OT: I am so D***** frustrated trying to learn this song!!!

[Aragorn35016]

Sorry, I need to vent. My band asked me to learn "Song for the Dumped by Ben Folds Five. Ive played stuff that too me I thought was alot more complicated to learn than the @$%## solo in that song. I didnt have this much trouble with heart of sunrise!! I know the lick I just keep botching it up. Im almost ready to give up on the d@#$ thing.

[Tony Renaud SR5]

From my experience:

a) Don't give up !

b) Make sure you have the right notes and rhythms. To do this, you can slow
down music files in audio software that will still keep the same pitches
at a slower tempo.

c) If you're consistently messing stuff up, it's your mind and hands telling you they don't have the information they need down pat yet. The solution to this is to slow it all down, and nail the notes perfectly. It's totally OK to do this at stupidly slow tempos in order to pull it off.

d) Find a good teacher or at least a more accomplished player to show you how to achieve this goal. After almost 20 years of playing, I still do this myself.

e) Remember that there are no shortcuts to this stuff...see "a" again...

[roballanson]

From my experience:

a) Don't give up !

b) Make sure you have the right notes and rhythms. To do this, you can slow
down music files in audio software that will still keep the same pitches
at a slower tempo.

c) If you're consistently messing stuff up, it's your mind and hands telling you they don't have the information they need down pat yet. The solution to this is to slow it all down, and nail the notes perfectly. It's totally OK to do this at stupidly slow tempos in order to pull it off.

d) Find a good teacher or at least a more accomplished player to show you how to achieve this goal. After almost 20 years of playing, I still do this myself.

e) Remember that there are no shortcuts to this stuff...see "a" again...

Sounds advice man, keep at it slowly and it will get there....ther will be a lightbulb moment.

[Aragorn35016]

Thanks guys, I feel a little better about it this morning like I said I think it just frustrates me because its a short section and I know I can do it, Im so used to playing faster stuff that I over run it and get tangled up playing it. Thanks for the advice.

John

[Hutton]

I don't have any advice to offer apart from what has already been said. However, I want to thank you for the thread as many of us don't like to admit to having difficulties with our playing. We are prepared to confess our successes but not so comfortable to confess to our difficulties. I have problems all the time with my playing and find it a great comfort when others share theirs!

[Aragorn35016]

I don't have any advice to offer apart from what has already been said. However, I want to thank you for the thread as many of us don't like to admit to having difficulties with our playing. We are prepared to confess our successes but not so comfortable to confess to our difficulties. I have problems all the time with my playing and find it a great comfort when others share theirs!

Thanks!! I feel totally comfortable posting something like this here because I know there are alot of spectacular players here that can offer advice or encouragement. Ive been playing for 14 years and I get challenged with new stuff everyday and its usually stuff that I wouldnt have thought to be difficult.

[tommyindelaware]

Sorry, I need to vent. My band asked me to learn "Song for the Dumped by Ben Folds Five. Ive played stuff that too me I thought was alot more complicated to learn than the @$%## solo in that song. I didnt have this much trouble with heart of sunrise!! I know the lick I just keep botching it up. Im almost ready to give up on the d@#$ thing.

aaaa....go practice some more cry baby !!!!!!

[SharonG]

Thanks!! I feel totally comfortable posting something like this here because I know there are alot of spectacular players here that can offer advice or encouragement. Ive been playing for 14 years and I get challenged with new stuff everyday and its usually stuff that I wouldnt have thought to be difficult.

I've been playing for 30+ and I get vexed regularly. Breaking it down is excellent advice. A friendindelaware recently suggested I take a difficult line, find where on my metronome I could play it consistently, practice it there for several times through, and then inch the metronome down. Tried it last night, and I'm already a couple of notches faster. (weeks from being up to speed but heading in the right direction).
Hang in there!! It's nice to have company!

[Aragorn35016]

aaaa....go practice some more cry baby !!!!!!

I cant do it WAAAAHH!!! (runs like a girl) Dont LOOK AT ME!!!



Sorry ive watched kung pow to many times..

[tommyindelaware]

I cant do it WAAAAHH!!! (runs like a girl) Dont LOOK AT ME!!!



Sorry ive watched kung pow to many times..

[tkarter]

Sharon gives good advice.

tk

[SharonG]

Thanks tk - can you have a word with my kids?.......

[drgroovenstein]

Advice: make up your own bassline and solo. That's what I do

So what if you don't nail every note, just as long as the spirit is there (little S).

[Aragorn35016]

Advice: make up your own bassline and solo. That's what I do

So what if you don't nail every note, just as long as the spirit is there (little S).

I cant do that. For me thats just a cop out of not being able to play something. I have no problem with improvising or making up my on stuff after Ive accomplished playing it the way it was intended but To just go "well I cant play that so Ill just play whatever" doesnt push me to be a better musician. Please dont take offense to this brother cause you may be the baddest improv guy of all time for all I know, but alot of the bassplayers around this area that I live in have this attitude, and they are sloppy and give the impression that some Guitard just needed to fill a hole in his band and stuck his buddy that has never played anything before on stage. Again Im not trying to offend and maybe this wont start a flame war. I will say that on the flip side my line of thinking may be why my improv skills suck!!

John

[drgroovenstein]

No offense taken. I just know that I have limitations in my ability, and there will always be things that I can't do or play. However, that won't keep my from playing a song. That being said, I always try to make things my own anyway. That's not a cop-out, that's just applying (my) style.

But, I agree with you 100%, if it is something that you _want_ to be able to do, then there is only one solution. Practice! For example, I don't slap much. But a requirement for my new band was that I could play some slap lines from some of their original songs. I worked at it... Just as was posted above, at slow slow slow tempos (which is actually REALLY hard, harder than normal pace, for slap stuff) until I was comfortable and could hit it 100%. I just kept moving it up a few notches until it was where I needed it to be.

I still take weekly lessons and work my butt off to be able to do what I do (which isn't all that much), but to me it comes down to trading time. I don't have unlimited time to give to learning the bass. Do I really want to learn some dudes solo note-for-note or is there something else I should be working on (for me, right now, it is some serious shedding on rhythms, mostly latin and a healthy dose of reading).

You say you know the notes, but you keep messing it up. Are you messing it up in practice or on the gig? If it is at the gig, what are you doing different? Are you standing, but you practice sitting? Are you off tempo, or can't keep the pace? Are you missing notes, or are you hitting wrong notes?