It’s back from the dead! The TB Mega Thread.

[My name is Mudd]

...but I made a breakthrough in my playing when I started relying on my internal timing...

It drove my instructor nuts that I wouldn't tap my foot in time during lessons (he's one of those 'If I need to do this, EVERYONE needs to do this as well' people); I FINALLY convinced him that I can keep time in my head just fine.

[warwick.hoy]

I got into the percussive metronome tap habit after watching the Victor Wooten Live at Bass Day 98 vid. Later on in a blues oriented jamband,...I asked what I could do to improve my playing and the keyboardist told me to stop tapping my strings. Since then I've made a conscious effort to rely on rests where I would have formerly been inclined to whack my strings.

I'm not saying that that little percussive deal can't be musical,...and the dude in the first vid I posted is definitely way less annoying/more musical than the second, but to rely on it is abrasiveness to my ears.

It's funny how people slag on effects users calling pedals a crutch; which may be true for some novices, but certainly not the norm IME. That string tapping shit OTOH is definitely a crutch to me.

Please note that I'm not talking shit on fret tappers like buh-hendy,...apples and oranges.

At MNIM,....oh the close minded instructors. Probably why I never really took many lessons beyond the 9 years of Piano I did as a kid (FWIW,...my piano teacher was pretty good at not forcing development,...or pushing her habits onto her students,...the best thing I gleaned from her was a good ear,...proper posture and the proper way to hold your hand in it's playing position).

[behndy]

yah. i never noticed i did that on weird time stuff until i was listening to a recording to send to bandmates. fixed THAT quickish. but i don't tap with my foot unless i'm trying to show somebody the tempo i'm working with parts on. i do slide on time when i'm demo'ing shits though. mostly laziness.

lol. he actually called mine "tapping with B3k" or sumphin. he's a cutie.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or0pjOT4irA[/youtube]

[warwick.hoy]

Well you are not doing the same thing in your vid,...you are doing the Claypoolesque muted strum thing and you are doing with musicality. Totally different.

The abrasiveness to me come comes from the strings hitting the pickups or the frets. I'm cool with thumb slaps, pops,...raked triplets and such. But to just whack the strings in time is denying yourself the opportunity to use time, space and rests to emphasize the groove,....for the sake of what the whacker thinks is emphasizing the groove. Really all you are doing is creating unnecessary signal spikes that worst case scenario could fuck something up.

In reality I'm bitching over non-important stuff,...whack away if you think it makes your playing more interesting (this is directed towards whackers in general,...which this thread is full of in one way or another but not in a way that has caused any rashes on my backside).

[Joe Gress]

I agree James. To me one of the most powerful tools you can employ as a bassist is a rest. Musical, allows space to come in, and it's way less cluttered.

[dubkitty]

Why did they *** out the "fucking" ? WHAT HAS TO BE SAID, HAS TO BE SAID!

so their site won't get caught by filtering software and screened out of, e.g., workplaces.

[MSUsousaphone]

Keep it simple. That's why I can't stand Claypool, Jaco...all that "play a ton of shit really fast" stuff. The best music is played in an ensemble and it's usually the slower more drawn out pieces.

Fuck, though. I tap my foot.....but I have no fucking clue what it's doing. Even if you go back and watch some AllState vids and me playing tuba, my foot is just doing it's own thing. Like a mog's tail. Don't watch me for the beat. But that's one of the things I'm best at. I'm not getting off time. I won't be tapping out a ton of awesome virtuoso shit. But I'll be on the beat. In front or behind when I need to. That shit's on lockdown.

[D.o.S.]

I bob my head.

Am I seriously the only one here who does that?

[dubkitty]

bob my head, stomp my feet, jump up and down at inappropriate moments. i'm a total spazz. once the drummer puts a boot in my arse i can't HELP it. i get an immediate case of the Neil Youngs, or in this context more appropriately the Billy Talbots. it may be related to my borderline personality disorder, which apparently has a brain mechanism that's similar to epilepsy on brain scans.

[Grrface]

Keep it simple. That's why I can't stand Claypool, Jaco...all that "play a ton of shit really fast" stuff. The best music is played in an ensemble and it's usually the slower more drawn out pieces.

Fuck, though. I tap my foot.....but I have no fucking clue what it's doing. Even if you go back and watch some AllState vids and me playing tuba, my foot is just doing it's own thing. Like a mog's tail. Don't watch me for the beat. But that's one of the things I'm best at. I'm not getting off time. I won't be tapping out a ton of awesome virtuoso shit. But I'll be on the beat. In front or behind when I need to. That shit's on lockdown.

I'm right there with you on the foot tapping. I was standing near an acoustic guitarist one evening, and he could feel my foot taps through the stage. He turned around after the first song and asked "your timing is fine, but what the heck are you tapping to?!" I just looked at him and shrugged.

As far as the rest thing goes, I don't think I do the tappy thing unless I'm goofing around not plugged in. Damn, now you dudes have me all self conscious, I'm gonna be all freaking out about whether or not I tap tomorrow.

[My name is Mudd]

...oh the close minded instructors...

In most ways, he's very good about letting me find my own way in things overall...every now and then tho, he gets a little twitchy about stuff and needs to be reminded (by his own admission) that there can be more than one way to do something.

[Joe Gress]

I bob my head.

Am I seriously the only one here who does that?

Nope, I do. It's how I count entrances and rests mostly.

[dubkitty]

i don't tap the rests on bass, but i have an annoying tendency to pluck rests as muted notes on the guitar that i'm constantly having to edit myself on. i think of bass in longer note values so it's less of a problem.

[My name is Mudd]

I bob my head.

Am I seriously the only one here who does that?

Nope, I do. It's how I count entrances and rests mostly.

Me too.

[Achtane]

i don't tap the rests on bass, but i have an annoying tendency to pluck rests as muted notes on the guitar that i'm constantly having to edit myself on. i think of bass in longer note values so it's less of a problem.

That reminds me, lately on the first rest after playing, if I'm using a pick I'll let my hand come down and stop on the strings. So it's always like thunk - thunk - WHAPsilence...
I gotta cut that out.