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Help for a Noob!

S

shatterd

Feb 24, 2008
204
1
#1
I am starting to play bass at age 40. Have played a little guitar for 2 years roughly but realize the bass is what I have more passion for.

OK...went out and just bought me a new G&L Tribute L-2000 and a Line 6 Lowdown studio 110 bass amp(75 watts).

There are no bass teachers around here. I live in a small obscure little town...although I am roughly 35-40 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC.

I have been doing some online lessons with Invalid Link Removed. They have been great thus far.

Can someone give me some advice on how to learn to play bass going the independent route? Please advise on books, lessons, DVD's etc. What should I be doing day in and out.

I also bought me a Zoom HD8 digital multitrack recorder. It's got some great drum patterns built in ...so I have been using that to play along with drums. Maybe I'll record myself eventually and try to write some music.

My next purchase will probably be a better amp. This little Line 6 sounds pretty good and will do for practice. It's plenty loud for the bedroom. I'd also like to possibly consider a 5 string bass in the future...maybe another G&L(Sweeet basses!!!).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I leave for a 12 day vacation on tuesday. I have made a commitment to get very serious when I return.

I would really love to get in a local band and do a few gigs, or maybe even just jam in a garage band or something. So I need to get my chops built up and perhaps I will try to play with other musicians sometime next year. I also want to record my own music on my new multitrack. What should I be doing to reach these goals?

I have been learning using fingerstyle, and I seem pretty comfortable with this technique. Having played guitar has really helped.

Thanks for listening and thanks for any advice!!
 
#2
Congratulations on finally coming over from the dark side ;). It's awesome that you're picking up a new instrument, and IMO you made some pretty good gear choices.

Personally, lessons and books were good (I used the Hal Leonard books written by Dan Dean... not too bad at all), but once I had the fundamental techniques down playing along with some basic songs was a great skill builder. Whatever you like to listen to and are familiar with - pop in some simpler stuff and start playing what you hear. I learned a lot of Nirvana, Toadies, and Everclear farily quickly. It also gave me a chance to play some differnet styles and broaden my scope of thinking.

Keep up the good work and have fun!
 
#3
Kool n thank you. I will check out the Hal Leaonard books. Playing along with some songs sounds like good advice. I guess I want to really put my ear to work and try to develop in that way. I'm not a big theory guy. I'd love to devlop my ear so that I can play what I hear.

I actually admire John Taylor alot and some of those old Duran Duran songs seem to have some kool, yet simple bass lines. I might try to learn some of those. I also admire Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree among other bands....but Myung might be a little tough at this stage.
 
#5
Hi there,
Congratulations on picking up the bass. I have found that it is a very necessary and in demand instrument, more so than even guitar (since there seem to be more guitarists than bass players around).
I started out self taught, just listening to music and learning songs by ear. That helped me build chops, but only to a certain point. Now that I have advanced some more I have come across some really cool things that definitely can take your playing to another level, like scales and modes. I really wish I had learned those from the beginning, so my recommendation to you would be to try and learn about that, it really makes a difference.
Also, if you can learn to read music, that is a skill that is kind of looked down upon by a lot of self taught people, but can definitely be very useful. It never hurt anyone to know how to read ;)
My best wishes to you pal, keep us posted on your progress.
 
#6
im also self taught ur best bet is like ur already doing online studying technique and also studying about ur bass and what every part of ur bass is about.

i mainly learn tabs (911tabs .com) i suggest trying different basslines from songs you like that the bassline vaires alot.

Also learn pick and fingers will genrally make you a better player. i started out using picks and know im learning to play with my fingers and learning pop and slap.
 
#7
What kind of music do you enjoy listening to? Focusing on the bass parts of music you already enjoy is a great place to start. Reading music is important but being able to pick up a bass part and improvise by ear can be even more useful (and probably will prove to be more useful). Learn the note values on the neck of the bass as that will help tremendously with being able to read charts. These will be the things that get you up and running fastest. You can continue to work on sight-reading and theory as you become more comfortable with the instrument.

Truth be told, in more than 33 years of playing, a number of those years professionally, I have been handed chord charts or nothing at all more than 95% of the time. If I were doing studio work, reading would be essential. But I enjoy the spontenaety of live playing and in that situation reading chord charts and being able to improvise have proven most valuable to me.
 
#8
Good to see you picked up the bass!

I was self taught for about a year and a half, and then I began taking lessons at the local music store. But my recommendation would be to pick up some Mel Bay books. Great stuff in there.

Other than that, you have a big advantage as far as playing with a band goes: You already play guitar! So when a guitarist switches cords, you can identify them and copy them on bass to get the root notes. Then just add some fills and some melodies; nothing fancy, but it'll sound good!

Good luck with bass! It's a fun and exciting instrument with limitless possibilities because once you've gotten really good at four strings you can move to five, then six, and on up to 11 or 12. :p
 
#9
I played clarinet since I was 8. Had a great theacher for music theory and clarinet. And performed a few times in a small orchestra.

So I had enough knowledge about music when I started playing at 17.

Through friends I met an experienced bassist, he was in his fifties, and he taught me all about how to play fancy fingerstyle bass. And left hand excerices to be as smooth and fast around the fretboard.

So I putted the two things toghether: classical teached music theory + the teachings of an experienced bassist.

And then I improved, correction: I am still learning and improving on things like: fretless bass, different techniques such as tapping.


I had that luck that my parents allowed me to go to music school. I now realize that it was a huge gift to devellop my skills.


But if you have less experience and don't have the benefit of musical training, don't worry.
It's all about commitment,... and having fun and enjoying your instrument.

Okay, it's not all about commitment, you still have to learn stuff.


I know a great site with great lessons on various aspect of playing music.

Bitesize lessons I call them. You get good correct basic info, and advance yourself on every subject.

Here it is: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].

Check out the box lessons by subject.

Also check out the general instruction forum here on Talkbass. Haven't been there myself, when I was a newbee here I wan't a newbee at bass.


Best of luck. I hope you have fun learning the bass. I know I did.

Greetings
 
#10
Don't wait until after your vacation to start your commitment to continued learning and improvement. Start now! Personally, I'm taking my family to the beach for two weeks leaving on July 12th and I already dread not being able to play my basses for that long. I will, as usual, visit a couple of local music stores at the beach to get my fix! In fact, I highly recommend it.
 
#11
I did roughly the same thing as you - I waited until I was 45 years old to pick up the instrument, and one of my first basses was a G&L Tribute L2000 (a gift from my lil' bro)...

I started completely cold with the Hal Leonard and Bert Casey DVD's. Although both DVD's were good, the Bert Casey DVD seemed a bit more geared to my speed.

2 years later, I now use a Tascam Bass Trainer and load up my favorite songs (or the songs I'm trying to play). The Trainer allows you to slow down the songs without affecting the pitch to terribly so you can play along at your own pace until you got it. It has inputs for your bass and line out and headphone jacks as well. It's a real useful tool and completely portable (my son took mine with him to NJ this week).

Anyway, hope you have fun. My only regret was not picking up the bass about 40 years ago.
 
#13
Well...I started at age 34...all self taught...I learned scales first, then did the circle of fifths...worked on them everyday. Learned the fretboard...learned different ways (places) to play different notes...made sense of the fretboard (in my own head), found patterns everywhere (wrote them down, kept them on computer). I also worked on finger/hand strength by doing permutations...
1234, 1243, 1324, 1342, 1423, 1432
2134, 2143, 2314, 2341, 2413, 2431
3124, 3142, 3214, 3241, 3412, 3421
4123, 4132, 4213, 4231, 4312, 4321


I have basically become obsessive about the bass.

About a month ago, I joined a local band (3 piece) and have since become obsessed with learning the songs...I have been playing about 2 to 3 hours a day (split between the morning and night), and have band practice twice a week. It is about the most fun I have ever had...well...ABOUT...

Just keep practicing, and keep obsessing...and welcome to the insanity!!!!!
 

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