Just Learning Songs

[Ralph O AtBran]

I've had a bass for about two years now, and most of that time was just learning songs from tabs. I had started on StudyBass.com and one of the pieces of advice was "play with other people as soon as possible." So, within like two months of buying the instrument I posted on local facebook group for musicians. "Hey, I'm a beginner, looking to jam a bit."

I got a message that was like "yeah come jam with us next week. Learn Interstate Love Song by STP first." So I spent like 2 hours a day over the next 10 day just wood shedding that particular song based on the CoverSolutions video. And I hung out with the guys and we played that and they were like "cool wanna join the band?" So I did. I should note that I'd played guitar for about a year right before that, using Justin's website, and I'd made good use of the metronome during those studies. So I had some practice moving my fingers around, moderately trained rhythm, and some bare minimum of theory knowledge, so that probably helped in the early development a lot.

And it was great! But this is a hobby for me (I'm an accountant, and a busy one) so my normal practice routine is 30 minutes per day. Which means I dropped the StudyBass curriculum and worked 100% on learning songs, entirely from tab and youtube. And we got up to like 20-ish songs. Mostly 90s hard rock (we were all mid-late 30s so it made sense).

So I think this was good and bad for my development. Good, in that I spent 18 months or whatever playing with a group of people a few times per month. It solidified this hobby for me. I became, in my view, a bass player. I performed in front of people! Not often, and not so good... but it's a thing I did and it was fun as heck. So, I wouldn't trade any of that away.

However... two years later and I don't really know what I'm doing with the instrument. The band broke up because of Covid, and it's like, now what? I recently decided to pick up where I left off with StudyBass. Since I'm still under lockdown and won't be jamming with anyone for another 6 months at least, it gives me some time and space to like, actually learn the instrument.

Anyways, this is kind of long and rambly. What I want to get at is that I absolutely delayed my development on the instrument by relying on tab and memorizing songs rather than "learning" the instrument. I also helped my development by playing with other musicians really early on.

 

[Malcolm35]

Thank you for saying this about tab. Tab is great for learning licks,etc. but is a dead end for learning how to understand music.

Follow the chords and play notes of that active chord IMO is the way to go.

Roots first, then add a 5. The octave 8 is always safe, and fills out a 4/4 bassline very well. R-5-8-5 to the beat will play a lot of bass.

Yes you first need to know which chord is active. Chord charts can be found on most any song using Google search words - chords, name of the song. Follow the chord and play notes of the chord.

Notes of the chord?
C=R-3-5. The 3 from the root is up a string, and back a fret.
C7=R-3-5-b7 The 5 from the root is down a string same fret, or up a string and over, toward the bridge two frets. The b7 is up two strings and over one fret.

You figure out the rest -- that fish thing...

Good luck

 

[g-dude]

However... two years later and I don't really know what I'm doing with the instrument.

This is an important takeaway.

When you learn songs, you learn songs. When you play with others, you learn to play with others. Both are definitely good things to learn.

The real magic comes when you understand the “why”, because that’s the gateway that enables you to move from recreating what someone else did to being able to create on your own.

If you have the time, try to watch some of the many YouTube videos that get into music theory or analyzing music. I like 12tone, Adam Neely, Rick Beato - there are others out there as well. Sometimes it’s good to have an instrument handy to bang out a scale, chord, arpeggio, progression, etc. just to see how it works under your own fingers.

 

[Ralph O AtBran]

Oh, I definitely watch a lot of Rick Beato and Adam Neely. I don't understand a lot of it (especially Neely who goes really into the deep end of stuff). I will check out 12tone as well. Thanks for the rec!

I think the StudyBass course will help get me closer to where I want to go in terms of theory and understanding.

 

[g-dude]

Oh, I definitely watch a lot of Rick Beato and Adam Neely. I don't understand a lot of it (especially Neely who goes really into the deep end of stuff). I will check out 12tone as well. Thanks for the rec!

I think the StudyBass course will help get me closer to where I want to go in terms of theory and understanding.

One strange trick to learn a lot of theory is to...

...learn piano.

You don’t need to get great at it, but doing something like group piano lessons at a community college after the pandemic is over is a very cost effective way to learn the instrument.

My skills have definitely atrophied, but in terms of really understanding chords and sheet music, it is great.

Another thing to consider is an actual “real” music school for online courses. I once took a course on guitar chords from Berklee’s online unit. It was hard, but it really did change my relationship to guitar. It ain’t cheap, but I’m glad I did it.