A little thing I made with my bass-guitar

[Greger]

First off, this is the first piece of art I ever written down and made myself in whole, im thinking of adding drums and there's hopefully going to be a solo-guitar over the bassline/solo, but I wouldnt hold my breath for it.

So anyways on to the show now eh?
Linky to youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_4vH5BEH4w)
It's an original piece, only bass (I was trying to figure out how to get a drum track, but the program wont work :/) which is a bit low, so you might have to turn it up a bit.

Any critizism you can give is good, tips or anything else for that matter, and I hope you enjoy this 2min 12second piece of music I made :)

[thisiswhoiam]

I give it 8/10. Good job.

[Shmuh]

It's alright. There's a lack of flow in some of the parts, it's like you just suddenly stopped a certain part all of a sudden. Work on this and it'll be pre' coo'.

[Greger]

Any special parts that lacks the flow? I know about the slide issue, I dont really know how to make it so it sounds smooth and fast, but that is the only part I myself can think of that doesnt flow as it should :o

But thanks alot for the tip Shmuh, and the 8/10 thisiswhoiam =)

[innerearth]

I like the ideas that you are going for creatively, you could tell that Jaco is an influence (even if he wasn’t you avatar).

I do have a few suggestions as far as what I think, Shmuh ment by "flow."
at some points it does seem to lose continuity. I don’t know if you did or not, but you might want to use a Click track (metronome) or drum loop while you record to help keep time.
You might also want to work on just playing it more, there are parts where it seems like you are unsure or nerves. Which is comen when you’re not used to recording. It should be all muscle memory when you go to record it, and when you do don’t think about it to much just try to play it melodically.
If you mess up, no big deal just try again.

Just some ideas

[Shagg]

I very much liked the beginning, but at :59 you went in a different direction completely astray from the nice flow, which ruined it.

[Greger]

innerearth ; Thank you, yes he's a bit of an influence to me, I didnt really think it would influenced by him though :)
Yes it's a fairly new piece I have written, I did spend a day with it continiously just trying to get it as good as I possibly could, and that was the one piece that I got happy with and felt that I could share without feeling that it was not enough.
I will get something so that I can keep the pace, did not do that when I was in recording process, im sure it'll help me even more.
And yes, I am indeed pretty new to recording, I have no problems with playing stuff in front of people, but when it comes to recording, I just... dont play 100%, guess I just need to play and play and play more.

Thanks alot for your opinions on it :)

Shagg ; Thank you, I was quite pleased with the whole first minute in fact, it's just that I didnt quite know how to progress from going all slow, so I just though "heck, i'll just do some speed runs and all that technical shit", I'll try to make it more melodic and with some fast runs here and there, instead of mostly just rely on the whole "woo I play fast!" :P

I say it again, thanks alot for your opinions on this little thing I have made, it motivates me to keep on going with it and also to improve, and that you lot seem to like atleast some of it makes me to want to improve it faster.

[Greger]

Ok, now I made the new piece, it's a fucking monster that took me an hour to create, and a week to fucking master.
I think I worked it out so there's a better rhytm into it, and also keeping a flow
So here it is, the new and enhanced version!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHpF1R4d3Oc

[Merka2]

Ok, now I made the new piece, it's a fucking monster that took me an hour to create, and a week to fucking master.
I think I worked it out so there's a better rhytm into it, and also keeping a flow
So here it is, the new and enhanced version!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHpF1R4d3Oc

I liked alot of it and some parts were a little iffy like the fast part, I diden't like that much but ya it was good keep it up:smile:

[The_Solipsist]

I didn't care for it, but it's nice to see someone trying to play bass.

The beginning reminds me of Alien by Bush, wholistically it was ok, but your tone was very muddy, but your recording equipment may be the culprit there.

As for the latter bit, I won't comment, other than please learn to be make melodies and keep time, as it just sounded like a bunch of random notes. Although I love avant-garde, this was just somewhat pitiful as a bassline, not trying to be offensive. Learn to be a bit more percussive with your playing: Add in some accents, slides, and some poping to make the piece sound better.

Otherwise, cheers, and happy fingering.

[Greger]

Merka2 ; Thanks alot for the input, glad you liked it :)
The_Solipsist ; I actually thought people would think of "My Friend of Misery" when it came to the beginning.
Yeah my recording equipment is crap, just a regular headset microphone, havent got money to get some decent stuff but i'll definiatly get some better stuff later on.
Any special fairly lowpriced you could possibly recomend?
Hmm, I actually thought it was pretty much in time, but heh probably not then, will need to train more on that!
I am however a terrible slap'n'popper as I have never really tried to learn it, I just find that it's "useless" and because I would only overdo it and get bored of it, but i'll definiatly try to make it more melodic (or just start from scratch which is probably the easiest way).

But in overall, thanks alot for your words, I never thought about those things before you said it and well, now you helped me one step to becoming a better artist :)

[Android]

To work on timing issues, I'd suggest purchasing a metronome and listening to it with headphones while you record your basslines.

[The_Solipsist]

The metronome seems to be the best idea, but what key where you in, if you don't mind? Also, what were the chord progressions/scales you stuck to?

[Greger]

The_Solisist ; I have no clue at all, been playing for 3 years now (selftaught and all, not even my idea to start with an instrument to begin with, but looking back now, im saddened that I didnt start earlier) and havent spent any time trying to learn music theory :/
I suppose that the key is A (being that I start and end with it) but other than that I cant help you.

[The_Solipsist]

The_Solisist ; I have no clue at all, been playing for 3 years now (selftaught and all, not even my idea to start with an instrument to begin with, but looking back now, im saddened that I didnt start earlier) and havent spent any time trying to learn music theory :/
I suppose that the key is A (being that I start and end with it) but other than that I cant help you.

Ok, I see.

Depending on the feel you're trying to go for, since your in the key of A, you should pick a scale to 'form' the song around. You can phrase in different scales if you like of course, as it may change the song to better suit you.

Lets say, you want a jazzy/funky feel. Use a Dorian scale in the key of A:

g:-4-5--7--
D:-4-5--7--
A:---5--7--
E:---5--7-8

The bold notes are the roots(A). Now here comes a tricky part. Instead of playing all the notes in the scale, mainly play the Odd numbered notes*. These notes are consonant(sound 'better') than the even notes, as the even notes are considered dissonant.

* A being 1, B is 2, C is 3, and so on and so forth. These are just numbers for the intervals of the scale and have NOTHING to do with the tablature I laid out.

With this in mind, use these notes to form something simple. Just a 4/4 melody, nothing special. After coming up with something, time to add a few more notes to see if it can be made to sound more towards the feel you want. Add in some of the dissonant(even) intervals, even some chromatic(out of the scale) notes, as funk and jazz are notorious for never sticking straight on a scale.

Just mess around with all the modes(scales). There's 7 that mainly comprise western music:

Ionian/Major(Used in a lot of classical[has a happy feel]), Dorian(mainly used in jazz), phrygian(mainly used in spanish or metal), Lydian(very cool/unorthodox scale, used by Steve Vai alot), Myxlodian(Funk/Jazz, uppity kind of feel), Aeolian/Minor(used in rock/everything, sad feel), and Locrian(used in metal, heavy/dark feel).

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/soloing/using_modes_to_compose_solos.html

That link has all the modes listed out in the Key of A, but doesn't do a good job of explaining them in relation to each other.

All the modes fit into each other, like a puzzle. But this I will not explain, as it is better to figure it out on your own through experimentation.

Hope something I said helped.

Also, use these:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/scales/major_and_minor_pentatonic_scales.html

The minor pentatonic is the MOST used scale in rock/blues/guitar. It is probably the most fun, as well.

Cheers!

[Greger]

Yeah it helped me alot, i'll check into it all and study it :)
And probably make something new too, but this time with metronome and scales ^^