U are the most beautiful inspirational young bassist in the world right now I am one of the biggest fan of yours... I tried many times to get a subscription on patron but nobody will help me for that but I learnt so many things from your videos thank you so much charls ... Lots of love from india ❤❤❤❤
Hey this is the most recent video i could find so i thought i would have a better chance of this reaching you i wold like to instruct you to check the comments of your 12 string bass video. thank you so much for being an amazing inspiration for me and everyone in your comunity.
Three top game changers for me; #1 "Sing" with your bass lines. When you can sing what you play, you can also play what you sing. My bass is more of a musical voice these days for me than an instrument in my hands. #2 Learn bass chords. I've never had something with so little practical "in song" application have such an impact on my playing. It's also really effin cool when you do bust em out. #3 Step out of your comfort zone. Play/work on/experiment/side project completely different genres of music than you normally play. This will help you elevate past "everything I play sounds the same".
The singing advice is spot on. In addition to your reasons (which are right) it also helps in memorizing songs. I also sing the melody while playing the roots of the changes. The two things make for strong and pretty quick internalization
One of the best pieces of advise: Play every day. Life gets busy, we all know. But even if it's just a few minutes, a few notes, or one song, just get your hands on it at least once a day.
Nothing but facts, Mr. Berthoud! I've been playing bass since 2001 and I've heard every single one of these silly tips before. Thank you for clearing the musical "air", so to speak. And thanks for the amazing content over the years! Cheers, from St. Louis, Missouri!
The most terrible advice was when I read in comments somewhere that in order to learn hard son one should repeat it from beginning to end to end at the original tempo until he get better at it.
I must confess. I was speaking not about bass but about electric guitar song. And it had a number of different techiques like tapping, harmonics, sweeps, etc. though I honestly don’t know if this experience is applicable to bass playing or not…
@@Dyas777that's not really bad advice as long as it's not too far above your current skill level. Otherwise yeah, break out a metronome and slow down specific sections. Bass or guitar.
My perspective: Beginner/intermediate, just learning for my own satisfaction, not interested in playing with bands or in public: On the music theory thing, absolutely. I've found a little to be useful, but I quickly get lost, which is infuriating and dispiriting. But every so often you pick up another bit of it (see me, diatonic triads, about three minutes ago) that you find useful. Little and often, everything in moderation. (Also, on music theory, from a physics-trained point of view: you just have to accept that whilst it's *based* on maths and physics, there's a heavy element of people just deciding stuff "sounds right" centuries ago, which is where it all falls apart in my brain.)
Excellent point I agree !00%. I remember kinda hating my excellent teacher for not teaching me the pentatonic rigtht away, not until I learned all the modes with a very similar excercise to your diatonic scale example (actually identical but instead of triads I had to do root, 3rd, 5th and 7th). Only when I learned by hand all the modes (not only on the major scale key but also in minor and minor melodic) he taught me the dreaded pentatonic. His reasoning was that if he taught me the pentatonic right away, I would have used it for almost everything neglecting the rest. Like I said I hated it at the time and I could have learned the pentatonic myself but I'm glad I didn't because I was forced to use only the modes and their variations in both bass lines and solos, and that led me tp a better understanding of harmony , on how to move on the neck and how to play in chord changes. Also if you play like that you'll have a more disctintive sound than others playing pentatonic only. When he finally taught me the dreaded pentatonic, I loved because it's easy it but already knowing all the modes I used it sparingly only when it fitted the song. In my opinion it was excellent advice and it helped me improve quicker.
I’ve been playing for 46 years. My advice is as follows: Observe anyone who is playing and listen to EVERYTHING! There are great inspirations everywhere around you at all times and after paying attention to the bass lines, pay attention to all the other parts too, it helps inform you how things go together AND you can pull ideas for bass from the other parts as well. There are no professional musicians, we are all just ferrets & crows snatching up shiny objects for the collection. Run those scales, learn at least the circles so you know have a little knowledge of what else goes together besides the root and always be mindful of TIME. Music is a dance between timing, feel, & technique. The more you have of the first two, the less of the third you can skate by on, but you definitely need all three and as you develop these disciplines, your repertoire increases. Just my 2 cents. 4 strings NO LIMITS
I must say the best point that i've learned through the on going journey that i have is that you have to be able to ADAPT to whatever you are learning, most people' goal is getting to a place where they are able to play everything with all the fingering and techniques they've mastered and got used to, problem is whenever you are changing genre, even a different song that has just a little bit different bass aproach, you will find that you have to get out of your comfort zone again and adapt to a different needed situation in order to sound good (lets say in place as wished instead of good), truth is you have to try and develop your own sound but also to lower your expectations and wishes, be open to step out of the zones that you have been used to play in, yes you will be quite terrible between the process of change but in the long term view your experience will be blessed, try not looking at the instrument or music in a robotic way (kinda must know everything every shape every scale every bit of musical theory that exists so that ill be able to improv at any moment), this thing does not happen, what is the reality is you will develop your own patterns through your own experience, try to play in a melodic way and develop and remember your own patterns, with time then, by the lenght of this process you will have achieved insane amount of improv ability and wont have to think of your instrument theoreticly when playing, instead scales and shapes will come and go on their own, lets say based on instinct, this is the real goal, Woah the comment is long but I wanted to share a good positive energy with all the bass fellows around here, I hope you feel happy when playing music and no fear is stopping you from moving forward and experiencing more. Bless
thanks so much Charles...i asked a while back if you could do a video on how to double pop and replied that you would and I finally have an exercise to practice it thanks man!
Hi Charles I love your shows, I had just recently within the last two years had become a bassist but my first bass was a standard 34" and being a short person the bass started off too long and thick and then later learned that 1.5mm nut width became my comfort zone. When I was growing up my father was a bassist in a band that I had the honor of witnessing but, I was growing up as a drummer and still too this day a drummer and so I've always had the sound of the bass in my head for about 25 years now, being that drummers follow the bass guitar and having the sound of the bass guitar in my head, I know that I'm really good at the notation of the instrument thanks too drumming and I'm pretty sure I'm comfortable playing by ear, do you have any advice on what bands would be good ear training music too listen to, I trust your advice, thanks!!! 🤘🤘
I've played bass for nearly 50 years... Spot on advice... I'd add an additional benefit to learning all the theory, how to solo, and improvise? Learning the leads of other instruments is HUGE for performing live. "Covering" & "Implying" for another's gear breakdown? Transforms a gigging disaster...into magic. Without those tools, well..a band Could just program a bass line...? I've Never been short of requests to join bands.. -I prefer the temp GFH gigs..those i can turn down if they don't Fit my life... And I sure Never wanted to tour FT...🤮🤮
I will add...being a multiple instrumentalist absolutely helps... Peace, everyone.. Oh, why do I detest touring? Ever been around broke, messed up, wasted musicians for an extended period? That's why ...
I hate the whole "Be original" schtick. Its actually terrible advice that set me back for multiple years. The truth is it is actually impossible to create a bass or chord progression that hasnt already been done. Honestly, just write stuff you wanna write and if its already been done, so be it.
The sum of all the parts makes your music original. If something in your music reminds you of something you have already heard, that is actually a bonus.
Sorry. 3rd post. I can take from older music bass lines and navigate my way through current assignment. How or why !? From. The sound to the technique to the final actual execution - which I control - I can blend as I see fit. And as the band and or artist accept. Horn players taught me this. Miles or Ornette Coleman played THIS. Make your own rake and play YOUR OWN THIS
Love this lesson and the topic. Personally, I have only encountered these examples as GOOD ADVICE! YES practice technique, YES learn how to read standard notation, YES play solos, YES copy bass players that you admire, YES learn to play with both pick and fingers, YES practice scales and arpeggios!
Thanks for the lesson, really helpfull. Why aren't there any minor chords written in the diatonic triad exercise? is it because the E Major key implies which chords are minor, following the I ii iii V(dominant) vi vii (diminished) in E?
Thanks for that Charles! I have heard many of those from well meaning people. One time I threw in a slide pop during a song and I got, "What, are you trying to play lead guitar?"
I play reggae. And African, what we call World Music. So, bo slapping, no popping, no tapping. But I learn innovation along with articulation and the odd techniques and interpretations. It's up tk ke tk choose when I use them. But knowing how makes me better. Thank you so much !
Bad advice I got when I was starting out, on guitar, but it can still apply to bass, was: "oh, you need to buy this model of guitar, and this brand of amplifier cause they're "proper" gear" (which in my case was a Strat and a Marshall amp that my uncle persuaded me to buy). But like, you might just not gel with certain types of instrument and you might not like the sound of certain amps. Try plenty out and see what's comfortable to play and gets you the sound you're going for.
A somewhat similar advice I've seen on forums or on videos - play on a long scale bass, even if you have small hands, you can do micromovements. After struggling on a big bass for a while I tuned down and put a capo on the second fret to turn it into a shorty. Much better now. I don' t understand why I have to do the extra work just because I'm small. I will buy a short bass (soon, I hope).
@@mini_skinny0296 I had a similar experience with bass myself actually, as I'm 5ft-not-much-and-skinny. The first bass I bought was a Squier VM Jazz bass and after wrestling with it for a couple of years, I bought a Mustang bass to see if a short scale bass would suit me better, and yeah, they definitely do! I've still got the Jazz bass but I use it way less and it's downtuned now.
I’ve thought about the music theory ruins creativity a lot over the years. I think the phrase is worded wrong. “Music theory can ruin inspiration” I think that’s more fitting and this is why I say that. When I didn’t know much theory at all, I was always inspired to write because everything felt new and fresh. I would simply explore. Much like talking a walk in on entirely new trail. As I learned music theory, I began to know all the bends, inclines and decline of that trail and the scenery as well. So it’s hard to stay inspired by a walk when you know it all. Music theory can shift you from using your heart and soul to find the chords or notes and instead using music theory to try different chords. And that takes me to the next quote, you learn music theory to forget it. It’s just really hard to forget it.
Simple: Learn Music, practice your instrument, play with others. Give yourself time to develop. One day you'll realize that the work is worth it. To add: I love the way Charles plays!
I've literally never heard anyone say you shouldn't focus on technique with an instrument. The question is how to approach it. I find learning and improving technique in the context of actual songs to generally be far more interesting, helpful, and fun than abstract, artificial exercises. Any song you learn can help you focus on a different area of technique: timing, feel, articulation, dexterity, speed, etc.
Very important one: 'Don't play bass with a pick'. Worst advice ever. I absolutely adore the punchiness of picked bass. Also very nice if you're playing fast and accented eights or sixteenths
When anyone says not to play with a pick or that "real" bassists don't use picks, their credibility instantly vanishes by showing how little they know about bass and/or how close minded they are. Countless iconic, beloved songs have been played with a pick. It's an extremely useful tool that can give you very different tones compared to finger style.
I couldn't agree more. Everthing in this video is horrible advice. Everyone knows the best way to get good is just play as many notes as you can as fast as you can.
I was trying to think of some genuinely bad advice that you wouldn't want to apply. So long as you're not harming yourself, anything you do can be an experiment to learn from. "You should learn to play a walking bass line" seemed like bad advice for me as a worship musician, but it is fun to incorporate some walking bass lines in the middle of a genre that doesn't expect it. But this "bad advice" makes sense. Everything here is the advice to "don't". Don't work on technique, don't learn solos, don't change strings, don't learn theory, don't get ideas from others. Yeah, telling people "don't do this" is basically telling them "don't grow as a musician." Sure, 99% of the time I'm not walking the bass, but learning to walk does not make me a worse player. Even if something is not for your style of music, you are never worse off for not knowing something.
Me, a beginner, trying to see what is considered bad advice. Bass Camp: shows me the "SIMPLE" way to slap 😂.. Think I'll continue my fretting for now 😅
There have been 3 major breakthroughs in my progress: 1. I broke my right pinky finger and for a month I had to do everything with the left hand. After I returned to the bass my fingers had become so much stronger and the effort of fretting notes was so much lower, it allowed me to focus much more on tempo and expression. 2. I picked up the guitar. The nature of the instrument requires immediate and absolute coordination between left and right hands. This translates immediately to the bass, which for some reason although needs it as much, it didn't allow me to get better at it as fast as with the guitar. 3. Focus on the micro time-intervals. If you play two fast notes together don't treat them as a single entity, like "a couple of fast notes" but as two separate notes which need separate attention, each one needs to be treated as any other of the "slower" notes, with carefully figured-out time interval inbetween them. This is difficult to even perceive when you are playing but once you start doing it consciously you realize how much off-rhythm these couples/triplets can be, ruining the rest of your groove.
More bad advice: "Don't waste time noodling ... " You need to have your dedicated, directed practice time, sure - but noodling lets you express yourself and discover things through mistakes and happy accidents that you won't get from playing exercises. Some of the most interesting things that I've developed and retained for my own music came from just noodling around and trying to play emotionally without much thought for anything else (at the time).
I'm so baffled by this video because I followed every bit of 'bad' advice here and my carpal tunnel has never been more compressed than it is right now. I have no idea how to jam with anyone, by the time I get over the carpal pain and I'm numb to it, my fingers are bright orange from all the rust around my 20 year old bass strings, I can't feel it when I cut my fingers on the broken coils and my bass lines are THE MOST ORIGINAL bass lines you never hear because I didn't learn technique, theory or how to record myself.
Tell me if this is bad advice; I tell anyone just starting out to first focus on learning chord tones before scales. If they ask why, I tell them chord tones are the building blocks of a scale. This helped me play with others and improvise better when I started playing on stage. Thoughts?
I also think the "don't copy, and just do your own thing" is poor advice. It does come from a good place, but it can be massively overwhelming. If you draw a parallel with learning a foreign language, you wouldn't just tell someone a bunch of words and let them figure out how to put them together. You'd give them examples of how they can be used together, so you can get a feel for how the language works. Only when you've got those building blocks mastered, can you then go off and construct your own sentences.
Worst piece of advice was to never learn to read tabs, 'cause you wont be able to read sheet music. As if you can only choose 1 or the other. Tab notation is simple, intuitive to learn, and makes learning new music very easy for those of us without perfect pitch or even decent relative pitch. Plenty of us out here love music for our own pleasure and are OK with the fact that our personal talent will never put us on a stage or in a studio. The utility of reading sheet music is near 0 for us.
Keep practicing what your working on especially to songs with omitted bass tracks (Moises). Work on these concepts from these great RUclips teachers in these lesson videos, Play with your own style.. you don’t see different surfers and skaters riding the same exact way while doing the same exact tricks
With respect to influences - learn from a number of influences! Don't focus solely on one great bassist, or you might end up sounding too much like that artist.
"You only cover the low end" these people usually play with flat wounds. The bass guitar is not even set up. But they lecture you about tone. Lol. You can't dance to it because it drops out on octaves. You can't tell what note they are playing and usually it's out of tune. The low end to me is the drummers kick. Bass is just the left hand of a piano. If you play with a keyboard player they will love you if you back off the low end so that they sound rich.
By all means, don't work on technique. If you're okay with the 12-year old Taiwanese kid or that 10-year old SlovakianTime Lord coming along and incinerating you in public. I can deal with getting incinerated by Charles or Ayumu but I'd rather not be totally embarrassed by a tween. As for theory, it didn't seem to hurt Beethoven's creativity.
This is advice from a particular viewpoint and is not the truth, just an opinion. And if you think double popping is essential to be a musical bass player then you have problems! Whenever you play, play music. Don’t play exercises - that kills creativity. Are you going to stand up in a gig and play an exercise? If you’re struggling with something technical break it down but make it a musical piece you can still perform - it’s the whole point that etudes exist. See technique as purely a means to an end, not the end itself, which so many social media channels seem to keep pushing. And solo bass might make a few talented individuals busy but it won’t pay the rent 😂
Most working bassists will almost never need to solo or do fancy slapping or EVH tapping runs. The kind of playing you find on this channel is not what the vast bulk of bassists, from pros to bedroom hobbyists, will ever need to do to have fun or be successful. You can learn just about any technique from actual songs, along with practical examples of how to make music people actually want to hear, versus abstract exercises. You're right about RUclips and social media: they turn playing an instrument into a contest or sport or arms race, so they can keep you coming back and scare people with clickbait: "Doing X will KILL your progress!" or "Never do this!" or "You must do this!" It's really manipulative and shady. Most big RUclips channels businesses and will say what they need to in order to generate views and keep the money flowing.
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thx for these vids charles your the best 🎉
U are the most beautiful inspirational young bassist in the world right now I am one of the biggest fan of yours... I tried many times to get a subscription on patron but nobody will help me for that but I learnt so many things from your videos thank you so much charls ... Lots of love from india ❤❤❤❤
Hey this is the most recent video i could find so i thought i would have a better chance of this reaching you i wold like to instruct you to check the comments of your 12 string bass video. thank you so much for being an amazing inspiration for me and everyone in your comunity.
Three top game changers for me;
#1 "Sing" with your bass lines. When you can sing what you play, you can also play what you sing. My bass is more of a musical voice these days for me than an instrument in my hands.
#2 Learn bass chords. I've never had something with so little practical "in song" application have such an impact on my playing. It's also really effin cool when you do bust em out.
#3 Step out of your comfort zone. Play/work on/experiment/side project completely different genres of music than you normally play. This will help you elevate past "everything I play sounds the same".
Thanks for mentioning behs chords. Even when I am not going full Thundercat, double stopped 3rds and 7ths can make their way in.
The singing advice is spot on. In addition to your reasons (which are right) it also helps in memorizing songs. I also sing the melody while playing the roots of the changes. The two things make for strong and pretty quick internalization
One of the best pieces of advise: Play every day. Life gets busy, we all know. But even if it's just a few minutes, a few notes, or one song, just get your hands on it at least once a day.
love you charles!! you inspired me to pick up the bass last christmas and its so fun!
Awesome, glad you're enjoying it!!
Great no-nonsense advices from an outstanding bass player
Theory, in even small amounts helps in a big way
Bass or guitar! You don’t have to be composer level, but any understanding of theory can only help players.
Nothing but facts, Mr. Berthoud! I've been playing bass since 2001 and I've heard every single one of these silly tips before. Thank you for clearing the musical "air", so to speak. And thanks for the amazing content over the years! Cheers, from St. Louis, Missouri!
The most terrible advice was when I read in comments somewhere that in order to learn hard son one should repeat it from beginning to end to end at the original tempo until he get better at it.
I used to do that as a kid. That's because it didn't feel like training, but like playing a rhythm game. It worked very well with me. To each his own!
Works well but not for a beginner.
It's what I do.
I must confess. I was speaking not about bass but about electric guitar song. And it had a number of different techiques like tapping, harmonics, sweeps, etc. though I honestly don’t know if this experience is applicable to bass playing or not…
@@Dyas777that's not really bad advice as long as it's not too far above your current skill level. Otherwise yeah, break out a metronome and slow down specific sections. Bass or guitar.
Don't listen to guitarists who think bassists don't need to know whether they are playing over major, minor, etc chords!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
My perspective: Beginner/intermediate, just learning for my own satisfaction, not interested in playing with bands or in public:
On the music theory thing, absolutely. I've found a little to be useful, but I quickly get lost, which is infuriating and dispiriting. But every so often you pick up another bit of it (see me, diatonic triads, about three minutes ago) that you find useful. Little and often, everything in moderation.
(Also, on music theory, from a physics-trained point of view: you just have to accept that whilst it's *based* on maths and physics, there's a heavy element of people just deciding stuff "sounds right" centuries ago, which is where it all falls apart in my brain.)
Bro I’m a dabbler and want to gig NOW
"Your ears are your instrument. Your record collection is your textbook" - Nate Smith, drumming GOAT
Excellent point I agree !00%. I remember kinda hating my excellent teacher for not teaching me the pentatonic rigtht away, not until I learned all the modes with a very similar excercise to your diatonic scale example (actually identical but instead of triads I had to do root, 3rd, 5th and 7th). Only when I learned by hand all the modes (not only on the major scale key but also in minor and minor melodic) he taught me the dreaded pentatonic. His reasoning was that if he taught me the pentatonic right away, I would have used it for almost everything neglecting the rest. Like I said I hated it at the time and I could have learned the pentatonic myself but I'm glad I didn't because I was forced to use only the modes and their variations in both bass lines and solos, and that led me tp a better understanding of harmony , on how to move on the neck and how to play in chord changes. Also if you play like that you'll have a more disctintive sound than others playing pentatonic only. When he finally taught me the dreaded pentatonic, I loved because it's easy it but already knowing all the modes I used it sparingly only when it fitted the song. In my opinion it was excellent advice and it helped me improve quicker.
4:09 Dirty Loops. Such a great trio.
It can be applied to other instruments too! Great video!
I’ve been playing for 46 years. My advice is as follows: Observe anyone who is playing and listen to EVERYTHING! There are great inspirations everywhere around you at all times and after paying attention to the bass lines, pay attention to all the other parts too, it helps inform you how things go together AND you can pull ideas for bass from the other parts as well. There are no professional musicians, we are all just ferrets & crows snatching up shiny objects for the collection. Run those scales, learn at least the circles so you know have a little knowledge of what else goes together besides the root and always be mindful of TIME. Music is a dance between timing, feel, & technique. The more you have of the first two, the less of the third you can skate by on, but you definitely need all three and as you develop these disciplines, your repertoire increases. Just my 2 cents. 4 strings NO LIMITS
I must say the best point that i've learned through the on going journey that i have is that you have to be able to ADAPT to whatever you are learning, most people' goal is getting to a place where they are able to play everything with all the fingering and techniques they've mastered and got used to, problem is whenever you are changing genre, even a different song that has just a little bit different bass aproach, you will find that you have to get out of your comfort zone again and adapt to a different needed situation in order to sound good (lets say in place as wished instead of good), truth is you have to try and develop your own sound but also to lower your expectations and wishes, be open to step out of the zones that you have been used to play in, yes you will be quite terrible between the process of change but in the long term view your experience will be blessed, try not looking at the instrument or music in a robotic way (kinda must know everything every shape every scale every bit of musical theory that exists so that ill be able to improv at any moment), this thing does not happen, what is the reality is you will develop your own patterns through your own experience, try to play in a melodic way and develop and remember your own patterns, with time then, by the lenght of this process you will have achieved insane amount of improv ability and wont have to think of your instrument theoreticly when playing, instead scales and shapes will come and go on their own, lets say based on instinct, this is the real goal,
Woah the comment is long but I wanted to share a good positive energy with all the bass fellows around here, I hope you feel happy when playing music and no fear is stopping you from moving forward and experiencing more. Bless
thanks so much Charles...i asked a while back if you could do a video on how to double pop and replied that you would and I finally have an exercise to practice it thanks man!
You're welcome, have fun!
Hi Charles I love your shows, I had just recently within the last two years had become a bassist but my first bass was a standard 34" and being a short person the bass started off too long and thick and then later learned that 1.5mm nut width became my comfort zone. When I was growing up my father was a bassist in a band that I had the honor of witnessing but, I was growing up as a drummer and still too this day a drummer and so I've always had the sound of the bass in my head for about 25 years now, being that drummers follow the bass guitar and having the sound of the bass guitar in my head, I know that I'm really good at the notation of the instrument thanks too drumming and I'm pretty sure I'm comfortable playing by ear, do you have any advice on what bands would be good ear training music too listen to, I trust your advice, thanks!!! 🤘🤘
I love that you used that scene from Mr. Bean. I will be rewatching this clip many times this week for practice.
I've played bass for nearly 50 years... Spot on advice... I'd add an additional benefit to learning all the theory, how to solo, and improvise? Learning the leads of other instruments is HUGE for performing live. "Covering" & "Implying" for another's gear breakdown? Transforms a gigging disaster...into magic. Without those tools, well..a band Could just program a bass line...?
I've Never been short of requests to join bands..
-I prefer the temp GFH gigs..those i can turn down if they don't Fit my life... And I sure Never wanted to tour FT...🤮🤮
I will add...being a multiple instrumentalist absolutely helps... Peace, everyone..
Oh, why do I detest touring?
Ever been around broke, messed up, wasted musicians for an extended period? That's why ...
I hate the whole "Be original" schtick. Its actually terrible advice that set me back for multiple years.
The truth is it is actually impossible to create a bass or chord progression that hasnt already been done. Honestly, just write stuff you wanna write and if its already been done, so be it.
The sum of all the parts makes your music original. If something in your music reminds you of something you have already heard, that is actually a bonus.
Sorry. 3rd post. I can take from older music bass lines and navigate my way through current assignment. How or why !? From. The sound to the technique to the final actual execution - which I control - I can blend as I see fit. And as the band and or artist accept. Horn players taught me this. Miles or Ornette Coleman played THIS. Make your own rake and play YOUR OWN THIS
Love this lesson and the topic. Personally, I have only encountered these examples as GOOD ADVICE! YES practice technique, YES learn how to read standard notation, YES play solos, YES copy bass players that you admire, YES learn to play with both pick and fingers, YES practice scales and arpeggios!
You're absolutely spot on
This is great advice for any musician. I fell into some of these traps.
Thanks for the lesson, really helpfull. Why aren't there any minor chords written in the diatonic triad exercise? is it because the E Major key implies which chords are minor, following the I ii iii V(dominant) vi vii (diminished) in E?
Thanks for that Charles! I have heard many of those from well meaning people.
One time I threw in a slide pop during a song and I got,
"What, are you trying to play lead guitar?"
Feel like I'm driving it to the top with my preverence to play very old flatwounds 😅 But I really like the dark and solid sound the create 🙃
It's absolutely wild to hear that there are teachers out there telling kids to not practice technique or theory. That's crazy town.
This guy is so good that he makes playing bass seem hopeless.
I play reggae. And African, what we call World Music. So, bo slapping, no popping, no tapping. But I learn innovation along with articulation and the odd techniques and interpretations. It's up tk ke tk choose when I use them. But knowing how makes me better. Thank you so much !
Bad advice I got when I was starting out, on guitar, but it can still apply to bass, was: "oh, you need to buy this model of guitar, and this brand of amplifier cause they're "proper" gear" (which in my case was a Strat and a Marshall amp that my uncle persuaded me to buy).
But like, you might just not gel with certain types of instrument and you might not like the sound of certain amps. Try plenty out and see what's comfortable to play and gets you the sound you're going for.
A somewhat similar advice I've seen on forums or on videos - play on a long scale bass, even if you have small hands, you can do micromovements. After struggling on a big bass for a while I tuned down and put a capo on the second fret to turn it into a shorty. Much better now. I don' t understand why I have to do the extra work just because I'm small. I will buy a short bass (soon, I hope).
@@mini_skinny0296 I had a similar experience with bass myself actually, as I'm 5ft-not-much-and-skinny.
The first bass I bought was a Squier VM Jazz bass and after wrestling with it for a couple of years, I bought a Mustang bass to see if a short scale bass would suit me better, and yeah, they definitely do! I've still got the Jazz bass but I use it way less and it's downtuned now.
Great Video 🎶👍
I’ve thought about the music theory ruins creativity a lot over the years. I think the phrase is worded wrong. “Music theory can ruin inspiration” I think that’s more fitting and this is why I say that. When I didn’t know much theory at all, I was always inspired to write because everything felt new and fresh. I would simply explore. Much like talking a walk in on entirely new trail. As I learned music theory, I began to know all the bends, inclines and decline of that trail and the scenery as well. So it’s hard to stay inspired by a walk when you know it all. Music theory can shift you from using your heart and soul to find the chords or notes and instead using music theory to try different chords. And that takes me to the next quote, you learn music theory to forget it. It’s just really hard to forget it.
importance of equal distance between nut to 12th, and 12th to bridge , when changing neck on bass?
Should you ever change flatwounds if you are using them?
Simple: Learn Music, practice your instrument, play with others. Give yourself time to develop. One day you'll realize that the work is worth it.
To add: I love the way Charles plays!
I've literally never heard anyone say you shouldn't focus on technique with an instrument. The question is how to approach it. I find learning and improving technique in the context of actual songs to generally be far more interesting, helpful, and fun than abstract, artificial exercises. Any song you learn can help you focus on a different area of technique: timing, feel, articulation, dexterity, speed, etc.
Very important one: 'Don't play bass with a pick'. Worst advice ever. I absolutely adore the punchiness of picked bass. Also very nice if you're playing fast and accented eights or sixteenths
Picks can be really useful on bass
Picks are cool, i am just too laisy to learn how to use one
its now clickbait. No one in their right mind says this unless they're stupid and in the comments or baiting
When anyone says not to play with a pick or that "real" bassists don't use picks, their credibility instantly vanishes by showing how little they know about bass and/or how close minded they are. Countless iconic, beloved songs have been played with a pick. It's an extremely useful tool that can give you very different tones compared to finger style.
Kind of a bogeyman, no one actually says that.
I couldn't agree more. Everthing in this video is horrible advice. Everyone knows the best way to get good is just play as many notes as you can as fast as you can.
I was trying to think of some genuinely bad advice that you wouldn't want to apply. So long as you're not harming yourself, anything you do can be an experiment to learn from. "You should learn to play a walking bass line" seemed like bad advice for me as a worship musician, but it is fun to incorporate some walking bass lines in the middle of a genre that doesn't expect it.
But this "bad advice" makes sense. Everything here is the advice to "don't". Don't work on technique, don't learn solos, don't change strings, don't learn theory, don't get ideas from others. Yeah, telling people "don't do this" is basically telling them "don't grow as a musician." Sure, 99% of the time I'm not walking the bass, but learning to walk does not make me a worse player. Even if something is not for your style of music, you are never worse off for not knowing something.
I had an ancient Mel Bay bass book 1 that recommended NOT playing the bass with the thumb :/
Flatwounds sound better with age. Roundwounds need to be cleaned and/or swapped regularly. That is the rule of thumb we need 👍
I just started a channel of covers. Musicians that shaped and inspired me and that’s what I love.
Great advice but I have to ask, whats with the bass missing a string in the background?
Me, a beginner, trying to see what is considered bad advice.
Bass Camp: shows me the "SIMPLE" way to slap 😂..
Think I'll continue my fretting for now 😅
Flea said it right...
"If you want to be a great bass
Player, you will have to practice,
Practice ."
But I will say, in reggae, old strings give you a niche sound that we seek. So, no argument, but we seek that. Keep inspiring.
There have been 3 major breakthroughs in my progress: 1. I broke my right pinky finger and for a month I had to do everything with the left hand. After I returned to the bass my fingers had become so much stronger and the effort of fretting notes was so much lower, it allowed me to focus much more on tempo and expression.
2. I picked up the guitar. The nature of the instrument requires immediate and absolute coordination between left and right hands. This translates immediately to the bass, which for some reason although needs it as much, it didn't allow me to get better at it as fast as with the guitar.
3. Focus on the micro time-intervals. If you play two fast notes together don't treat them as a single entity, like "a couple of fast notes" but as two separate notes which need separate attention, each one needs to be treated as any other of the "slower" notes, with carefully figured-out time interval inbetween them. This is difficult to even perceive when you are playing but once you start doing it consciously you realize how much off-rhythm these couples/triplets can be, ruining the rest of your groove.
More bad advice: "Don't waste time noodling ... "
You need to have your dedicated, directed practice time, sure - but noodling lets you express yourself and discover things through mistakes and happy accidents that you won't get from playing exercises.
Some of the most interesting things that I've developed and retained for my own music came from just noodling around and trying to play emotionally without much thought for anything else (at the time).
Worst advice from my teacher was get the most expensive bass you can’t afford ( whilst eating baked beans at Uni) .
I taught myself lol
Great content as always.
I'm so baffled by this video because I followed every bit of 'bad' advice here and my carpal tunnel has never been more compressed than it is right now. I have no idea how to jam with anyone, by the time I get over the carpal pain and I'm numb to it, my fingers are bright orange from all the rust around my 20 year old bass strings, I can't feel it when I cut my fingers on the broken coils and my bass lines are THE MOST ORIGINAL bass lines you never hear because I didn't learn technique, theory or how to record myself.
Tell me if this is bad advice; I tell anyone just starting out to first focus on learning chord tones before scales. If they ask why, I tell them chord tones are the building blocks of a scale. This helped me play with others and improvise better when I started playing on stage.
Thoughts?
1:18.. that's me .. decent techniques but...
You are stunning ❤❤
How much for a private bass camp in your house?
3:02 "ЭТО БЫЛА ГРУППА КОЛИЗЕЕЕЙ!"
When bass strings get older, they rust. And not in peace...
Thomastik flats dont
Nah. We got Charles berthoud mewing before gta 6
Cool video
When i like it , i curious about it.That's how i learn.
I also think the "don't copy, and just do your own thing" is poor advice. It does come from a good place, but it can be massively overwhelming. If you draw a parallel with learning a foreign language, you wouldn't just tell someone a bunch of words and let them figure out how to put them together. You'd give them examples of how they can be used together, so you can get a feel for how the language works. Only when you've got those building blocks mastered, can you then go off and construct your own sentences.
Worst piece of advice was to never learn to read tabs, 'cause you wont be able to read sheet music.
As if you can only choose 1 or the other.
Tab notation is simple, intuitive to learn, and makes learning new music very easy for those of us without perfect pitch or even decent relative pitch.
Plenty of us out here love music for our own pleasure and are OK with the fact that our personal talent will never put us on a stage or in a studio. The utility of reading sheet music is near 0 for us.
Cool guy!!
Worst advice: real bassists don't need a 6-string
If you don't have your technique down you can't express the phrases that you want the way you want.
Hi
👏🏻🥈
Make a video for Walking Bass Lines
My fingers are too short😥
Keep practicing what your working on especially to songs with omitted bass tracks (Moises). Work on these concepts from these great RUclips teachers in these lesson videos, Play with your own style.. you don’t see different surfers and skaters riding the same exact way while doing the same exact tricks
With respect to influences - learn from a number of influences! Don't focus solely on one great bassist, or you might end up sounding too much like that artist.
"You only cover the low end" these people usually play with flat wounds. The bass guitar is not even set up. But they lecture you about tone. Lol. You can't dance to it because it drops out on octaves. You can't tell what note they are playing and usually it's out of tune. The low end to me is the drummers kick. Bass is just the left hand of a piano. If you play with a keyboard player they will love you if you back off the low end so that they sound rich.
Beg,borrow and steal. i mean of course u do.
ЛАЙК ЗА КОЛИЗЕЙ!!!! НАШИ СЛОНЯРЫ💪💪
heyyy
👏🏻🥉
Do you use GHS Boomers?
Pro
👏🏻🥇
By all means, don't work on technique. If you're okay with the 12-year old Taiwanese kid or that 10-year old SlovakianTime Lord coming along and incinerating you in public. I can deal with getting incinerated by Charles or Ayumu but I'd rather not be totally embarrassed by a tween.
As for theory, it didn't seem to hurt Beethoven's creativity.
This is advice from a particular viewpoint and is not the truth, just an opinion. And if you think double popping is essential to be a musical bass player then you have problems!
Whenever you play, play music. Don’t play exercises - that kills creativity. Are you going to stand up in a gig and play an exercise?
If you’re struggling with something technical break it down but make it a musical piece you can still perform - it’s the whole point that etudes exist. See technique as purely a means to an end, not the end itself, which so many social media channels seem to keep pushing. And solo bass might make a few talented individuals busy but it won’t pay the rent 😂
Most working bassists will almost never need to solo or do fancy slapping or EVH tapping runs. The kind of playing you find on this channel is not what the vast bulk of bassists, from pros to bedroom hobbyists, will ever need to do to have fun or be successful.
You can learn just about any technique from actual songs, along with practical examples of how to make music people actually want to hear, versus abstract exercises.
You're right about RUclips and social media: they turn playing an instrument into a contest or sport or arms race, so they can keep you coming back and scare people with clickbait: "Doing X will KILL your progress!" or "Never do this!" or "You must do this!" It's really manipulative and shady. Most big RUclips channels businesses and will say what they need to in order to generate views and keep the money flowing.
"And if you think double popping is essential to be a musical bass player"
Nice strawman.