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Totally agree with the 1st paragraph and I've read that elsewhere.
Hey, thanks for the encouraging 2nd paragraph too.
Hey, thanks for the encouraging 2nd paragraph too.
A) it's the plain truth.
B) are you really gonna let me talk you out of it that easily?
I like the comments about playing in a band. You can also consider practicing other dimensions of playing bass that your teacher probably isnt teaching you anything about like how to look cool on stage and what facial expressions and moves to use and such. Learning how to properly play the instrument is recommended of course but I know many bassists who get by with only basic skills (probably around your level with 100 hrs) but have good stage charisma.
LMAO @Jeff Bonny
Pffft! Since I've joined this site I've bough 2 basses, started taking lessons, talked to numerous musicians in person, gone to live shows and sat in front of the bass player, watched way too many hours of instructional videos, read just as many articles and like I said. I play everyday.
Pffft! Since I've joined this site I've bough 2 basses, started taking lessons, talked to numerous musicians in person, gone to live shows and sat in front of the bass player, watched way too many hours of instructional videos, read just as many articles and like I said. I play everyday.
a lot of things we practice are nothing but boring ..! but i've always made it goal to make those boring things a bit more interesting any way possible ..!! i'm 58 and playing piano since i was 6 ... and yes , i still practice my scales and stuff ..! played gtr/bass since age 12 ... way before the age of internet lessons ..!
find tunes that are fun but not tooooo hard ... maybe you'll find technique issues ( things that are hard to play ) within them which will confirm the practice of the boring stuff .!
fretless ... at this point , i would think getting into the 'feel' of playing in the pocket would be better than trying to train your ear for getting the fretless in tune , while trying to stay in the pocket ..!!?? i would learn tunes on the fretted bass ... then fiddle with the fretless ... as you know , on one you're playing on the 'dots' the other on the lines where the frets would be ..
and ... practice some rather technical stuff right before you go to bed ... your brain continues to work on it for a while ..!!
find tunes that are fun but not tooooo hard ... maybe you'll find technique issues ( things that are hard to play ) within them which will confirm the practice of the boring stuff .!
fretless ... at this point , i would think getting into the 'feel' of playing in the pocket would be better than trying to train your ear for getting the fretless in tune , while trying to stay in the pocket ..!!?? i would learn tunes on the fretted bass ... then fiddle with the fretless ... as you know , on one you're playing on the 'dots' the other on the lines where the frets would be ..
and ... practice some rather technical stuff right before you go to bed ... your brain continues to work on it for a while ..!!
It sounds like you just want to learn tunes, I'd learn tunes by ear similar in difficulty to the ones you've already learned. Learn the melody and the bass line. Develop your ear this way. Develop habits of not noodling during your practice time.
Also, if you're paying some cat to teach you how to play bass and you're a complete beginner, he shouldn't be asking you what you want to learn, because you probably don't know what you have to learn to develop your fundamental playing chops. A great teacher will give you a road map to what you need to focus on to reach that next level.
Also, if you're paying some cat to teach you how to play bass and you're a complete beginner, he shouldn't be asking you what you want to learn, because you probably don't know what you have to learn to develop your fundamental playing chops. A great teacher will give you a road map to what you need to focus on to reach that next level.
Thanks, that's good advce too.
Ug, I just really like the fretless so much better. My fretted Ibenez is ok but I need new strings. What should I get?
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I'm just kidding about the strings. I know what to get. (Yes, I read about gear too)
- Oct 18, 2012
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- Endorsing Artist: Fender, Spector, Ampeg, Curt Mangan, Nordstrand Pickups, Korg , Conquest Sound
If your goal is to become a better player at a reasonable pace, practicing less than an hour a day isn't going to get you there. I hate to burst your bubble, but even hobby players that are in the realm of decent and can pull off a gig play AT LEAST 2 hours a day. I'm not saying this to be a jerk or condescending, but its particularly critical to practice a lot when you first start playing if you want to be playing live asap.
Lot's of good advice on this thread so far.
I almost balked at all of the gut-reaction 'find another teacher' posts. While yes, it is potentially a sign of laziness to ask 'what do you want to work on?', it is also possibly a sign of a teacher who knows a little bit about motivation. If a teacher is confident and experienced enough to adapt to what you want to work on, that is a sign of a terrific teacher, IMO, because he or she can tap into what you are already emotionally invested in.
As a teacher I certainly find it more likely that an adult will have more of an idea of what he or she wants to do. The first lesson I teach, especially with an adult beginner, always contains a part where we map out a plan of what songs/rep we want to work on. Teach to the interests of the student! But yes, have a game plan and a curriculum if the answer is, "I have no idea." Because yes, that happens, too.
With that being said, have a goal, or even better, a habit in mind, like "Learn 1 new song a week and play it at the open mic". In a year you'll have 52 songs under your belt. As far along as you are, I can't recommend enough the importance of building a list of tunes. That is absolutely the priority if you want to work towards playing out. Build yourself a useful product.
Theory is important too, but overemphasis on deep theory at this stage is like learning the parts of the english language like noun, verb, past participle, etc. while having a vocabulary of 100 words. It's not necessary yet, unless you're inclined to geek out about it or really want to learn to read notation - in which case, it couldn't hurt to study that too. At the very least, and has been stated before, learn the names of the notes on the fretboard. That much is useful.
I almost balked at all of the gut-reaction 'find another teacher' posts. While yes, it is potentially a sign of laziness to ask 'what do you want to work on?', it is also possibly a sign of a teacher who knows a little bit about motivation. If a teacher is confident and experienced enough to adapt to what you want to work on, that is a sign of a terrific teacher, IMO, because he or she can tap into what you are already emotionally invested in.
As a teacher I certainly find it more likely that an adult will have more of an idea of what he or she wants to do. The first lesson I teach, especially with an adult beginner, always contains a part where we map out a plan of what songs/rep we want to work on. Teach to the interests of the student! But yes, have a game plan and a curriculum if the answer is, "I have no idea." Because yes, that happens, too.
With that being said, have a goal, or even better, a habit in mind, like "Learn 1 new song a week and play it at the open mic". In a year you'll have 52 songs under your belt. As far along as you are, I can't recommend enough the importance of building a list of tunes. That is absolutely the priority if you want to work towards playing out. Build yourself a useful product.
Theory is important too, but overemphasis on deep theory at this stage is like learning the parts of the english language like noun, verb, past participle, etc. while having a vocabulary of 100 words. It's not necessary yet, unless you're inclined to geek out about it or really want to learn to read notation - in which case, it couldn't hurt to study that too. At the very least, and has been stated before, learn the names of the notes on the fretboard. That much is useful.
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Where to go from here?
So I took my first lesson on 1/13/16 and I’ve played every day since which is 134 days and roughly 100 hours of practice.
I’m taking lessons from a great guy. He’s a professional musician, been playing bass for 20 years, is very patient and I have absolutely no complaints.
After 7 half hour lessons and those approximately 100 hours of practice I can play a few songs. I’m working on Jane’s Addiction “Three Days” now.
I practice pentatonic and chromatic scales for the most part and spend half of my practice time playing along with Pandora (Which I completely improvise and just try and stay in tune) Currently on the Pearl Jam station just because I like trying to stay in tune with Eddie’s voice not necessarily the bass lines.
So where do I go from here? I have one more ½ hour lesson next week and it might be my last until I can justify the cost. My plan is to have him play along with me and my wife with her on the guitar just for fun so we can practice together. Other than that I’m not even sure what to ask him. He’ll sometimes say “What do you want to learn today” and right now I can’t think of an answer.
I’m also playing along to video lesson and that’s probably going to be my main instruction for a while now.
I don’t know much about “theory” but I’m trying to enroll in an online class for beginners.
I’m somewhat happy with my progress but I’m feeling somewhat unfulfilled. Should I be practicing with my wife and friends more? Reading books (I’m not a fan of instruction manuals) or bite the bullet and find the money to continue with my weekly lessons?
Oh, and 90% of my time is spent on the fretless without a pick. I have a fretted bass too and I might even own a pick. LOL
Thanks
The point of lessons is to make sure you learn not only how to play an instrument but also that you learn correctly and not develop any bad habits. The bass guitar is an easy instrument to start on but very difficult to master. Also, there is never a point where you know it all. Music is an ever-evolving art and will continue to be so until life as we know it ends.
I'd say continue to develop, continue your lessons and ask the instructor the same thing you asked us. Where do I go from here? We could all tell you what we think but only you and him know exactly where you are and know what your weaknesses are.
LMAO, I'm 48I also work 40+ hours a week.
I think I have 3 YouTube tabs open at any given time. I understand that this isn't going to happen overnight or even over a year. I guess my current goal is just to be able to play along to some easy classic rock, country and blues.
My instructor's in the school of learning the hard stuff, not...
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I'm not a professional teacher and am kind of insecure about my own playing. But I have taught both guitar and bass lessons before. In my limited experience, you should not focus on learning difficult things too soon. Don't get me wrong, you need to play things slightly challenging or you won't progress, but if it is too challenging most students don't have the patience to stay with it...it is just too tedious. It works better when you start with something easy and gradually progress to more challenging things. And I focus on playing music first, the other things come later.
Here is how I usually teach bass and progress my students.
1)First I teach basic technique...how to hold the bass, how to tune it, how to pluck and fret a note. And memorizing open fret notes.
2) Basic note values...half note, quarter note, etc. played to a drum machine. And I encourage them to acquire a metronome...and show them how to use it.
3) Note location on fretboard. How to read a chord chart and tablature. I then start them on an easy 3 chord song using a chord chart (I use backing tracks) The student is to memorize the 3 notes for next lesson.
4) Play along to easy song using previous chord chart. If they are ready, I give them a new chord chart that has different notes. Or if a fast learner (it doesn't take long to tell) a song that is more than a 3 chord song, etc.
5) I progress the speed and difficulty of the songs, until the student can play basic root notes using 8th notes at a moderate speed along with a backing track. Once they can do that, we dive into more theory and more advanced techniques.
Usually that takes two or three months of weekly lessons. At that time, the student is competent enough to play along to easier music with a band (U2, etc.) if a chord chart is in front of them. And with a little more time, they don't need the chord chart.
Other teachers may do it differently, and perhaps their way is better. But my way does work, because at least one of my student gigs regularly.
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I knew you'd like/get the joke. For those who didn't get it there was an underground comic book The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers one of the characters was Fat Freddy Freak. Freddie's cat would crap on his personal items.
OP I noticed you are down the peninsula from me. If you're in my neighborhood and want to grab a beer and pick my brain pm me.
C/S,
Rev J
I'm a newb at 47 myself. I picked up the bass after one failed attempt a year prior. Started back up November 2015 to be exact-ish. One month later I started playing in my church's praise band. That was a crash course, but it pushed me to the next level. Most of the contemporary praise music is root notes with some room for fills and walkups. My routine was to sit down with the lead sheet (no bass clef) and a highlighter and mark out the road map of the song, then I would listen to the song with my earbuds and pull out the bass rhythm and notate that on the sheet music, then try and figure out where the runs and fills were. I'm basically too new to do those, let alone figure out how they were done. I know enough theory that I can appregiate the chords, play scales etc. but figuring out what they were doing is still a mystery to me. I took my first lesson this week and brought in one of the songs we are playing at church. My instructor gave me some ideas and then we worked on rudiments like one string scale progressions using the circle of fourths, where I would play the major scale of C, then F then Bb etc. all the way around the circle, using no open strings. That is a multifaceted workout let me tell ya. I even played at a local pickup jam where the words were put up on an iPad with the chord progression off to the side. That, by the way, is a stupid way of trying to play music. I spent most of the time watching the guitarist next to me to figure out when to switch chords, uggh. But, knowing what key we were playing in helped immensely, learn your scales!
I say all that to say, if you have an opportunity to play with others, jump at the chance! You will learn 10 times as much in an hour playing with others. Rock on!
I say all that to say, if you have an opportunity to play with others, jump at the chance! You will learn 10 times as much in an hour playing with others. Rock on!
I realize you have more advice you could take, but...
If you stick with it long enough hopefully you experience the moment where it all "clicks" and you take a quantum leap forward with your playing. Mine came after 5 years of playing, under the influence, and had been at a practice session with a somewhat crappy band for 6 hours straight. Our keyboard player explained why a certain song changed in a really odd way and WHAM! Many pieces of music information all fell into place for me.
If you really enjoy playing BE PATIENT with yourself and try to surround yourself with other musicians.
If you stick with it long enough hopefully you experience the moment where it all "clicks" and you take a quantum leap forward with your playing. Mine came after 5 years of playing, under the influence, and had been at a practice session with a somewhat crappy band for 6 hours straight. Our keyboard player explained why a certain song changed in a really odd way and WHAM! Many pieces of music information all fell into place for me.
If you really enjoy playing BE PATIENT with yourself and try to surround yourself with other musicians.
Here's my story. I started when I was 13. I took 5 lessons at Venemann's Music in Silver Spring, MD from some guy named Jack Cassidy (sp). He was leaving to join some group in San Francisco and he told me to join a band. I auditioned and at the time I knew 5 songs and they did one of them and in a different key. I got the gig and played for roughly 45 years. Go out and do it, little bird, leave the nest and fly.
