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Good songs to teach a beginner?

#61
Hambone70 said:
Basic theory, along with tunes that reinforce that learning. It is SO much easier to learn songs with a basic knowledge of theory, rather than rote-memorizing songs.

Teach a (wo)man to fish...
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As I stressed in my original post, there will be exercises. That will include right hand and left hand exercises but many of them will be based around scales. Theory in a vacuum is also useless and is likely to bore and discourage the student.
 
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#62
Chill will all the Nirvana bashing. The point of asking this was to get recommendations for SIMPLE bass lines. I'm not trying to teach her Les Claypool.

1) Not all Nirvana bass lines follow the root notes.
2) The chord progressions for many Nirvana songs are actually very unique and involve a lot of key changes. Much more so than some of the songs that supposedly have "more to teach."
3) They are within the reach of someone who's basically never played before. Even just being able to play the "In Bloom" changes cleanly would teach her a lot.
 
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#63
NoSlapForYou said:
Chill will all the Nirvana bashing. The point of asking this was to get recommendations for SIMPLE bass lines. I'm not trying to teach her Les Claypool.

1) Not all Nirvana bass lines follow the root notes.
2) The chord progressions for many Nirvana songs are actually very unique and involve a lot of key changes. Much more so than some of the songs that supposedly have "more to teach."
3) They are within the reach of someone who's basically never played before. Even just being able to play the "In Bloom" changes cleanly would teach her a lot.
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Don't keep us in the dark to long... maybe a follow up post with your decision, and if she took the recommendation well?
 
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#67
NoSlapForYou said:
As I stressed in my original post, there will be exercises. That will include right hand and left hand exercises but many of them will be based around scales. Theory in a vacuum is also useless and is likely to bore and discourage the student.
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You're right - theory in a vacuum isn't any fun at all! But learning a simple theory element like R-5, and then playing a song she knows that uses that interval, makes it so much easier to recognize that interval in other songs, and be able to play them without rote 'put this finger here' memorization.
 
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#73
NoSlapForYou said:
In this time of self-isolation, a friend asked me to help her learn bass via video call. Right now she is in extremely early stages of her playing. I want to teach her some fingering and fretting exercises. But only playing that stuff can get boring.

Suggestions for songs to learn? Because I'm around 40 and started when I was 14, most of the songs I know are by Nirvana. I never did bother to learn many other people's songs as an adult, being focused more on writing my own songs. She's roughly my age, so stuff that's in both our frame of reference would be good.

Ideas? She already knows "Smoke on the Water."
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Under the Bridge by RHCP
 
#76
I don't get all the Nirvana badmouthing. If she is in her 40s it should be well known stuff to her and maybe she even dug them as a teen/twen. Also, they have some iconic bass riffs and also some pretty awesome ones. Lounge Act was already mentioned. In Bloom is a cool song to learn string skipping, pausing/dampening and rhythm changes.
Also, everyone on this planet will recognize Come as you are, and it's also very easy to play.

My first song was Polly by Nirvana... go figure. You can easily play it with just the bass and recognize it. But with an acoustic guitar its basically complete.

Like many people said, I guess what would work best is music she really likes a lot. I am pretty sure it won't be Teen Town ;)
 
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#77
diegom said:
^^^ This +1.
She will get a bigger sense of accomplishment, because she's learning the songs SHE wants to play, even if simplified or changed to address a certain technique.

Diego
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I have to agree with this as it will keep her interested. If she is very early I would suggest Dazed and Confused by Zep. A good one to get acquainted with the fretboard.
 
#79
The Kinks - You really got me
Queen - Another one bites the dust
Yes - Owner of a lonely heart
Neil Young - Rockin’ in the free world

Relatively simple songs with very limited notes...but much more about rhythm and timing. Time to start counting out loud or clapping the beats. :)
 

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