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Favorite Songs for a Beginner to Learn by Ear?

#22
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#25
I started with Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” myself. “Breathe” is pretty simple, “Time” isn’t too hard either.

My current student started with Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”.

That student has taught me not to assume all young people prefer current music. He’s really a classic rock kid by choice.
 
#28
LBS-bass said:
How old is your nephew? I'd steer clear of grandpa songs, and maybe just ask him for a list of songs he likes. Spend a few minutes listening to them to hear what the bass is doing. A lot of contemporary music is very simple on the bass line, so it might not be hard to identify things that are within his skill level. With a decent list from him you could even arrange the songs from easiest to most difficult and give him some goals.

I find, when playing with younger musicians, that their musical familiarity is a lot more vast than mine in some ways because they've been exposed to multigenerational music, whereas most folks my age rejected all the music from our parents generation and we tend to be more set in our ways from young adulthood. So another approach would be to ask a younger music student for some ideas.
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This is all spot on. I have a 16 year old who's been picking up my basses lately. While there's new artists he likes that I'm not familiar with and I will give a listen to and help him analyze the tracks, most of the time he's listening to Bowie, Rush, The Beatles, Queen, etc. Maybe I live in a bubble, but I know of LOTS of kids his age who are into stuff spanning many decades, and often prefer the "boomer music"!
 
#29
1958Bassman said:
Does he already play an instrument? If he's starting from scratch, have him learn the basics via some kind of program (like the Hal Leonard books with CD or DVD and make sure to tell him that when he's not using that, he's absolutely free to learn by ear as much as possible and this should be encouraged.

What kind of music does he like?
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Right on! It is a fun way to pass time and learn something(s) in the mix. A pencil and paper to write down what you are doing is helpful.
 
#31
Agree with all the others that there is no magic perfect song here, and it's all about picking something he likes that would be appropriate. Lots of current rock and pop has simple bass that would be perfect, just stay away from anything that goes below low E (unless he has a five string).
 
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#35
The first song I learned (ie. memorized) was Pink Floyd's Money. This is the lesson that walked a complete newb through the process. Super beginner here (6 months -/+) I still work on it to clean up transitions but mostly to feel like I play better than I do. Honestly that lesson is great to explain each step.

Money by Pink Floyd - Bass Lesson for Beginners

I'm also hoping that one day if/when I get lessons, the instructor will be blown away at my ability to knock out a Extended B Minor Pentatonic Scale....(whatever that is lol)
 
#38
He's 16, and he asked me to help him find a bass to buy that would be in his budget. I ended up giving him one of mine, that would have been way out of his budget and is a great bass. I asked him to put together a Spotify list of some songs he liked, and apparently being 45 means I have no idea what is going on with music, because I didn't recognize 90% of the bands/songs he sent me (Oneohtrix Point Never, Boards of Canada, Madlib, Sweet Trip, Beach House, Angel Olsen). He's pretty open minded, so I started with some songs everyone is familiar with, and he is figuring them out pretty quickly. He has some percussion background, so his timing is pretty good. Just getting the physiology of playing down was the first priority.
 
#40
GrooveWarrior said:
He's 16, and he asked me to help him find a bass to buy that would be in his budget. I ended up giving him one of mine, that would have been way out of his budget and is a great bass. I asked him to put together a Spotify list of some songs he liked, and apparently being 45 means I have no idea what is going on with music, because I didn't recognize 90% of the bands/songs he sent me (Oneohtrix Point Never, Boards of Canada, Madlib, Sweet Trip, Beach House, Angel Olsen). He's pretty open minded, so I started with some songs everyone is familiar with, and he is figuring them out pretty quickly. He has some percussion background, so his timing is pretty good. Just getting the physiology of playing down was the first priority.
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it sounds like you got him on the proper course. FWIW Ill be 45 end of the year... so I can relate to not knowing a lot of those bands... but what I do know is if you gave me that list I am sure I could jam along with the songs. (will have to put those bands in the itunes search and see if I can stomach any of those bands :D)

my original point was driving at this. his interests will guide your instruction IMO..

Kudos to you giving your older Bass to him!
I did similar with my nephew and let him extended-borrow my old precision for like 4 years.

Stay low!
 

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