Discovering something by yourself through trial, error, thought, and sweat really does mean A LOT more than just being told. It gives you a new dimension of understanding, rather than just taking things as written. You sense why things are the way they are.Wow, more self-taughts than I thought...
I'm glad I was self-taught. Like others have noted, there was more trial and error and re-adjustment of technique in the beginning. But now that I'm past most of that I feel like I have an advantage in that I might be a little more open-minded in terms of theory and technique than someone who had a traditional education.
I'm saying that with the utmost respect to all who were traditionally taught, many of you are far better and more creative than I to be sure
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Formal musical education or self taught?
- Thread starter jordan2
- Start date
Formal music education, but not on bass guitar itself, but I voted formal.
Only because you asked, but.... there is no substitute for practice!!!
Trumpet starting at 9, replaced with tuba (sousaphone) in 8th grade through 12th.
Guitar from age 10, including 1-2 years lessons to begin, another year of jazz guitar lessons at 14+
Piano, about a year of lessons at 11-12.
High school jazz band, 4 years, 3 playing jazz guitar, the class extended after school, so it was 2 hours playing daily plus an hour of concert or marching band with the Sousaphone. The last year I took over on bass as our previous bassist graduated.
The learning curve was short as I had the ability to read bass clef, knew the fret board, the dynamics needed, etc. and there wasn't a dearth of bass players standing in line for the job.
By no means was I an uber talent, but I have played with several.
Most enlightening, is to finish school one spring with a friend that was an "also ran", only to return in fall as a superstar, as he was in a back brace all summer practicing his trumpet. The guy became one of the top high school trumpet soloists at that point (western US, not just my school). Practice.
Only because you asked, but.... there is no substitute for practice!!!
Trumpet starting at 9, replaced with tuba (sousaphone) in 8th grade through 12th.
Guitar from age 10, including 1-2 years lessons to begin, another year of jazz guitar lessons at 14+
Piano, about a year of lessons at 11-12.
High school jazz band, 4 years, 3 playing jazz guitar, the class extended after school, so it was 2 hours playing daily plus an hour of concert or marching band with the Sousaphone. The last year I took over on bass as our previous bassist graduated.
The learning curve was short as I had the ability to read bass clef, knew the fret board, the dynamics needed, etc. and there wasn't a dearth of bass players standing in line for the job.
By no means was I an uber talent, but I have played with several.
Most enlightening, is to finish school one spring with a friend that was an "also ran", only to return in fall as a superstar, as he was in a back brace all summer practicing his trumpet. The guy became one of the top high school trumpet soloists at that point (western US, not just my school). Practice.
Finished 20 years as an Army Bandsman as a Euphonium, Tromebone and Tuba player. Needless to say, I had alot of instruction through the years and it has helped me pick up bass. I highly recommend that evehryone should benefit from some type of formal instruction. Yes, many people are very proud to be self taught, but I feel that being a good student first will make a better player in the long run.
first two years self taught followed by four years at university and now im back to teaching myself. 6 1/2 years of playing
All 3 for me. I started self taught for 6 years, I had a mentor in jazz that played sax and keys, and then I took lessons with some Nashville greats. As one of my teachers would say "In music, the answer is always both". There are multiple ways to do most things. To do things only one way can close one off to other avenues. There were advantages to all 3 things that I enjoyed.
