Did You Take Lessons Before You Joined A Band???

[CaribooBass]

You should watch the video with Victor Wooten called music is a language. Watch it a few times so it sinks in. It will change your understanding.
I play about 6 different instruments so starting to play bass I had some advantages. The biggest was a band teacher in grade 6 that used what Wooten is talking about. If you always study on your own you will become good on your own. It is not as much fun playing with yourself as it is playing with others. ( pun intended).
This is a quote from a music teacher I had way back in the day. It made us laugh enough when she said it to alleviate the fear factor. I can also tell you she was right about a lot of things one of them being you can learn a lot on your own in a year and then go and play with other people. You will learn more in an hour than you did in those 365 days.

I am both self taught and I had lessons. Mostly on video with Scott’s bass lessons out of the U.K and some in person with another bass player from Church.

P.S. I have been fortunate to play with guys who are at a very high pro level. When they asked me to sit in I asked why when they knew I was a newbie? . They could see my dedication and that was all they needed.

 

[DirtDog]

Played in bands in and off and self taught before taking lessons. Took maybe a dozen lessons in total. for bass and guitar.

I took drum lessons for a couple of years before my first gig.

 

[Jrussblues]

In my band
Singers mother is a vocal instructor
Guitarist 1 had 6 months of lessons
Guitarist 2 had no lessons
Drummer had high school band
I had 2.5 years of lessons on guitar 25 years ago

We all have different backgrounds and work well together.

 

[Killing Floor]

No wrong answer in my book. I had lessons and already had violin and piano beatings before bass and scratched up a guitar a little. But I’m surprised at the poll so far. I’d be chicken to join a band without any lessons.

 

[Alexis Duntov]

Hi Everybody,

I feel like my poll question is pretty self explanatory, but I will add a bit of clarification just in case…

For those of you currently in a band (especially if it’s just a band for fun/non-professional band)- Prior to joining a band - Did you take any lessons or are you self taught???

I’m trying to figure out if I will need lessons prior to playing with others in a non-professional/laid back band…

I took two or three lessons last fall to learn the fretboard and some instrument orientation basics, <—- (Bassics??? ;-) ), but otherwise I’ve been using tabs and playing along to song for about 6 hours a week for the last year…I am also consistent with practice so it’s not like some weeks are 3 hours-I usually set a timer to make sure I really play and I have missed only a handful of practice days…

While I definitely don’t feel ready or competent enough to play with other people or start a band I’m wondering how I will feel about that in a year or two if I keep making progress on my own…

Just wondering if I’m going to have to shell out for lessons at some point in the process…

Please note: The question really isn’t to debate the merits of lessons vs no lessons and which is “superior”-I’m more curious if you were able to competently play with others just from learning on your own…

I personally found lessons to suck a lot of the fun and curiosity out the whole process and made playing feel like more of a chore than something that I “wanted” to do…Of course, I might’ve just needed to find a better instructor (or maybe only go once a month to save money???)…

If you didn’t take lessons-About how long did you practice on your own before you played with others???

No right or wrong answers here and I realize that everyone’s journey and musical background are different, but I’d be curious to know how far off I am before being good enough to play with other people for fun on the side as a hobby…

Thanks! \m/

I’m assuming you know the joke about the guy learning bass and taking lessons? The first lesson, his teacher says “learn all the notes on the E string”. Fine, guy learns the notes and goes back the following week. “Now learn all the notes on the A string”. Ok fine that’s week two. For week three, the teacher says “learn all the notes on the D string”. Done. Week 4, the student calls the teacher, says “I can’t make the lesson this week, I got a gig”.

 

[Ostie]

I took a few lessons, but not enough to hurt my style.

 

[MichelD]

No. I was recruited into a band with no bass experience and the guitar player showed me the parts I had to play. So it was sort of on-the-job lessons you might say.

 

[smeet]

I took violin lessons in school starting in 3rd grade, so I was learning reading and theory. I kept it up through high school, during which I started playing in bands, and took up the guitar. I attended Berklee for a couple of years as a violinist, while there I borrowed a crappy bass and joined a band. The rest as they say is not exactly history, but anyway it happened, and continues to happen.

 

[DJ Bebop]

No lessons.
Well, not completely true. My dad showed me blues changes in F and Bb then had me play a gig with hm at an Airbase. It was like rowing out in the middle of a lake and being thrown in and told to swim back to shore

I was ok on the blues, it was scary on those ballads. Kinda just slid my hand up and down the neck and plucked whatever came up

 

[gln1955]

I took guitar lessons when I was twelve and played off and on, not seriously, for the next thirty some years. Along the way I took a theory class in college, which was a big help. Finally picked up a bass and started playing in church the next week. Bands and stuff followed.

 

[sean_on_bass]

I was playing with my friends in the first few months of playing. That's partly why i picked it up in the first place as a teenager. Over 20 years later and i still have never had a bass lesson formally, but have played more paid gigs then i can count. But i am not discounting lessons, they quicken the learning process and i would be better now if i had them from a good teacher.

 

[Tommy V]

every playing experience is a lesson, if you're paying attention.

 

[Jon Lars]

Six years playing violin in orchestra. Four strings = four strings, only it's all pizzicato now.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

No bass specific lessons but I did play saxophone in my schools’ band which definitely provided some level of instruction and direction for my playing.

I did grow up in the era of Guitar Pro and Power Tabs. Ultimate Guitar provides a similar app for a small onetime fee and is pretty great for learning enough songs to start jamming with people.

 

[El_Charro]

You should watch the video with Victor Wooten called music is a language. Watch it a few times so it sinks in. It will change your understanding.
I play about 6 different instruments so starting to play bass I had some advantages. The biggest was a band teacher in grade 6 that used what Wooten is talking about. If you always study on your own you will become good on your own. It is not as much fun playing with yourself as it is playing with others. ( pun intended).
This is a quote from a music teacher I had way back in the day. It made us laugh enough when she said it to alleviate the fear factor. I can also tell you she was right about a lot of things one of them being you can learn a lot on your own in a year and then go and play with other people. You will learn more in an hour than you did in those 365 days.

I am both self taught and I had lessons. Mostly on video with Scott’s bass lessons out of the U.K and some in person with another bass player from Church.

P.S. I have been fortunate to play with guys who are at a very high pro level. When they asked me to sit in I asked why when they knew I was a newbie? . They could see my dedication and that was all they needed.

—————————————————-
WOW…I feel better having watched that video (and I mean I feel like that video was profound enough to make a lasting impact)…

I wanted to tell you thank you for recommending that…I really struggle with doing things technically vs artistically in other areas of my life (probably bc I’m pretty evenly split between my left and right brain on math and verbal)…

I like the philosophical idea that music can’t be “wrong” bc art is subjective and while applying technical aspects to it can add some improvements, it’s still art and art isn’t logical <——There’s no “wrong” way to make art if you really think about it…

That was deep/insightful for sure….

Thanks! \m/

 

[logdrum]

I voted lessons because I included lessons on piano as a child. But bass guitar no for the first gig but it was an easy 1, 4 5 down kind of thing. Needed lessons for jazz(walking , standards, Rhythm Changes. Also for salsa, I had to get that tumbao down, so I needed lessons for that. And then BL said he has a double bass for me (was not free but I was able to pay installments ). I definitely need lessons on that, Bass teacher thought that a grip exerciser may help and get one from his friend who has a boxing gym. Ended having boxing lessons as well and I was not very good but learned how to survive a beating. Moral of the story - to learn how to survive a fist fight, learn how to bow the double bass.

Today band leader gave me a chart for a song I only heard 1 hr before the gig. Lessons helped me in these situations. I am by no means a sight reader snob.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

Played Piano, Trumpet/French horn...my two friends and I had a junior-high teacher who started a three times per week after school guitar class. No Bass.

I did that with them until the summer and hopped on Bass and taught myself reading Bass clef and playing Bass. I started the next school year playing Bass in stage band.

One of my friends dropped playing. The other one and I, with the drummer in stage band and a keyboard player from the next town over, started our first for profit band. Five months later we were living the dream!

I liked the group lessons because my friends and I knew we wanted to form a band and Mr. Stanley was willing to help us get started. It was positive!

 

[thewildest]

I took music lessons before joining a band, but the lessons that had the most impact were on psychology, pathologic ego disorders, drama, karate and hypnosis.

 

[OOD]

Not really, maybe?

I played trumpet in band in high school then moved to bass. My band director showed me the names of the strings, fret names, and told me which frets to play on songs. The rest I learned from a DVD of Victor Wooten that came from my Ibanez starter. I was put in the high school band as I learned. That band ended up being the band I played with at and away from school for the next 5 years.

We were all lucky for the experience. Me especially since I went in with zero experience on bass and had a guitarist and drummer with several years in already. I learned a lot from the guitar player.

BTW Victor Wooten is a wonderful teacher.

 

[Jhass]

I played trombone from 4th grade all the way through college (I was really, really good!), and I took lessons the entire time. I've been playing bass for 7 years, I've been in a band for about 5, and I still take lessons regularly. I find that lessons with a great teacher (like mine) help me build a solid knowledge of music theory and technique that I apply ever time I play. And unlike some folks, I don't find that lessons take any of the fun or creativity out of playing music. On the contrary, for me, they enhance the fun because they help me build my understanding faster and more completely, and that (to me) is fun. I learn something new that enhances my playing every single time I have a lesson. And I don't find practice and exercises boring. Maybe I'm weird (well, ok, I am weird, but that's anther topic), but I find practicing very meditative.