Tips for playing more than what's written on chord charts
I'm sure this is a common question but does anyone have any recommendations for becoming more comfortable with playing notes that aren't written i.e. not just playing the root notes? I'm the bass player at my church and I play pretty much every weekend unless I'm out of town. Because of the frequency I have grown a lot in my bass playing in the last couple of years. This is the one area where I feel stuck. I come from playing the trombone in school (elementary through college) and the focus was on playing what was written. I did play in a jazz band in college but was never given guidance on improvisation other than "If the note sounds bad play something different" which might be ok in a jazz setting but would be distracting on Sundays. While a lot of CCM you are mostly playing the roots I would like get more comfortable with doing more to serve the songs that call for it. (Our worship leader wants to start doing more gospel stuff) I feel like part of it is just breaking out of the "play what is written" mindset. We play from chord charts so there isn't really much notation but because of my background I feel limited even though I know there is more freedom/options that I can play.