This is a big one. He's been living in my closet for years now!

Moot's been living in your closet?

I keep telling him it's ok to come out but he lives in CA so he's scared all over again.

Always practice things slow when you're first learning something. If you're having trouble, break down the bar or measure,even if its to two or three sixteenth notes. Always divide and conquer.

And remember that scales and modes have patterns to them. Learn the patterns all over the neck. This doesn't mean you shouldn't just figure them out on the spot, be prepared. Look in tabs to identify them. Make flash cards so you don't have to call them out in your head, and practice them like multiplication tables. Identify and absorb.

Also practice string crossing, such as a gallop rhythm on the G-string and ending with the eighth note on the D-string.

I say Always practice with a drum machine. You will have great metre, timing and that studio click won't be scary, in fact you'll amaze people at your ability to lock in with it. come check out myspace and hear for yourself i've been doing it for 27+ years and can lock in with anyone anytime anywhere.
www.myspace.come/thebassmansteve

I play in two bands. The first is a contemporary Christian praise band, and the second it a seldom-meeting garage rock band. On several occasions, a band member has sent a link to a YouTube video that they would like to cover. Our singers, however, tend to dislike the original key in which most songs are recorded.

I find it best for me to practice with a recording when learing a new song, so I use two applications to extract the audio from the YouTube video, and change the pitch. TubeTilla (http://www.tubetilla.com/) is a YouTube downloader/converter that is available for free. All you have to do is open the video in your browser, copy the page address, and paste it into TubeTilla. You can then select to save the video as an MP3, which will extract just the audio. Next, open the MP3 in the free audio editor Audacity. (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) Once opened in Audacity, you'll see the waveform representing the audio file. Click to select the entire waveform (or press control-a), then click effect, change pitch. Select the original "from" pitch, (it tries to guess), then set the "to" pitch to the key you wish the song to be in. Select whether you want to shift up or down to get there, then click Ok. You'll end up with some vocals that sound like Lurch or Alvin and the Chipmunks, but it'll be in the ballpark.

This isn't a perfect method, but it works for me.

A really effective practice technique that I use, which also helps me to create songs is the following. First I tune up my bass and warm up my fingers. Then, I turn on my drum machine to a tempo desired. I then turn on my digital recorder and start to jam. I will do this for up to 10 minutes. I take a break and do it again until I have aprrox 4 to 6 segments. I then download the music to my computer and then to my Ipod. The next day I look forward to listening back to my creations while I am away from my bass. I listen to it at work, not recommended for some unless you are on break. Anyway I can pick out my strengths and areas where I need work and I also can pick out material from which to create new songs. The playback of the recordings allows me to practice in my mind when I am away from my bass guitar.
It works great for me and I have improved my playing immensely.
Eric Fuchs

hello. my name is Frans DeRoos. i have found a excellent way to manipulate the bass guitar from sliding. sometimes i need to sit after standing for a long period of time, when i do, if the chair can not be adjusted to my proportions, the bass automatically slides away from me, so, i use a rubber sheet such as what is used to open soda bottles with or what you would use to grip cells phones with on your dash board of your car. i simply lay that sheet of rubber under the placment of my bass when i sit, and there you have it, no more sliding and no more frustrations. i hope this is of some use. thanks

My tips for learning to play fretless:

1) Throw away your electronic tuner and buy a tuning fork. If you can't tell if your bass is out of tune without an electronic crutch, then playing fretless is not for you.

2) Take a song that you can sing in tune (like Happy Birthday for example) and play in all possible keys on the fingerboard. Get bored with that? Play it in a minor key all over the neck.

3) Don't look at the fingerboard all the time. You'll never be able to do a reading job if you can't take your eyes off your instrument. It is possible to play a fretless instrument without using your eyes - use your ears. Doublebassists do it all the time and the doublebass is a whole lot larger than a guitar.

Enough soapbox for now. When do I get my new strings?

BTW: I really enjoy that BP is representing a wider range of tastes both in its artist articles as well as in the transcriptions. I know the transcriptions are lost on people who don't read music, but I hope you'll always keep them instead of using just tablature.

I like BP so much that when I lost my job recently I cancelled all my magazines except for BP and Wired, so keep up the good work.

What you're describing is the overtone series for those unfamiliar with the term. A vibrating string can be subdivided into progressively smaller vibrating "nodes" (to use the technical term) by playing the appropriate harmonic.

Check this link for a good explanation:
The Overtone Series http://smu.edu/totw/overtone.htm

FYI: There is a very good (and unfortunately) out of print book called Bass Chimes that is basically a chord book for electric bass. If you can find a copy of it please post the info here. It really lays out all the possibilities for chording on an electric bass.

Mr. fretless5! is responding to a post on page 19 of this thread.

Here is my tip for figuring out chords using the harmonics on your bass:
Forget buying a book. How did someone write a book? They spent some time figuring out the information for themselves. If you figure it out by yourself, you are more likely to remember it.

Find two harmonics you can play at the same time. An easy pair would be D and G which are found on the fifth frets of the D and G strings respectively.

Play the harmonics, let them ring, and then play various notes on the E string.
Here's a list of what you may find. I've listed the note on the E string first, followed by the chord implied when you add the D and G harmonics.

E: Em7
F: F6/9
F#: GMa7/F#
G: G
Ab: AbMaj7b5
A: A7sus4
Bb: Bb6
B: G/B
C: Cadd9
D: Dsus4
Eb: EbMaj7

Now find other pairs of harmonics, try all possible bass notes, and figure out the possible chords. If a song ends on one of the chords you find, hitting the harmonics notes while the bass note is ringing is a nice way to spice up the last chord.

Yeah...books are for nerds. I'm building a microwave oven out of spare parts and I've never read a book in my life.

Books are fine. I went all the way through Walter Piston's Harmony book in college. But I really started learning harmony when I began using it every day and started studying how songs were put together.

I always tell people they should make a list of things they think they might need to work on and then start systematically compiling their own exercises, music, transcriptions and tips. They should essentially write their own book(s).

The three books I have written are basically distilled compilations of a lot of information that I sought out for myself while learning to play the bass. The articles I write for Bass Player are the same. I pick topics that I am interested in, and then research, transcribe and write in an effort to present the material to other bass players in a way that engages them.

I also love to look at music books. A well-written music instruction book is like a private lesson (or two or three) with the author.

BTW, Fretless5: I like your tips about learning fretless, especially regarding using a tuning fork. I much prefer to tune my bass to an in-tune piano rather than to a tuner.

Before playing a live show a key element for stamina is stretching. Stretch your body out, your going to be standing for a long time. Make sure to touch yours toes to stretch your back and reach as high as you can so you stretch your whole body. If you have a big stage show like you headbang and get crazy stretch for a good while before you go on. And stretching your neck will help a lot for the headbanging part.
Now for your hands and forearms. Move your wrist back and forth holding it them both ways so you feel your forearms muscles stretch. Stretching your hands is especially a huge part since that's what you are playing with. So to start out stretch all your fingers apart as far as you can holding it for a while then letting go.That will help to warm up your hands. Then focus on each of your fingers. Do a thumbs up on both hands and pull them back as far as you can. Then separate your index fingers from your others 3 fingers. Then separate your pinky from you other 3 fingers. And then do the Star Trek hand thing spliting your middle and ring fingers. Then do the opposite having the middle and ring fingers together and your index and pinky stretching out. Just hold each of them as long as you want then let go. I know not everyone is capable of doing all these stretches but the ones you can do will help you out a lot.

check out the future of bass
www.juliousbass.com