As a slacker, lesson-quitting, sheet music illiterate bassist, it was quite a shock to me that I was asked to teach bass. But what can I say?!? I'm not a bad player, so maybe I can teach...?
My girlfriend's 12 year old nephew has taken an interest in playing the bass. His brother plays guitar, his sisters play piano and sax, so he thought it'd be something to check out.
I don't blame him at all for that
So anyway, yesterday, he came over and we sat down for a lesson. I let him use my only 4 string (a Kawai KRB-105) and I used my buddy's Sterling and we plugged in ready to jam...
But I have no idea what to try and teach.
After trying to think of the best way to explain "Step 1" for learning bass to a kid who's never so much as held one, we finally settled on the C Major scale. It took him a while to get the plucking and fretting aspects figured out, but we worked on it and got it!
He quickly learned the scale, which threw me for a whirl because I felt like my method was terrible. But we pressed on and he got the A Minor scale down. You know, no sharps or flats to deal with, open strings, etc. That's for later! He remembered it and when it was all done, he had accomplished some scales (forward and backward).
I felt bad that he couldn't really practice at home, because he doesn't have a bass. And I didn't have one to lend, as mine are all expensive and/or 5 string.
I posted a want ad on Craigslist this morning for a cheap bass for him. By the afternoon, I snagged this, dirt cheap!
I figure he can borrow it and either he'll enjoy the bass and move to something better later on...
Or I fail to teach him well enough and he'll give up and I can sell the bass for what I bought it for.
I'm hoping he likes the bass and keeps it up. I feel that he can definitely learn it fast enough to start really getting somewhere with it.
