Bass lessons for beginners - by a beginner.

[Zegie]

Amazing. Your profound respect for the fragile principle of freedom of expression lasted exactly two sentences.

Lol

"Two nations seperated by a common language".

Z.

 

[Count Bassie]

What people legally and decently do with their own time is a matter for themselves – whatever others may think. By the same token what people choose to post or read on this forum is their own business (whilst respecting the 11 talkbass forum rules).

Millions have died fighting for the fragile principle of freedom of expression and people are still dying everyday to uphold and honour this principle – so, with respect, CB, by telling people what they should and shouldn’t do, you are treading on very thin ice.

Of course you are entitled to your own opinion – if you think this post is “superfluous bickering and a waste of valuable time” then that is your opinion and you are entitled to it.

I can’t (and wont) speak for other contributors to this post, but please don’t tell me how to value my time, what I should do with it, and what I should be taking seriously.

It seems you have a different philosophy, but I for one am nowhere near ready to live in a dictatorship – or be dictated to.

Peace and love.

Z.

Whoa. Best of luck.

 

[Rudreax]

Can someone close this? This has essentially turned into a really bad joke topic. It was at least a bit funny before the OP got ridiculously offended by someone suggesting to him that he should go practice.

 

[Zegie]

Can someone close this? This has essentially turned into a really bad joke topic. It was at least a bit funny before the OP got ridiculously offended by someone suggesting to him that he should go practice.

Offended??

Moi??

Peace, Love and happy bassing.

Z.

 

[fearceol]

Offended??

Moi??

Peace, Love and happy bassing.

Z.

I have just read through this thread. You may not have been actually "offended", but IMO you do not seem to take constructive criticism ( a real asset when learning anything ) too well.

 

[Burlington]

I do not understand the point of a beginner trying to teach others. A waste of time IMO. Take that how you will.

 

[bassinplace]

What people legally and decently do with their own time is a matter for themselves – whatever others may think. By the same token what people choose to post or read on this forum is their own business (whilst respecting the 11 talkbass forum rules).

Millions have died fighting for the fragile principle of freedom of expression and people are still dying everyday to uphold and honour this principle – so, with respect, CB, by telling people what they should and shouldn’t do, you are treading on very thin ice.

Of course you are entitled to your own opinion – if you think this post is “superfluous bickering and a waste of valuable time” then that is your opinion and you are entitled to it.

I can’t (and wont) speak for other contributors to this post, but please don’t tell me how to value my time, what I should do with it, and what I should be taking seriously.

It seems you have a different philosophy, but I for one am nowhere near ready to live in a dictatorship – or be dictated to.

Peace and love.

Z.

To be taught is to be dictated to. If that's something you'd rather not spend your time on then that's your choice. But you can't learn anything without it, irregardless of the teacher. The more knowledgable the teacher, the more value there is in the lesson.

 

[Quadruple Jay]

how do you think i got to be advanced, competent and experienced? by posting "lessons" on talkbass before i was ready to teach? no, i got that way by taking lessons from way more advanced players than myself, and from jamming with way more competent and experienced musicians than myself. listen, some of the biggest names in the industry hang out on talkbass as well as some of the best teachers in the industry, and if you want to hang with them, you need to know your stuff. and if you don't, it's best to read more than you post. and even at my advanced level, if i don't know something, i will read and not comment, and if i feel compelled to make a post, it's to ask a question.

Quoted for so much truth.

I spend so much time lurking the Music Theory board on the DB side because of the sheer amount of knowledge being kicked around over there. I don't think I've posted over there even once because I'm nowhere near their level of comprehension, but the amount I've learned from reading and listening to their ideas and stories instead of butting in my unqualified opinion has lead to drastic improvements on my part.

Heck, I even have a Word file filled just with Ed Fuqua lessons/advice.

 

[bassinplace]

Quoted for so much truth.

I spend so much time lurking the Music Theory board on the DB side because of the sheer amount of knowledge being kicked around over there. I don't think I've posted over there even once because I'm nowhere near their level of comprehension, but the amount I've learned from reading and listening to their ideas and stories instead of butting in my unqualified opinion has lead to drastic improvements on my part.

Heck, I even have a Word file filled just with Ed Fuqua lessons/advice.

Ah! Looks like something I need to check out. Thanks for the tip.

 

[sammyp]

Last summer I took the plunge and bought myself a Bass guitar. Now this is not unusual for me because over the years I have has many whims and accumulated the necessary equipment to participate in them. But participation was often short lived. That was until I bought my bass.

You see I have taken to Bass like a duck to a drake.

I have reached the stage now where I think I am beginning to be able to play it. So therefore I thought other beginners might find it useful to hear how I got from beginner to student and student to novice.

So what did I do? Here are my top 10 tips for aspiring bassists.

1. Learn the scale of C Major.
2. Learn and be able to identify the notes in the C Major scale.
3. Learn and remember the numbers of the notes in the scale i.e. C is one, D is 2 etc.
4. From that learn the C Pentatonic Major scale. (Same as 2. above - omitting the 4th and 7th notes).
5. Learn the rest of the notes on the Fret board up to and including the first five frets on all strings. (This will be easy now you have learnt where the 8 notes are in C Major).
6. Learn about chords and how they relate to scale degrees.
7. Play and learn a simple song. There are loads of beginners lessons on You Tube.
8. Learn the C minor scale and understand how and why it varies from C Major.
9. Learn and understand the notes in Chords and why they work.
10. Play!! If you do the above you will be able to get to grips with hundreds if not thousands of songs.

Easy eh?

good points however when i teach i tend to be a bit more song oriented ....a bit less on scales at the beginning.

 

[Zegie]

good points however when i teach i tend to be a bit more song oriented ....a bit less on scales at the beginning.

Thanks. Sure thing and guess it depends on the individual. There is often lots of 'encouragement' to be obtained by getting a song under your belt early on.

To move on a stage, I'm wondering now how you might know when you have reached the point when you can actually say with a reasonable degree of honesty, confidence and conviction that you can play bass and have become a bassist?

Not a professional, virtuoso or a maestro, but a competent amateur player.

I mean like when and how do you know?

.... perhaps, more importantly, what do you have to be able to do to demonstate it?

Z.

 

[Eminentbass]

Thanks. Sure thing and guess it depends on the individual. There is often lots of 'encouragement' to be obtained by getting a song under your belt early on.

To move on a stage, I'm wondering now how you might know when you have reached the point when you can actually say with a reasonable degree of honesty, confidence and conviction that you can play bass and have become a bassist?

Not a professional, virtuoso or a maestro, but a competent amateur player.

I mean like when and how do you know?

.... perhaps, more importantly, what do you have to be able to do to demonstate it?

Z.

Sometimes you just have to dive in to find out. The dynamic between playing bass alone at home and with other musicians(even if it's just in your lounge or garage) is vastly different and some lessons only come with experience. Find a group of like minded people and just jam. Building up your repatoire will do wonders for your ear and confidence, although there might be the occasional cringe moment where you go blank

 

[Zegie]

Sometimes you just have to dive in to find out. The dynamic between playing bass alone at home and with other musicians(even if it's just in your lounge or garage) is vastly different and some lessons only come with experience. Find a group of like minded people and just jam. Building up your repatoire will do wonders for your ear and confidence, although there might be the occasional cringe moment where you go blank

Great advice - hey lifes too short - its gotta be done.

Cringe moments here we come!

Z.

 

[Beginner Bass]

I'd say after hitting the minor pentatonic, hit the C blues scale.