Bassplayers Dont know music theory

[stars]

This thread is (to put it nicely) unnecessary. What in the world do you put up a thread with such a title and yet not speak your views (if you have any, that is :roll: ) and not expect to offend anyone?

whoa , lac man bro

its just a general passing comment. nobody has yet to seen it from ya point of view and made a firm YES or NO statement about theory in bass playing.

in fact , so far no one here has dissed theory learning. its just that theory needs to be better defined. simply knowing your notes and scales and timing isnt theory , thats elementary musicianship , understanding the working of music , how the parts in a bad weave together to create songs. THATS theory.

chill man .. dun get worked up over this. its just a discussion man

Calm down and Chill

take a chill pill man !

 

[3notesAbar]

This thread is (to put it nicely) unnecessary. What in the world do you put up a thread with such a title and yet not speak your views (if you have any, that is :roll: ) and not expect to offend anyone?

Did i say i did not expect to offend anyone?

 

[atee]

Did i say i did not expect to offend anyone?

:roll:

stars: I get your point, and I don't really want to start an argument here. But if you were to want to have a discussion I'd think you'd want to at least not be lazy enough not to type out some specifics. Conflicts can happen because of little 'thoughtless' actions.

 

[3notesAbar]

What did he do?

 

[wangdexian]

Err, no one see the "no guitarists" sign?
:roll:

If James has no problem with this thread, I don't see the need for a flame war, much less by anyone who doesn't get what he is saying.

 

[tfaduh]

Hey 3notes. Would like a jam too.

 

[soft]

as a seasoned bass player, maybe 3notesAbar was trying to do some reverse psychology here. his years of performing and teaching must have given him some ideas to "making" young bass player want to learn more theory?

but maybe 3notesAbar would like to try the "you teach i learn" method first?

 

[reyrey]

here here...i saw some bands recruit some guy that dun have any knowledge bout music,and turn them into bassist in no time [walaaaa]

perhaps they think that playing bass is easy since they only need to press one note or do whatever their bandmate ask them to do....for example

bandmate: u just press this and this,then do this n this
bassist: ok ok...

but when u ask the bassist 'what note u pressing?' probably the answer that he'll give you is 'dunno'

so...hmmm...not all bassist know their stuff =)

 

[afterdeath]

but when u ask the bassist 'what note u pressing?' probably the answer that he'll give you is 'dunno'

so...hmmm...not all bassist know their stuff =)

maybe this guy just a beginner?......... anywway we got 2 start off from sumwhere........ :wink:


:twisted:

 

[aeumusic]

I'm a bassist & I don't know music theory. I didn't feel offended.

 

[3notesAbar]

Ok James.

Actually heres the story:

I was thinking back about what a friend said some years back about musicians. He was saying he got a new Bass player, who happens to be a 'guitarist, 6 stringer, fretless, and so he knows his stuff'. I was like..... :roll:

Good for him. Months later, i heard stuff like he was out of time etc.

Anyway. That flashback set me thinking. Do most bassplayers know their music? No offence intended. In fact yeah, some of you posted relevant points, like bassist having to only play root note so often, to the point that they need not move around the fingerboard as often as guitarists. Does that make a bassplayer an idiot? I think not.

AND anyway, that motivated me to know my s**t. Thanks.

 

[stars]

when the power of love overcomes the love of power , the world will know peace

- jimi hendrix

come on guys chill and lac out abit man .. way too much tension here man

 

[Silencer]

the theory of bass is really rather interesting... its not very different from say learning a melody or riff in a song.

contrary to popular belief, theory does not make you a better player. it only increases the range you can climb to when you start 'climbing'. you never knew why a bass could come out with such lines and sound correct (walking bass, funk bass etc) I've always admired from afar, like wow, it sounds good.. but what the @()#* is he playing?

theory changes that. it makes you feel like an idiot, belitting you and letting u knoe, hey, when u thought u knew it all, you DON'T. first step of learning is to acknowledge u don't knoe. once it opens your mind to so many new and different types of stuff (approach notes, 1st 3rd, approach, upper structure chords, altered scale etc), coupled with experimenting it out on the bass and playing tons of wrong notes, u'll find that you'll be a much better player at the end of the day.

my words of wisdom for the day:

Open, Apply, THINK.



you'll be shocked at how many ppl don't think while playing

 

[stars]

lol ... no offense bro..

on one hand u say theory makes u feel like an idiot

on the other , u say theory helps u learn so much more ...

:wink: which side are u on ? :lol:

 

[Silencer]

hhahha its the same side brother..

once it makes you feel lika total and complete idiot, then u'll start allowing it to teach you..

have you seen any proud bastards humbling themselves to learn from a grandmaster?

 

[3notesAbar]

come on guys chill and lac out abit man .. way too much tension here man

Whos feeling tense here? You guys are taking these net-discussions way too seriously! Stars, you should know that we cannot convey facial expression and tones-of-voice over the net, stop assuming these things! lol

 

[3notesAbar]

:wink: which side are u on ? :lol:

Its obvious that theory is a double-edged sword to some. Others may find it more useful in composing, while thinking about harmony while playing/SOLOING can be detrimental to things like feel, melodicity (my new word) and so on..

 

[Silencer]

that's right!!!!

 

[bass74]

Hi guys,

I'm a bass player too, can read music and know some music theory. I did my Gd6 ABRSM theory back in 93. I attempted to continue and finish Gd 8 a few years back, but decided to stop after just starting, which I now regret. I also spent a bit of time learning mordern jazz harmony. Here are my views on music theory:

1) I do not believe that one needs to know music theory to be a musician, unless your ambition involves doing certain session work, where they place a chart in front of you and expect u to nail it...fast. Even then, if you have a kind of sound that people want, and u have great ears, I think you can still get by without knowing how to read.You also might need some theory to do arrangements ie 4 part vocal harmony.

2) learning how to spell chords helped me with my basslines, especially when walking in jazz style music.

3) Knowledge of scales can be benifitial, when u are trying to create certain genres of music. For example, I love the sound of the Hirojoshi( this scale is also known by other names) scale(1 2 b3 5 b6) when I want my music to sound Japanese like. Right now I'm using the minor pentatonic scale heavily for a project I'm doing involving eastern meets western type of music.

4) To think outside the box, u need to know what that box is. I know the rules( definitely not all of them though), so I know exactly how to break them. If I hear something I like that I created, I will use that, and not bother if it looks right on paper or not.

5) I think there are some more things I can say regarding this topic, but can't remember them now. Oh well...

 

[3notesAbar]

Hi bass74, welcome to the forum. And nice post there. Keep it coming!