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This was from this week’s practicing sessions. I’m learning a new song called Spillways by Ghost (the song choice was 100% mine).

I found a video on YouTube of some guy who had posted a how-to-play video along with tabs included for how to play the bass part. My bass teacher doesn’t think much of tabs. He also tends to help me tailor bass parts to things my 64 year old hands can play. He always says as long as you stay in the right key you can play what you like. The original video also did not necessarily match the band’s recording and had more jumping around on the neck from fret to fret with parts of the song played in a higher octave. I like my version better.

When I learn new songs, I slow them down on YouTube so I can play along. The very first song I learned with my first bass teacher was Alice Cooper’s Poison. My son was always asking if I was going to play “sad Alice” again. It does make the songs sound funny, but it makes it easier to learn them at a slower pace. With time and repetition, I increase the speed until I can play it at the full normal speed rate.

In this video I am playing with the band’s album version of the song at 90% speed, but I have earbuds in so all you can hear is my bass. It’s also only the first third of the song. Sorry for the rattle of the strings. It’s not as noticeable when the bass isn’t isolated. I also play from memory. I’m not following any tabs or musical notation here.

Not bad for my age and playing ability. I hope you enjoyed watching.