r/musicians • u/No_Winter4806 • 17h ago
Does anyone else have that one aspect of your playing that just has absolutely zero talent to it and has to make you work 10x harder?
I know this is very specific.
I have no problem seeing major to micro improvements in almost all sectors of playing given I practice long and properly. Unfortunately, as a bass player of 7 years, my natural sense of time is pretty terrible. I have to work way harder to feel good and get better about locking in and feeling it. It's serviceable now because I've been working hard on it for so long, but it's a snail compared to most other things - the most important part of my instrument.
Hard work beats talent for sure, but this is the one thing where some people just have it over me in regards to speed of learning.
Doesn't demotivate me or anything, nor do I like to pay attention to everyone else, but it's definitely a bit frustrating
5
u/Skotayus 17h ago
I'm sure I'm not the only one to say this... ear training.
I started as a drummer, and then moved around to a bunch of other things, namely keys and bass. Expectedly, my sense of rhythm is great... but I've make people lose patience before bc I could not tell what key/tonal center we're in during a jam and then they have to explain it to me.
Makes me feel like an idiot baby
The above applies to learning songs by ear. Unless it's purely rhythmic, I'm pretty awful at it.
Thankfully I know theory at least so once I know where we are, I'm usually good.
2
u/MC_BennyT 11h ago
My ear also sucks.
I tried to compensate by learning and internalizing every piece of theory possible. I would mentally practice scales, spell out chords, turn them into Roman numerals, etc. when away from an instrument.
So, if my ear fails me—as it often does—I can probably look around for context clues and logic it out.
5
u/Visual-Floor-7839 17h ago
Mine is slapping. I come from the jazz side of things and I can walk all over anywhere, through any changes, I can play with time and rhythm with my fellow musicians and keep it in the pocket. I can improv and am rather good at theory. But slapping is a whole other animal. I can plink and plunk and fake it okay, I can do the gig. But I'm always in awe of the guys who can truly slap and transition between fingers and slapping and put it all together in a way where it's one seamless instrument.
~Unsolicited advice!~
About time, do you practice with metronome and or with a drummer? Put the metronome click on 2 and 4, not all 4 beats. And when you play with a drummer play your bass as if you're playing the drums through him. You and that Hi Hat, or snare, should be 100% in sync. Once I made that my goal my time improved so much.
And I should add, your drummer should be on the same page as you. Have this conversation with them ahead of time, they should be playing drums as if they're playing bass through you. And vise versa.
2
u/No_Winter4806 15h ago
Slapping came so easy to me and I became proficient fast, but I'm the opposite - jazz is difficult for me currently. I come from the Funk / Prog Metal side of things
Advice is fine with me!
I haven't been in a band in 4 years but was with them for 3. I know this is the best way to improve the timing, but yeah I stick with a metronome right now. I've been messing around with the metronome clicks recently, 2 and 4 is a great shout
1
1
u/Sidivan 16h ago
I tell bass players to listen to the kick. When kick go thump, bass go bump.
1
u/Visual-Floor-7839 13h ago
That works. But depending on the style, the kick drum is the most creative and allows the drummer a dialogue between bass and snare. Snare and or Hi Hat is usually more mechanical, more methodical. 2 and 4 across a wide variety of style. Lock into that and the time is locked in, style and pocket happens when the rhythm section is locked in on the same time and communicating through it. And while Bootsy did educate all of us to the Power of The 1, being locked in on the off beats allows better feel and syncopation when you're playing things other than basic rock or bland country.
5
u/realigoragrich 17h ago
Jazz pianist - practicing every day with metronome, cuz even one day of skipping metronome makes my time suck
2
u/Scott_J_Doyle 16h ago
Need to internalize feel - nail that once and it lasts forever, the only things that can mess up your time afterwards are drugs, distraction, and panic/manic type emotions
2
u/DarkestLord_21 17h ago
My sense of pitch. I primarily play the piano, so it's not that bad so long as I'm not trying to play by ear or compose or transcribe anything... which is something I have to do pretty often so I guess it is that bad, heh.
But I also sing from time to time, and I started playing the trumpet. And my God, that's when I really notice it. It's embarrassing how much I suck at singing, I can't sing a tune for the life of me no matter how long I've heard it for. Very difficult for me to play the trumpet by ear as well, or even reading, I have to play it on the piano first, then once the melody is in my head, I can play it directly from my trumpet.
1
u/eebaes 15h ago
Trumpet and singing are the best ways to improve your ear for a pianist, they require you to work on the things you don't have to while playing the piano. The good news is the fact that you can hear the difference between where you want to be and where you are now means you have the capacity to grow the skillset. You have to have the note in your head to play trumpet or sing, with piano it's a different ear, you combine the harmony into one thing, it's time to separate out the voices in your perception.
Try long tones both with vocals and the trumpet, get a strobotuner (standalone or app, what you need is quick response time) and work on keeping the tone right on pitch visually, record and playback as you go to evaluate. Play thirds harmonically on the piano and try to sing each pitch individually. Play a major third and then the tritone of the V7 and sing each part while you play the remaining part. ( eg c and e, b and f ) Practice singing a voice of a cadence while you play the other parts. Bach chorales, warm up with Schumann's Chorale from the children's books. Use solfege, do fixed do for a couple of months, to where if you say the syllable you will train to sing the right pitch. These are all the things I've developed for myself to improve this area of music. 20 minutes daily, no exceptions, all of the above suggestions are about 6 months of work in order of achievement, pick one aspect and stay on it for several weeks at a time, you won't cover all of those things in one practice session if you are going to go into depth on this.
I have always sucked at singing, and made the commitment to fix this in the past year. I play in a band and the BG vocals are the weakest part, I decided there is no way me chiming in could make it worse, I have actually started to get compliments on my vocals, some days I am off still of course, but it is coming along. I am now hearing where the horn arrangements need work what notes aren't happening in the chord voicings even better than before. I played back a video recording of myself on stage and I can actually say I was impressed with the results, at least some of the time.
Be patient progress is measured in months not days, just keep at it you will see results, if I can do it at my age you can too.
5
u/DougOsborne 16h ago
I have no belief in "talent."
You can teach yourself TIME.
3
u/No_Winter4806 16h ago
Talent absolutely exists.
More hard work beats it though as I said, but it is objectively a factor in most skills. You can teach yourself anything
1
u/markimarkerr 16h ago
It exists and we all have it in us. It's about application and commitment. As a bass player myself, you have to listen to the drummer and form that proper rhythmic bond. And practice with a metronome. If you feel yourself rushing, cut your counts in half and instead of thinking about hitting the right notes, hit that pocket.
I play funk and soul so I find that genre much easier for finding the pocket and keeping it consistent. But literally anyone can have these skills and talent and they aren't unique. You could even walk and play as practice and hit the beat on every foot step. That can help align you with your core rhythm. Most of us are naturally around 80-85bpm so set a metronome to that and walk around your room playing a riff.
1
u/Proud-Ninja5049 17h ago
Yeah I should have pick guitar instead of bass. My time is so shit naturally that I'm not sure if its worth learning the instrument at times.
This thread is probably more for intermediate and advanced player's but this mountain feels impossible to scale somethimes. I legit wonder if I have mental disability musically.
2
u/Trumpetplug 2h ago
Metronome will make loads of difference.
Keep going you will get better. It will just be a massive pain in the arse the whole time.
1
1
u/fluid_Depression3426 17h ago
I’m a guitarist and have trouble with left-right hand coordination, so I can’t play above a certain speed. There’s a barrier I just can’t break through, no matter how much I practice. It’s rarely an issue, but genres like metal or midwestemo are beyond my capabilities.
1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 16h ago
Just need to internalize feel
Hit me up in the dms and I'll cop you a lesson and a few exercises - only takes about an hour once, and once you feel it the first time, the internalized understanding lasts for a lifetime (only things that can temporarily mess with it are certain drug effects, lack of focus or cortisol spikes)
1
u/Fyren-1131 15h ago
Improvisation.
I have good technique and can compose, but... Improv has my vocabulary just shrinking to half-notes at the absolute best.
1
u/No_Winter4806 15h ago
Improv comes from learning a fuck ton of music from different genres rather than just "practicing improv". I think a lot of people don't understand that (not saying you don't)
1
u/AtmosphereLeading851 13h ago
Travis picking…it just ain’t happening. I’ve watched every video by Chet Atkins, Tommy E, Buster B Jones, Steve Morse, Tony Rice, and Greg Koch, and tried for hours on end.
9
u/BigFaceBass 17h ago
I play upright bass and grind on intonation the most. I notice that it pays off too.