Teaching a Begginer

skater710 · #1 05-08-2008, 06:06 PM

Hey everyone.

I've been playing bass for about 4 years (I'm 19), and I had a family friend approach me and ask if I could give his son some beginner bass lessons. I accepted, because I've always wanted to do something like this, and I have a lot of ideas that I can teach him. But I was wondering if you guys could just tell me a few REALLY important things to teach, so it will help him along.
Even if you point me in the direction of somewhere so I can have a quick read, that would be great.

Thanks!

skeptikal · #2 05-09-2008, 08:46 AM

Theory.. musictheory.net

wingnut · #3 05-09-2008, 08:59 AM

Get him using his frethand pinky right off the bat! +1 to theory!

RiddimKing · #4 05-09-2008, 09:31 AM

Teach him how to hear, feel and play through a I-IV-V 12-bar blues progression. Then, in six months, when he says "but I want to learn some SONGS" you can inform him that he already knows about 15,000.

Tapout73 · #5 05-09-2008, 09:35 AM

What do u mean by I-IV-V? I have learned a 12 bar blues, but don't know what this refers to.

JKT · #6 05-09-2008, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tapout73

What do u mean by I-IV-V? I have learned a 12 bar blues, but don't know what this refers to.

In the key of C for example the I chord with be C. 4 whole tones away lies the IV or F and the IV would be a G chord.

JKT

Tapout73 · #7 05-09-2008, 11:11 AM

Ok, got it, thanks!!

Drifta · #8 05-09-2008, 12:22 PM

Teach him proper technique since hes innocent start him off without badhabits. Index Middle Index middle plucking, proper way to fret, etc etc of course.

don't throw him into scales right away, I think it would be useful to teach him about chords and chord tones instead. Scales later.

As said above, common blues chord progressions he can start finding in many popular music.

Memorize the fret board through playing lines and knowing what notes are in those lines not by memorizing each note next to each other(F F# G G# A etc etc harder to remmeber those in a non-musical context imo) .

TRANSCRIBE! And get him to play witha metronome early on and how to play with one.

Get him to listen to music(when hes not playing) critically, so he starts to find where the 1,2 ,3 and 4 beats are at in each song. make him tap his foot.

ac11367 · #9 05-09-2008, 12:28 PM

Show him the "box" pattern: Root, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th note. It's easy for him to memorize, since it shapes like a box, and he can create something cool with it in no time. This can hold his interest so that he can be receptive to the more intricate stuff.

MarkTAW · #10 05-09-2008, 01:29 PM

First teach him a simple popular song that he can use to show off to his friends with & play along to the radio.

Then introduce him to the major & minor scales and the notes on the fretboard. Explain to him why the person who played bass on that song chose those notes within that construct.

From there teach the pentatonic scale & the idea of chords based on triads.

This gets you about 80% of the way knowing what he needs to know to be able to start holding his own. The rest is about filling in the whys of all that stuff.

skater710 · #11 05-09-2008, 05:50 PM

Cool thanks guys.

We had our lesson last night and it went pretty well. He had fun and his dad wants him coming back every week!

Drifta · #12 05-09-2008, 06:09 PM

awesome dude thats what i liked to hear! Wish my pops had me take lessons at a young age(just started my first at age 20)

Xanthyr · #13 05-09-2008, 06:34 PM

A preemptive apology for the thread-jack.

I don't know much theory at all, but I know enough to make sense with about everyone.

Let's see if I have this right:

To specify on the I-IV chords for... let's say C. The I chord would be C itself, because it's the first chord available in the C Major scale, and then IV would be F, because it's 4 tones away from the root (C). Would V be G? I don't know if it was a typo or I'm mistaken somehow, but JKT said IV was F and G.

Drifta · #14 05-09-2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xanthyr

A preemptive apology for the thread-jack.

I don't know much theory at all, but I know enough to make sense with about everyone.

Let's see if I have this right:

To specify on the I-IV chords for... let's say C. The I chord would be C itself, because it's the first chord available in the C Major scale, and then IV would be F, because it's 4 tones away from the root (C). Would V be G? I don't know if it was a typo or I'm mistaken somehow, but JKT said IV was F and G.

correct. C = C,d,e,f,g,a,b

cossie · #15 05-10-2008, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Get him to listen to music(when hes not playing) critically, so he starts to find where the 1,2 ,3 and 4 beats are at in each song. make him tap his foot.

Couldn't agree more with this.

I've been helping a friend get into playing bass, gave him a few lessons on the basics but it wasn't going so well. When I sat down and explained how bass fits in with music and the general role of it, he said it helped him enormously. Although everyone is different.

I also tried my best to keep him away from tabs, and when he wanted to know how to play a song I showed him the notes instead.

ac1710 · #16 05-12-2008, 02:53 PM

I found it really hard to each absolute begginers when i first started teaching (1 year ago). Most of my ideas are based around players who know the basics.

When you are teaching him things like right hand technique make him mute the strings with his left and try and get him to groove on that open mutted string. Always make everything musical. no one wants to play open strings for hours unless it sounds good.