Discouraged Seeking Perspective

[DrewGroove]

Been playing almost 2 months with no musical background. I'm taking Talking Bass's Chord Tones Essentials course and loving it. My problem is learning/playing songs leaves me discouraged and directionless. I learn some basic songs which go well. Or I learn some riffs but I am not learning full songs. With songs I get excited about, I find often that the rhythm is too hard or it's too fast and It doesn't feel great. Like, I am not sure what music to play to get me to the songs I want to play! I would love to play metal/funk.


On the other hand, learning Theory is fun and feels like a project full of "Ah-Ha!" moments. But that progress feel disproportionate to my abilities/motivation to play with songs. I'm more inspired to learn theory right now than to play songs. It feels like scrolling on Netflix and not knowing what to watch...

*For context, I've been picking up/dropping instruments my whole life. This is the furthest I have come/closest I've been to sticking with it!*

 

[buldog5151bass]

If a song is hard, break it into pieces. Then put the pieces together.

 

[Frampton]

There are so many bass covers and instructional videos on YouTube. If you want to learn complete songs, that is the place to go. There's so much great content. Check out this channel: TJH3113

 

[Stumbo]

2 months? ...ya gotta enjoy the journey...maybe check back in 20 months after practicing a couple hours a day.

Hey, we all struggled at first...learning the blues is a great way to start out and work on everything you need to learn to move ahead.

And, we're still all learning 5, 10, 20...40 years later. It's a life long hobby.

Enjoy the journey, be patient.

Find a teacher will help you short cut a lot.

Good luck!

PS. Check out the my Learning Links(Newbie Links on the TB bottom banner) thread for lots of great TB info that may help you along the way.

 

[Wasnex]

Been playing almost 2 months with no musical background. I'm taking Talking Bass's Chord Tones Essentials course and loving it. My problem is learning/playing songs leaves me discouraged and directionless. I learn some basic songs which go well. Or I learn some riffs but I am not learning full songs. With songs I get excited about, I find often that the rhythm is too hard or it's too fast and It doesn't feel great. Like, I am not sure what music to play to get me to the songs I want to play! I would love to play metal/funk.


On the other hand, learning Theory is fun and feels like a project full of "Ah-Ha!" moments. But that progress feel disproportionate to my abilities/motivation to play with songs. I'm more inspired to learn theory right now than to play songs. It feels like scrolling on Netflix and not knowing what to watch...

*For context, I've been picking up/dropping instruments my whole life. This is the furthest I have come/closest I've been to sticking with it!*

Learning to play is something you do incrementally. You can't expect to pick up the bass and two months later masterfully play fast, highly-technical music. Over time you will get there if you do the work. In the mean time, pick out and learn some songs that are appropriate for your level of development. Something that is challenging, but also achievable.

If learning songs leaves you discouraged then maybe music is not your bag. I used to feel almost an irresistible urge to play, and through some strange twist of fate I was lucky enough to be working pro for a long time. But over the years I lost that drive.

Around 2008 which was towards the end of my bass playing career, I thought it might be cool to learn guitar. I taught myself several different shapes of bar chords, so I can lay down loops and solo. But to this day I don't really know any songs, and I don't really have any interest in learning songs. Learning songs and learning how to really play guitar would take way more discipline than I have, and since I no longer have that irresistible urge to play music like I did when I was younger, it's pretty obvious that I am never going develop as a guitarist. It is what it is. I still pull out the guitar and noodle around from time to time, and still read changes and play my basses fairly regularly.

IMHO follow your interests and have fun. Maybe your bag is composition, so learn about theory if you find it interesting. If it turns out you don't want to write music, it's not a waste as theory can certainly help you be a better player if you learn to use it.

Let your music be a hobby and don't worry about ever making a dime. That's probably the best advice I can give you. As long as you are having fun, you don't need any other form of compensation.

If you really want to learn to play, you have to have discipline enough to work at it for a significant amount of time. It's not all fun if you really want to be a player. You put in a lot of hard work so you can enjoy the benefits of the work later.

 

[fearceol]

Been playing almost 2 months

Some people are still getting used to the physical feel of the bass after this amount of time.

I totally agree with Stumbo's post. Take things in small incremental steps. Start with easier songs (again..Stumbo's blues recommendation is spot on), then gradually make them harder. The main thing is to have fun and not worry too much about progress. This will happen with regular practice. "Progress watching" is like monitoring you hair growth...you notice nothing for ages, then one morning you look in the mirror and realise you need a haircut.

Dont let frustration set in.

Best of luck on your music journey.

 

[Malcolm35]

Been playing almost 2 months with no musical background. I'm taking Talking Bass's Chord Tones Essentials course and loving it. My problem is learning/playing songs leaves me discouraged and directionless.

Blues songs are easy as they all use the same 12 bar Blues chord progression.

I///|IV///|I///|I///|
IV///|IV///|I///|I///|
V///|IV///|I///|V///| go back to the top
and repeat or if ending end on the I chord.​

Rock and most Pop songs will use a four line verse format. Two verses a Chorus, another verse and repeat the chorus ending the song by repeating the last line of the chorus. Most will use the same chord progression through out the song. The Chorus may throw in a ii or vi, but, all styles do seem to follow the same basic chord progression.

Google can find fake chord on just about any song you want. Most note for note guys say that fake chord is not exact and this is true. Fake chord is bare bone information. It's what you do with that information that makes how your song ends up. But, IMO is a great way to get started.

Get the progression and pound out roots for now. Later add the 5 - root on the first beat and the 5 on the 3rd beat of each measure. After that get the octave 8 into your bass lines (R-5-8-5). As your skill level advances add more chord tones and or melody notes into your bass lines.

Not sure what you are using to play your songs; chord charts, fake chord, lead sheet, Standard Notation, or tab. If tab move on to one of the other ways. Tab at first lets you play the song, but, how many tabs can you keep in memory. Plus it does nothing to teach you about how music thinks and how this lends itself to how a song ends up being written. No music leader is going to hand you tabbed sheet music. They probably will hand everyone the same sheet of fake chord. Spend some time now learning how to play from fake chord. Eagles - Hotel California (Chords)

So, grab some sheet music and follow the chords pounding out roots. Expanding your bass line with some of the other chord notes as your skill level develops. I like sheet music that also has the lyrics as I sing the lyrics under my breath so I know where everyone else is in the song. Lyrics are my road map with notes of the active chord providing my bass line.

Good luck and happy trails...

 

[bolophonic]

Just keep jamming out to simple tunes while you build your skills. You gotta keep it rewarding while you put in the hard work. Especially if you are self-taught.

 

[lokikallas]

Start with the easy ones. I learned by playing along with AC/DC. Then started some easy Metallica. I was lucky enough to play trumpet and trombone in the band from 4th grade through high school, which taught me theory.

 

[Goatrope]

Ok, before we all get too far OP, help us out a little.

What ever happened with that Schecter Stiletto Extreme 4-string you were about to receive nearly 4 years ago? Seems like you were pretty excited and had gotten a bunch of great advice for starting out.

Tell us about that experience, what you did at that time to get going, what didn’t work, and maybe we can understand where you got lost.

Direction for a new bassist?

 

[TreySonagras]

If you are iPhone/iPad/Mac equipped have you played around with Garage Band yet? It is pretty easy to create backing tracks with a drummer and a couple of other instruments. During this lockdown I have been making 32 bar segments of songs I have been wanting to learn. Tempo and keys are adjustable so practice time can be flexible.
Or just select a drummer and set the tempo and style to match the song you’re working. Use that as a metronome, it’s a lot more fun than just a click!

 

[Mushroo]

Hi Drew, so let me ask you this: Walk us through the process of how you learn a song. There are some great players and educators here on TalkBass (alongside the enthusiastic amateurs like me ) and maybe if you spell out your song-learning process, we can give you some tips to work through the roadblock.

For example (you say you are interested in metal) if you wanted to learn a classic Sabbath song like "Paranoid." What would be your approach? Talk us through the steps.

(There's no "right answer" or "wrong answer," because we all have different learning styles.)

 

[Richard Martin]

I learned how to play bass by learning how to cover songs on the guitar. First I learned the basics. The names of the strings, the rudimentary scale and how to tune. Next I learned all of the basic chords. Then the first song I learned to play was a little 2 chord song that moved back and forth between C and F. It seems simple but what I was actually learning was timing. Next up my big brother taught me how to play Hey Joe. I obviously wasn't very good at it because my brother told me that I'd never be able to play anything. But I didn't give up and I kept practicing that song over and over again until I had the rhythm down. Then there is a little riff in there that the guitar and bass play together instead of the chords. That was my introduction to playing bass. From there I branched out into playing other songs. CCR stuff, Steppenwolf. But I found that the easiest way to learn how to play these songs was by figuring out what the root notes were. At some point I noticed that I don't hear songs the same way that most people do. Most people hear the whole song. I don't. I hear the different instruments and patterns that are played in a song. I'm not very good at remembering lyrics, but I'm killer at remembering melodies. This ability is critical to being able to figure out bass lines. The root notes are easy. The actual way a song is played on bass takes an advanced skill to learn how to do. But don't rush it or get discouraged. If you have the ability to learn this way then it will come to you.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Take lessons.

 

[mambo4]

I'm more inspired to learn theory right now than to play songs.

Or I learn some riffs but I am not learning full songs.

Mistakes I made in my youth as well.
What changed my focus from theory and riffs to entire songs was having a gig.
when a band is depending on me, i am very inspired to learn the entire song.
join a band.

 

[brianrost]

I started playing at the height of prog rock and fusion. No way was I going to be playing that in 2 months. I learned blues and bluegrass (roomed with a banjo player for 2 years) first. If you can't play simple stuff, you can't play complex stuff.

Don't be discouraged at not being able to play fast. Until you can play parts correctly at slow tempos there's no reason to try to play them any faster. If metal is your thing, start out learning slower, simpler metal tunes, like early Sabbath rather than highly technical modern metal. Even in the fast part of the instrumentals, on the early albums Geezer is jamming on one chord using minor blues patterns, just really fast. A good example of how learning blues is actually useful.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

In the days of isolation from personal instruction, I recommend Scott’s Bass lessons. He isn’t my sole source of information/training, but for the money and quantity of information, he makes learning interesting.

 

[Liam Wald]

I really hope that this doesn't make you feel more discouraged but the truth is that two months of playing any instrument with no musical background is absolutely nothing in terms of learning an instrument/music..
If you really want to do this you need to understand that learning music and applying it to an instrument takes a very long time. If you are playing an hour a day five days a week that is only about two hundred hours a year. Be advised that it will take many hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to get good at it.
If this is what you really want to do find a good teacher, put in the time, do the work, and be patient.
You can do it and you will get there but you realistically cannot expect much after two months.

 

[DrewGroove]

Thank you, EVERYONE!

Ok, before we all get too far OP, help us out a little.

What ever happened with that Schecter Stiletto Extreme 4-string you were about to receive nearly 4 years ago? Seems like you were pretty excited and had gotten a bunch of great advice for starting out.

Tell us about that experience, what you did at that time to get going, what didn’t work, and maybe we can understand where you got lost.

Direction for a new bassist?

Very very happy that I still have that bass guitar! I have tried playing the bass many times in my life - note that my account here was made in 2012

Last time I only learned a few riffs with tabs and got frustrated because it felt like I wasn't learning anything. Just party tricks that would only apply if someone asked me to play that 1 specific song.

This time around I am stoked about learning how Chords are constructed. Like how a full scale is made up of the root, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th (2) 11th (4) 13(6) extensions. That blew my mind! And I am working on the circle of 4ths on 1 string to learn all of my notes.

I can't read music. And I have used the "fake chords" before to learn some church songs. Maybe tabs throw me off?

Hi Drew, so let me ask you this: Walk us through the process of how you learn a song. There are some great players and educators here on TalkBass (alongside the enthusiastic amateurs like me ) and maybe if you spell out your song-learning process, we can give you some tips to work through the roadblock.

For example (you say you are interested in metal) if you wanted to learn a classic Sabbath song like "Paranoid." What would be your approach? Talk us through the steps.

(There's no "right answer" or "wrong answer," because we all have different learning styles.)

Right now that looks like a lot of googling to find what song to play and not being sure what to play. Like is it too easy? too hard? I wish I had a progressive list of awesome songs to challenge me lol! then when I find a song I look up the tabs and try to play it. That looks like taking things 1 bar at a time and memorizing the tabs/movements and then trying to play it up to speed. Sometimes using a metronome.

I just tried learning I Want You Love by Chic and felt like learning the tabs vs learning the rhythm was a whole different thing. That's what felt discouraging. All the weird rests and my inexperience with keeping time made it very apparent how far off I am even if I can "play the notes"

 

[Nobis17]

Dude! I'm glad to hear you are trying your hardest to stick with it. So many great suggestions here. Since you can't read music, I would definitely put that on an "ultimate" goal list. For now, pick 5 songs (two that are super easy for you, two that you think are near top of your ability, and one that is completely outside of your ability - aka a project song) and practice them/play along until you master them all.
But while you are doing it, pay attention to the notes on the fretboard you are playing (and commit them to memory), the chord progression/pattern, and any specific shapes that tend to repeat themselves (Gary Willis plays almost completely based on shapes). Biggest thing, keep it interesting and fun FOR YOU!