Just getting started

[Parrot-Head]

Well, here I am at 45 years young and about to embark on learning the bass. It’s something I have wanted to do all my life but have never acted upon; so I didn’t want to go to my final resting place saying I never gave it a shot!

I just bought a used Yamaha that looks to be in good shape with a practice amp and plan on slowly learning what I can by myself (I have ordered the Hal Leonard 3 part book series) for a while and then maybe take lessons a little bit later. My son is taking drum lessons so I figure in a year or so it will be good fun for us.

I would even like to maybe play in a church group or a group of old farts playing classic rock.. I have lurked around the forums for a while, and have posted previously and have always found the help here very friendly and for that I thank you.


So, with that said I am sure I will be back on a regular basis asking the same questions that most noobs have asked in the past
Rock on!

[Chickencha]

I think taking lessons now (if you're able) would help you more than starting lessons later. After you've been teaching yourself for a while, you'll probably pick up some bad habits that will be harder to break later on. If you start with a good teacher now, during your "formative" months/years, I think you'll set yourself up on a better path.

Books are great, but they won't offer any outside perspective that's specific to your playing.

Good luck and have fun.

[dlb1001]

Yes, take lessons. I developed some bad habits, which had to be unlearned then relearn how to play properly. Also, develop your ear...try to listen for the beat by listening to the snare and how the chord progression evolves. Learn to read, too, since some songs you may want to learn may not be tabbed.

[Parrot-Head]

I will probably take lessons as soon as possible...right now it's a financial thing since I am spending a lot of money right now finishing my basement.

[Cameronj]

I think that that Hal Leonard series goes best with a teacher's guidance. The reason I say that is that the method book starts out pretty easy and if you don't have someone there to critique you and help you with your initial technique, you might just zoom through the exercises without doing each one right with good technique. With the teacher you can move through the books at a good pace, but also not just slop through it.

I know what it is like to blow it all finishing the basement, but I think that the early investment in the lessons will be more than worth it.


A small example of what I am saying happened in one of my lessons where I was playing something fairly close to the beginning of the book ~page 40 or so. I practiced through the week and was feeling pretty good about what I was playing. When I went to the lesson, I played the exercise for the teacher. He noticed that I was doing something really weird with my fingers that I didn't even realize. He pointed it out and we went through the exercise again. This time I paid better attention to what I was doing in that spot. Voila it nailed a really sloppy fingering early on before it became a habit.

I was doing stuff on my own prior to having the teacher and now I have noticed that my pace of progression is much better.

It is totally possible that you have different aptitude than I do, but I thought I would share my thoughts.

[mambo4]

the two things you need first starting out:
-instruction
-metronome

starting to learn notation is also useful.