Learning how to play the bass

By John, 26 July, 2013

I have wanted to learn how to play the bass for quite a while. But I've never done anything about it because it all seems too intimidating. I'm afraid of messing up, so I don't start, so I don't get past the "I mess up everything!" phase.

Let me tell you about my ridiculous goal: I want to be able to play like James Jamerson. Some of you reading this, right now, are laughing at me, either hysterically, or derisively, or both at the same time (although I am not quite sure what that would sound like.) When I say "I want to be able to play like James Jamerson" I don't mean I want to play all of the Motown classics, note for note, so that I can play the bass exactly like he does. (Although I do have a partiality to I Was Made to Love Her, so I am probably going to have to learn that one at some point.)

No, what I mean when I say "I want to be able to play like James Jamerson" is I want to be able to improvise a bass line over a set of chords. This is still ridiculously ambitious, for a fella who would have a real hard time picking out a C# on the fretboard in under 6 seconds. But still, I'm not going to get anywhere sitting on my ass complaining about how hard something is that I want to learn.

I used to think that improvising was just, getting the notes in my head out of my head and on to the instrument. Maybe that is all it is, but something happens between my head and my hands. I mean, I know the notes in my head and what they sound like, but I have no idea how to make those notes with an actual, real, honest-to-God, made-out-of-wood-and-not-air bass.

I know for sure that I can play the root of the chord on the bass, that is the easy part. During the chord, I can also play the other notes in the chord. And, I have since come to learn (after googling a bit) that another thing you can do is figure out a few scales, and then you can apply those scales to certain chords. So for a certain set of chords in a major key, you can play the pentatonic scale starting on the root of the chord you are playing, and all those notes will sound good (most of the time.)

So I have made baby steps with learning scales. Chord theory. Things like that. One of the realizations I came to a few weeks ago is this:

There's 12 notes. That's all you got. That's all anyone's got. Everyone has got to form their own relationship with the chromatic scale. How you break it down, how you split it up, where you live in those 12 tones is entirely up to you and the scale.

So think about that. Let it really soak in. Because if all you are doing with your musical life is trying to play exactly like Mr. Awesome, and learn all of their solos note for note, and try to copy their relationship to the scale, man, I don't know, it seems to me like the only thing you're going to get good at is copying. I've done the slavish copying thing with other instruments, and it's a lot less useful than it looks.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to learn things from other people. One of the ways you can do that is to learn how they see the world through the music they create. You just have to balance the note-for-note copying with learning the fundamentals. That's a lesson I wish I would have learned a long time ago.

So that is where I am at right now. Figurin' out these notes. Tryin' to get to the point where I can know them all individually, and call them all by name, get to know their favorite ice cream flavors. Maybe someday we can be good friends instead of awkward acquaintances.

Man, I didn't even mean to tell you all that. Tonight I realized I have an even more fundamental problem with the bass, and I am going to have to tell you about that later, because it is already way past my bedtime.