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How the hell did Mark play like this?


Strobber

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This is what I wanna know, since I'm gonna be playing on stage soon, I figured i gotta be active up there and jumping is one of the few easy ways. I have my bass slunged as low as mike does here and I simply don't understand how he can move so much while playing correctly. When he jumps, is he actually hitting the one string or going over all of them but muting the rest with his left hand? I simply don't understand. If anyone figured it out, it would be great to know

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Yeah most of what he's playing is on the A string, he's got his thumb muting the E and frequently has the rest of his palm muting the top two, its just practise really, it's not a difficult technique to grasp at all. 

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 I never particularly cared for the way Mark strummed his bass, he is doing a muting technique as mentioned by if you listen it is picking up the strings he is muting with a kind of thunking sound. He's always done this. As far as trying to do it yourself, practice.

Maybe you should stick to another method if you don't have it down.

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don't even know what you guys are talking about, I'm not trying to copy Mark, i just want a way to move about the stage and entertain the crowd, jumping is one of those ways. i just figured it was appropriate to mention Mark since this is a blink forum. I'm pretty good at bass anyway, just wanted some fun ways to move while playing precisely

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Definitely don't strum all the strings and try to mute the others.  It'll be noticeable and sound bad.  Luckily for blink-182 type stuff the majority of it is on the E and A strings anyway, so it's not too hard to strum with your wrist in a motion that only hits the string you're playing.

Sounds like you've played awhile and you said you're pretty good, so it's not hard at all.  But I do remember like the first couple weeks I played bass watching blink videos and wondering what exactly Mark was doing.

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7 minutes ago, Dylan_ said:

I taught myself to play bass by watching Mark in blink live shows. It's not the best technique but it works!

Same!  I actually think it's a perfectly solid technique, if you are okay with limiting yourself to fast/punk mostly root-note style of playing.  And with a pick, obviously.

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2 minutes ago, Ghent's Brother said:

Same!  I actually think it's a perfectly solid technique, if you are okay with limiting yourself to fast/punk mostly root-note style of playing.  And with a pick, obviously.

Yeah exactly. It fucked me up though when I wanted to learn some RHCP songs haha It was like trying to learn bass all over again.

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2 minutes ago, BigOilyMenInBlack said:

Here's some serious advice for you: DO NOT play your bass with it hanging that low down to your knees or whatever. Tighten up that strap. It's fine every once and a while to do that - but if you make it a habit, it can cause REAL back problems. I do not joke.

This guy is Tom, he knows what's up 

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1 hour ago, Ghent said:

half of blink-182online has better playing technique than Mark Hoppus, what a shocker...

If you played, you'd know that Mark is really not that great. Mark plays mostly root notes on bass with little variation. I have never had a single desire to learn a single "bassline" of his except Cheshire Cat because most of it is such a complete bore.

So yes, it is very easy for half the board to have a better technique than him. It's not his bass playing skills that make him great. It is his ability to write songs. While learning an instrument can be tough and take a lot of dedication, people who play are a dime a dozen.

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