If you had to give a bass course in 12 lessons...

[flacoclef]

If you had to give a bass course in 12 lessons, what stuff would be the most important topics to cover?

[jmattbassplaya]

How long are the lessons?

[flacoclef]

an hour

[JTE]

Raw beginners on the bass? Level of musical experience? Those are critical factors for answering this. If we assume no experience with either the instrument or music, then it's a pretty short time-frame to really cover much beyond ensuring they have basic physical technique down (that is that they're not going to hurt themselves by using bad technique) and the very basic rudiments of music.

How to hold the bass, how to play with plucking fingers, maybe how to play with a pick, (but ideally I'd go back and cover that after they've gotten more experience), how fret notes with efficient technique and spend a lot of time making sure they're not developing habits that'll cause problems latter. How to shift positions using the thumb-pivot (see Carol Kaye for that). What notes (including sharps, flats and enharmonics) are in the first five frets, then understanding the logic of the fingerboard and how to find notes. And you have to have them at least have an inkling of what a chord is, and how to find the root and fifth of a chord. 12 lessons probably ain't enough to really cover time, but through the whole thing make sure they're aware of time. Thing is, if they're still struggling to learn where to put their fingers, then it's kinda silly to also expect them to play it in time. But once they get the fingering under control, make sure they learn to play in time.


John

[pstyle]

Slap and Metal.

[bass rocks]

i hope you are joking

[pstyle]

and SlapMetal

[flacoclef]

Thanks so much.

Originally Posted by JTE

Raw beginners on the bass? Level of musical experience?

Probably they will have a separate theory class. So that way I can focus on the bass per se.

[tappingtrance]

listening to music and picking out the bass lines
left hand tech
right hand tech
sing a melody and play that melody
learn to read
sit a keyboard and understand chord progressions then apply to bass notes
learn to play with metronome on different beats
play with a drum machine
how to get different sounds with on board eq
how to change strings and work on bass
how to play in an ensemble
how to get a gig

[oldcatfish]

Lesson #1= basics such as how to hold bass, fret a note, and plucking/picking
Lesson #2 = basic coordination and timing exercises, how to use metronome
Lesson # 3 = names of notes on fretboard, scales and how chords are built
Lesson # 4 = how to read a chord chart, where to find them, etc.
Lesson# 5 = playing root notes to chord chart with different rhythms, how to lock in with a drummer
Lesson # 6 = adding 5th and octave to previous chord chart
Lesson # 7 = how to spice up playing; slides and hammer on/ pull off notes
Lesson # 8 = leading tones, passing notes
Lesson # 9 = how to construct a fill
Lesson # 10 = slap & pop, tapping, and other flash techniques
#11= summary/ review
#12 = Whatever student wanted to work on.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by oldcatfish

#12 = Whatever student wanted to work on.

How about ear training, learning some tunes by ear, what "slow downer" software is?

Also, a list of internet links that have lessons. Studybass.com, etc.
And let them know about TalkBass!

Check out the links in my sig. for more great TB info on the topic.

[Matthijs]

As you have limited time and no precise idea of the abilities of the students to start with I'd suggest you determine what you want to achieve. Do you want them to be able to play the instrument at a certain level, or do you primarily want them to want to play music and take more lessons? It is going to be very hard to get them at a fixed skill level in this limited time. And it's no use teaching them the beginnings of proper technique when they'll never want to touch the instrument ever again or still don't understand anything about music.

Also there's more ways to built up a course. You can split it up in different little skills that build up to a certain level, as the previous posters did. You can also think of one project you can complete, that in itself adresses al those different skills in a not pre determined order. For instance diving into one or two songs that are not technically challenging (maybe picked out by the student), for wich you can explore: what the bass is doing, why, how you play this, how not to play this, etc. And in the end the student can play the song.

Another tip: I once had a bass teacher that tought from behind a drum kit and e keyboard. Everything we did was automatically translated in music and a groove, worked way better than a teacher sitting opposite of you with a bass in his hands.

[slaphappychappy]

mine would go like this:
1: How too look cool holding a bass
2: How to stand perfectly still and play
3: How to wear aviator sunglasses
4: How to use your bass face
5: How to be completely unaware of the song you are playing
6: How to signal the sound guy you need more volume
7: How to blame the sound guy for your stuff up
8: How to pretend you didn't hear the drummer
9: How to pretend they changed the intro on the song, when
really, you were distracted by a mirror.
10: How to fake a gear malfunction to cover your missed note
11: How to chug your beer and keep playing
12: How to combine all these skills to be awesome.

[Matthijs]

I know this old rock 'n roll dude who teaches a sort of band class to realy young kids (around 8 years old). All he basically teaches them is:

-How to stop and start together (listen and watch).
-How to stick to a pulse together (listen and watch).
-How to simultanious change over to a b-part and back (listen and watch).
-To stick to a limited set of notes in one key.
-Look cool.

He can make them really rock on a song they make up themselves in just a few lessons.

[JimmyM]

If I had to give a bass course in 12 lessons, it would be entirely teaching the nuts and bolts of how music works, learning to read, scale and chord formation, how to form bass lines that sound good, etc. Learning anything that isn't directly related to the music itself is a waste of time and money. And what I'd teach in that 12 weeks would be highly dependent on how quickly the student learns the stuff from the previous week.

It's impossible to put a set time limit on learning stuff, and 12 weeks isn't enough time to learn it all, but it can give you a decent jumping off point. A lot of the lesson plans some folks put up are way overly optimistic, plus they include things that just don't need to be taught, stuff that you can learn by listening to songs or watching a youtube video about them.

But the big one that caught my eye was "whatever the student wants to learn." The day I would let a student dictate the lesson plan is the day I would never teach again. How is the student supposed to know what's best to learn? That's why you go to a teacher in the first place!

[oldcatfish]

"mine would go like this:
1: How too look cool holding a bass
2: How to stand perfectly still and play
3: How to wear aviator sunglasses
4: How to use your bass face
5: How to be completely unaware of the song you are playing
6: How to signal the sound guy you need more volume
7: How to blame the sound guy for your stuff up
8: How to pretend you didn't hear the drummer
9: How to pretend they changed the intro on the song, when
really, you were distracted by a mirror.
10: How to fake a gear malfunction to cover your missed note
11: How to chug your beer and keep playing
12: How to combine all these skills to be awesome."

You've seen me play? Just kidding, I don't drink beer!
__________________