One of the most frustrating things about being a musician is when our progress plateaus and stalls. This happens to everyone, and it is mainly because our practice time is less exploration and more repetition. The good news is that there are many ways to lift yourself up to the next level, but I am going to focus on one that you might not have considered before.
Record yourself.
Early on in my bass journey, I was solely self-taught. I relied on Herb Mickman and Jeff Berlin lessons in the back of Guitar Player magazine (this was before Bass Player magazine was born), Starlick audio tapes (I could not afford the VHS versions) and asking questions of every bass player I knew. While plateaus were a frequent and annoying part of my life, one day I quite accidentally found a great way to level up my playing. That was the day when I bought my first home recording studio.
At the time, it was a state-of-the-art, 4-track cassette recording deck, but when compared to what we have available today, it was a toy. To me, though, it was incredible. That first night, I set everything up and recorded a drum track with my trusty drum machine. Then I plugged in my bass, put on my headphones, and laid down a killer bass groove.
At least I thought it was a killer bass groove.
When I listened to the playback, my illusions shattered quicker than a hiccup. My timing was off, my note dynamics were inconsistent, and my bass line was simply boring. That was when I came to the realization that when we are playing, sometimes we are not accurately hearing what we are doing. This is because our focus is spread out over many things, like technique, what the other players are doing, etc. When we listen back to a recording of our playing, we can focus on what we just played and hear details we might have missed during the actual performance.
After several takes, I was able to make adjustments and improve my recorded performance. Best of all, these improvements became part of me and helped all aspects of my bass playing.
When I was a bass instructor, I encouraged all my students to regularly record themselves and those who did saw rapid improvement in their playing. Unfortunately, twenty years ago it was not easy or affordable for students to make quality recordings. Nowadays, however, it is very easy to make good recordings of your playing. Most cell phones have ways to record audio, and simple, affordable DAWs are readily available for most computers and tablets.
A simple visit or call to your favorite music store can be invaluable in finding the best options available to you for getting into the recording world. Additionally, if you go to your favorite social media bass group and ask for suggestions on getting a home studio setup, you should get a flood of helpful suggestions.
While listening back to recordings of your playing will help you discover and improve weaknesses or flaws, there is another great benefit most players appreciate. And that is encouragement. Since we hear ourselves play every day it is sometimes difficult to notice and appreciate how much we are improving. This hit me hard when, a few years after I graduated from BIT, I found my audition tape and gave it a listen. I was horrified by what I heard and, to be honest, a little embarrassed. But then I realized that this was audio proof of how much I had improved in just a few years. Imagine if I listened to the tape and my playing sounded the same. That would have been devastating not to hear any improvement or growth.
I hope you consider making occasional recordings of your playing and store them somewhere safe. Then put a reminder on your calendar to listen back to them a year later. You should be encouraged when you find out how much you have improved when compared to what you are hearing on the recordings. If, for some reason, you do not hear any improvement at all, it might be time to evaluate your practice routine, find a teacher, or seek out some online learning courses.
Please share in the comments below how recording has improved your musicianship. Or if you have yet to make recordings of yourself, ask any questions if you have about getting a home recording set up. Our bass family is amazing and always anxious to help another bassist out!
Story by Dale Titus
_______________
Dale has been a professional bassist for 40 years and during that time was an instructor/counselor at the Bass Institute of Technology, a freelance writer for Bass Player magazine as well as the Editor of Bass Frontiers magazine. He also released The Ultimate Beginner Series for Bass videos and book for Alfred Publishing, as well as the Everything Bass YouTube channel.