I've recently started playing bass, so far I've self taught myself a couple of easy songs (Money, Iron Man, Walk, etc...) as well as some basic theory (major, minor and blues scales). Now I have two basic questions:

One, can you all recommend me some intermediately difficult songs to learn? Something that is a bit more difficult than what I've been learning, but still within my means. Preferably a couple of songs from several different styles.

Two, I was wondering how each of you approach writing your own music. I have tried to come up with some riffs of my own, with horrific results. Can any of you provide me with some tips for writing original music?

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Try to learn "Black Label" by lamb of god. You should have the intro down perfectly in less than a minute. The rest of the song is really fun to play too. As for writing your own songs, don't worry that the stuff you make up now sounds like shit. Everyone has sucked when they started out. I have found that the mroe songs I learn how to play, the more ideas come to mind when you are trying to write stuff. So frequent tab sites, especially this one.

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Chromatic Fantasy by Jaco Pastorius
Doesnt matter if you play it half the speed, its still a great piece and fun to play.

EDIT: There is definatly no rush in trying to learn that song either

Anything by Rush, particularly "Red Barchetta", are great songs to hone your bass skills on.

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+1,

Infact just study Jaco Pastorius, the bass will become so much more meaningful to you then. on www.youtube.com there are tons of pages of videos of his solo's/weather report performances, it should lift you with inspiration.

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Paranoid is fairly easy (though I had difficulty at it when I first started).

Some Megadeth off of "World Needs a Hero" is fairly easy, like most of Dread and the Fugitive Mind and some of Disconnect.

Try some Type O Negative also. The song Black Number One has an easy to learn bass line.

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try playing some pantera songs....simple stuff with nice grooves

playing jaco would be a lil tough imo for u at the moment but definately watch the vids or try playing some of his stuff at half speed like mentioned earlier

earn more theory check out activebass.com learn more scales,modes...check out the lessons there also

try playing death- philosopher,spirit crusher, songs on symbolic etc

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You could try playing punk or early metal(black sabbath, ozzy, iron maiden) to get a good feel on the timing of notes.

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could anybody teach me how to play the bass guitar!!!? LOL, I am really a drummer but I wanted to learn this instrument! What should I do!?

http://www.activebass.com http://www.studybass.com read through those websites.

And most importantly get a teacher!

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Yea learn some Death becare some of their songs are fucking hard.Rush is also good learn some classic rock get better timing.

its not easy, no matter what your people hurrd ya.
we cant just tell you over the net.
practice, practice, and play with decent-respectful technique.

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Yea I need to work on that, my technique is horribly disrespectful.

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im not so much smashing his picking, but that hes a slipknot m(f)aggot

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Nice one

Find a friend with one.

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and beat him off

In my opinion, to get "better" at bass, don't play a lot of metal. You'll get speed, but that is a ton less important. Metal is fun as hell to play, though. But when you're "practicing" rather than "playing" (as said by Theory in Practice's guitarist), it's best to play stuff like rush and the beatles. Playing too much metal can result in a sloppy way of playing. It did that to me.

+1 to who said rush; that was the catylist of improving my ability when i was new-ish. Whether or not you're actually at that level is questionable. I would also recommend doing various excersises to improve endurance, etc. Congratz on taking the initiative to learn scales already.

As for making your own songs, yes they will be bad. It's only because of your lack of experience with guitars/bass/drums and stuff. It will get much better, trust me (even if you only play bass, you will develop preference in sounds of all different kinds of instruments that are involved in the music you listen to/play). All i do when i make my own riffs/songs is i experiment. At your level it may just be a bunch of random notes, but when you learn to distinguish the different intervals in your head then it will become much easier.

Hope this helps



P.S. ......don't use a pick. What? Someone had to say it.

nah i dont play sloppy you have to learn stuff that has a good beat like Crypopsy,Death,Athiest

i unfortunately haven't discovered the godliness of cryptopsy until recently They're actually awesome when you can hear something other than the drums (Once was Not)

Death would actually be pretty good, if he can play their stuff. Atheist i have yet to hear