Thanks for all the compliments! I really appreciate it!
@bigredbass: On #1, my dad has suggested that to me before. The way he described it was forming your hand into a claw shape and spread four fingers over four frets. I'm still young and I have yet to adapt myself to it. It actually kind of hard for me to do but I still got 60 years of life in me (I hope, lol), I'll get it sometime. On #2, those slow songs can be a bugger, yes. If you're playing, say a Rush song, you can fling as many notes as you want and people hardly notice because every is going so fast. Now I'm a Jaco fan, not die hard but I love his basslines. When I listen to one of my favorite Weather Report songs A Remark You Made, now that is a song where you need to know where the notes are. If you're in a loud band, it's fine. But if you're in a really slower quieter kind of group, which I learned in my high school jazz combo, those slow notes are extremely important. And too much fiddling results in many mistakes, which I learned the hard way, lol. On #3, yeah another problem I have. Rushing the bassline results from me being to tense when playing fast stuff. As you can see in Crocodiles, I'm tense the entire movie. I do appreciate the insight. I actually might try and find a song I know that's slower to balance it out.
EDIT: My Squier Jazz is a monster! It plays so much better than most Fender-made basses. The neck is unbelievably comfortable.
@richbass939: I know exactly what you're talking about. I started out playing with less than spectacular drummers and it really denting my playing for awhile. I remember the first time I locked in with an amazing drummer, it was so exhilarating and satisfying. I'm still trying to find that niche: playing lead lines while anchoring the band. It's hard. Fortunately for me in my blues band, the drummer is a natural time keeper. He isn't a extremely wild drummer but it helps me stay in time and it really helps if I'm playing lead stuff. And yes, playing bass is something I'll love the rest of my life.
@terryc: Some of my favorite all time basslines are funk basslines. I can't really do the slap and pop thing like Flea or Les Claypool (but I practice it) but I love finger funk more than thumb funk. Two of my favorite funk basslines are Bootsy Collins in Sex Machine and Donald Duck Dunn on Soulman. Very groovy. I'm starting to get into more jazz and soul like Jaco and Jamerson, in fact my high school music teacher gave me a huge list of bass players in those areas to listen to. I also have a cheap Yamaha keyboard from the early 2000s that has over 200 drum parts on it and I actually created a really good prog bassline out of one of them.
Some other songs I'm thinking of recording in the near future include Natural Science and Anthem by Rush, Twist and Shout and Back In The U.S.S.R. by the Beatles (both have amazing basslines), and a few U2 and Bunnymen songs to try out. Again thanks for the positive feedback. I'll continue to update this thread so long as I keep making movies.
(Message edited by cool_hand_luke_fancy on July 10, 2010)
