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General Instruction [BG] General questions regarding bass playing, theory, and bass lessons.


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  #1  
Old 08-04-2011, 10:57 AM
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Join Date: May 2010
Teaching bass to a beginner

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I upgraded to a new bass recently, so I gave my old Squier to a friend with a limited musical background who said she wanted me to teach her how to play. I've never taught anyone an instrument before. I have a rough idea for my first lesson. Here it is:

I want to start off explaining to her what a bass is, why it's used so often and what it sounds like. Then, I'll teach her to tune the bass. I think this is kind of buildup for how to play a note on bass with right fingerwalking/left hand muting and why it's ok (for now) that it feels weird and hurts like hell. After that, I'll teach her the 12 musical notes and where those notes are on the E string, having her say each note as she plays it. Next, I'll whip out a metronome and have her clap to the beat, and then play two-note patterns as quarter notes if she seems like she has a good sense of rhythm. If that goes well, I'll get my acoustic guitar and see if she can play along to a two-chord song. And, finally, I'll teach her the bassline to Radiohead's "The National Anthem", which is an easy bassline and has a good groove.

If I think she's not quite getting something, I'll segment this lessons, but what do you guys think? Is that too much to digest for a new player? Is my focus good?
  #2  
Old 08-04-2011, 01:00 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Seattle
Show her how to hold it, tune it and then play some songs. If it's not fun immediately then it sucks.

Most people don't care about 99% of the stuff you listed.
  #3  
Old 08-04-2011, 02:13 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Ottawa, On
Those are all awesome ideas and a great way to get a serious player started the way a lot of us wished we had (learning the 12 notes, clap to a metronome etc.)

The only issue I see here is gauging the level of seriousness your friend has.

I've had many friends ask me to teach them a certain instrument (one bought a banjo off me for that purpose) and then give up 3-4 lessons in because ''it's just not for them''.

The first couple of times I had a detailed lesson plan sort of like yours but now I keep those for later lessons and sadly hardly ever get to them.

My suggestion for the first time is to talk about the role of the bass as you had already planned but jump straight into a couple of simple songs after that. It'll be obvious if they're having fun and that's the only important thing at that point (no one will pursue something they don't enjoy).

After that I'd play it by ear (not literally ) and get to the lesson plan you had made once both you and her feel you are ready/willing to.

Anyway, just a suggestion from my past experiences with teaching friends.

If she's cute forget what I said and teach her anything she'd like you to

Good luck to both of you!
  #4  
Old 08-04-2011, 02:24 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Ireland
The very first thing(s) I would teach would be good right and left hand technique. You don't want her acquiring carpel tunnel syndrome, tendinitis etc, at a later time and discovering that it is due to her bad technique....which she should have been taught at the very start.
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  #5  
Old 08-04-2011, 02:28 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2011
+1 to the easy songs idea.

I am on the student side not the teacher side as far as my skill and all self taught but when I was starting out I did try a few teachers and they dove into everything right away instead of just showing you some fun stuff. Turned me off teachers completely as I wasn't in the mind set yet to make myself practice and try to understand those concepts yet.

Years later I am finally looking for a teacher as I love playing enough to sit down and actually work out learning theory etc.

For a first lesson I think what would have gotten me hooked on the teacher was learning a simple song I liked and then start explaining those concepts based on that song.

Not sure on an example but just a really easy tune and then start explaining proper hand technique and watered down reasons why the song goes to the next chord/note etc.

Making myself use a metronome was really hard as I found it boring as he'll, think playing a fun easy song to a metronome would be a good start.

Anyways I would think keep it simple and fun until the person is ready to put in the time and effort of everything else.

If the student was planning on getting into this for a living or the orchestra or something then would be different as they should be prepared to work, I'm guessing she wants to learn it for fun.
  #6  
Old 08-05-2011, 12:22 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Los Angeles
Here are a few links you might want to check out:
~Teaching Bass
1 Teaching ideas
2
Becoming a teacher
Carol Kay's bass learning/playing advice
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