I'm 41 years old. I've been taking bass lessons about 7 months, every other week. That comes to about 14 lessons so far. I just don't seem to be getting it. I'll admit that I don't practice every day....I know I probably should. Am I to old to learn the bass?
I am 56 and will be 57 in July....I bought my first bass in May of 2013. I messed around with a Gibson SG body style bass in '80 or '81 and had the chance to buy it for $150 from a guy in a band who wanted to move on to a long scale, but I didn't jump on it then. My advice is to practice everyday and get a teacher you like who does not make a living as a guitarist, but makes a living from being an actual bass player in a band who also sits in as a bassist for other bands when their own bassist is sick or our of town and who does recording session work as a bassist as well. Otherwise, you'll pick up some bad habits that you'll need to unlearn later.
For me, the trick to practicing every day is to have an acoustic bass guitar as your everyday practicing bass. Here are my convoluted reasons:
1. You can leave it out on a stand next to your bed or near your bed and do not have to plug it in to play it. That way you don't have to go and get it out of the case, get the cable and plug it into the amp, where ever the amp is.
2. The action on an Acoustic is usually higher than an electric so you have to work a bit harder. When you play the electric you'll find it easier to play what you learned at your lessons. Always take the electric to your lessons.
These 2 things seem to work for me. I started taking lessons 6 months after I bought my first bass. I took lessons for an entire year. Then I stopped for 6 months, but still played/practiced every day. I then started lessons after that 6 month break and haven't stopped since. It will be two years in April 2017 for a combined total lessons of 3 years. Mind you I am also a bit obsessed with having to understand what it is that I am doing rather than just playing so I do get theory and am starting to learn notation rather than just tabs.
I am also on my third teacher and will soon be changing to a different one. The reason being is that I saw my future teacher in a band and was really impressed and then went to his website and was even more impressed and then found that he is also into prog rock and jazz fusion like I am which I really want to get into rather than just blues and rock/pop. So, if you're not "getting it" it might not be you that is the issue...it could be the teacher.
Most of all just relax, enjoy and have fun. It also helps if you have a guitarist to jam with.
Sometimes when I practice all I do are Arpeggios. I just love playing them. I get to a point of almost a trance and the world just goes away.
Zombies never get old!
