funk me up johnny

[retrokris]

ok so ive been told by my bass teacher that i will find it hard to fins work as a session player due to my style of playing being locked in 60s 70s rock. very bassy hardly any treble. so brothers i need some funky advice anyone want to start me off ;D

[De-la]

I think Carl has more or less said this before but, sit down in front of mtv/radio and play and learn everythin you hear from britney to radiohead- a lot of pop songs have class bass lines. (If you are gona be a good session player you will enjoy doing this)

Also when you pic up your bass never play what you already know always tackle sumat you are finding hard-
This advice I got from my old bass teacher.

De-La

[hatman]

what Ryan said and...

Learn as many different styles of music as you can, as a session player you could be asked to play on anything from Will Young to a soap opera theme tune.

Learn to read notation, you may just be given the sheet music and will only have a short time to get it right.

Jam with lots of different people (not just 12 bar blues) -this will help to train your ear to recognise what chord is being played and will help you to come up with basslines quickly.

Get your theory learnt. I know people don't think it's important but when the producer says he wants a bassline in 10 mins (remember studio time costs £££) you can't fumble around trying to find what notes go with a Gmin7b5.

Look after you body. I know this sounds silly but if your arm swells up or your shoulder hurts after playing for 30mins nobody will want to hire you.

Leave your ego at home. You're not in the studio to show them how great you are you're there to play well and get a good rep. basically be a nice chap.

Check out Carol Kaye's website (it's on the links page of this board). She was a session musician for many, many years and has some great advice, you even ask her question via her message board.



Hope this helps
Good Luck bass brother
Carl

Disclaimer - I am not a session musician so I could be talking out of my own A*** ;D.

[retrokris]

ok so ive been told by my bass teacher that i will find it hard to fins work as a session player due to my style of playing being locked in 60s 70s rock. very bassy hardly any treble. so brothers i need some funky advice anyone want to start me off

i posted that around june time and i took all your advice into concideration and my playing has gone through the roof, so thanks guys muchos gracias