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adouglas
Multiple Donor
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:07 pm Posts: 91
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Rewiring my brain
I've been crazy busy with work since receiving my Railboard so have only had a couple of brief sessions with it.
Unsurprisingly, the "backwards" 5th tuning on the bass side is really messing with my head. The habits and muscle memory built up over 40 years of playing electric bass are hard to shake! My instincts are screaming at me to do things that are flat out wrong.
I'm sure I'll get there. I can see the future and I know the awkwardness I'm experiencing now will pass.
I'm finding the lowest bass string (medium gauge, MR) to be really loud relative to the other bass-side strings, but I'm putting that down to a) lack of finesse this early, b) a need to tweak amp modeler settings and c) the fact that I switched from RMR and haven't made any other changes (e.g. to bridge, flaps or pickups).
_________________ Heri historia. Cras mysterium. Hodie donum est. Carpe diem.
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Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:08 am |
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rodan07
Resident Contributor
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:59 pm Posts: 411
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Re: Rewiring my brain
Re the lowest string being louder - I've tried compressors, but nothing seems to work other than adjusting your technique. I'm doing about one open mic per week now, and I've been jamming steadily for four years now. My left hand can reliably tap the lowest string more gently than the other bass strings.
Good luck on rewiring your brain! That's exactly what you're doing! Take it from me, it takes a lifetime, albeit a pleasant one, to get that happening.
R
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Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:22 am |
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begin again
Multiple Donor
Joined: Wed May 25, 2016 1:38 pm Posts: 436
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Re: Rewiring my brain
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/want ... instrumentactually, that's a big motivation for me to play. I used to play classic[al] guit and I'm a wreck now musically, but I enjoy the head tweak and I'm interested in limb independence I spend a lot of time with octopodes...I believe that's the correct Greek plural..and it's just weird to watch those guys work. In the Words of Johnny Slash (Merritt Butrick) "Totally different head. Totally" my wife (her PhD is in behavioral neuropsych -her research had to do with learning and memory as it related to immune system activation) reminds me that musician's corpus collosum tends to be way big and that the brain actually remains highly neuroplastic (they used to think it didn't). There is some evidence that during the juvenile phase, we learn through neuronal pruning (sort of like sculpture, take away that which isn't david)...which at lest unscientifically explains a lot about yung-uns and the dumb shit I tried and that in adult phase we use neuro-genesis (MAKING new connections)
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Tue Mar 19, 2019 10:26 am |
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mcgrahamhk
Contributor
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:31 am Posts: 176 Location: Nottingham, UK
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Re: Rewiring my brain
FWIW I found tweaking the action to be better helped a lot with getting it more even on the bass side. If you adjust it to be as low as you can, specifically on the Railboard, the lowness of the action seems to prevent excessive string excursion, so enabling a more even response of the lowest strings.
Practice with good technique and using the arm to motor the digits to the fingerboard, rather than just using fingers like a type writer, definitely helps also. Means you can get every string to the board with similar levels of impact/force, rather than relying on the inherent mass of the string for amplitude.
_________________ 10 string Railboard #7076 (Currently in DBR)
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Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:08 am |
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mike.hoegeman
Multiple Donor
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2007 8:51 pm Posts: 685
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Re: Rewiring my brain
adouglas wrote: I've been crazy busy with work since receiving my Railboard so have only had a couple of brief sessions with it.
Unsurprisingly, the "backwards" 5th tuning on the bass side is really messing with my head. The habits and muscle memory built up over 40 years of playing electric bass are hard to shake! My instincts are screaming at me to do things that are flat out wrong.
I'm sure I'll get there. I can see the future and I know the awkwardness I'm experiencing now will pass.
I'm finding the lowest bass string (medium gauge, MR) to be really loud relative to the other bass-side strings, but I'm putting that down to a) lack of finesse this early, b) a need to tweak amp modeler settings and c) the fact that I switched from RMR and haven't made any other changes (e.g. to bridge, flaps or pickups). my experience is that you certainly have to pay attention to the eq, etc. on amp modelers for the bass side. you can't just use a electric bass or guitar preset. i use the mod duo alembic preamp modeler and i had experiment with it a bit to get rid of some boominess on the bass side you may want to take a lesson of two from one of the 'masters' so they can see how you are playing. you may need to lighten up your touch on the bass side. it's possible you might be bringing too much "left hand clamping instinct" from your bass playing
_________________ https://www.facebook.com/mike.hoegeman https://mike-hoegeman.github.io/
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Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:24 am |
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bachdois
Site Donor
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:17 am Posts: 1636 Location: Portugal
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Re: Rewiring my brain
begin again wrote: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/want-to-train-your-brain-forget-apps-learn-a-musical-instrument
actually, that's a big motivation for me to play. I used to play classic[al] guit and I'm a wreck now musically, but I enjoy the head tweak and I'm interested in limb independence I spend a lot of time with octopodes...I believe that's the correct Greek plural..and it's just weird to watch those guys work. In the Words of Johnny Slash (Merritt Butrick) "Totally different head. Totally"
my wife (her PhD is in behavioral neuropsych -her research had to do with learning and memory as it related to immune system activation) reminds me that musician's corpus collosum tends to be way big and that the brain actually remains highly neuroplastic (they used to think it didn't). There is some evidence that during the juvenile phase, we learn through neuronal pruning (sort of like sculpture, take away that which isn't david)...which at lest unscientifically explains a lot about yung-uns and the dumb shit I tried and that in adult phase we use neuro-genesis (MAKING new connections) Can you please elaborate a bit more on this? Or refer to some articles explaining the neurological way of working in musician’s learning skills? I’ll be celebrating 4 years since I started with the stick shortly, and my whole approach has been one of efficiently use my time, age (experience) and the brain natural attributes to learn as much as I can without wasting any time. I find this subject very interesting! For example, I learned that, right after successfully completing a hard task, the brain will save that information better if I just take a 5 minute nap. Kind of like “let your computer alone so that the resources are all spent in saving the information to the hard drive” . This kind of stuff is super important when you’re not 20 anymore and the ability to retain information is more reduced Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk
_________________ Rodrigo Serrao
All Links: https://ampl.ink/dNLw4
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Tue Mar 19, 2019 12:27 pm |
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begin again
Multiple Donor
Joined: Wed May 25, 2016 1:38 pm Posts: 436
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Re: Rewiring my brain
In terms of best learning strategies? I hesitate to overstep...that's more clinical I could certainly ask around
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Wed Mar 20, 2019 7:52 am |
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Gusset
Site Donor
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2012 3:38 pm Posts: 819 Location: SW Washington (state)
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Re: Rewiring my brain
Indirectly related: I found this blog a few years ago. Interesting stuff; I'm sure many of the folks here have seen it. https://bulletproofmusician.com/
_________________ Victor Bruhn SW Washington state Bamboo Grand #7363 MR ACTV2, Tarara Grand #5677 MR PASV4 Tap In Time Podcast: tapintime.podbean.com/
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Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:10 am |
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JRJ
Site Donor
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:50 am Posts: 882
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Re: Rewiring my brain
Quote: Unsurprisingly, the "backwards" 5th tuning on the bass side is really messing with my head. Use a mirror (did anyone say that already?) For me it really helped re-balance the upside down bass . If not, at least it helps with neck ache by not requiring you to look down for so long. jRj
_________________ Dreams are set to blossom courage.
http://jrjwhatifthepaintingshadsongs.tumblr.com/
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Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:01 am |
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bachdois
Site Donor
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:17 am Posts: 1636 Location: Portugal
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Re: Rewiring my brain
begin again wrote: In terms of best learning strategies? I hesitate to overstep...that's more clinical I could certainly ask around It’s particularly interesting to learn how the brain works in developing a new skill. I always thought if we understand the way, we can maximize it and progress faster... the example about taking a little nap after learning a new passage shaves, easily, 3 to 4 days off the learning curve. Same way with making multiple breaks during practice, right after you’ve done something right, and do something completely unrelated for 20 minutes . Then come back and redo it. Memory isn’t the same after 40’s but this can shortcut that and condense one week of hard work into one single day. All of this I use daily with amazing results just because the brain learns faster in short spams than long painful hours of repetitive work. Gusset’s link looks pretty cool. Gonna check it out also! Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk
_________________ Rodrigo Serrao
All Links: https://ampl.ink/dNLw4
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Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:38 am |
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