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I Thought I was an intermediate.. Reality check
- Thread starter diverse379
- Start date
My view, IMO, to be considered for a beginner's bass lesson course would be knowing no more than how to pluck 1/8 notes with right hand, play the chromatic scale. Play a major and minor scale in all keys, play the pentatonic scale in all keys and know every note on the neck. That's just my view of what most people should know after playing for less than 6 months.
I ran through the scale mode practice again
I certainly see the value in being able to play in a key
anywhere on the neck
and the different fingering patterns
make for different inspirations
its is important to get that tactile thing going on
I dont remember to whom this post is directed. but ..... here goes.
I am not sure why We are discussing theory?
I suppose when I said modes it went that way.
but the lesson was really about playing the G scale from the third fret
then from the fifth fret statting on A
then from the seventh fret starting on B etc
the lesson was not theory laden at all it was about what fingers to use
and then play the scales
then apply them in a context
it was not a lot of thinking but it was a lot of execution
I dont want you to get the wrong idea
the word mode was as much theory as was given
the rest was putting finger to string.
and playing
I am not sure why We are discussing theory?
I suppose when I said modes it went that way.
but the lesson was really about playing the G scale from the third fret
then from the fifth fret statting on A
then from the seventh fret starting on B etc
the lesson was not theory laden at all it was about what fingers to use
and then play the scales
then apply them in a context
it was not a lot of thinking but it was a lot of execution
I dont want you to get the wrong idea
the word mode was as much theory as was given
the rest was putting finger to string.
and playing
That's a great way of teaching modes and their application in the beginner stage! Sure wish I had known this earlier.
OP, Thanks for sharing!
Learn songs...lots of em...get your groove on...learn to tap into the groove, the rhythmic pocket of the song...the rhythmic acumen necessary to play with bands is something that comes with experience..as far as learning the modes...they are a way of codifying the notes, the pitches...yes they are excellent, but don't get hung up on em...slowly integrate the scales and arpeggios to your vocabulary...easier if you work with them via songs....get together with someone who already speaks the modes language..a lot easier to assimilate stuff that way... Otherwise it can be quite mathematical, academic, and hard to make sense of... I respect Adam and all teachers who use these concepts in their pedagogy...are you a beginner, intermediate ? Let your community determine that.. One things for certain...we are all students..
I can understand the pressure to be rappidly playing in public and be useful but doing that you'll be very boring but you'll support the other. I get that. But Learning scale the way Adam and Pacman talk about insure that you have a vocabulary from the get go and that the whole neck is known territory. If you start playing immediatly and never practice anything else ... you may end up only playing root-five and be stuck in the first 5 frets.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
I've come to believe
that there is an art to writing like this
without it coming off as being TOTALLY obnoxious
I think it has to do with where you put your line breaks
and your periods
it's a writing style i first encountered on another forum
yet the person who did it, didn't do so with any style
so - and he kinda did it like this here below...
it became quite
obnoxious
looked as though everything
he
said
had some sort of meaning beyond it's meaning
and he
thought it needed to be laid out in
such a way
anyhow, I called him out on it one day because it annoyed me and found out he had some sort of physical ailment that caused him to have to write that way. Forgot what it was. But I felt bad and it never bother me again
.
OP doing it here didn't really bug me for some reason. I guess because it's not difficult to read.
what was this thread about? Oh yeah....
I like Adam Nitti. He was the only staff BP magazine writer who's lessons I ever really got anything out of. Think I'll check out his site.
And fwiw - Flea didn't know any bass theory until maybe about the time of Californication. I don't think that would have given him the label of beginner. Bass theory beginner, perhaps. But bassist, artist, and musician are words that are defined by much much more IMO than how much theory we know, and how we can relate it to our instrument.
that there is an art to writing like this
without it coming off as being TOTALLY obnoxious
I think it has to do with where you put your line breaks
and your periods
it's a writing style i first encountered on another forum
yet the person who did it, didn't do so with any style
so - and he kinda did it like this here below...
it became quite
obnoxious
looked as though everything
he
said
had some sort of meaning beyond it's meaning
and he
thought it needed to be laid out in
such a way
anyhow, I called him out on it one day because it annoyed me and found out he had some sort of physical ailment that caused him to have to write that way. Forgot what it was. But I felt bad and it never bother me again
.OP doing it here didn't really bug me for some reason. I guess because it's not difficult to read.
what was this thread about? Oh yeah....
I like Adam Nitti. He was the only staff BP magazine writer who's lessons I ever really got anything out of. Think I'll check out his site.
And fwiw - Flea didn't know any bass theory until maybe about the time of Californication. I don't think that would have given him the label of beginner. Bass theory beginner, perhaps. But bassist, artist, and musician are words that are defined by much much more IMO than how much theory we know, and how we can relate it to our instrument.
I've come to believe
that there is an art to writing like this
without it coming off as being TOTALLY obnoxious
I think it has to do with where you put your line breaks
and your periods
it's a writing style i first encountered on another forum
yet the person who did it, didn't do so with any style
so - and he kinda did it like this here below...
it became quite
obnoxious
looked as though everything
he
said
had some sort of meaning beyond it's meaning
and he
thought it needed to be laid out in
such a way
anyhow, I called him out on it one day because it annoyed me and found out he had some sort of physical ailment that caused him to have to write that way. Forgot what it was. But I felt bad and it never bother me again
OP doing it here didn't really bug me for some reason. I guess because it's not difficult to read.
what was this thread about? Oh yeah....
I like Adam Nitti. He was the only staff BP magazine writer who's lessons I ever really got anything out of. Think I'll check out his site.
And fwiw - Flea didn't know any bass theory until maybe about the time of Californication. I don't think that would have given him the label of beginner. Bass theory beginner, perhaps. But bassist, artist, and musician are words that are defined by much much more IMO than how much theory we know, and how we can relate it to our instrument.
I appreciate your kind words.
But as I said to another poster
some people reallly hate it or at the very least criticize me for it.
I think I do it subconsciously because I have different points to make in my head.
and when they come out in writing I separate the points I am making so that they
stand alone. ......like this.
Back to NITTI , Certainly Check him out.
My explanations dont do justice to what he is teaching.
I checked out Nathan East and Scott's Bass lessons both of which are really good.
Adam however has both the gift of musicianship and the gift of teaching which make him an excellent resource.
I attended Aaron Copleland Conservatory of music
and Adam's Course is the closest I have seen online to a conservatory style education.
Nitti is a great bassist and knows his $h!t for sure.
What the OP posted that Nitti considers "beginner level" is fairly advanced IMO. The method of playing modes and scales (3 notes per string, etc.) isn't super complex, but a bassist that has good fundamentals (playing covers competently as an example) would need a few months of lessons to grasp this IME.
His advanced stuff would likely make my head spin.
What the OP posted that Nitti considers "beginner level" is fairly advanced IMO. The method of playing modes and scales (3 notes per string, etc.) isn't super complex, but a bassist that has good fundamentals (playing covers competently as an example) would need a few months of lessons to grasp this IME.
His advanced stuff would likely make my head spin.
What course were you looking at?
I was checking out his offerings and the beginner courses I saw were related to hand technique etc., such as 'Intro to hand technique and the plucking hand.'
I look at his Intro to Jazz courses though and those beginning courses are far more advanced, jumping right into scales and modes. Perhaps he meant the term beginner as beginning the first lesson of the course, as opposed to a beginning player?
I was checking out his offerings and the beginner courses I saw were related to hand technique etc., such as 'Intro to hand technique and the plucking hand.'
I look at his Intro to Jazz courses though and those beginning courses are far more advanced, jumping right into scales and modes. Perhaps he meant the term beginner as beginning the first lesson of the course, as opposed to a beginning player?
yeah but if you look deeper into his beginning hand technique
for the left hand he has you doing
1234 1243 1342 `1423 1432
2134 2143 2314 2341 2413 2431
etc
even this is challenging
and all this while having an exact alternating right hand
his level of pedagogy is quite high
and I think he has just raised the bar.
