Starting to teach - help!

Venom of God · #1 04-14-2009, 02:06 AM

Well, I'm a bit of a hair metal guy, and as a result of that I have pretty hair metal hair. For a student with very little money, this is an expensive thing to have. Anyway, just today I was getting my regrowth bleached and my layers fixed up, when my hairdresser (who is also into hair metal and just a really cool dude) asked me if I ever gave bass lessons. Now, I haven't, but his girlfriend just got a bass (she's an absolute beginner) and he said that if I gave her lessons, for free, he would start doing my hair for free. I'm really keen to do it, but I'm not entirely sure where to start.

I was thinking that to begin with it would probably be best to cover the names of each string, explain a little about how music "works" and maybe teach the major scale and also some basic playing technique? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

crack-boom · #2 04-14-2009, 02:11 AM

yup, teach her about the strings and how they work lol. what notes are at what frets, and then major scales. that will take give her heaps of stuff to learn and give her a solid foundation

Venom of God · #3 04-14-2009, 02:31 AM

Would it be shoving too much information down her throat to try and explain every position of every note? Or should I just start with the open strings, maybe the 5th and 7th frets and also G on the E string and C on the A string? I don't know why I said those last two, they were just the notes that knowing the location of helped me the most, I think.

Alcyon · #4 04-14-2009, 04:18 AM

(Of your hair)

Venom of God · #5 04-14-2009, 04:43 AM

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...75877_7717.jpg

About a year ago, but it hasn't changed too much. In exchange you owe me some feedback (on what's previously been said in this thread, not my hair, haha!).

Sb0h · #6 04-14-2009, 04:49 AM

Dude, your hair is awesome!!! Rock on!!!

mathman7 · #7 04-14-2009, 05:15 AM

I know this probably goes without saying, but thought I'd throw my 2¢ worth anyway. Make sure you spend some time on proper position of the hands and exercises that practice good fretting and plucking/picking techniques. I'm a newbie that started teaching myself and got into some bad habits that were hard to break now that I know how to do it "correctly".

Stumbo · #8 04-15-2009, 12:17 PM

Nice bass.

You might want to check out the following TB threads on starting to teach bass:
Lesson Plan for Bass Teachers
To teach or not to teach

Also, check out the link in my sig. for more info.

I suggest you take a look at some websites that have info for beginners and apply it to your student.

Good luck.

mpm32 · #9 04-15-2009, 12:35 PM

When I took lessons eons ago, the instructors always had me buy a book - they then taught me out of that.

When I gave lessons, I did the same thing. Easiest way to do it. The curriculum is all laid out for you.

dmrogers · #10 04-15-2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stumbo

Buy "Bass Guitar for Dummies"

Stumbo, that is a good book. I'm going through it now. I try to keep a book on music/theory around and work through them. This book is clean, easy to understand, and covers a ton of basics.

Don't forget to give her something to work on during the week. Maybe a printout of a scale to work on, at least to begin with.