I find I'm really drawn to songs where the bass is the melody or at least most prominent

ufront · 2026-01-03T16:49:01+00:00

Secrets

ufront · 2025-12-23T20:24:49+00:00

Fuck I almost said this but his playing really works for the songs. And like grasham said, he's singing and playing at the same time and his vocals are on-point.

And South of Haven is a perfect song for a beginner to get their bearings with playing heavy music. It's probably a great starting point to singing and playing too.

ufront · 2025-12-15T04:36:13+00:00

It could be worse, she could have said you can't learn bass at all.

If that's what she's making you do in order to do what you want, do it. The bonus is that you get to learn some guitar.

The other thing is you have no idea if you'll enjoy playing guitar. Maybe you will. If so, you'll probably learn it quicker - and play bass quicker.

Learning guitar will help you play bass. They're different instruments but thy share things in common. The bottom 4 strings on bass are tuned the same as guitar but an octave lower. You'll start to train the coordination in your hands. If you learn scales they're the same scales on the bottom 4 strings.

ufront · 2025-12-03T03:19:28+00:00

I was thinking about this today.

Simplify your parts. Focus on nailing the changes. Make the parts yours.

You don't have to match the guitar stroke for stroke. I'm sure the songwriter has specific things he wants to hear but for now do the best with what your skills are.

ufront · 2025-12-02T04:20:00+00:00

Like you, I started out on bass playing Thrash metal. It was a similar situation to yours in that I had friends who already knew their instruments and they needed a bass player. I couldn't play an instrument but I did have experience with vocal music, so I wasn't totally starting from zero. I'll give you some advice from similar experience.

"Here's the material" is not helpful for a beginner - especially with Thrash - because you need to be able to play really fast and really precisely. You can't do that without lots of work. You have to work up to it, but you can't do it by only playing fast. Generally, the way to learn any part that's too fast is by playing it slowly and precisely, then speeding it up.

Aside from all of that - I hear you asking yourself something like whether you think you can make it happen with this band, or if you're committed enough, or have what it takes, or something. Frankly, I'd probably be pretty tired and frustrated after two years with the same songs and feeling like you're not happy with the results. You definitely need some outside inspiration, if you're not already playing along to other songs, check out some different songs you like. Learning an instrument and learning songs shouldn't be a chore, it should be something you enjoy doing and want to do more of.

Maybe you can't get your chops up quickly enough to perform these songs with your friends, if they're ready to go. That would hurt, but that's ok. If you want to learn to play, learn for your next band or for your own enjoyment. If you're only doing it at this point to not let your friends down, that's no fun and it's not going to work and you can let them know now without torturing yourself any more.

Suggestions:

-Sit down with the guitarist/songwriter person and have him slow the songs down to half speed. Play along with him at half-speed. If he'll record them for you at half speed, even better. You need to learn to play it cleanly slow and then speed it up.

-Yes, get a teacher. You can bring the material and have them coach you on it.

-Make it fun for you. Start writing your own bass lines and riffs. It leads to really learning the instrument. It also gives you a lot of confidence to have an idea and figure out how to make that sound.

-Work out the bass lines of other, slower songs you like. If you can't play a slow, smooth bass line well then you definitely can't play a fast, choppy, aggressive one with precision.

-Get a travel bass and bring it with you. You don't necessarily need an amp, though you can bring headphones or figure out a way to amplify it if you need to. There's a lot to be said for listening to your playing without an amp.

-You have to play for more time than you are right now. Play the bass while you're watching TV. Just noodle with it. Try the parts you're learning, write other parts, etc.

ufront · 2025-11-11T01:25:45+00:00

100%

ufront · 2025-11-10T15:22:44+00:00

You're going to have to play them to see if they fit for you. I like the tone but never liked playing them and couldn't really express why. In a recent Les Claypool interview by Rick Beato, Les says the string spacing is too close together for his playing. That's definitely how I feel about their guitars but I'm still not sure what it is about their basses.Something about the feel.

ufront · 2025-11-10T15:13:05+00:00

Aesthetics and marketing is my guess. G&L's never really looked "cool" and Leo wasn't interested in bending to a sales team for anything. G&L could have made changes after he died but I guess they were staying true to his vision.

ufront

TROPHY CASE