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Asking fellow bass players for feedback

MaurizioTorchio

MaurizioTorchio

Oct 9, 2020
32
19
Novara, Italy
mauriziotorchio.net
#1
Hi, my name is Maurizio Torchio, I play bass.

During the lockdown I decided to organize my old notebooks, stuff I wrote for me and my students over the years.

So I did this:

Link Removed

It is a beta version. If you can spare few minutes, suggestions and critiques are very welcome.

I don't intend to monetize or create a course of instruction. It is not a method. It is just some bass related material but I thought it would be nice to publish it. Maybe someone would find something useful.

Thank you!

Maurizio
 
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#2
Since you ask... to be frank about it, without any kind of organization or explanation that material does not seem to me to be particularly useful or interesting.

To make it useful, you would need to provide explanations about the purpose of a given exercise, and present the material in some organized manner. So don't give up, but if you intend to make this material useful, there is much more work to do about it.
 
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#6
I'm assuming you are teaching bass.
-You might include alternate fingerings for the scales. Perhaps with some suggestions of where to play the notes on the neck. I've found many beginning students once they find a pitch always play it in the same position. Having them learn early there are several places with the same note is helpful in the future.
-Rhythms are good, but starting with some that are simpler might be a good idea. The knowledge of subdivisions is the backbone of good rhythmic reading. Using that as the rhythms become more complex is helpful.
-It might be interesting to combine both concepts. Instead of running through all the scales, and then go into rhythms, do a scale, a rhythm and then have a couple of progressive etudes combining the scale and the rhythms. (Pet peeve of mine is finding books that have the simplest rhythms with the easy, common, scales... and then have the complex rhythms a part of etudes in less common keys. Doesn't make any real sense to do it that way.)
-Lastly, having something in your materials that engage the students. This can be a number of different things from folk and pop songs to current or standard tunes. One thing that a good number of books ignore is the fact that the bass is capable of playing melodies. Students should be encouraged to play melodies, it will pay great dividends for future bass line construction, and it's a way to introduce them to music they may not run into daily. I see you're from Italy. There's certainly a world of great melodies in your culture. Use them, they should be proud of their Italian musical heritage.
 
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#7
Hi BassChuck, thank you for your input, you raise many interesting points.

You are right, there are many gaps in the progression of the material, I plan to add many more exercises.

About scales: eventually there will be, for every key and for every position, the presentation of the scale with fingering, then some finger exercises in the same position and then some reading material always in the same position.

I uploaded the first three in C Major. 046 scale with fingering, 068 finger exercise, 054 (and then 002...047) reading the same notes in the same position. Down the list, always in C Major, with 067 we change position and 020 is a mini-etude in that position.

As for songs and famous bass lines, I'm afraid I'm guilty.
As Spin Doctor wrote, there are many other options.

I sure work on tunes with my students, but on the website I've decided to place emphasis on reading music. For this same reason there are no tabs for the exercises.

Actually, now that I think about it, I should call it Bass Guitar Reading Exercises. :)

Thanks a lot!

Maurizio
 

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#8
I think you may benefit from labelling each exercise differently. Perhaps C Major 001, C Major 002 etc since that presents the information is an instantly recognisable order. I'm not sure why Cmajor 001 is more difficult than Cmajor 046? It makes far more sense to have the easier exemple as 001 and then number them as they increase in difficulty.

You absolutely don't have to give any explanations but I feel the information isn't presented in a logical manner. There are massive leaps in difficulties without any sort bridge between them. 044 Rhythm is all free time(?) and open strings but the next one 051 is focuses on crotchets and minims with zero explanation of what that means. To be honest that doesn't need to be anything more than just a title '051 - Crotchet and Minims' says absolutely everything it needs to say.

I like the intent and it's always great to see someone commit to not teaching tabs (we need to stick together with that!) but I feel the presentation of information could benefit from being a bit more refined and streamlined. When it comes to this stuff, you really benefit from assuming the reader knows absolutely nothing and aiming to make it that clear for them.

Hope some of that helps!
 
#11
Papageno said:
they look quite arbitrary
Click to expand...
You're right, they actually do.

But following the advice of BrotherMister I'm trying more meaningful titles

Here is the screenshot of the C Major section

How does it look now? Does it make more sense?

Screen Shot 2020-10-11 at 21.37.32.png
 
#12
You can clearly write your thoughts, as demonstrated in this thread. I agree with just about everyone here: to make these useful, you have to introduce every exercise, or group of exercises, and explain why they're worth taking the time to practice. That's true even if you're not making a course or devising a pedagogy. I think you still need to connect the dots for people. By the way, the organizational progress from your OP to now is already good, in my opinion. Now just write little "what" and "why" paragraphs and it'll be a more user-friendly resource.
 
#14
Hi Maurizio, kudos to you for creating materials to educate and help other musicians - and also for seeking advice and being so open minded to suggestions from others :)

I glanced at your web site and the YouTube videos and agree with other comments before me that the key element to include (perhaps even emphasize) is some discussion of WHY these exercises are useful and HOW they can be helpful. This information should give the 'student' a meaningful reason to want to continue forward with each exercise/lesson.

One thing I'm curious about: is it common (for a bass instrument) to include both treble and bass clef notation in the same study piece?
Screenshot 2020-10-11 181744.png

Personally, I have no issue with it this way since I can read both clefs fine, but I don't know that I've seen 'music for bass' notated this way before (???)

Good job so far and keep on working on it!
 
#15
Hi Blues Daddy,
No, not common at all, but that exercise goes up and down many times and I just think it looks nicer on the grand staff rather than changing clefs or using the octave sign. I've got to make a video of that exercise, lot of shifting around.

I definitely will write something for each exercise. And a better introduction, home page I mean. Thank you for the kind words!

Maurizio
 
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#16
Blues Daddy said:
Hi Maurizio, kudos to you for creating materials to educate and help other musicians - and also for seeking advice and being so open minded to suggestions from others :)

I glanced at your web site and the YouTube videos and agree with other comments before me that the key element to include (perhaps even emphasize) is some discussion of WHY these exercises are useful and HOW they can be helpful. This information should give the 'student' a meaningful reason to want to continue forward with each exercise/lesson.

One thing I'm curious about: is it common (for a bass instrument) to include both treble and bass clef notation in the same study piece?
View attachment 4014516
Personally, I have no issue with it this way since I can read both clefs fine, but I don't know that I've seen 'music for bass' notated this way before (???)

Good job so far and keep on working on it!
Click to expand...
I honestly think it would be better to write it in both the grand staff and using ledger lines on the bass clef as well. Most of us, including myself, could use some practice with the up theres on the ledger lines.
 
#18
It’s great that you want to teach people, I’ll give you that. However , if I compare your work to any “elementary method for string bass”, well... I’d advise you to buy whatever method is readily available , and then go from there.

knowing something does not mean that you are qualified to teach it.
 

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