revivalist161

im off and on learning the bass. i have been asked by my pastor to be play for the worship team asap. i just barely learned the notes. i have a mentor. but not always reliable . cos of his work schedule. any advice on how to play songs and what not ?

P A N

practice makes perfect!

Freebase Dali

Yea, practice.
Personally, I do everything by ear, and don't know notes at all, but I can play a decent bass line for anything you throw at me and expound on it.
I'd prefer to know notes, but I'm not in music as much anymore to justify it, and I do fine off the cuff anyway. If I were you and you didn't come from a background of musicians and grow up in that atmosphere, I'd learn the basics. Get the notes down, get the basic technique down, then start trying to mimic. There are plenty of resources around today. It's not like when I grew up, which had no mainstream internet, no Youtube and nothing you could refer to other than by going to a music store and buying books, or learning first hand from someone else.

I'm sort of a cheater in that I was never a bass player to begin with, but grew up in a family of multiple instrumentalists, and the concept of learning a new instrument comes naturally. For others, though, I understand that there needs to be a more directed approach, and I would definitely suggest getting a hold of a basic guide that walks you through the process so that you're familiar and comfortable with the basics, then learn the notes, and finally practice following along with material until you're confident enough to provide what it is a bass player provides.

You don't have to be fancy with it. That will come with time, after you no longer have to think about how to play the instrument, and can think about how to add your own personality into it. Start small, and steady. But if you're looking for a quick-fix sorta thing, you're not going to find it.
You literally have to train your brain to think like a bassist (and a musician, at the very least) and be able to perform the job of bassist. This also applies to any other instrument.

Keep this in mind.

Afro Blue

Learn the notes on the fret board, learn harmony, get your fingers used to the physical aspect of playing the instrument, slowly(try not to hurt yourself) and most importantly learn to hear how every note relates to your bass note at any given moment.

Thats about it... oh, and listen to jaco pastorius!

ToastedAndButter

You should just try and learn to play songs that you like all the while considering the notes you are using in what key and scale and such me reckons! But all these other points are bang on the money too!

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ionicat

Learn the keys and scales. Memorize the notes on the frets. Not only for the first half or the top two strings. All of the notes on the entire fret.
If you ever have to improvise during a gig or something, knowing these things will help you greatly.

milanboca87

Practice, practice and then some more parctice!

Paul Smeenus

Learn about major and minor scales. Do re mi fa so la ti do. If you learn those two scales you can play almost anything.

Joxer

Adjust the EQ on your sound system to emphasise the bass notes when listening to your favourite songs.