Hey all. Finally got my bass out of the shop. Have a question. What would it teach me to learn a bunch of songs on bass. I've tried taking lessons, but get bored. Learning songs really inspires me. What would it teach me to just learn songs? I've played guitar for most of my life, and that's basically how I learned it.
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Just Learning Songs
- Thread starter James77
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#1 - Listen to the songs you want to learn and figure them out by ear (ear training).
#2 - Learn to read music. Then find the bass scores for the songs you want to play.
#3 - Watch some bassists on YT playing the songs you like and learn from them.
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.
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#99 - Find the tablature for the songs you want to learn.
Good luck on your musical journey . . .
#2 - Learn to read music. Then find the bass scores for the songs you want to play.
#3 - Watch some bassists on YT playing the songs you like and learn from them.
.
.
.
#99 - Find the tablature for the songs you want to learn.
Good luck on your musical journey . . .
If you don’t take the time to understand the theory, you’ll be doing the equivalent of memorizing phrases in a foreign language guidebook.
Unless you’ve tried lessons with every teacher out there, you don’t really know that lessons bore you — you just know that the person you took lessons from bored you.
Frankly, if you’re taking lesson from a quality instructor, you should be getting the following:
1) feedback on your technique to prevent bad habits that will hinder your progress
2) tips and ticks to actually make playing easier (goes hand and hand with #1)
3) the theory behind the instrument so that you can: a) learn songs easier because you understand the “WHY”; b) be able to figure out what to play with limited information (e.g. just a chord sheet); and c) potentially even create your own music.
4) repertoire - you should actually be learning songs as part of your lessons. Some weeks you might learn a song or two. Other times you might spend weeks on a single song if you’re talking about something that is complicated with pedagogical worth.
Frankly, I’m a mixture of self-taught (guitar and bass guitar) and having taken lessons (piano and upright bass). I’ve taken things I’ve learned from piano and upright bass lessons, and applied them to other instruments as well. My speed of progression when taking lessons is SO much faster in terms of developing technique.
You should give lessons another shot, and don’t just settle for the “I like [genre] so I just want to play [genre]”. Learning to play different genres makes it easier to learn and perform songs. In fact, lean into learning jazz standards, because you can 100% apply that to whatever it is you actually intend to play.
Postscript: just notice that you said you learned guitar. The guitar is a blessing and a curse. It’s an easy instrument to sound competent on, but you can very easily neglect to learn important theory concepts. In contrast, the piano is a hard instrument to sound competent on, but there’s not a better instrument out there for demonstrating theory.
It will teach you vocabulary. Only learn good basslines and note for note with all the articulations and details that you can identify.
Learning Songs vs. Learning Music
Here’s a good thread about how to connect “just” learning songs with learning music concepts that can apply to lots of songs.
Here’s a good thread about how to connect “just” learning songs with learning music concepts that can apply to lots of songs.
What did you use to help you play specific songs on guitar? I hope it was some kind of sheet music? If so tell us what you used and we can tell you how to use that same sheet music on your bass.
Yes you have to know where the notes are. The four bottom strings on your guitar are the same as the four strings on your bass -- E-A-D-G, but, we can get to that later.
Main difference in rhythm guitar and the bass is the rhythm guitarist strums the chord and the bass will play notes of the chord one note at a time, i.e. C7 = R-3-5-b7. You can get buy with just the root on the first beat and the 5th on the third beat.
What have you used with your guitar? I bet you can use the same sheet music, just play it differently.. Tell us and I think we can save you a lot of time. I hope it was fake chord or chord charts.
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No one is going to tab out your bass lines for you. Look into using fake chord sheet music. Find fake chord by asking Google these search words; chords, name of the song. Fake chord is used by most hobby bands. I'm surprised you did not run up on it with your guitar.
Home on the Range Chords and Lyrics sing the lyrics under your breath. Normally a beat follows the lyric syllable. Hap-py would get two beats, so would Birthday. Then to you get one beat each.
Follow the chords and play roots and fives. Root on the first beat and the 5 on the 3rd beat of each measure. The 5 is down a string same fret as the root or up a strings and toward the bridge two frets from your root.
You find your root in the first five frets of the neck.. Find a C note your 5th, or G note is down a string same fret, or if you do not have a lower string up a string and over two frets toward the bridge. Piece of cake.
Roots and fives will play a lot of bass. Good luck.
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I feel like the question got misinterpreted a bit as "what would it TAKE me" vs "TEACH me", though the answers are still excellent ones.
It would teach you an absolute ton. Examples of ways various extraordinary musicians found creative ways to play the instrument, what it sounds like to live in the pocket and have that be the perfect place to be, what the approach to bass in different styles of music sounds like (this is really important as you develop! and is one of many things you'll always be learning as you grow), what a realistic but fast and hard line sounds like, much much more.
I first got into seriously working on songs by starting with Talking Heads, then Rage Against the Machine. Simple grooves, then more complex grooves. Also D'Angelo - Brown Sugar has different levels of challenge with some iconically great bass lines, and Res - How I Do is a sleeper hit for bass groove, if you're down to run the neo-soul & R&B circuit.
As you learn songs, it's always always always worth asking, "what is it that makes this song's bass so good?" because that takes you toward the rabbit holes of the stuff that THOSE bass players studied, be it techniques or theory or specific players that inspired them.
As a guitarist, you played chords. The thing that sick bass players study long and hard, like a guitarist does their chords, is arpeggios. They unlock the fretboard and they grant you flexibility to be great. They're a pain in the ass, esp with things like string muting. But they're SO worth it. Start slow! And keep watching youtube videos, this is a knowledge source no previous generation had. Coversolutions is a pretty epic youtube channel I've come to love, and there are many many more.
It would teach you an absolute ton. Examples of ways various extraordinary musicians found creative ways to play the instrument, what it sounds like to live in the pocket and have that be the perfect place to be, what the approach to bass in different styles of music sounds like (this is really important as you develop! and is one of many things you'll always be learning as you grow), what a realistic but fast and hard line sounds like, much much more.
I first got into seriously working on songs by starting with Talking Heads, then Rage Against the Machine. Simple grooves, then more complex grooves. Also D'Angelo - Brown Sugar has different levels of challenge with some iconically great bass lines, and Res - How I Do is a sleeper hit for bass groove, if you're down to run the neo-soul & R&B circuit.
As you learn songs, it's always always always worth asking, "what is it that makes this song's bass so good?" because that takes you toward the rabbit holes of the stuff that THOSE bass players studied, be it techniques or theory or specific players that inspired them.
As a guitarist, you played chords. The thing that sick bass players study long and hard, like a guitarist does their chords, is arpeggios. They unlock the fretboard and they grant you flexibility to be great. They're a pain in the ass, esp with things like string muting. But they're SO worth it. Start slow! And keep watching youtube videos, this is a knowledge source no previous generation had. Coversolutions is a pretty epic youtube channel I've come to love, and there are many many more.
Your teacher failed you. Find one that will progress your skills AND teach you cool songs.
x1000
Learn specific patterns, licks etc. FROM songs, but know the theory that allows you to apply them to OTHER songs. It will be the difference between being a musician or just a person who owns a bass.
It would teach you songs.
Achieving excellence in any field takes discipline and hard work. If it was all fun and games, we’d all be great.
Same. I took lessons for 4 1/2 years from a bass pro. I was never interested in becoming awesome, or even learning to read music fluently. I was only interested in learning proper technique, and being able to hold my own with any of the local cover bands so I could gig. I, too, became somewhat bored once I got to where I wanted to be. So I quit lessons, and helped form a decent cover band. Goals achieved.
Since I'm pretty busy, bass playing being only one of my interests, I only practice the songs in my current gigging list. I practice roughly 5 songs, 20-25 minutes daily. New songs that are added are how I get better as a bass player. That, and re-working the songs I already play. I am constantly tweaking them as my skills improve. In the end, the only thing that matters to me is how well I play at a gig.
Couldn't be happier with where I am as a bass player.
Plus 1.
OP : In my opinion learning songs by ear without using tab will hold you in good stead. I am kind of surprised at you being bored with lessons, as these would get you off to a great start, especially regarding safe technique.
#5. Learn them in as many different positions on the neck as you can.
#6 learn them in different keys
#7 watch vids of the band playing them live and see what the bassist plays in a live situation
Relax. You need an "in between" approach. Yes, you need to know at least SOME theory. TalkingBass has some great video series' on chord tones and scales. That alone would take you to the next level. You can do a few minutes a day and not bore yourself to death.
But, YES, there IS value in allowing the great bassists who came before you to "teach" you how to play.
I started on low brass in band. So I could read and knew some theory. I read from a few trombone books from time to time. But I can't remember the last time I read bass music. In fact, the last time I read music on bass was reading the bass clef of piano sheet music to get through a requested song. (That was in 1994 or 1995.)
But when people ask me who taught me how to teach bass, I answer "James Jamerson and John Paul Jones". (Motown and Led Zep bass players.) Early on, I had to learn a zillion songs quickly. And I was playing with guys who could play circles around me. I was 15 and they were all in their 30s. It was a variety band that played classic rock, southern rock, Motown, funk, soul, etc. Having to learn 50 songs that varied in styles (when I had been playing bass literally only a few months) accelerated my learning for sure.
How do you learn songs? Now is the best time to ask that question.
Try it by ear. If that doesn't work, find YouTube videos. If that doesn't work, post a thread here and ask your cyber bass pals "Hey what is this guy/gal doing in the bridge of that song? I can't seem to figure it out."
Over time, you'll simply get better at it.
I do fill-in gigs all the time. I have to learn lots of songs quickly. Sure, there are TABS and sheet music for just about every song out there. I can't remember the last time I used them. I learn by ear (and make quick and dirty charts) faster than I can find the TABS.
Sorry for the long post. Good luck with your journey.
But, YES, there IS value in allowing the great bassists who came before you to "teach" you how to play.
I started on low brass in band. So I could read and knew some theory. I read from a few trombone books from time to time. But I can't remember the last time I read bass music. In fact, the last time I read music on bass was reading the bass clef of piano sheet music to get through a requested song. (That was in 1994 or 1995.)
But when people ask me who taught me how to teach bass, I answer "James Jamerson and John Paul Jones". (Motown and Led Zep bass players.) Early on, I had to learn a zillion songs quickly. And I was playing with guys who could play circles around me. I was 15 and they were all in their 30s. It was a variety band that played classic rock, southern rock, Motown, funk, soul, etc. Having to learn 50 songs that varied in styles (when I had been playing bass literally only a few months) accelerated my learning for sure.
How do you learn songs? Now is the best time to ask that question.
Try it by ear. If that doesn't work, find YouTube videos. If that doesn't work, post a thread here and ask your cyber bass pals "Hey what is this guy/gal doing in the bridge of that song? I can't seem to figure it out."
Over time, you'll simply get better at it.
I do fill-in gigs all the time. I have to learn lots of songs quickly. Sure, there are TABS and sheet music for just about every song out there. I can't remember the last time I used them. I learn by ear (and make quick and dirty charts) faster than I can find the TABS.
Sorry for the long post. Good luck with your journey.
Babies learn to speak without ANY theory and it works because the theory is in the structure of any intelligible utterance and we figure it out what works here will work there, we just don't have a common language that way.. The same with songs, etudes, sonatas, and soundscapes. The mixed approach of learning songs and then why and how songs work as many advocate here is the right way.
There is no such thing as "just" playing songs, because playing songs is what we do.
That's like saying a brain surgeon "just" operates on brains, or a baseball player "just" plays baseball.
So by all means: YES, you should learn a bunch of songs on the bass. It will teach you how to be a bassist. I would wager that every great bass player, ever, knows lots of songs!
That's like saying a brain surgeon "just" operates on brains, or a baseball player "just" plays baseball.
So by all means: YES, you should learn a bunch of songs on the bass. It will teach you how to be a bassist. I would wager that every great bass player, ever, knows lots of songs!
Are you the “James James” guitar YouTube channel? If so, I think you won’t have much trouble with the bass.
I never had one lesson, and I don’t practice unless I need to perform. I’m also more of a songwriter than a bass player, so I approach everything from that compositional point of view. It helps that my roommates in college were all music majors, and their conversations about theory and ear training sunk in by osmosis. And we made music together. It helped that I had a hunger for knowledge about the structure and language I would use when writing.
So I wholeheartedly support your rejection of lessons. Your musical journey can be full of lessons if you’re always asking questions and seeking answers. Why does Tina play those notes at that place in the song. How does Tony get that tone with his fingers? How does James sit in the groove? In the words of Dr. Seuss, “These things are fun, and fun is good.”
So I wholeheartedly support your rejection of lessons. Your musical journey can be full of lessons if you’re always asking questions and seeking answers. Why does Tina play those notes at that place in the song. How does Tony get that tone with his fingers? How does James sit in the groove? In the words of Dr. Seuss, “These things are fun, and fun is good.”
