Could I get some help on how to self teach myself?

[petchimp123]

I took a year anf half of bass lessons, I thought it was time to stop taking lessons because I was only getting taught songs, nothing technical. So I have a book called Bass Guitar for Dummies.

What exactly should I be practicing and for how long each day should I practice step by step? I feel like if I want to improve on bass, I'm going to have to do some organized practices each and every day.

[chaosMK]

What direction do you want to go with your bass playing? Do you want to be a jazz master, play in rock bands, do session stuff or learn to write your own music, etc?

[insomniac2295]

activebass.com

thats all you need to know

[petchimp123]

Originally Posted by chaosMK

What direction do you want to go with your bass playing? Do you want to be a jazz master, play in rock bands, do session stuff or learn to write your own music, etc?

I want to be good enough to jam with friends, play gigs, and develop my own style on bass.

[billm]

Bunny Brunel has a nice series of lessons with videos on his site here: http://www.cyberschoolofbass.com/lessons.html

billm

[Broadbent]

It wouldn't be self teaching if we helped.

[Dave Muscato]

Check out YouTube. There are a TON of videos on there. I like Gary Willis' here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_oBJlE5qNc

Be careful about bad advice on there, though. Talkbass is also a good resource. For music theory, I like teoria.com (Flash exercises and informative articles).

Gary Willis also has a great book called Fingerboard Harmony for Bass:

http://www.amazon.com/Fingerboard-Ha.../dp/0793560438

and I also like Reading Contemporary Electric Bass by Rich Appleman (Berklee Press) for sight-reading exercises.

There's a bunch of good links if you poke around here on Talkbass. I would recommend sticking with lessons, though, too - it will really speed up your progress, if you find a good teacher and stick with it.

I also recommend jamming with friends as often as possible. Join a band or start one and just play, play, play. You'll figure it out as you go

[phektus]

I would assume that you now know the basics of technique. Turn on your radio, and try to jam with your bass. That's not exactly what you're supposed to do next, but that should help ease your mind so you can realize for yourself on what to do next LOL.

[Infernal Affair]

Originally Posted by phektus

I would assume that you now know the basics of technique. Turn on your radio, and try to jam with your bass. That's not exactly what you're supposed to do next, but that should help ease your mind so you can realize for yourself on what to do next LOL.

I would agree with phektus. It may seem silly and downright frustrating, but it'll give you an idea of what you want to do with your bass because you'll find songs you want to play.

Starting out self taught is the toughest since you lose direction very easily. Besides getting a good book, which you have, one of the best things to do to maintain interest is think of songs you want to play and learn them. If a song is too hard, just put it on file to practice a little each day, and find songs that are more at your skill level. I started out with U2 stuff then worked my way from there. Look up tabs since they're an easy way to get up and running. Most people will frown upon this, but when you're starting out it's very daunting learning notation then playing, and often you're stuck learning songs you don't want to learn for the sake of getting notation in your head. Tab should not be a crutch, but in the beginning it's a good way to learn a song and reinforce the idea that "YEAH! This is something I could do!"

Also try and garner some outside motivation. Jamming with your friends is very good motivation. Ask them what they want to play, then look up the songs and learn them. Try and set mock deadlines for yourself. When I was learning by myself it was very unmotivated and practiced sporadically. When I started playing with others my playing level jumped dramatically.

Improvising will come eventually once you go deeper into your books and you get a fair understanding of your instrument. For now it's good to start learning songs while still studying up on the books. I'd recommend the Hal Leonard Complete Bass Method Books 1,2, and 3 (it's a set bound together) by Ed Friendland. A lot of people wouldn't consider me a beginner and I still like to use it. It's also great for learning notation and applying it to bass.

[ducknturtle]

There's nothing better than playing with other people as a learning experience.

[johncg]

This a wonderful article from Vic Wooten's site.

If I could only teach one thing to every young bassist in the world, it would what Victor expresses with trademark eloquence in this here:

Learning From Yourself

Learning is valuable. We all know that. But, just like any skill or talent, it can be practiced and refined to an art. Most of us have never spent much time thinking about the art of learning because when it's time to learn something new most of us look to be taught by someone else. Most of our teaching comes from an outer source. Rarely do we approach something new by going inside of ourselves. This may be a strange concept to some but actually may be the best and most thorough way to learn.

Please, don't misunderstand me. Having a teacher can be wonderful and necessary and it can definitely speed up the process of learning. I am not saying that learning from others is the wrong way, but even when an idea is brought to you from another person, it still has to be brought into the inner recesses of yourself to be refined, learned and personalized. It has to become your truth before it is actually learned completely.

People often ask me to show them how I do a particular pattern or lick. I don't mind showing them, but I enjoy, more, showing the people who have tried to figure it out for themselves. Just think, if you figure something out on your own, you will probably do it the way that suits you best. Then when you finally learn the way someone else does it, you'll have two ways of doing it, your way being just as valuable as theirs. I sometimes have people showing me easier ways of doing my own licks. These are the people who have taken "my way" and brought it deep within until it came out "their way."

Think of all the inventors throughout time. They came up with ideas that didn't exist before them. They would not have been able to accomplish this had they only listened to outside sources. There are "inside" sources just waiting for you to ask for their help.

The more you do this "inner" learning the better you will get at it. Your brain will get in the habit of producing instead of just waiting to receive. You can hear a passage of music and immediately know how to reproduce it and it will be personalized with your touch without even trying. This is the key to being original.

All of your favorite musicians, Marcus Miller, Geddy Lee, Jaco Pastorius, and all the rest have had to spend a tremendous amount of time sitting down with themselves in order to sound the way they do. That is the key to their sound and probably to their success also.

Many animals still possess this knowledge but among humans it has become almost a lost art. I remember many years ago being fascinated by my dog. She would get sick, go outside in the yard, eat some grass (that would usually make her throw up), and then she would be all better. Who taught her this? NO, not me: the same person that teaches each caterpillar to become a butterfly: that person that lies deep within us all. I am proposing that we all have this same ability and it can be practiced.

So, for those of us that are looking for a teacher, don't just sit there idling. Practice, practice, practice until we find one and then keep practicing. For those of us that have a teacher, listen close to what they have to say because they may point us in directions that we wouldn't have gone. But remember to always take what they teach deep inside of ourselves to see if it matches our individual truth, then, practice some more.

To all of you teachers out there, don't just think that I am trying to make your students stay home, but I offer you this challenge. Ponder what I have said here and if it makes any sense to you at all, teach it to your pupils. I think that it will actually bring you more students.

Music will take on a whole new meaning when you listen through your own ears. Go inside and see what there is to learn. Go inside, my friend. Go inside.

peace, vic

[ericmknight1906]

To be self taught IMOP and from personal experience. you have to first of all

1.have a good musical ear
2. have a natural gift for music
3. Know what style of music you want to play.
4. play along with your favorite songs.
5. you absolutely must at least learn the concept of using scales particularily the major scale. If you're playing by ear which most self-taughts do, knowing scale helps you pick up songs a lot easier! otherwise, you're gonna be all over the fret board in an unorganized fashion trying to find the root note. you don't necesarily have to know the notes( e, e-flat, etc), just the finger positions of the notes within the scales. EVERY NOTE IN EVERY SONG YOU PLAY WILL BE IN THE BOUNDARIES OF SOME TYPE OF SCALE. if you play them enough the sound and position of notes will become ingrained in your brain after a while.
6. practice practice practice. you have to have passion 24-7. otherwise you're just wasting time.

[BuffaloBass]

Another " Vic-ism" as he is my rabbi, is that music is like a language. You can learn it from a book, or from lessons, but until you communicate it, with other souls, you dont learn it deep. Just like language. I was taught a foreign language quick by immersion. Not studying from a book, but by having to deal with daily life in a non native tongue.

Brother, you learn fast that way!

Keep up the studies to build your vocabulary, but you really do need to fnd some folks to "talk" with.

Eventually, while it may seem like a waste of time like it does to me, You need to go buy a book called " HARMONY AND THEORY " and work it through. I've had mine for two years and it aint done, so hope you have more time than I do!