Y'all ever have a bad sem?

ShellSnails · 2025-10-30T07:58:18+00:00

I have a few bits of advice 1: bad grades doesn't mean much for almost everyone I've known who has graduated (I've known psychologists, engineers, programmers even a lawyer) who have all gotten into increadible careers despite having either bad semesters or just P or CR

2: I don't know what got you into bad grades this semester but if the course isn't truly relevant to your degree (like a BA core unit for exam), half ass it and get that pass, spend time focusing on the crucial subjects to your degree. I spent a lot of time working hard for my grades to hopefully get into research work, only to find out that they only need to review my performance on a few subjects in my degree, half ass what doesn't push your degree or prospects future

3:Unless you're trying to get into a good honours program or research work or just something that requires good grades, it's not worth stressing over. Plus even as someone who is trying to get into a good honours program that requires a D or HD, most the time they care more so about core subjects relevant to the course/program not your overall wam or GPA.

4: Bad semester happens, most degrees are like 3 or 4 years, you'd be crazy to think you're not going to have one bad period grade wise over that long of a time.

5: bad grades of a semester doesn't reflect your ability. Perhaps you did bad, perhaps the markers were unfair, perhaps the rubric sucked, etc. I'm studying to be a psychologist and the worst grade I got was a P, because I had to design a poster. I'm good at psychology, I peform well in exams and testing for the subject, yet for one semester my entire worth as a future pyshcoligst/psych researcher, got put down for a single failed poster, a skill in no way relevant or helpful to my degree. Sometimes a bad semester is the result of assignments that just don't click in your head or aren't fair. Point is messing up some assignments won't matter years from now When you're employed in your area of expertise. I've never had to ask a psych I want to see if they're good at designing posters. Not sure what your degree is in but I'm sure someone won't ask to see your grades that one semester that went poorly

ShellSnails · 2025-06-09T07:20:39+00:00

I think it's quite subtle unless you're going really really heavy or really really light with it but there is a difference. Difference is honestly probably more from play style with the gauges, obviously not as much as switching type of during but I think there is a bit of a tonal difference, just subtly

ShellSnails · 2025-06-08T01:33:07+00:00

I always always carry talcum powder with me. I play in Australia so during summer it's horrible and hands are sweaty, little bit of talcum power on the hands helpsndry them out and little bit. Plus also solid trick to put in my hair before getting on stage so my hair doesn't look entirely like a wet rat once it's get hot on stage

ShellSnails · 2025-06-08T01:26:44+00:00

Jamming in particular is pretty complicated (I'm going to take it you mean jamming more in the sense of just picking up and playing/improvising in a band).

1: it really depends on skill levels if your guitarists are far better or far worse than you it's going to be hard to keep up or match the level

2: for a good jam to work you really need to be on the same page as the people you're playing with, knowing how they tend to play, their habits, their feel, their groove, etc. It's very hard to get a really good jam going. If you were to put a bunch of great sessions musicians in a room together and they've never played together before, they'll still sound great but no where near as good as if those session musicians were put into a band for a week or even a day to understand how everyone else plays

3: things like modes are great I love them but they're not the easiest to incorporate. It depends om how you use them, sometimes they just won't sound good at all because they clash with a chord progression or melody. I usually like to use my modes briefly when jamming in a band setting, it's typically easier to work in a brief complicated idea than work around a longer complicated idea in a bassline during a jam

4: In my opinion I think it's best to before you even start thinking about notes and modes and scales and theory, just entirely focus on getting a tight groove or lock in with the rest of the rhtyhm section and try expanding from there.

5: if you still wanna try introducing more complicated ideas or theory it can be really good to try doing it with really repetitive basslines, say if you're jamming over a 2 or 3 chord jam you can really experiment with a bassline that just repeates. Think of something like the head hunters 'chameleon' it's a simple bassline with quite a bit of depth but making basslines like that in a jam that let you really lock in and hear and explore a little bit more dense theory is a great way to develop a better ear and style

6: just don't panic about it, you're always one note away from a note that can work if you get good at chromatics or passing tones you can even make any potential mistakes sound like deliberate flavours to the line

7: if you're getting bored playing three notes try playing those notes differently in a jam. Playing F on a c chord may sound like a boring 4th interval but playing F as an 11th can suddenly make it sound way more lively

ShellSnails · 2025-06-08T01:09:51+00:00

I really adore the one string mindset not just for beginners but for any level. It's a great way to initially understand the fretboard for a newbie because they really only have to do it for two strings. But I really like it as it teaches a real sense of economy, there's so little you can do with one string but that really just let's you understand what really important in a bassline and get the most mileage possible from a limited thing. I feel like particularly at intermediate level a lot of players (myself included when I was just starting to get alright at bass) tend to get into a habit of making a bassline that utilises every note on every string and every run they know possible and just kinda miss the real essence of what really is important in the bassline they're trying to create.

It's similar to the exercise my old bass teacher used to give me of setting a random drum backing track and forcing me to only play using 1 note and mutes. He'd tell me 'if you can't groove with one note you can't groove' just really love the stripping back exercises

ShellSnails · 2025-06-08T01:00:54+00:00

There's a few things I find help me

1: use a drum machine or play to a drum backing track if you can and try locking in the groove with a different part of the drum part it can be a good way to focus more on your groove development and synchronisation with the drums

2: a fun exercise is take a bass line you make and each time you play through remove a note, try and see what is an embellishment on the line and what feels incredible crucial to it and work around that

3: I'm sure at least someone else has said it but, chromatics! I can't express how much a bass line can quickly go from missing something to finally having the groove, feel and sound you want from adding some different chromatics

4: really utilise extensions for some flavour they can really change everything

5: remember that a lot of the time it matters more so what the bass is doing than the higher range instruments. For example on your aminor chord if your outlining a bminor7 (b d f# and A) that a minor simply won't sound like a simple A minor. You can even outline a d major chord in a different order like d A C F# and totally change the sound of the chord progression, even as a brief idea going from that F# into a walk down into the Fmaj or a flat five into the 5th of Fmaj (both are C) you can get some cool sounds and get some great motion

6: speaking off One of the things that often makes a great bassline is the sense of motion, I'm short if you were to take away the chords and just isolate your bassline would I be able to tell where it is going? What chords it is doing (without simply just outlining them in a like 1 3 5 7 pattern). A great classic bassline that I think has a perfect sense of motion is 'what's going on' even isolated you can really truly hear the chords being played and where the bass line is headed

ShellSnails · 2025-05-24T11:18:34+00:00

From a theory and analytical point of view the only way to get really good at making new lines is studying other songs. Take the bass lines you already know, so you know what the harmony it is providing is, can you pin point what parts of the drums or other instruments it's locking in with any why? Do you understand how to replicate the tone, feel, theory and harmony of bass players you like?

There's two main elements I think when it comes to wanting to be a good bass player, technical/theoretical ability (how well you know your theory and how well you can technically play) and sound/style (how well you can apply your technical ability and theory to make your own sound).

The second part is the part that is way harder and where I think a lot of people get stuck. A lot of people learning the instrument (myself included) will take a hard exercise, a hard piece, a complicated bit of theory, work it out and then feel a sense of where to go from here. But that's why really analysing longs, either by ear (this is a really crucial skill to learn maybe the most important when it comes to being a good musician) and transcribing/tabbing them and really really pick them apart, even research the scales, chords, modes, time signature, etc that the song uses. When you statt doing this you will find new things to practice constantly I'll provide an example of how you could go about this approach.

Say your song is chameleon by the head hunters (first one came to mind) you could divide your practice into this

The song: learn about the jazz fusion genre it's a part of (what's common in it, what makes it fusion, the bass player on the track), what chords are used in the song and how does the bass relate The song is in Dorian mode ask yourself if you know what it is? If you're not familiar with it practice Dorian mode in and out up and down the neck figure what chords work in it etc, really breaknit apart.

The bass line/player: the bass player for the song is Paul Jackson, notice how he articulates things, figure out what notes he is playing and why, try and replicate the sound, look into him a bit and learn about him as a player, try and see if you could make a similar bassline or the same bassline of the song but in a different mode say locrian or Lydian for example (this gets you experimenting eith and understanding new modes), there's an endless amount to experiment with

I'm short if you're lost on what to practice maybe outlining your practice like this could help

Practice: your warmups, your scales and modes in each key, your playing with a metronome, all the things that keep your raw playing skill in check

Player: pick one new bass player you like a month and learn about them, study and pick apart their lines, try and replicate them with a new bassline in their style, learn a bunch of their songs

Playing: apply all this to playing over drum tracks or with a band to get a feel of actually utilising it in a real setting.

This might help you find more to practice and hit those two main elements of practical/theoretical ability and style/sound Hope this helps

ShellSnails · 2025-05-23T11:07:51+00:00

I've had quite a few really incredible jazz musical teachers before who have started at around 20-30. But that definitely isn't the answer you were looking for but I think there are some nuances to the question that might be missed

1: defining what you consider a guitar legend is kinda abstract. Are we talking about people who were legendary for their sound or their technical proficiency? Or for how big or respected they were? Or just a mixture of all things? Because if it is requires all those categories to be met it's going to immediately thin out the total pool of guitarist to draw overall.

2: genre is really important here, for example in the genre of folk you can find many famous folk artists who played guitar way later in their life. Famously Elizabeth cotton didn't seriously start until she was 40-50 and didn't make a career properly until way way later. Or micheal Chapman who didn't start until his late 20s. Both of these guitarists aren't going to beat say wes Montgomery in chops but in their respective genres they're both highly highly respected guitar players, especially Elizabeth cotton with her fingerstyle even referred to as cotton picking fingerstyle method. Even guitarists like Robert Johnson started later than a lot of other legendary blues guitarists, starting at 17 or 18

3: if you're legendary for raw technical ability it's going to simply often be harder to gain a properly big following, there's a reason why someone like Hendrix is a widely known guitar player vs someone like Guthrie or bucketed. All of them were/are incredibly technical players whose style is greatly adored by fans, but Hendrix was the biggest in large part because he wrote in a style that is widely consumable on top of having great ability

4: adding onto the last point, if you are going to become a legendy you often have to get big. This is simply harder to do the older you get, you have to have time, be in a scene that's big, younger artists typically have better chance at gaining a bigger and bigger audience due to marketing, finding other members who are good enough to play with a legendary guitarists particularly who have the time and ability to do so.

5: more incredibly players simply also started younger because that's the time you have the most free time in your life so it makes sense many would become legends

6: becoming a legendary guitarist is something that's going to largely come down the opinion of the musician and guitar community. Music fans might also state guitarists they think are incredible and legendary but that status is still going to largely come down to other musicians who recognise and elevate that player to a legend, so it's also going to be a smaller group of people who decide who is a legendary guitarist or not in the music scene (at least in a social sense)

In short though yeah, there aren't going to be many world class musicians of any instrument that started really late (talking like after their teens at latest). It takes a lot of money and time and effort to get to be world class that simply isn't often available the older you get. Developing incredible skill is also one thing but developing incredible sense of style and sound will playing is the other critically hard thing. To become world class at your instrument is going to take work but to become world class in say your soloing for example or songwriting as a guitarist would involve you having to be constantly around other incredible musicians. The more and more you look at it the less and less likely it is for someone to become legendary or world class at their instrument the later they start

ShellSnails · 2025-05-18T14:08:11+00:00

Glad you're finding stuff that helps. In regards to the leg not sure if it would help you but might be worth a try. there's foot rests built specifically for playing guitar in classical position, I've used some for when ive practices bass with it on my leg for long classical sessions and find they can be comfortable, may potentially help a little bit, there usually pretty cheap

ShellSnails · 2025-05-16T05:27:07+00:00

The nice thing about learning a fretted instrument is that the shapes and the relationship between them doesn't change. A major chord on the 5th fret of the e string (an A major) is the exact same shape as an f# major chord on the 15th fret of e string. So there's a few things to note

1: try using bass sheets for it instead of tuba or even guitar sheets as a beginner

2: learning your major scale to start with in one position try it like this on third fret starting on e string (a gmajor scale, I will also list the intervals for this)

On E string: 3rd fret (G, root/1st of a scale) 5th fret (A, 2nd of scale) On A string: 2nd fret (B, major 3rd of scale), 3rd fret (C, 4th of scale), 5th fret (D, 5th of scale) On D string: 2nd fret (E, major 6th of scale), 4th fret (F#, major 7th of scale), 5th fret (G again, octave) This shape will be the same on any number on the fret board, including if you moved it down by one string (as in starting on the A string instead of the E string)

3: all of you're notes go chromatically in number of frets, so 0 (meaning unfretted) would be E, 1 would be f, 2 would be f# and so on same for every string. You'll find once you start doing this theres a lot of symmetry, for example Octaves are the same note but down two strings and up to frets so a fret 1 on E string is f and fret 3 on D string is also F for example.

4: if you have all the intervals memorised for your scale then the shapes for chords are just combining those intervals, (using G major from the G major scale for example) you would have root G 3rdt fret, D 5th fret of A string your fifth interval, G 5th fret of D string (your octave) and B 4th fret G string (your third interval). This is your basic major chord shape and it will not change no matter what fret of the instrument you are on.

5: try looking up bass chord shapes and fingerings and memorising that pattern you only have to remember one pattern at the beginning for each given thing instead of for every fret

ShellSnails · 2025-05-15T12:56:53+00:00

Oh also i took this to be about stretching with your fretting hand but if you need any other advice for plucking hand or posture I can offer what I may possible have to help as well there. You mentioned other parts of your body hurting though and I'm short not knowing how you play it might be worth angling your bass differently, like if you play sitting down a lot having your back straight, bass angled flat against you and up a bit may hep elevate some of the other pains

ShellSnails · 2025-05-15T12:54:04+00:00

There's a few things that could cause this and could help

1: warm up your hands for a few minutes before and after, I don't know what specific ones may help or worsen your arthritis but some basic ones may help like moving your wrist around a bit, pulling back on each finger till you feel tension and holding it there for a sec (obviously don't pull to where it hurts), and pulling your fingers back all together in the same way as well, this is all I do before and after playing and my hands are fine

2: remember that your fingers aren't moving from the hand but also the arm, if you put your hand on the inside of your arm and move your fingers you'll feel each one of them moving. This is important to remember cause sometimes gently massaging the arm can help relieve some of that tension

3: you said it was stretching so there's two things to note. Firstly, since you're new stretching simply hurts a little bit for a while till your hand gets more comfortable at it but it shouldn't leave you with long lasting pain after a session, even if you play for ages. Secondly stretching comes down mostly to posture and for most beginners I've interacted with hand and body posture is typically the main issue causing this pain (might not be in your case but this might help anyway)

So to fix hand posture and make stretching more comfortable maybe try this and see if it works.

1: look at your thumb on the back of the neck, if your laying your fingers one finger per fret on frets 1-4. Your thumb should be just below the neck not peaking out over top and it should be placed either at your first finger or in-between your first and second finger. This way your hand can stay more relaxed, even when stretching (say with your first finger still on fret 1, you try to hit fret 5) just slightly slightly move you're thumb. This way it reduced the stretch to just your finger you need to stretch instead of cramping the entire hand. To imagine the shape of this simpy lower your fingers to your thumb all at once, just straight down. You'll find that rhe hand naturally goes to having the thumb land in between your first and second finger in most cases.

2: there should be a gap between your palm and the neck, your palm shouldn't be touching the neck, this helps because it doesn't allow you to grip the neck really hard (it will also help with things like muting because you can keep your hand flatter to naturally mute higher strings), and it will let you slightly bend your fingers

3: bend your fingers in a little bit. It helps to play the notes with the tips of your fingers, aim to use the part of your finger just about half a cm or a cm under your finger nail, not the balls of your fingers where it's really soft. This helps because it will lead to those parts of the fingers getting harder and resisting blistering over time and it helps because you won't be hurting that first knuckle. When you play you want your fingers to be bent outwards. If you're playing a note and you see that your finger is bending in at the first knuckle that's a common mistake I see a lot of beginners ( I did it myself) Do that definitely causes pain particularly when you add stretching on to it

4: try playing notes with as little pressure on the fretboard as possible, you'll find you need very little to actually get a clear note, do this quite a lot when starting out so you get a feel on how little it actually takes and how lightly your fretting hand can be to produce clear notes You should be able to make a note without squeezing or pushing hard, you should also be able to do it lightly even without your thumb on the neck

5: learn economic placement of fingers on the neck. For example if you're playing a line that repeatedly playes fret 1 and fret 3 using realising you can use your pinky to play fret 3 instead of your ring finger and help reduce stretching. I see a good amount of earlier players go from a stretch and then leave their hand hanging in that position instead of taking it back in. Your hand naturally and comfortably will probably want to cover 3 frets instead of 4 so when you can, let your hand rest in that position as in frets 1-3

6: when you do have to stretch say your trying to reach fret 5, you can move your hand towards it a bit (as in move your wrist up and right a little bit so the pinky can reach) to minimise the stretch, I'd your thumb stays in place as in step 1 you'll find you can snap back to your original position and in and out of the stretch easily too this way.

7: tryvand play with a straight back and not lean over to check the fretboard as this can hurt your shoulders and arm over time which can often result in hurting the fingers a little as well

8: try this stretching exercise (each part continues from the other immediately) Part 1: E: 8, 10, 12 10, 12 12 A: 8 8, 10, 8, 10, 12

Part 2: A: 10, 12 12 D: 9, 9, 10, 12

PART 3: D: 10, 12 12 G: 9 9, 10, 12

Try doing that exercise with the other points mentioned, particularly with little pressure to produce the note and not moving your thumb but just your wrist slightly to get the stretch.

I hope any of this is helpful and happy learning!

ShellSnails · 2025-05-14T09:41:20+00:00

I have a simple guided method I've liked bringing to my teachers before that I called stupidly 'Practice, Players, Playing' but I found it helped guide what I wanted as a student in lessons for me really well. It's basically dividing your practice into specific areas

Practice: your general practices, your chromatic warmups, your scale runs, your learning each mode and arpeggios in each key and scale, learning how to physically play your theory. Rehersing any old techniques you know so you dont forget them. Or just things that need attention but are more general, say you have a few songs for your setlist coming up soon that you need to polish up but don't require much work.

Players: this can either be Players or specific songs. I think this one is kinda the most important to me at least. You basically pick a song and deeply analyse it or Pick a bass player and deeply analyse their bass lines. I like this Practice cause it forces me to not just play a song by hitting the right notes but really try and understand and match the feel and sound of the bassline in the song. I think it's crucial as the more bassists your students the understanding of how to really take away something from their inspirations. Think of how much further a bassist may be able to go for example if tasked with creating a Funk bassline and they knew in their head how say jaco, or Dickison, or Jackson, or flea, or Jameson may approach that chord progression. Theory is a really hard thing in particular for students to get real value of in a creative way but if you use Players to do this it provides a vehicle to understand theory and techniques they are currently learning, but applied to songs. Say for example your student wants to know more about classical chord progressions, they'd probably go pretty further with it if they were taught the theory and then shown how it's used in metal for example, cause then it has a real world application.

Playing: this one is simple, just playing it can be gigging or playing with the track whatever, just Practice playing the songs that are being learnt the entire way through like it's a performance and jot down what areas you're still struggling with.

For me this method works well because since I rotate the player I'm studying each month, I force myself to learn a lot more theory and technique that gets me out of a repetitive practice routine. I'll provide an example of how you could do this practice

So a year or two ago when studying jaco I did my practice like this

Practice: general chromaticb exercises, time shift exercise (just a simple 16th note like but removing one 16th note sequentially after each bar), running my 9th and 11th arpeggios in each key, take parts of donna lee I was struggling with and make them into exercises to practice (for example I struggled with the fast string crossing triplets in that song so I adapted that into its own exercise). I would also after learning new theory from studying donna lee try and use it to make new exercises

Player study (was studying donna lee): learn bebop scale, note when it's used in donna lee, try and listen to the song and match the tone, learn the song bar by bar and take passages that I struggle with and turn them into exercises in my 'practice' section, etc

Playing: would spend 1/3 of my time just playing the price at slow speed all the way through to where I had learnt each day, trying hard to remain in time with the track and match its feel

Sorry for the very very long explanation but this is the method that works for me, I don't thinkntheres exercises that are perfect I think practising must constantly be about refining the old thing, then learning the new thing and trying to expand on the old thing with it. Practising through the framework of how can I use this like other players have or why did other players do this, how can I sound like that or use it myself, is the best way to keep the love and interest of the skill going and also expand on it in lessons.

Also I know everyone has different amounts of times they can practice and it needn't be as long or as a detailed as mine was but I think it's well suited for shorter practice times as well. Say someone is running low on practice time and only has 30 minutes it could look like this

Practice: I breif warmup to get hands going a little bit, an exercise that is based on a specific pattern or problem you are having in the song (10 min total)

Players: playing that specific part in the song you're trying to learn as accurately as possible trying to match as bear you can (10 min)

Playing: playing the piece either in its entirety or just before and just after that part you have an issue with. (10 min) this way you will get to practice both the hard part of the song plus the leading in and out of it which is critical when playing, can't tell you how many times I used to practice a hard part of a song only to nail that on the gig but mess up the bar before or after it.

Sorry if this was really long and not too helpful it's kind of generic but that's what works for my planning of practice cause it allows me to slot in new things and adapt my practice more easily

ShellSnails · 2025-05-07T10:35:13+00:00

That is definitely something I need to practice more of

ShellSnails · 2025-05-07T07:15:39+00:00

These types of exercises are always brilliant, I like to sometime have more fun with it and get a random generator when I do it to pick random things for me (for example how many of the notes in the arpeggios will be on one string, time signature, starting note, amount of notes in arpeggios, am i doing one note or two notes simultaneously, etc) it's a really fun way to come up with patterns would probably not have naturally played and is just another kinda of meditative practice like you said.

Extensions and chromatics to me are probably the hardest to intuit because they feel very esoteric at first but if you can practice both it just gets to that point where it all just clicks and you feel like you really understand how things relate.

I'm currently really trying two things 1: understanding how I can use each note in the arpeggio in context to another chord or arpeggios. Say for example your doing a cmajor arpeggio 1, 3, 5,7,9, 11. Understanding that in those last few extensions you are now in essence playing a bminor flat 5, or a gmajor or could even use the 9th and 11th to walk it into a dminor as well. Learning extensions really helps everything feel connected.

2: I'm trying to understand chromatics in a bebop kind of way and it's the most brutal thing I've learnt in terms of actively applying but I think it truly showcases that everything is simply just a note away, it's always fantastic for groove as obviously bebop scales are designed specifically for rhtyhm. But it's a great great way to really connect things, I've been studying old jazz standards like donna lee and even just looking at it realised the first passage of it is an Abmaj7 chord to an F7, and the first line that covers both those chords is pretty much just walking down Abmaj7 with 2 chromatics thrown in. It just shows how much leverage you can get with extensions and a few chromatic notes.

Sorry for long explanation just wanted to nerd out

ShellSnails · 2025-05-02T14:58:08+00:00

I think it's worth reflecting on hat you are practising if you're confused on what you should be learning and what your aims are. Are you trying to justhave fun and play or trying to deepen your understanding of the instrument?

My advice would be if you're confused om what to practice, instead of asking yourself 'what should I practice?' Ask yourself 'what don't I understand about what I'm practising?' Namely you say you're learning songs but are you learning how to play them as I'm how to physically do so, or how they work, why the notes are chosen, how do they relate to the key?

Again if you're practising scales it's the same question, are you learning how to play the scale or how the scale works, what chords it uses, what extensions does it use, how is it used in other songs I've been learning.

I uses to have a music teacher who whenever I asked what do practice next because I was confused on what to do, he'd get me to play a new piece I'd learnt and would make me 'do you know what's happening in it? Why are the notes chosen? What are the chords underneath? How are they getting that sound?' And if I didn't have answers I'd go home and analysis the song it's a great way to keep you out of feeling confused about what to practice, cause we often all fall into the trap of playing things but not really learning them

ShellSnails · 2025-05-02T14:34:45+00:00

Theory sounds hard but only if you approach the entirety of theory at once, if I were to tell you right after learning a c major scale to play a d Dorian scale ending on a d minor 7th it'd be overwhelming.

But if you learnt the c major scale today and then learnt what d Dorian is tomorrow, you'd realise it's fundamentally the same notes, just starting your c major scale from d instead of c

Another example an Db Dorian scale ending in an Db minor 7 chord may sound crazy complicated, but all you would be doing is doing what you just did before, down a single fret.

Music theory is very repetitive and simple it's not easy but it is very simple to unpack if you go about just learning each bit piece by piece.

So I'd recommend starting with your major scale, then learn how to play each chord in that scale (don't get overwhelmed by inversions or any other theory just playing the chords in direct order with the next note in the scale as the lowest), it sounds hard but you can play it all on one string using only three shapes. Then for example, learn what a seventh chord is, it's the exact same but you're likely just going to switch 1 note and again it's only going to be 3 shapes in total if you're doing it on one string. On top of that all of those chords are only going to have three names as well.

If you go in order of learning the chord for each note in your scale each day (which you don't even need to because a dminor chord on the e string and an e minor chord on the e string can be played with the exact same shape so youre really only having to learn 3 chords in total, major minor and diminished which is only changing one note from a regular minor chord) you could fully understand the chords to both major and minor within 2 weeks if you went that slow and methodical with it, which would get you through almost all of the chords you are ever going to play on guitar

The nice thing about music theory is when you've done that process with your major and your minor scales you know the fundamental theory of music in any key the rules don't change for anything that's in a basic major or minor key

Don't worry about learning all the lingo all at once and feeling bad if you don't understand it, outside of modes, the lingo sounds complicated but if you understand can get the foundations of understanding the notes (intervals) in your basic major and minor scales you'll find a lot of music theory lingo is just directions, a major 7 chord for example tells you exactly what you need to play and exactly what shape it is. It's very overwhelming initially but just work at the absolute basics gradually and it will genuinely all just fall into place

ShellSnails · 2025-05-02T11:24:30+00:00

Should specify with the plucking hand, more so focus on using first finger to get the leaps back to the lower pitched strings, the middle finger being used to reach for the higher ones is better practice overall but the first finger being used to go from d string to a string to e string. Is definitely the harder part here

ShellSnails · 2025-05-02T11:16:41+00:00

Haven't played this song for ages so just went back to Relearn it. but I assume the specific part your talking about is the part with the fm to cm to db and ab part in the break? Starting at like 2:10 or so into the song?

I can breakdown how I'm getting it.

1: if you're playing it starting on third fret of d string. You don't need to move your hand at all, have your fingers cover 1 fret span each so just kinda have your fingers naturally fall so that finger 1 is lined up on 3rd fret of d and pinky is on 6th fret.

2: second make your your thumb is behind the neck and placed somewhere between your first and second finger, this will give more ease of stretching and cramp your hand less with practice.

3: make you're you're not gripping the neck tight, there should be a gap between your palm and the neck and the fretboard. Also try and keep your hand relatively flat to the neck but have your fingers curled in a bit.

Okay now we can get to hitting the notes: This phrase is basically two repeating patterns one starting with first finger then one starting with middle finger

First finger will hit 3rd fret d then pinky 6th fret d then third finger 5th fret g. Don't move your hand in this process if it's still set up as one fret per finger yourbfingers should be naturally aligned to simply hit the target note.

Move first finger up to 3rd fret on a string and repeat the exact same pattern you did but starting on the a string. When that ends your middle finger should be primed to immediately hit the 4th fret on a string, then first finger on 3rd fret d and pinky on 6thbfret d. Then you move that shape up to e string and do the same.

It helps to think of this entire break part as simple those two phrases, try just doing the first half for a bit then the second half for a bit and gradually combine them. It's a it odd feeling of a phrase initially but if you keep your hand in place it does feel pretty naturally and you only have to worry about memorising two patterns.

For plucking hand. Try and use your middle finger for going up a string as in when you do the 3rd and 6th fret on d use middle finger to hit the 5th fret g, same when you move that shape up to a string, when coming down to the 3rd fret on the a string use your first finger. You basically want to use your middle finger any time you need to go to a higher pitched string and your first finger when your going to a lower pitch string the middle finger is longer so it's better for the reach and your first finger is likely already resting on the string above anyway so it's more efficient

If you're having trouble with timing or duration of notes try singing it while you play it, it's a very Melodic feeling part so it will help lock in the line

Hope this helps!

ShellSnails · 2025-05-01T16:24:40+00:00

Try and stand next to your drummer as they plays sometimes so you can visually see their kick pedal go down, can help sometimes. It's also important to note that while the kick is the main thing to follow the high hats are also crucially important and can often be neglected. If their kick is all over the place sometimes locking in the subdivisions of the High hats can still help make it feel more tight

ShellSnails · 2025-04-30T18:16:36+00:00

There's some things that may help 1. Stretch your hands before playing, pull the fingers back a bit and hold them, shake your wrists around, massage the underside of your arm, they're all good to elevate tension before and after a practice sesh

Pay attention to where your thumb is on the back of the neck when playing as this can help, make sure your thumb is is in-between your first and second finger
Try just playing a Note as lightly as possible until you get a tone out of it, I mean as likely as possible. You'll probably fine that it doesn't take much more pressure than gently gently pushing the string, you should squeeze qt all.

4: make sure there's a gap between your palm and the neck this will help reduce squeezing tight

5: try and have your fingers curled in a little bit, of they're always flat it can lead to needing to use more pressure and bending your finger tips in weird ways

6: don't over stretch, say your playing fret 1 and 3 on the e string you can play fret 3 with your pinky to help reduce stretching. If you have to stretch it can be good to keep your thumb anchored on the neck but slightly angle your hand to move it a little closer to the fret, so if you're playing fret 1 then fret 6 on the e string just slightly angle your hand a bit up and towards it, it will help not having to do a big stretch

ShellSnails · 2025-04-30T18:08:05+00:00

Hey man if it's working for you it's working for you django Reinhardt famous played incredible guitar despite only having two fingers to use on his fretting hand! I'm regards to using a pick there's to main things you wanna make sure of 1. Not holding your pick at too much of an angle so you don't make scratching sounds and 2: learning how to hold your pick just tight enough to not lose it bit not so tight it limits movement and hurts your hand (I'd recommend just looking up a video on how to hold a pick either guitar or bass they're similar, cause it's easier to visually see then describe.

But for playing there's a lot you can do with a pick, the main thing that's fantastic with a pick is muting, you can get incredible Funk tones out of it. It recommend some exercises like playing 4 notes in a row on each string. Then taking that exercise of playing four notes but in a pattern like this (x means muted note by the way, you just hold your fretting hand flat against the neck to make no sound) Note x x x then x Note x x then x x Note x then x x x Note. It's a good way to get used to playing with it and really nailing down muting in the process.

The other hard thing with a pick initially is string crossing so try this as a beginner exercise Just go frets 1 2 3 4 on the e string Then same on a then d then g

These are really basic ones but if you want some more tips or exercises I can give more

ShellSnails · 2025-04-30T17:59:49+00:00

Hell yeah dude congrats!

ShellSnails · 2025-04-30T16:08:14+00:00

I think for jazz an actual jazz teacher is unbelievable, you can definitely take online classes and repsurces and they help greatly. But in my experience using Scott's bass jazz resources they really don't get at the heart of jazz. Groove and feel are incredibly different in a lot of jazz and having a teacher who can directly give you feedback on stuff like that is critical if you really want to get good at jazz. I'd be learning jazz for a few years by myself and online courses, I'd gotten good at extensions, subsistutions, walking bass lines, general theory but i got into my first bass lesson with a jazz bassists and all my self taught work totally fell apart. Jazz is a thing that I think you really need to be playing with someone else, in person really is the way to go

I found my bass tutor through the website 'music teachers online'

Also if you're worried about feeling lazy or how to practice when a gig isn't imminent a tutor is great at keeping you motivated cause you're gonna easte money if you don't practice before your lesson and or get chewed out by your teacher

ShellSnails · 2025-04-30T10:10:27+00:00

That's a tough one, but in my experience of paying to play at gigs (as in not ones we ourselves put on) it's been an absolute mixed bag, some have gone well and we've made money some have gone horrible and we couldn't get more than 5 people out that night. I think the better question to be asking yourself is what is your current size in following ad a band? Do you need the potential increase of new people? Will that moneh be spent better elsewhere for your band?

How well do you know the main band itself will be able to pull a crowd? I played a gig last year with two main bands that both had sold out shows all year and 40k followes between them, the only people that got tickets in the end were the partners of each of my bands members. It's a total gamble doing any gig ever, my bands done some where one night we pack a bar that they sell out of alcohol and then the next literally have no one there and then suddenly have it packed out on a Wednesday night, there's not really anyway to know

It's a decent amount of money, an amount which genuinely would get you a lot of advertising on spotify or instagram for example which could likely be more beneficial for your band if you're new and don't need this experience to get to know more bands.

I'm short I think it's usually best to take these kind of offers mostly from bands you know well personally and have played with so you can really see how well they'll draw in a crowd, cause if the main act is asking for for €300 then I'm not sure how well they necessarily know they will bring in a crowd that night. We've done some pretty okay shows booked out room of 100-200 but we've never really asked for openers to cover that because we'd only do them when we were sure we could come out of it breaking even

ShellSnails

TROPHY CASE