Bass guitar, double bass, and the general low end of sound
Im pretty good for jamming along, but I do actually struggle to sit down and figure out exactly what someone else is doing. If I play karaoke to a song Ive never heard before its a success if Im in groove and key within a few iterations. Definitely a skill.
I noticed Richard Bona usually sings what he's playing, just reflexively. This is something Im (telling myself Im) trying to do to improve this. Should also make lines more 'musical.'
I had a bass teacher early on that recorded about 4 notes onto a cassette, played very slowly and repeated several times. He then sort of coached me through guessing a note on the neck at random while he played it back and I would adjust higher or lower from there.
These days I mostly do the same thing, but after memorizing the line enough to hum it out loud or in my head. I can usually play most of not all of a song of mediumish difficultly (most popular rock songs) within a single playthrough, assuming the parts are straightforward and repetitious. More involved tunes might require a few playthroughs.
I will sometimes go to YouTube for really complicated stuff or when the bass part is harder to make out.
Thanks, that sounds like a good strategy!
I think i’m doing the same humming thing.. once you have it you “search” for it on the fretboard, right?
Yep. Pick a note and figure out if you need to go higher or lower. Eventually you'll get good at this and you will start closer to the correct note and know more instinctively how far off you are. After that you'll get a feel for common patterns and start to hear those in the music too, making the whole process quicker.
Yes yes exactly!