Learning Bass.

[volkl]

Firstly, I apologize if this is in the wrong place, I wasn't particularly sure where to post it.

Now, I have been looking to learn to play bass for quite some time now. Personally, I find it to be much more interesting than guitar, and I think I'm finally ready to get off my ass and try and learn, but I had a few queries and I was thinking this would be the best place to ask.

Is it difficult to self-teach? I was thinking of just buying a cheap second hand one, getting some music off the net, and just practicing the songs in my spare time. Is this a realistic goal, considering I've never really played an instrument properly before, and can't read music that well?

Is being left handed much of a problem? I tried acoustic guitar a few years ago at school (I sucked), and I was left handed, and this posed a bit of a problem for my teacher.


I had a few more things I wanted to ask, but I seem to have forgotten them now. =p I'll edit the post when I remember.

 

[Spikeh]

Firstly, welcome to Talkbass! I'm sure you'll find all the answers you need here throughout your bass career!

I'm all self taught, and only 2 years into it... I'm going to get lessons, but as long as you have someone to help you get OUT of bad habbits quickly, then there's nothing wrong with being self-taught if you ask me! I have a very good guitarist friend who pointed out to me what I was doing wrong with my fretting hand at the beginning, and man am I glad now!

There are plenty of tips and tutorials on the internet, and there are plenty of books out there... that's what I did, and I'm now playing with mates quite successfully... I'm not in a band yet, but that's my next step (not persued it yet!).

Some people who are self-taught get in to it straight away... it took me about 1 year to actually enjoy making music and playing the bass (I had noone to jam with really), but now I'm in to it, I'm /really/ in to it... buying new gear, getting lessons, asking questions, participating on here all the time, jamming with mates etc... I love it I don't feel like it's gonna die any time soon either!

Get lessons by all means, but don't forget that you have to be in to the bass and enjoy it to continue... unless you have one of those voices in your head that just says "Play, and play and play and you'll enjoy it eventually!".

 

[volkl]

Well I have a friend who is a very good bass player, he's in a few bands and has been playing a while, so if I have an issues I'm sure he will help me out.

And I don't think motivating myself to play will be a problem. One of the main reasons I want to learn is so I can sit round at home jamming by myself. I don't even care if I can't play anything, so long as I can make cool noises with it. =p

 

[Spikeh]

hehe... you'll soon want to jam with other people, mark my words... I played bits of songs myself, but NEVER learnt a full song, until I started jamming... now I learn every bit to a song, regardless of actually playing it with other people!

It's good you have a bass player friend - he'll keep you in the right direction!

 

[Bullet-Bob]

Welcome!

I have only been playing a couple of months, and this website is a fantastic resource.

However, one note of caution. This place has so much information, you can quickly get in over your head, or at least too far in advance of what you need to be doing (at least that was true for me).

The most important things I have learned so far are:

1. Patience patience patience
2. Practice practice practice
3. Do it slow until you know

Then, using the above, I have gradually moved myself in to the other areas these guys who are ahead of us know so well.

The Training section, and the secton on scales is very useful to understanding everything.

I strongly suggest using the search function and looking for practive tips too.

Best of luck!

 

[Skaboy21]

want to know the secret to bass? ... play with people better than you! lol they may kick ur ass ur first couple jams, but it forces you to REALLY step it up! i know, trust me! i had gone to Jazz Camp at William Paterson University, which is like the biggest jazz school on the east coast, and the first couple days of jammin with my ensamble there were killer. i felt like i was being drowned in my lack of jazz knowledge, but once i put the pieces together the music was incredible! and one other thing, take lessons, theirs just too many things that you'll miss in trying to teach urself.

jay