Is Orion a good starting song?

[Yukino]

All of it, not just the solo.

 

[Mushroo]

If you were my beginner student, I'd start you off on very easy songs like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Happy Birthday."

But if you have a great ear, a good teacher, and a strong motivation to learn, then by all means: dive right into your favorite songs! Whatever will give you a feeling of accomplishment, make you feel good about yourself, and inspire you to practice.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

I'd say no. There are too many different licks to memorize, too many arpeggio shapes to get comfortable with, and some tricky rhythms besides. It will make a great study piece once you're a little further along, but it's not a good choice to start with.

If you want a relatively easy Metallica song with a cool bass lick in it, try "For Whom The Bell Tolls".

 

[Rev J]

I'd say no. There are too many different licks to memorize, too many arpeggio shapes to get comfortable with, and some tricky rhythms besides. It will make a great study piece once you're a little further along, but it's not a good choice to start with.

If you want a relatively easy Metallica song with a cool bass lick in it, try "For Whom The Bell Tolls".

+1. If you are working with a good teacher who can help you break them down and can read tackle some Bach Cello Suites before tackling "Orion". Cliff Burton was a huge classical music fanatic and a lot of that influence comes through there. Like I said if you have a good teacher who can teach you about analysis you will see the similarities.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[GilbouFR]

Go for it. You like the song, it's a challenge ? Go.
You don't get good by staying in a confort zone and playing easy songs.
You get good by doing hard stuff, by failing, by being frustrated and spending countless hours working on it.
Always remember the harder it is, the better the lesson. Keep at it and play it seated, play it standing up, play it moving around. Play it and sing the lyrics too. Make it hard.

 

[fearceol]

Go for it. You like the song, it's a challenge ? Go.
You don't get good by staying in a confort zone and playing easy songs.
You get good by doing hard stuff, by failing, by being frustrated and spending countless hours working on it.
Always remember the harder it is, the better the lesson. Keep at it and play it seated, play it standing up, play it moving around. Play it and sing the lyrics too. Make it hard.

To some extant I can see your point but not sure if I agree. I certainly don't agree with the.."the harder it is, the better the lesson..." concept. That's not to say that a pupil does not need to work hard if they want to improve. You need to crawl before you can walk. As a beginner you don't have a "comfort zone". Most things are new and unfamiliar. IMO diving in the deep end too soon can lead to frustration, which in turn (depending on the person's personality/attidude) could lead to him/her giving up. On the other hand if he/she starts at ground zero and gradually works their way along the learning path they are more likely to stick with it.

I am speaking generally here, as I acknowledge that people are different and they learn in different ways and at different paces. So IMO your post would not be a "one size fits all" affair.

 

[Mushroo]

Go for it. You like the song, it's a challenge ? Go.
You don't get good by staying in a confort zone and playing easy songs.
You get good by doing hard stuff, by failing, by being frustrated and spending countless hours working on it.
Always remember the harder it is, the better the lesson. Keep at it and play it seated, play it standing up, play it moving around. Play it and sing the lyrics too. Make it hard.

Yeah... no. Any good teacher has a "curriculum" of gradually more difficult exercises and examples, each progressively building on the skills learned prior. This gives the student a feeling of progress and accomplishment. If you experienced "countless frustrating hours" learning the bass then I'm sorry, but you had a bad teacher. I had the good fortune to study with some great teachers, and I can tell you, every hour of my musical journey has been joyous and fun.

If you wanted to learn to run a marathon, first you run 1 mile, then you run 2 miles, then you run 3 miles, and so on. The people who try to run 26 miles all at once have the least chance of long term success. "Too much, too soon" is the most common cause of failure in any endeavor.