Had to give up the lessons

[Oldie but noobe]

Due to cut backs at work I had to give up my lessons after only a few months. I have no knowledge of theory. I just have the burning desire to play since I was a kid.
I have been noodling around at ActiveBass and doing the things the teacher had me work on.
What do you recomend I do to keep the ball rolling untill I can do lessons again?

I like Blues and old classic 70s stuff Rock and "Soul." As some of you know I am 55.

Thanks in advance

[thewanderer24]

at the very least, you should try to teach yourself the songs you want to learn. The more you can do this by ear, the better. It takes work, but that kind of figuring things out by ear is a very important skill. It also can be very rewarding if you focus on songs you want to learn.

you can still work on the stuff you started doing with your teacher, of course, too.

[glaing]

You might want to consider taking some online courses at http://www.musicdojo.com/. The classes are great and the prices are quite reasonable IMHO. I think this would be a good way to keep your hand in until you can take face-to-face lessons again.

Greg

[Oldie but noobe]

Yikes!!!

Thats a bunch of great info. It will keep me busy

Thanks Joshua


Also thanks wanderer and glaing

[fountain boy]

Noobie, Joshua dispensed a lot of valuable infomation in his post, but i've found that those big chunks of infomation more often than not, raise more questions than they answer, without understanding the application of those hard theoritical facts and examples, without a teacher. (that is, if your a slow learner, much like myself)

If i may, because i share the same burning desire like yourself, i would suggest learning your major and corresponding relative minor scales and pentatonic scales.

The reason being is that about 90% of the rock and soul basslines you hear grooving underneath the music (the melody of the tune too) will come from the notes of the pentatonic scale.

With the knowledge of the pentatonic scale you should immediately start transcribing the music you enjoy listening to. It's a pain intially, but it gets easier as you go along.

If you have any r&b songs you would like to see transcribed, to get an idea of how simple it is, list some and i'll see if i have that particular cd,song and i'll help you transcribe it.

Say, Bill Withers, for example.

[Oldie but noobe]

WOW thanks fountain. I will take you up on that. I will think up a couple. I just got home from work and I'm a bit foggy.

The first one that just popped into my mind is My Girl, for some reason, who knows

BTW Today was a good day. I found out I may have a shot at a job, as well as a maybe getting full time where I am at now.

[fountain boy]

Noobie, if it's 'My Girl' from the Temptations or The Four Tops the bassline comes from the notes of the C Major Pentatonic scale.

*hums bassline*

C D E G A C

[fountain boy]

I guess you say/what can make me feel this way/talking bout my girl= G A C D A C D E D C A C D E A G

Those are the notes that the singer is singing (which is ususally the melody of the song, if the song has words, that is)

I tried to do it off memory, so test it out for yourself.

[fountain boy]

I got sunshine/on a cloudy day= E D E C/ A C A G E

when it's sweet outside/i got the month of may= G A C (SLIDE TO NOTE D) C A/ A (PLAY OPEN G) A C A G

I'm blanking out on the exact lyrics, but this is where you should get started on the ear training. It's only 5 notes that are providing the framework for the song. It's really easy once you sit with it for a minute and in no time you'll be burning through songs.

[godoze]

if you are interested in doing some lessons via email... not the best(email) but will do in a pinch. I would be glad to help you, gratis, of course.

[Oldie but noobe]

Thanks Fountain, Sorry it took so long to respond. We lost our Road Runner Cable for a while due t o heavy thunderstorms.

[fountain boy]

Hey, no problem Noobe. I was hoping i did'nt overwhelm you. (as i can sorta get overzealous about the bass, ya know)

Thanks DZ, for the assistance. I hope 'gratis' is latin meaning 'free of charge' and not 'paypal'.

[Oldie but noobe]

Fountain I am really embarassed but I have never just looked at the notes and played them as I haven't memorized the fret board. I am looking at the fretboard chart and trying to figure which C to play. I have been using tabs on Active Bass to learn some basslines

DZ I just Emailed you

SO here I am with a six string that I bought to learn from a six string player now I can't get lessons.

No it's not for sale

[fountain boy]

It's cool Noobe.

I would play the 'C' on the A string. (3 fret)

Play the 'D' under the 'C' on the A string.

Play the 'E' on the D string.

Play the 'G' under the 'E' on the same D string.

Play the 'A' on the G string (2nd fret)

Play the 'C' under the 'A' on same G string.

The pattern your fingers should be running playing should be 2 4 1 4 1 4 = C D E G A C

One thing my bass teacher realize's with me, is that he tries not to imply that i'm aware of making the associations of one thing, to the other. (And while there's no hard of fast rule to where you could play these notes on the fretboard, understand that it's a bassline and for the most part it'll ususally sound best played within the first 5 frets, from the headstock down, or as they say, in the money position)

My bad for not 'scienceing' it down for you.

The melodies are usually the sweetest sounding, when played going up towards the body of the bass.

It's cool to correspond with the emails and such but it may be even better to do it here, openly (if you could) as we could all learn/chime in.

Just like i butchered the verse 'when it's sweet outside/i got the month of may' someone was supposed to be down my throat with the correction 'when it's cold outside..... See?

No biggie really, as long as you don't have to be subjected unto going to 'open mic nights' and have to sit from the sidelines and watch guy after guy go up and get his thing off and like myself, you leave out feeling shame, nahmean?

I just ain't into that sorta thing.

[silent method]

also try www.musictheory.net

[Oldie but noobe]

Originally Posted by fountain boy

It's cool Noobe.

I would play the 'C' on the A string. (3 fret)

Play the 'D' under the 'C' on the A string.

Play the 'E' on the D string.

Play the 'G' under the 'E' on the same D string.

Play the 'A' on the G string (2nd fret)

Play the 'C' under the 'A' on same G string.

The pattern your fingers should be running playing should be 2 4 1 4 1 4 = C D E G A C

One thing my bass teacher realize's with me, is that he tries not to imply that i'm aware of making the associations of one thing, to the other. (And while there's no hard of fast rule to where you could play these notes on the fretboard, understand that it's a bassline and for the most part it'll ususally sound best played within the first 5 frets, from the headstock down, or as they say, in the money position)

My bad for not 'scienceing' it down for you.

The melodies are usually the sweetest sounding, when played going up towards the body of the bass.

It's cool to correspond with the emails and such but it may be even better to do it here, openly (if you could) as we could all learn/chime in.

Just like i butchered the verse 'when it's sweet outside/i got the month of may' someone was supposed to be down my throat with the correction 'when it's cold outside..... See?

No biggie really, as long as you don't have to be subjected unto going to 'open mic nights' and have to sit from the sidelines and watch guy after guy go up and get his thing off and like myself, you leave out feeling shame, nahmean?

I just ain't into that sorta thing.

Cool now I will go and try it.
Thanks for not judging and helping

[jazzbo]

Fountain,

That's not the bassline, that's the guitar riff.

[jp1994]

Originally Posted by jazzbo

Fountain,

That's not the bassline, that's the guitar riff.

+1 you beat me to it.

[fountain boy]

Ohhh, thanks guys. (Jazzbo, JP1994)

[Oldie but noobe]

Well?