Studying/Learning in general

[jazznfusion]

Im a beginner and have been playing and taking lessons for a month. Ive been learning basics like scales, triads, thirds and fifths, etc. I use the Hal leonard bass method book to practice reading, and the Blues book as well. I would just like to hear how you all learned starting out, what helped ( and didnt ), and how you grew as musicians. Thanks !!

[waleross]

I grew as a musician when I was first playing in school jazz bands.................................For bass you have to play in groups, no matter what music and apply the theory and lessons you have learned. . .

[MalcolmAmos]

I came to bass with banjo, rhythm guitar and keyboard experience. Plus I have for years enjoyed studying theory so, after a few basic things which I'll talk about below, the bass' learning curve was not that steep. Main things to get under your fingers are:

• Know your fretboard. Where are the notes.
• Use the major scale box pattern and know how to place it for the different keys.
  
• Understand how to use generic chord tones in your bass line, and understand what a bass line is and then how to take that to a groove.
• Recommend you learn how to play from fake chord or lead sheet music. Finding standard notation written for the bass on Pop, Rock and Country is almost impossible, so you will have to rely upon fake chord and or lead sheet music.
• Tabs are OK to take peeks at to see how certain things are played, however, do not rely upon tabs as your main way of playing.

http://www.studybass.com/ will be a friend.

Good luck.

[jazznfusion]

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

I came to bass with banjo, rhythm guitar and keyboard experience. Plus I have for years enjoyed studying theory so, after a few basic things which I'll talk about below, the bass' learning curve was not that steep. Main things to get under your fingers are:

• Know your fretboard. Where are the notes.
• Use the major scale box pattern and know how to place it for the different keys.
• Understand how to use generic chord tones in your bass line, and understand what a bass line is and then how to take that to a groove.
• Recommend you learn how to play from fake chord or lead sheet music. Finding standard notation written for the bass on Pop, Rock and Country is almost impossible, so you will have to rely upon fake chord and or lead sheet music.
• Tabs are OK to take peeks at to see how certain things are played, however, do not rely upon tabs as your main way of playing.

www.studybass.com will be a friend.

Good luck.

Excellent, the third and fourth recommedations i havent learned at all, but will look into them.. Thank you !!!

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by jazznfusion

Excellent, the third and fourth recommedations i havent learned at all, but will look into them.. Thank you !!!

a great way to learn the fretboard is to practice the chord tones up,down,and across,while saying each note out loud....imho

[jazznfusion]

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

a great way to learn the fretboard is to practice the chord tones up,down,and across,while saying each note out loud....imho

I actually do play chords and go through the scale with the root and third, sometimes i will throw in the low note octave as well, and it does help, and sounds awesome. Im getting pretty good with the fretboard. Thank you !!!

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by jazznfusion

I actually do play chords and go through the scale with the root and third, sometimes i will throw in the low note octave as well, and it does help, and sounds awesome. Im getting pretty good with the fretboard. Thank you !!!

try going up the e string,until you run out of notes then grab the next chord tone as low on the a string as you can,climb up again,and dive back down to the next note on the d......etc....then start at the top and work down.....the trick is to change up the way you practice them every day so you know the tones you are looking for instead of relying on shapes

[jazznfusion]

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

try going up the e string,until you run out of notes then grab the next chord tone as low on the a string as you can,climb up again,and dive back down to the next note on the d......etc....then start at the top and work down.....the trick is to change up the way you practice them every day so you know the tones you are looking for instead of relying on shapes

Thats very interesting i will do this. Are there any books you have that were a big help as well?. Ive got the hal Leonard bass method, and blues book as of now. Again thank you !

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by jazznfusion

Thats very interesting i will do this. Are there any books you have that were a big help as well?. Ive got the hal Leonard bass method, and blues book as of now. Again thank you !

with all due respect to the authors on here,and we have some fine ones,for that particular skill imho is better worked out manually... the chord tones .....they will get into the brain and under the fingers....you know that a major seven is 1,3,5,7.....you know that a minor 7 is 1,b3,5,b7.....etc......start with a few a day a few minutes each,and in six months to a year you'll KNOW them....

[jazznfusion]

Well put, and again thanks.

[mambo4]

Off the cuff, the top 5 things I did that most helped me improve:
1.) A good teacher -having a Jazz guitarist for a father, I basically got free theory lessons all my life.
2.) playign in a gigging cover band - chart reading, learnign form others, gaining on the job experience. All of which benefits original music later.
3.) Paying dues practicing scales to a metronome, tracking the comfortable tempos , watching my progress over the course of a year.
4.) learning my way around guitar and piano -to help me think in chords rather than think in scales, and seee how what I do relates.
5.) learnign Rhythmic notation - as distinct form pitch notation. Accurate, funky rhythm is 100% easier when you know what it looks like written out. Don't be afriad.

[jazznfusion]

Originally Posted by mambo4

Off the cuff, the top 5 things I did that most helped me improve:
1.) A good teacher -having a Jazz guitarist for a father, I basically got free theory lessons all my life.
2.) playign in a gigging cover band - chart reading, learnign form others, gaining on the job experience. All of which benefits original music later.
3.) Paying dues practicing scales to a metronome, tracking the comfortable tempos , watching my progress over the course of a year.
4.) learning my way around guitar and piano -to help me think in chords rather than think in scales, and seee how what I do relates.
5.) learnign Rhythmic notation - as distinct form pitch notation. Accurate, funky rhythm is 100% easier when you know what it looks like written out. Don't be afriad.

Thank you. Im fortunate to have found a great instructor thats that really emphasises theory, and teaches it well. For #5 you are speaking of time and the beat correct ? Im using the Hal leonard series for reading, and it helps cause it has a CD to listen to. Thanks for your help. much appreciated.

[abstractart06]

Great advice. Thanks.

[mambo4]

Originally Posted by jazznfusion

For #5 you are speaking of time and the beat correct ?

I like to conceptually separate "time" into 2 areas: tempo and rhythm

tempo is simply keeping the time accurately:
your quarter notes fall accurately on the pulse.
A metronome is indispensable for this. (#3 on my list).
You must have good tempo before you can have good rhythm.

rhythm is the interplay of notes within the tempo. It's everything notation communicates except pitch.
....Where the notes fall in relation to the quarter note pulse.
It's 3 equal parts: when you pluck, how long you sustain, and where you place silence.
Learning rhythmic notation forces you to become fully conscious of these things, in a very specific and useful way,
instead of just playing "by feel", which may mislead you.

I think rhythm reading seems to get poor treatment in most learning materials.
It's either very basic note value definitions (and thus boring rhythms)
or you get material with cool, funky rhythms where fluent reading is just assumed.
Very few materials out there seems designed to get us from simply knowing the different note values
to actually reading complex , funky rhythms in a nice graduated way.

I always suggest reading Latin rhythms for practice because they include
syncopation, rests, doted notes, off beats, anticipated beats, etc but rarely more complex an eight notes/rests,
plus the pitches are usually basic roots, fifths and octaves, so you can focus more easily on understanding the rhythmic information.

[jazznfusion]

I always suggest reading Latin rhythms for practice because they include
syncopation, rests, doted notes, off beats, anticipated beats, etc but rarely more complex an eight notes/rests,
plus the pitches are usually basic roots, fifths and octaves, so you can focus more easily on understanding the rhythmic information.[/quote]

Nice is there anywhere i can maybe find a book to study this type of music, or something that addresses and emphasizes basic tempo and rhythms ? Again Thank you ..

[mambo4]

Paul Westwood's Bass Bible has an great section on basic groves, all just the note C but with different common groove feels.

Cliff Engel had some excellent free online rhythm exrecises, but the links do not appear to be live on his current site.
This PDF was all I could find via google. http://www.instituteofbass.com/subscribe/sample.pdf
I found it years ago and it lives in my notebook still, it's exactly the sort fo material I think there should be more of.

for Latin specificially, Oscar Stangoro's Latign Bass Book is an excellent intermediate level reading source.
It has to be said that, for latin music, learning the parts of the whole rhythm section is of immeasurable value
this page is a good basic intro, with notation and audio http://scphillips.com/dance/salsarhythm.html
and this PDF by Victor Lopez has lots of detail, plenty fo notation to practice
http://www.midwestclinic.org/clinici...ctor_lopez.pdf

[jazznfusion]

Excellent information ! And thanks for the links, these will help tremendously.