My bass skills...

[madamadam]

Guys, i really suck at playing bass. Ive been playing for about a year now and i thought my fingers would grow to fit the bass but its jus not working. So i was wondering if there are any tips to help me move my fingers a little faster. Like in mysterious ways. And also i was wandering if anyone had some good mysterious ways tabs. thanx.

 

[Jack In The Box]

My fingers yet are awkward too, but my music teacher gives me a lot of exercises to make them faster, they're short, but if they're sufficiently fast, it does not matter much

try with that, practice, I believe that is the key

for tabs, always I go to: www.mxtabs.net

here's the MW tab (live version):
http://www.mxtabs.net/tabs.php?path=Bass,u,2761,U2,Mysterious+Ways,9350

I hope that it helps you with something

 

[madamadam]

thanx hehe

 

[beezd26]

A really good exercise to build up strength and speed is to start out on the first fret on the E string. Go down the string using one finger per fret until you reach the 4th fret with your pinky then do the same on the A D and G. Then shift down a fret and do the same thing starting on the 2nd fret of the E string and go through the progression again. Keep shifting down a fret all the way down the neck. Then try doing it all reversed.

There's a really good book that I used to help me get better at playing. Its called Bass Fitness and it has over 150 exercises to help you build speed, strength, and technical skill. I highly recomend it.

 

[gragravar]

The advice above is good, I am not a bass teacher at present but have helped a good few starters along at various points in my 28 years of playing bass and most of the time I find that "speed problems" are actually poor left hand fingering technique. This is too hard to explain in plain old text, you really need someone to show you, but basically this means using all your fingers (as described above) rather than say only two (a very common problem amongst self-taught bassists in my experience) to fret the string. Also try to think a note or two ahead of where your finger is now - which finger is best suited to fret the *next* note? This will allow you to make intelligent decisions about which finger to use *now*... actually this is easier than it sounds, once you get into the habit you won't be able to stop doing it. The other thing is practice, you really need to spend an hour a day minimum practicing the stuff you have learned to date, especially in your first year or two. Unfortunately there is no way to become even semi-competent without regular practice, so if the thought of picking up your bass on your own for an hour every day is off-putting then prepare for a life in which bass playing is not a feature. I'd suggest learning some basic scales, try them up them down the neck in various locations, also try doing them in octaves.

Good luck, hope that helps a little.