camerondmcclanahan

[camerondmcclanahan]

Most difficult song yet

9/10/23

I just learned to play april 19, 1992, by sublime. This easily the most difficult song I have learned yet, and it is surprising to see that when I go back and play easier songs, they feel a lot easier.

The sound of the bass when I play a note is getting a lot clearer, and I am starting to really hear the music coming out, especially when I play this song.

I've just been continuously playing the songs I have learned and keep attempting harder faster songs, so I think the repetition it what is really allowing me to play to progress.

I am getting excited.

The video I used to learn the song:

[camerondmcclanahan]

Equipment

9/2/2023

I don't think much about equipment, because I don't think I'm at that level yet. Right now, I just need to spend time practicing and getting better with my playing, but I guess it is important to know what not to get or what to be wary of.

In total, you just need to make sure the equipment you get is worth it for the level of play you are at and suits the style of songs you play. If you are influenced by an outside source, you should make sure the source is without bias.

I have an Ibanez bass, and I like it a lot.

This video is a good watch if you are looking for an upgrade-

[camerondmcclanahan]

Learning to use a pick

9/1/2023

Ever since I started playing the bass, I've been only using my fingers. I've been doing this mainly to strengthen them, but also, it's easier because the muscle memory of where the string are located makes playing easier than if I were to use a pick.

While having strength in the fingers is important, it's also important to know how to use a pick. Using a pick projects a completely different sound than your fingers. Picks are louder and more open, while using your fingers seems a little more muffled. It's not a huge deal, but it can make a lot of songs sound a lot better.

To get better at using the pick, I watched a video to help me. It helped a lot.

[camerondmcclanahan]

Other songs I've been learning

8/31/2023

To find songs to learn, I used a video called "30 Most Iconic Bass Lines" by Bassbuzz. This video has a bunch of interesting songs to play on the bass, and they're not all just from one genre.

I have learned money by pink floyd. This song was really just fun, but it was a simple song to learn. As a beginner, this song is perfect if you just want to be able to play something iconic that everyone will know. I also learned the song Walking on the Moon by the police. This song was the first song I tried where I was plucking with my fingers. I still need more practice with it because I usually just resort to playing with my finger after a few tries. It another slow song that's mostly the same and really fun to play. You can really feel it when you use a pick. Finally, just recently, I learned black number 1 by type O Negative. I just wanted to say this song because the beginning is only bass, and it's awesome.

While it is really fun to learn these songs, I'm also learning them in hopes that i will just naturally get better as i play harder and harder stuff. Another important thing is beginning to recognize the bass better in different genres and hearing it more clearly, so i can eventually play by ear.

I have learned a lot of other songs, but these are just a few that I come back to pretty often.

[camerondmcclanahan]

What I've learned

8/30/2023

After watching the beginner videos from the previous post, I decided to get right into trying to play songs using the tabs. The bass tabs are music notations that tell you the fretting without you having to know the notes. This has been perfect for me because, like I said in the last post, I don't want to learn the notes yet but using tabs, I have been able to start playing around with the songs I like despite that.

Using tabs from YouTube videos, I have learned parts from jamming by Bob marley, the bass pattern for Pawn shop by sublime, and more. I want to highlight Pawn Shop because while it's not super complicated, I think it has me get cleaner at playing notes. The speed of the pattern makes it just challenging enough for a beginner. Jamming was just a fun song to kind of learn.

I have learned more songs, but Pawn shop I feel has been the most helpful one.

[camerondmcclanahan]

Starting Out

8/29/2023

I had wanted to get on the bass for a while, but I didn't know where to start. About two weeks ago, I finally decided that it was something I was gonna do. Still, I didn't know where to start, so I went to YouTube.

The first video I watched was by deppwaswho. While the video wasn't really what I was looking for, one thing she said was that she has gotten this far without knowing the notes to her bass. This has kind of stuck to me because learning notes seems like a lot of hard work that I don't wanna do yet.

After watching this video, I decided to follow it a bit. I watched another video on technique by bassbuzz. One on fretting and one on plucking. After watching these videos, I went straight to learning to play, using the tabs.

The first song I kind of learned, I used this video:

[camerondmcclanahan]

Why I started

8/28/2023

Building off of the description a little bit, I originally started learning bass as a way to stop playing drums. This does not change the fact that I have had an interest in bass for a long time, I guess it just took me getting bored of drums for me to do anything about it.

The first song that really made me start listening out for the bass was probably santeria by sublime. I know it's not that original, but the bass in the song is so grovy and nice to listen to. I also started getting into Bob marley this summer and other beachy sounding bands/ songs. While doing this, I really started to recognize how big of a role the bass plays in the overall sound of a band. A lot of people don't notice it, but it really can make or break a song. One example would be the distance by cake. The bass is what makes this song.

Enough background. I started actually playing the bass about a week and a half ago, and this whole thing is just me tracking my progress and what has worked for me and what hasn't. Who knows, maybe it will be helpful to someone one day.

This video is an analysis of the song the distance by CAKE-