As a newbie on the bass (not quite 8 years yet) I have a long way to go to reach my goals. But here are a few thoughts at this point in time.

1. Try not to play any sour notes, use those ears
2. Hit the root note of the chord as I move thru the progression.
3. Incorporate the 3rd, 5th and octave to add some dynamics and life (don't drone)
4. Always always support the percussion and help drive the rhythm with the drummer, in this regard, the drummer rules
5. As needed and "offline" decompose the chord to find the notes it's comprised of and use these notes to build arpeggios and fills
6. For a cover song, learn as much tab from the pros as possible to help build a bassline and use tab as a stepping stone to sheet music
7. If I can get by with just a chord sheet that's great
8. If possible, memorize the piece to allow more fluid playing to support the groove.
9. Listen to what else is going on in the band and allow others to "breathe"
10. The end result is not about what is written on a page (in any format) but rather what comes out of my amp.
11. Have fun
12. Don't be a bot (think player piano) but be a human that expresses creativity
13. Take musical risks and be fearless
14. Sometimes the best "notes" are silence, rests are my friend
15. Try to find passing notes that work
16. Busy playing is not always good playing
17. There are many written and perhaps unwritten rules of music involving genre, timing, theory, chord progressions, rhythm, song structure, what is considered to be desirable sound, etc. Try to support these rules. Although these rules may be stretched to some extent, if you out and out break them you'll probably generate noise. Think the bass player playing in a differet key from everyone else or someone playing the verse but everyone else playing the chorus.

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BiaB 2026 Windows
For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.