• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Good songs to teach a beginner?

#82
I'm a bass teacher who teaches a lot of young beginners at a few schools
I'm not as vigilant at updating this list as I wish I was, but it might help you start off.

Bass Rep List.PNG
 
  • Like
Reactions: J-Bassomatic, diegom, jj.833 and 6 others
#83
I'm in the same boat with a friend's wife. She asked me to teach her how to play bass and we've had two lessons so far. I spoke with her about theory and why it's important to understand how music works and she's been very receptive. We went over the major scale and triads, and she's picked up on it faster than I expected that she would. As far as songs that relate to the major scale, and her genre of musical taste, I have picked Yellow-Coldplay, When You Were Young- the Killers, and My Name Is Jonas-Weezer. These songs are super simple, and will allow her to work on basic technique. I honestly believe that a little theory and some examples of the lessons are the best way to learn.
 
#84
Start with 3 chord blues. That will cover a great deal of modern music. Just learning riffs isn't going to help your student understand the concept of bass playing. I would also teach playing in a two feel and a four feel when starting lessons. Just my two cents.
 
#86
I was/am in the same boat, started playing about 2-3 months ago. I started knowing that I wanted to learn to play the instrument, so I asked myself what made me want to.

The best answer I can give to that is that I started "hearing" the bass line more in songs I like, and wanted to play them. And possibly the best example, and the one I went for first, is Comfortably Numb.

It's one of my favourite lead solos, but increasingly I started to hear how the bass drives it underneath, just by the 5 repeating, descending notes. So a combination of mucking around to find them and then finding the online sites - and discovering happily that I was in the pretty much the right place - got me started. Then you find the rest of the song and realise that it's fairly straightforward and played at quite a slow pace, so you can take your time and concentrate on clean notes. Sometimes!

As long as no-one was expecting any of the little fills that you get on live versions, I had it down fairly quick to a reasonable standard. You get a great feeling when you can play it through whole for the first time.

I've managed to take it on to several other Floyd songs, but one that stands out is High Hopes from Division Bell. Again, a slow tempo but a few more notes to learn, the final chorus and solo has the same 9 notes repeating throughout. And there's a bit of basic slide in the early part of the verse, which offers a fun new thing to learn as well.

Of course, if she isn't a Floyd fan then please ignore all the above!
 
#89
I definitely agree with "Stir it Up". That was the first real song i ever learned. Simple but O so good.

bass12 said:
My first thought was “Stand By Me”. Classic line, classic chord progression.

“Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay” (Otis Redding)
“Stir It Up” (Bob Marley)
“Buffalo Soldier” (Bob Marley)
“Lively Up Yourself” (Bob Marley)
“Jamming” and “Exodus” (Bob)
“Le Freak” and “Good Times” (Chic)
“Ain’t No Sunshine” (Bill Withers)
“There’s Nothing Like This” (Omar)
“All Blues” (Miles Davis)
Most songs by The Police or Sting
Any song by U2
Click to expand...
 
#90
I've always recommended "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner to real beginners...simple changes, but it also lets them use their right hand to drive the song...I learned off Kiss "Alive," which also has a lot of simple, interesting walking lines on it...
 
#93
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
Click to expand...
Thisx1000. I taught my niece guitar a few years back. Tried showing her 12 bar blues, pentatonic major/minor, some theory and how to count time signatures, etc...the stuff I thought would be good building blocks. Went nowhere quick. I ditched all that and asked her what she wanted to learn. It was all Taylor Swift tunes. So I learned a few and showed them to her. After that, I learned a few more with her there, so she could see the process. Now she's pretty good, and learns off youtube and really enjoys playing. Whenever I see her and we jam together, I still try to sneak a little theory in on her.
 
  • Like
Reactions: diegom
#98
nilorius said:
Nothing good to learn, all song the same, primitive.
Click to expand...
Lessee, what/where is the beat, what to listen for and how to recognize things played in a song, LH/RH coordination, musical feel, playing all the notes the same loudness, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, getting familiar with the instrument (where am I & where do I go next?), getting comfortable even just holding the instrument while playing, hearing how & if what you’re playing fits in the song, et al.

Which items in that list constitute the “nothing” that no skilled musician would have any need of? The rank beginner typically has none of that and is probably overwhelmed in a whirlwind notes in busier tunes. It’s hard to oversimplify when your student is at square one so that “nothing” actually has a lot to give.
 
#99
StatesideRambler said:
Lessee, what/where is the beat, what to listen for and how to recognize things played in a song, LH/RH coordination, musical feel, playing all the notes the same loudness, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, getting familiar with the instrument (where am I & where do I go next?), getting comfortable even just holding the instrument while playing, hearing how & if what you’re playing fits in the song, et al.

Which items in that list constitute the “nothing” that no skilled musician would have any need of? The rank beginner typically has none of that and is probably overwhelmed in a whirlwind notes in busier tunes. It’s hard to oversimplify when your student is at square one so that “nothing” actually has a lot to give.
Click to expand...
Nothing good to learn, all song the same, primitive.
I didn't wrote that - that is kind of mistake. The first reply i wrote was a song Donna Lee in slow mode to learn.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back