Thankful N´Thoughtfull by Dave Grusin
if needed i can send you a Mp3 of it

I dont do requests unless i am planning on doin the tunes anyway, so you have to work it out yourself or hire me for a lesson;-)

I am new to funk and bass playing. I have had my bass for years but have been so busy with other things. I now have time to begin. Where do you suggest I begin. Perhaps, with your practice logs? Let me know. My ultimate goal is to be able to speak freely with my bass. Thanks in advance!

how do you deal with travelling by airplane with your bass?

Gab…

Great site my friend, and you are just an amazing player! If I could ever be 25% as good as you Id be very happy!
Ive just donated so am looking forward to playing(or at least trying to!) the lick of the day transcriptions!
I have a couple of questions and Id be grateful if you could answer them!
I havent been playing slap for very long, but I play with my thumb facing downwards. Is it a good idea to change to the way you do it, or is it a case of ‘do whatevers comfortable?’
and, are there any tab versions of your licks on here and if so how do I access them?
Thanks Marlowe for your time, and for inspring me!
xristy007
Do whatever is comfortable, but if you want to add doublethumbing you might want to change.
Worth to mention is that, many players play with the thumb down because of the length of their straps - how low their basses hang. FLea and TM Stevens for instance have their basses hanging “rock style” low, and play with their thumbs pointing down - (its impossible to play thumb up unles yuo have arms of an orangutang). And they get by fine, its just their style.
The transcriptions are both standard notation and tablature

Now my question….
What product or products do you use in your set up. What we hear you playing with and through. What drum machine do you use? Do you program your own tracks to help develop your style. Do you use a mixer so you can mix both the drum machine(or computer) and your bass and then listen with headphones? I’m looking for a devise that is easy to program and still will provide a good sound to practice with, then run that through a small mixing board to a good set of in-ear or phones. This will help my wife from going crazy when I play your videos over and over and over and over! Also I play at my church and they hand out a CD with material we will perform so I need this in my practice as well.

Thank you so much for sharing your talent with the world!!
rpm750
You are welcome:)
The question is easily answered - click on “recording videos with Korg px4d”.
BTW You can buy it through this website by clicking the link of either the px4d or the new px5d

Thanks
Play them faster then;-)
But seriously - i like it slower - grooves better

As a request, have you ever considered doing a video(s) on setting up a bass?

That is something every bass player could use, and with your collection of basses, you are in a position to share insights and quirks on the different models.

Cheers!
Not expert-like on that particular subject other than turning an allen wrench and raising/lowering some bridge screws

Do i have a chance to hear your songs with your band?

I dont have any “songs” as such, but ive participated in writing 5 tracks on the Al Campos album “Old School Lovin’”

I have an Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray, and I think it’s great, but I have a problem with the strings I currently use.
I use Ernie Ball bass strings, because they’d obviously sound great with a bass of the same kind.

The problem is that I get way to much buzz when the strings hit the frets. Should I try to raise or lower the stringheight, and do you recommend some strings specifically?
Buzz is too low action or neck needs adjusting - has nothing to do with string type, try rasing the action or get a luthier checkup

Just recently found out this amazing site.You are awesome teacher.

I am playing bass for almost an year now but finding it hard to improvise while playing.That is the notes dont flow well and so it doesnt sound groovy,Also the improvisation is very repetitive on that scale.I can play basslines easily but get stuck at on-the-spot playing.Generally I try to improvise on Major scale progressions.

Thanks,
Ajay(India)

nice though:P
Well, maybe not but close enough :-D

I used to figure all this type of stuff out, what a pain.
I’ve decided to contribute. Thanks Gabriel
Thx man

btw, where are you using for the beats?

I’ve just joined a funk band, haven’t played regularly with others for a number of years, and the hard work of fast fingerstyle playing is fairly new to me - my hands and wrists are getting sore - especially the left wrist (fretting hand). I usually sit while practicing on my own, and stand when with the band. It may just be the way I’m holding the instrument. Do you have an stretches or exercises you do before playing, to loosen up your arms and hands - or any other suggestions?

By the way, this is the very best site for any bass player, thorough, inspiring and fun - there’s always something great here. I stumbled on it looking for “Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick” - really dug your vid. Hopefully I’ll have the $$$ to donate soon. Thanks a bundle!

Cassady (from Melbourne, Australia)
No exercises other than bass exercises;-) To build indurance play the same bassline for 10 minutes nonstop, try some James Brown. One is often tense when playing live for the first couple of times, more parameters, stress, sound not the same etc

I would really love to give a donation, its the least i could do.

the only problem is i just turned 18 and i dont have a credit card.

so if there are any other ways to do a donation please let me know.

and thanks for all the great work!
Thx man:) Yan pay with e-checks, direct bank tranfers etc. too, but you have to signup for a paypal acount - you need one for ebay anyway;-)
You dont need to signup when paying with creditscards though

After watching your videos on Youtube for months you have provided hours of entertainment for me and and learned some things also. So i made a donation, thank you for providing such great videos.

L
You’re welcome and thx a lot!:)

Just curious, what made you decide on the Marcus Miller bass as your main bass?
Cheap, sounds good and easy to play

Just wondering what sort of effects you may be going though when you recording these videos? Compressor? What kind? In other words, I just want to know what gear you use besides your basses.

Thanks! (Sweet site by the way…very educational!)
All the info on this site;-)

Har fundet svaret længere nede.
Hav en super weekend.
No problem, but remember to ask in english, so everybody can understand

Hvilken forstærker bruger du når du spiller live?

Wle