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Hello from a very new bassist!

Forty-Thirty

Forty-Thirty

Guest
Feb 22, 2015
399
1,208
Arkansas
#1
Hello! I'm Jenn, and I am a (very, very, very) new bassist. I have wanted to learn for years, but six years of grad school and a new career prevented me from picking it up. Now that I'm a few years into my career, I'm jumping in head first! I am absolutely beside myself, and have been practicing about an hour a day even though I don't have an amp yet. I'll buy one this week, but meanwhile, I have been practicing with getting my fingers comfortable on the strings, as this is the first string instrument I've ever played. I play saxophone, so I'm not new to learning music, just bass.

I'm playing a Jay Turser bass and am looking at amps. I'm all ears for any tips (techniques, books, equipment, etc) you might have for beginners.

By day, I'm a psychology professor, and I live with my husband and two cats. I'm a hardcore Zeppelin fan, but I know it'll be a while before I can play most of JPJ's bass lines. ;)

I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I get started, so hopefully I will be chatting with you all again soon.
 
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#3
From what you told us I'm sure you can read standard notation, which is going to help, only problem with that is most garage bands (semi-pro) pass out fake chord sheet music which will only show the chord name and the lyrics. See a Cmaj7 chord coming up in the song and your fingers need to know what chord tones are in the Cmaj7 chord. Right at first you will probably only play the Root (C) note and the 5th (G) note, but, you have to know where that G note is. Take heart.... The 5th of any note is always from the root - up a string and over two frets, or same fret down a string. Piece of cake. Our bass is full of patterns like this, once you see them it all falls into place.

With your sax experience the bass is going to be a piece of cake.

Welcome to the bottom end.
 
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#4
:thumbsup: Thanks, y'all!

Basshappi, thanks for the book suggestion! I am taking lessons sort of informally. My friend/colleague (frolleague?) is teaching me, but as far as I know, he is going to use more of a hands-on process rather than books. I want books to supplement that in my own time. Right now, I've got your suggestion, Walking Bass Lines, in my cart, as well as the Hal Leonard books. I'm looking at Bass Fitness (which I have read is very helpful) and Bass Fretboard Basics by Paul Farnen. On the latter, would the other books more or less cover the same things, or would this be useful as a supplement to the others?

Malcolm, thank you for this tip about positioning! That will help me find the notes I need more intuitively. I can see myself getting caught up in trying to remember the specific string/fret for the note I want, but this will make it easier. I am planning to take a couple of music theory courses over the summer--I haven't had any to speak of since I took piano lessons/was in band. That should help a lot, too.
 
#5
So, fun story: I called my dad this afternoon to tell him I've started learning bass. My dad is a very accomplished pianist, and I knew he also briefly played the trumpet when he was a teen. When I told him, he said, "Oh wow! That was my second favorite instrument!" I said, "WHAT?!" 30 years, and he had never mentioned it. He said, "Yeah, I played it all the time for about 15 years and loved it!" I guess playing bass is a family affair! Funny how musical tastes can run in families like that. It was a great surprise!
 
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#6
Welcome, Jenn. That's a cool story about your dad. The things we learn from our parents when we get older, right?

I'm new to bass myself, but I have been playing guitar since I was in high school (mid-70's). My advantage was knowing where the roots are but after picking up on the pattern thing that Malcolm talked about, the rest has been easy.

To add to what Malcolm said, the 3rd is always one string up and one fret down. With those three notes you can play a simple rock & roll bass line, 1-3-5-3, 1-3-5-3, 1-3-5-3. Add in the 6th, right below the 3rd, and the 7th, just one fret up, and you can do a 1-3-5-6-7-6-5-3 progression. Listen to some LZ songs and you'll hear variations of those patterns and before you know it, you'll be playing some Zep!

I started messing around with the bass when I bought an acoustic bass in the spring of '13. I figured out the patterns and then used them to practice my fingering technique and getting used to moving around the fretboard. After being thrust in to the position of bass player in my band, I have learned a lot more just by learning the songs. It really is just a bunch of easy patterns. Once you know where the root is, the rest is duck soup.
 
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#7
Thanks, Gui! I went by the music store over lunch today for Amps 101 (I feel very out of my element) and played on an amp for the first time! It was magical. I can't wait to try some of these patterns out once I get my amp (which should happen in a few days). This will be really helpful! And listening to Zep to hear these patterns? That's the best kind of homework. :D
 
#11
Forty-Thirty said:
Hello! I'm Jenn, and I am a (very, very, very) new bassist. I have wanted to learn for years, but six years of grad school and a new career prevented me from picking it up. Now that I'm a few years into my career, I'm jumping in head first! I am absolutely beside myself, and have been practicing about an hour a day even though I don't have an amp yet. I'll buy one this week, but meanwhile, I have been practicing with getting my fingers comfortable on the strings, as this is the first string instrument I've ever played. I play saxophone, so I'm not new to learning music, just bass.

I'm playing a Jay Turser bass and am looking at amps. I'm all ears for any tips (techniques, books, equipment, etc) you might have for beginners.

By day, I'm a psychology professor, and I live with my husband and two cats. I'm a hardcore Zeppelin fan, but I know it'll be a while before I can play most of JPJ's bass lines. ;)

I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I get started, so hopefully I will be chatting with you all again soon.
Click to expand...
 
#12
Hi Jenn, I just joined also so I thought I'd share a tip about a terriffic bass player also named Jenn with the "Travis Larsen Band". Check them out on You-Tube. You won't be disappointed. Ciao, Doc
 
#15
Jenn - let me recommend Hal Leonard's "Bass Scale Finder" or similar. It's 100+ pages and after a day, you will realize that it only needs to be 20 or so pages as the scales are all movable (as others have mentiined). This is good in terms of presenting the scales and modes. So, you'll learn about a 7th chord and also about mixolydian mode. Enjoy!

Edit: Oh, and many on this forum are fans of Sweetwater. They are not my top choice due to price, but their 600+ page catalogue that they send you a few times a year is wonderful. I would recommend purchasing a pick or whatever from them just to get the catalogues.
 
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