New bass guitar teacher has questions

[rice128]

I think TAB is not a good idea. Sure, it does make things easy since it shows the fret # and such, but it just makes a student lazy and "stupid" in my opinion.

If you don't mind taking suggestion from me, why don't YOU learn the song and show, partly, to him. He won't be able to remember it once the lesson is over so when he goes home to play the song, he'll have to learn it with his ear. But he'll have decent idea where the notes are on the fret... At least thats how I learned once i got a teacher.

[matthewbrown]

Teaching bass well requires not only experience and skill, but a method. After decades of playing and years of teaching, I can honestly say that I can really impart information to willing students that will make a difference in their playing. I'm glad they give me the opportunity to do so, and relieved that my teaching is worth their time and money.

[Fretlessboy]

+1

Originally Posted by Blake Bass

SmashbrothaX I think you should seek out a good electric bass teacher for yourself before you start teaching others.

[Scot]

1.) I'm not sure if it's "normal" but many players do it. On a 4 string bass I tend to rest my thumb on the E string when playing the other 3 but I don't move my thumb down to the A when playing the D or G strings. The advantage to resting the thumb on any of the strings is to mute those strings when not playing them. I use the 3rd and 4th fingers on my right hand to mute the lower-pitched strings when playing the higher-pitched ones so I have the muting covered with that.

If there aren't any problems with muting and the student is already producing a decent tone, I tend to work with the RH techniques the student is already using. If the student is able to play and mute the lower strings when playing the higher ones, I wouldn't try to force the moving the thumb thing.

2.) Honestly, I haven't really found any one method that works for all students. I usually customize the lessons for each student and use quite a bit of my own materials. I like the MI books. The Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms is one book I always keep a couple of copies around for students learning to sight read. The Hal Leonard books look good, but I haven't used them personally.

I teach both one-finger-per-fret and the Simandl 1,2,4 you mention. They are both useful.

3.) The Taxman thing sounds perfectly fine to me. What I try to do when teaching songs is to pick technical and/or musical aspects of the bass lines and try to connect it to a concept that you want to teach. Could be position shifts, a scale, a technical right or left hand approach, etc. If you can make that type of connection the student has a much better chance of retaining the lessons, not to mention they enjoy them and get excited about playing. You don't have to teach the whole song in one lesson. You can break things down. You can also use things like teaching songs as a carrot on a stick - you know, once you can name all of the notes on the E string up to the 5th fret we will learn a new bass line to a tune.

Good luck!

[matthewbrown]

I agree that there is no method for all students, but if you have a logical progression in mind when you teach a student, that's the core of a method. I try to integrate theory and technique so that I'm not reduced to teaching licks OR just giving exercises that have no musical meaning. I try to help students shape their own practice times so that they progress quickly and find joy in musical expression. This varies from student to student; each student has to set his or her own goals. My job as teacher is to help students identify their goals and find ways to meet them so they can enjoy their playing and express their musical selves.

[steve66]

I am a firm believer in reading music. I actually put tape over all transcriptions that have tab underneath the notation and then photocopy the score.

IMO, Reading is not that difficult. just a few minutes a day and anyone can be reading. I suggest Bach for bass and etudes to learn from. Most of these are scales. (which we practice anyway). take it slow and limit your mistakes.

It is a good idea to place the sheet music in front the tuning pegs. This way the bass fretboard is in sight as well.

As your student starts to get use to reading, you can show the modes and hand position. You want to get your student to be able to look at the music and determine what the highest note and lowest notes are, find a mode and position to play in where most of the notes are under their fingers to limit shifting.

Ear training is very important, start with easy songs that most people know, nursery rhymes, christmas songs are a good to start

Identify the intervals, make it fun

Good Luck !

[pete honeyman]

My problem with tab is that we're seeing a generation of ' visual' bassists who think purely in shapes, and don't have the ears to hear when the tab is wrong, or even tune the bass without an electronic tuner. Learn a tune from tab and that's all you learn, with dots, you soon start to notice how the music works.

Having said that, beginners need encouragement, and getting them playing songs, IMHO is essential. Theproblem arises when you start to wean them off tab.

Pete

[MarkTAW]

I'm curious to see what the Guitar Hero/Rock Band generation will produce.

They'll have good ears from having to sing the vocals in pitch.

They'll have good timing & coordination since that's 90% of what those things test.

But they'll think playing guitar is chugging through power chords and playing lead guitar.

[DudeistMonk]

My problem with tab is that we're seeing a generation of ' visual' bassists who think purely in shapes, and don't have the ears to hear when the tab is wrong, or even tune the bass without an electronic tuner. Learn a tune from tab and that's all you learn, with dots, you soon start to notice how the music works.

Ugh...as soon as I start getting decent at reading again, someone hands me a ton of tabs to learn stuff from anyway and I loose all my reading ability.

They'll have good ears from having to sing the vocals in pitch.

Thats if they ever do any of the singing... also since you can't change the key of the song I find I can sing some of those songs like nothing and others I can't do to save my life.

[LowDown Hal]

I've been studying for a short while now.

We started with volume 1 of the Hal Leonard Series.
Next came Rufus Reid's "The Evolving Bassist".

There is a series of "play alongs" designed to parallel the level of the Hal Leonard Method.
Volume 1 is "Easy Pop Bass Lines". Might be a good companion guide.