TheDeathryder

Is there a particular topic you'd like addressed?  Request lessons for that topic here.

This is the place for all known bass lessons.  I will add links as I find/receive them.

This is the place for all known guitar lessons.  I will add links as I find/receive them.

If you have or know of any good lessons that will help us all learn the skills we want to develop, please post them here!  I will create links in each division main category as I find/receive them.

I think it would be nice if we actually had a dedicated area for lessons to make them easy to find.  Once I get a mic, I've been considering doing a lesson for bass for the 24 combinations of 4.  It would be nice if the individual notes could be labeled like chords are, but it seems that RS doesn't agree with me on that.

Have you tried rebooting?  That worked for me when I had a crash problem that I still don't know what caused it.

 

Alternatively, you could do a system restore to the most recent date before you had the crash hit.

Now that you mention it, I didn't add leading silence at all lol.  Got it working now!

I've been working on Dethklok - Ghostqueen, and for some reason the beatmap matches the song perfectly in EOF, but is off by multiple measures in game.  Any ideas?

i have scored 100% 4 times on the Coldbound-Bass song but i am still behind The Deathryder.....at those gates

 

@ If it's any consolation, I can score 100% on it all day but still haven't beat my own score lol

Thanks for letting me in as a full member! If anyone needs a chart tested, just let me know I've got plenty of time on my hands :)

I guess I'll just blast through the gates at high speed again this week :D

 

http://s12.postimg.org/6rbm2cy1p/20160327140013_1.jpg

Does anyone have know of or have any recommendations for free recording software similar to BandiCam?

It mainly depends on the copyright holder.  When I tried to upload the vid I posted a while back of my terrible attempt to play Suicide Solution, Youtube wouldn't allow the audio because of the copyright claim that the production company already has on file with Youtube.  You can also file a dispute on the claim to get rid of the strike, usually if you can make them believe that the video is for educational purposes they'll let you keep it up.

Not sure if I completely follow. But if you mean just not hearing the bass, you might want to try an equaliser to boost the lower frequencies of a song. I myself use this equalizer https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/ with this GUI plugin https://sourceforge.net/projects/peace-equalizer-apo-extension/

 

And ofcourse, use a quality headphone for listening to music, it really makes a big difference. If you can, also use high quality sound files like flac instead of mp3, they do sound a lot better.

Been playing with that software, it makes a HUGE difference!

I think I follow you on that. I might specify that I'm a bass player, I don't know if that makes a lot of difference or not. Part of the thing with a lot of songs is that I have a hard time isolating the bass from the rest of the band. I can catch the rhythm and get a decent idea of how the line is supposed to move in sections where it stands out, like with Another One Bites the Dust, but where it blends I get lost pretty fast.

I wouldn't mind some more knowledge on playing by ear, I've never really understood where to start with that. About the closest I can connect with it is that I've been noticing lately that I've been spending less time looking at the screen and more time looking at my fret hand. I guess the easiest way to explain it is that with some songs I've gotten to where I kind of "sense" where the next note will be based on the chord progression I've been following leading up to that point. I've said in other posts, I can't name the note by position on the board, but I am starting to see that a lot of positions come into common rotation, just for different amounts of time.

I've been playing a Yamaha bass that I got with a gig bag on sale for $50 in a pawn shop, and it sounds great. I have been drooling over a Dean Metalman 2A Z for a while now though. I'd love to get one and have it set up specificly for low tunings and keep my Yamaha set up for high tunings. I just love that explorer body style, the skull knobs and buzz saw inlays are just icing on the cake :D

Dumb question I know, but after running a few searches I still haven't found a solid answer.  I'm guessing it's a title for a person who's put a lot of time into making quality charts?

Been years since I've seen a Red Dwarf reference lol.  I can't play by ear to save my life.  I also can't name the notes on the board by letter, but if you tell me string and fret I know exactly where to be lol.  A buddy of mine, who has many years of experience, ended up coming up with a code when he wants me to keep a beat at specific spots.  Instead of saying one letter or another, he just throws out 1-5 or 3-12 etc since I can pick up on that immediately.

I played trumpet for a few years in middle school.  Almost quit music entirely because our band director was a dick and took the fun out of it.  He was one of those types that if you haven't learned within the first 2-3 tries, you're not worth his time.

I got to thinking about this more and thought I might expand a bit further.

 

Don't compare your skill to anyone else's.  This might sound like an odd statement at first, but there are reasons for it, and it will save you from going through the whole, "Why am I not as good as that guy?" pitfall that a lot of musicians fall into.  Even ones with years of experience.

 

I've only been playing since mid December.  The reason I've gotten as good as I am with the bass actually goes further back than that.  WAY back when I was in middle school (I'm 28 now, so not THAT far way back lol) I used to play trumpet in band.  I spent 2 years with that before I decided that brass wasn't my thing, it only would have been 1 year if I hadn't had the opportunity to play on Ellis Island and spend a week in NY that second year.  While I didn't excel at it, and didn't enjoy it much, I did learn a few things that translate to all forms of music, in particular, keeping time and counting beats.  This gave me a bit of a boost when I picked up the strings because there was less of a learning curve when it comes to reading music.  I actually made it through that second year of band by basically turning my sheet music into tabs for the trumpet, just replacing fret numbers with open or closed on the valves, and using markers to annotate pitch.  The point is, I had to learn in a different way than the rest of my section.

 

Another thing to look at is the time put in.  I'm disabled and don't work a steady job, so I have a LOT of time to spend with my bass.  This is a luxury many don't have.  And learning style comes into play once again when you look at what kind of music a person is trying to learn.  If you take someone who is specifically wanting to learn a single style, or a single band's music, they can become very good at that style relatively quickly.  However, they won't be nearly as good when presented with other styles for the first time.  This hit for me in that I like to play a lot of metal, and a lot of high speed music.  When I switch over to something slower though, I often miss notes because I'm already thinking about the next note and moving towards it.  This is why I try to play multiple styles though, so I can get a well rounded skill set.  The only reason I did well with Les Miserables on my first run with the bass was because I was already very familiar with the music from when I played it in band.  I already knew the beat and the time changes, and I had a good idea which direction I'd be going on the fret board because I was already familiar with it.  Put something of comparable difficulty in front of me that I'm not familiar with though, I won't do nearly as good because I haven't heard it much, if at all.  Even songs that I am familiar with, but are outside my normal playing style trip me up sometimes simply because I don't play that style as much.  The first few times I played Online - Brad Paisley I bombed out hard because while I've heard the song dozens of times, I wasn't familiar with the style, and it still trips me up at times because I very rarely play any type of country music.

 

Basically I'm just trying to reiterate, don't push yourself to match anyone else, or to be at whatever level you think you should be playing at.  Take your time and enjoy the music.  We all picked up an instrument because we love music, and we did it to have fun!  The level where you're having fun is exactly where you should be playing at.

It just takes time, the less pressure you put on yourself to get good the faster you will get good has been my experience. I've also found that playing bass as well as guitar has helped me on both instruments. The longer neck of the bass has helped me in developing speed of movement when changing frets, and the space between the guitar's strings has helped me develop accuracy. The thicker strings of the bass have also helped in developing the muscles in my hands and wrists.

 

We all hit walls periodically where it seems like we aren't improving, or are actually starting to go backwards. I've noticed that this is usually, for me at least, happening when I'm putting pressure on myself to get better at a specific song rather than just taking my time and enjoying the music. We all also have times where it seems like we're unstoppable and hit 99%+ on everything we play. It's all about patience and keepin' on.

 

A major thing that helps me when I get frustrated with a particular song is just playing a different song for a while. Usually when I come back to it after regaining my cool, I do better, even if it's just by a small amount, improvement is improvement. Don't push yourself to hit upper 90s the first couple times you play a song, sure it'll happen with some, maybe even a lot of songs over time, but don't expect yourself to constantly pull a rabbit out of your guitar case :D

 

Something that also helps me when I feel like everything is going down hill is revisting my original inspirations to start playing in the first place. Watching the Doomstar Requiem, or videos of bands that I like helps me get that motivation back when all seems lost.

 

EDIT Extension: When I got RS, I didn't think I'd end up being a bass player. A lot of people say bass players are failed guitarists *cough*bullshit*cough* but as a local bassist I know, who has been playing more than twice as long as I've been alive, says, "Sometimes the instrument chooses the musician." I'm not saying give up the guitar for the bass at all. I have a Dean MX L guitar that I love and will never part with. I'm just saying explore your options if you keep going and feel like the guitar might not be your top option.

This is good to get motivation

This is one of the songs I *attempt* to play on my guitar when someone tells me to put my bass down :D

 

I can't play guitar to save my life lol

 

I also find Doomstar Requiem to be quite motivating.

I also have to strongly agree with bouncing around different styles of music. I've found a lot of songs now that I probably never would have listened to if I hadn't tried playing them. The customs here have expanded the styles I now play and listen to exponentially. When I got my bass, all I really tried to learn were the songs that I normally listen to. Anthrax, Slayer, Dethklok, Alice Cooper, KISS, but every now and then while scrolling through the song list, I'd catch a bit of a song and get drawn into it. Boston and Deff Lepard are 2 that I never would have listened to if it weren't for RS. This is why I think you should jump out of your comfort zone once in a while; sometimes you'll discover something new. Thanks to the customs here, I've been playing a lot of Sabaton, Nightwish, and other symphonic metal bands, and I didn't even know the genera existed until I found the list in the genera section of the forums!

but this score made me uncharacteristically shout **** *** at the Mac........didn't see a miss ...... bloody computers fault !

 

Been there many times. I actually found that I have fewer dropped notes since I raised my strings and started wearing a glove on my fret hand. This has particularly made a massive difference when dealing with low tunings.