with that shape.

I find what works for bass is something relativly simple, because its nicer to listen to an easy fluid bass line if it's not the lead instrument, that a hard tapping run or something similar.

Cool post 8) Myself, I really only pick up my bass about every 2-3 weeks or so when I want to record something with it. Then I will spend about 2 hours or so creating a part and getting it to sound OK then I record it. Then I won't pick up the bass until the next time I need to record something :oops: I'm pretty much the same way with the mandolin. The banjo and lap Steele I do play a bit more than that, but still its pretty much only when the mood hits me :lol: I'm waiting for Davids new book to come out( Bass Guitar for dummies or Idiots or Fools or something like that) :lol: --the dog

I noticed that on Fender's website they have a number of lessons in the Players Section of their website, there are a number of lessons that seem at least somewhat helpful, I found one 'Jazz Bass' that looks pretty helpful.