tips on playing bass

[winter-of-blood]

im good enough on bass to be in a band, im currently in high school and i am going to do a 8 minute improvised solo

but after about 6 minutes or so a couple of things a play start to sound similar, so has anyone got any ideas

i dont care if its finger picking, picking with a pick, slap bass whatever just give me some help

[MetalMilitia]

Try all techniques you are capable off. For example :
3 finger style - 3 string in use
3 finger style - 1 string (very quick picking)
3 finger style - 2 strings in use (two fingers on one string and one finger on another i.e. : one finger on D string and two other on G string)
tapping
two hand tapping
pull offs
try playing chords

Experiment with rythms, tempoes. Switch from melody to rythmical material, try major and minor stuff.

I strongly recomend you not to make an 8 minutes long improvisation. Concentrate on quality not quantity. I doubt that you can pull out a completely improvised 8 minutes solo, that would sound like solo. Create a sceleton/structure and using all the tips I mentioned fill it. But you must know what those parts are going to sound like, so that your improvisation would sound coherent. This way you do nto need to elarn this piece by heart, you just ned to know the sequence and the type of material.

[ice-t]

work on your slapping Fieldy does that shit it's fukkin tite.

[horusrulesusall]

slappin always impresses, or if you an tap, try slide tapping, sounds cool.

[Stranger]

http://seanmalone.net/Video/index.html

Go to the warm-up video. Get ready to be schooled, and then practice, practice, practice.

[death]

i am going to do a 8 minute improvised solo

See there's your problem right there.

[burewestnik]

Steal riffs, harmonic twists and techniques from your favourites.
Learn to interpret classical pieces, Bach might be a starting point: http://www.bassmasta.net/b/bach/157651.html.
Develop style: http://muzofob.narod.ru/Arievi41.rar, this is a compilation of etudes and pieces for bass, if you can
read notes.

[Hiromakuta]

Why are you going to do an 8 minute improvised bass solo? Unless you're Michael Mannring, that seems to me a fruitless endeavour. Like a previous poster said, 3 minutes are more than enough.

And since when bass players get to have solos?

[Ergriefer]

learning other people's songs is like peering into their brains.  you will pick up their techniques, and then you'll be able to assimilate them into your own style.  whether it's TAB, or by ear, metal or classical, it's the best way to expand your creativity.  you'll notice the difference when you start working on your own songs.

and the BASS GRIMOIRE.  check that shit out.  all the wacky scales and shit open up doors for me every time i peer into the thing.

[wEEman33]

The electric bass really isn't a good solo instrument; it's just too limited in what it can do compared to other instruments.

Even some of the best bass players in history are at their worst when trying to solo (Jaco Pastorius comes to mind).

My advice is to keep working on full band compositions, because the bass is really at its best when it's a vehicle for rhythms and counter melodies.

[Necrophiliac]

im good enough on bass to be in a band, im currently in high school and i am going to do a 8 minute improvised solo

but after about 6 minutes or so a couple of things a play start to sound similar, so has anyone got any ideas

i dont care if its finger picking, picking with a pick, slap bass whatever just give me some help

"Learning to play" is the best tip I can give. This kind of thought is what is currently crippling most musicians.

"I need to be able to play [so and so] because I am going to be doing [so and so]." I don't see why you would set a goal that you know you can't reach, or make a display of skill that you don't possess.

If you just went along, actually practicing (something a lot of people do not do), and played things you felt comfortable doing this wouldn't be a problem.

But then, I suppose, you wouldn't have made that post, either.

[Nimbostratus]

The electric bass really isn't a good solo instrument; it's just too limited in what it can do compared to other instruments.

Even some of the best bass players in history are at their worst when trying to solo (Jaco Pastorius comes to mind).

My advice is to keep working on full band compositions, because the bass is really at its best when it's a vehicle for rhythms and counter melodies.

Totally right! It's much better to bring equilibrium through a solid melody. There're too many Wooten's wannabes with their boing boing slap-fests.

Can anyone mention an electric bass player that made truly artistic solo music?

[burewestnik]

Can anyone mention an electric bass player that made truly artistic solo music?

Hiromakuta previously mentionend Michael Manring, who I think is amazing.
There are some pretty cool vids of him playing on youtube.

[Light Emitting Diode]

Just as the guitar and piano while sharing some similar technique and timbre like qualities really are different entities I so think the same of the bass and the guitar. I do not agree that the bass is an instrument that is relegated to the role of accompaniment. When bass guitars with an excess of six strings are played they contain massive amounts of potential, easily as much as what is available to a guitar. It is to what end that this potential is used that is important. The bass guitar as a prominent instrument most strongly exists within funk and fusion groups (as well as within certain styles of Jazz) so it is only natural that most of the famous bass players will employ a similar style but that does not mean the instrument is not capable of anything else. I have heard Bach played on a bass guitar in a way that it gains a quality all of its own. I have heard pieces by Arvo Pärt in his tintibulation style performed on solo bass which sounded amazing. I have heard many wonderful things done with an unaccompanied bass guitar the question is all about what end you wish to achieve.

[Nimbostratus]

You can play Bach in an ukulele or in a bowed saw and  it will keep some of its beauty, but their timbre is very extraneous to the original spirit of the composition, as with electric bass.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a bass player too, but I save classical music just for the double bass.

I've seen some videos of Manring, not bad, but I'll download an album to have a clearer perception of his craft.