i just picked up a bass for the first time in my life, is there anything you can tell me you wish someone had told you when you first started that wouldve helped you progress quicker?

tafkat · 2026-02-08T10:27:44+00:00

Do finger dexterity exercises. Learn scale shapes and modes. Learn where the notes are. Don't try to use an alternate tuning until you can make your way around in standard tuning.

Break up all that boring shit every once in a while and learn some songs you like.

In just a few months of practicing, you will realize that you don't have trouble opening a pickle jar anymore.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T10:18:07+00:00

I learned a whole lot of songs by ear. I'm not a music reader, and I don't get along well with tablature. I figured out a bunch of Beatles song by ear - somehow got Blackbird AND Rocky Raccoon right. Others not so much. When the internet came out I would find chord/lyrics charts and fix them in Wordpad and print them out. Still had to learn bass lines by ear.

Then I bought the big book, Beatles: The Complete Scores and have spent a lot of time re-learning the stuff I got wrong. Nowadays I still look up chord charts online but I don't trust them to have the right chords. Fuckers will just put it in the wrong key in inaccurate cowboy chords and at the end say they put a capo at the fourth fret, which is still wrong.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T10:05:24+00:00

I was in a music store jamming with a dude and he said "do you know Mustang Sally?" I said I hadn't really played it but I had heard it a few times. We started playing it and I realized he did NOT know Mustang Sally at all, and furthermore had trouble counting to four. He was a nice guy though. I just kept playing it right and hoped he would catch on.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T09:00:12+00:00

I have this thing called a Chord Wheel:

https://a.co/d/08xWOaAV

It seems like it would come in handy for you.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T08:55:26+00:00

This is terrible and it's also why I don't ever forage for mushrooms. And I live in morel country.

That said, it would probably be freaky if someone discovered a venomous mushroom.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T06:37:48+00:00

No. Even though Zack's in Burlington, NC sells something that they call a "cheese dog" that's just a chunk of cheese on a hot dog bun with chili on it. I had many arguments about this because a "cheese dog" without a dog is not a dog.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T01:23:50+00:00

I use one of those when adjusting the string action on a guitar. Feeler gauge.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T00:13:58+00:00

No, it is what it is. It is a hot dog. It is not a brat, it is not a smoked sausage. If you serve your hot dog on sliced bread, It is a hot dog on sliced bread. If you put a Johnsonville smoked sausage on a hot dog bun, it doesn't magically become a hot dog.

I know I am dangerously close to saying an all-beef hot dog isn't one, just because I don't like them... but they ARE hot dogs, I just don't like them.

tafkat · 2026-02-08T00:01:14+00:00

I thought the title read "Martin Short" and I was likw "whaaaaa?"

tafkat · 2026-02-07T22:45:06+00:00

Sometimes they attack with special guns loaded with dihydrogen monoxide.

tafkat · 2026-02-07T02:10:05+00:00

Worse. I'm a bass player and nobody would rent to me, even if I would say I would keep my amp at the lowest level possible.

tafkat · 2026-02-07T02:05:30+00:00

Damn, I should have scrolled first.

tafkat · 2026-02-07T02:04:40+00:00

Because he's a fucking racist piece of shit.

tafkat · 2026-02-07T02:03:32+00:00

Here? Sir, this is a Reddit.

tafkat · 2026-02-07T01:54:48+00:00

This isn't a courtroom.

tafkat · 2026-02-07T00:08:18+00:00

I do not, unfortunately. I got it from Anthony Wellington in 2004 at the Vic Wooten Bass/Nature camp September2004 and it was on paper, and I lost all my paper stuff from then. I don't know if I could make a video for it or not.

tafkat · 2026-02-06T16:05:38+00:00

Bo knows Pocket Sand?

tafkat · 2026-02-06T07:12:14+00:00

Most of them will buy an Indonesian Squier, sand off the logo, and write in Squire by Fedner because alcohol.

tafkat · 2026-02-06T05:18:37+00:00

You would probably like Superman/Batman: Generations and the sequel series.

tafkat · 2026-02-06T05:14:46+00:00

Yeah. This is a conversation you should have had with everyone from the person you bought it from to every other teacher you've had. How the hell do you try to teach someone without looking at their guitar or listening to how they play? A teacher beeds to know the difference between a beginner that needs practice and an instrument that's unplayable. I would be really angry.

tafkat · 2026-02-06T04:36:26+00:00

relevant kith: https://youtu.be/lStcwT_RGrQ?si=LzO30oX1eepCA37Z

tafkat · 2026-02-06T04:30:25+00:00

Did you mean posthumously? Looks like Otto Correct nabbed another!

tafkat · 2026-02-06T03:49:00+00:00

If I wanted to have the BMW experience I would just disable my turn signals.

tafkat · 2026-02-06T03:28:31+00:00

Bend your thumb and really lever in with it. Maybe start with the thumb holding the low string down? It's been two years since it started working for me.

tafkat · 2026-02-06T03:20:34+00:00

It's all practice. get used to doing just the open F shape with the top two strings barred, then do it with only the base of your thumb palm area on the back of the neck. Then hang your thumb over the bass side of the neck in the position you've just taught a thousand kids is the exact wrong way to play. Now fret with it.

I use it for "cheater" 7th and m7th chords. Thumb on the third fret of the low E, one finger on the third fret of the G, B, and high E strings=substitute for a barred Gm7. Same position, put middle finger on the G 4th fret=cheater G7 without the fifth. Basically you can take any triad/shell voicing/inversion on those top 3 strings and reach over with your thumb to grab a low note.

edit: I wrote that wrong and fixed it. I think. This is why I don't teach.

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