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Preferred methods for learning bass
- Thread starter IamGroot
- Start date
Preferred? Most effective. Put your bass in it's case. Turn on your computer and get on TB and debate with other bassists a variety of topics. 
Hey, I hit the trifecta!
Just messing around and trying stuff? Or maybe that's what the first one is.
This will be very interesting for me. After a dozen years of rotating shift work I got a job as a technical trainer, and liked it so much that I went back to school and got a hybrid BS in Advanced Technical Education. Adult learning methodology was a big part of it. What's really cool is I see what is basically a summation of all of it here in the forums almost every single day!
Just messing around and trying stuff? Or maybe that's what the first one is.
This will be very interesting for me. After a dozen years of rotating shift work I got a job as a technical trainer, and liked it so much that I went back to school and got a hybrid BS in Advanced Technical Education. Adult learning methodology was a big part of it. What's really cool is I see what is basically a summation of all of it here in the forums almost every single day!
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,793
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- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
I'll say after many years, I still haven't learned bass. Or any instrument for that matter. I'm pretty confident at this point that music is made up of voodoo, or like fight club, you don't talk about how to actually learn music. I've made it through tons of stuff like Yousician, Rocksmith, learn to play bass books. Etc. Take away the book or screen and can't play more than a few notes, maybe a bar. I can make notes fine, but turn on a drum track or song and I've got no idea what to do.
I know for a fact I'm a theory learner. I know because I'm a network architect and spend hundreds of hours a year reading textbooks and whitepages to learn new technologies. But all the "learn to play" artifacts I've come across just expect you to memorize tons of stuff without context, there is nothing to glue it together into something cohesive. Rote memorization is something I'm horrible at, I couldn't even tell you my kids phone numbers.
I know for a fact I'm a theory learner. I know because I'm a network architect and spend hundreds of hours a year reading textbooks and whitepages to learn new technologies. But all the "learn to play" artifacts I've come across just expect you to memorize tons of stuff without context, there is nothing to glue it together into something cohesive. Rote memorization is something I'm horrible at, I couldn't even tell you my kids phone numbers.
I Used Mel Bay's Electric Bass Method 1 & 2 With a teacher way back in the 90s. 1 session a week until I got through those books. Than I went through "Mel Bay's Bass Position Studies" book on my own (should have stuck with the teacher) .
After picking up the bass again after a super long layoff I went through the same books again. One of my favorite practice books now is "Mel Bay's Note Reading Studies For Bass" . I wish I had this book years ago. It is an AWESOME Practice book for reading music.
For transparency: I Don't know who the heck Mel Bay is.
After picking up the bass again after a super long layoff I went through the same books again. One of my favorite practice books now is "Mel Bay's Note Reading Studies For Bass" . I wish I had this book years ago. It is an AWESOME Practice book for reading music.
For transparency: I Don't know who the heck Mel Bay is.
Private lessons and learn your favorite bass riffs. First line I learned was Nirvana's Sliver. Still play it from time to time.
One method that I didn't see listed was reading music while playing in musical groups (show choir, orchestras and other ensembles, theater pit bands, etc.). Those taught me a lot and had a great impact on my playing technique and reading skills.
I did manage to pick a few but the truth is not so black and white. For example, I have quite a formal background when it comes to music, but for bass guitar I am very much self taught. On the other hand, my classical background probably means that I approach the self-teaching process differently to someone with no exposure to the formal processes. Those processes and methods are important to me, but because I recieved them a long time ago and it was not bass-specific I felt unable to select the college/conservatoire option, even though the level was comparable.
I think the 'listen and figure it out' option also includes a range of approaches, from 'playing along until close enough' to full on 'dictation and analysis'. I did select that option but I tend towards the formal methods.
That said, it's an interesting survey and the results so far are also interesting.
This for me, plus private lessons with a local teacher and learning by ear is how I do it!
Exactly. Adults learn differently than kids, but when most people try to teach something, most of the time they'll fall back to the way they learned as a kid.
I know that currently in the music education departments in most colleges still focus on older, more traditional learning methods as the teaching portion of their curriculum. Those that graduate are mostly expected to go teach children, which is fine, but sometimes it just doesn't work with adults. OK, I"ll be honest: MOST times it doesn't work with adults.
A personal example: My band mates heard me messing around with some harmony lines to a song at a rehearsal break four years ago, and told me in no uncertain terms that I was getting a mic and taking lead on 15-20% of our songs, and doing harmony on the rest. I like a challenge, sure. So I found a local vocal coach with a good reputation. After six lessons she fired me, sorta! I'd start to sing and she would stop me on the first note and tell me what to do differently. Then it was Stop! on the second note. I said can't you just let me sing a single whole line and then go over what I was doing wrong. And maybe even prioritize them? She said absolutely not, that's not how I teach. Definitely primary education methodology. I was all downhill from there!
People are rarely strictly one type of learner, and thank you folks for showing that. The secret is to FIND WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU. It's not always easy to figure out what that is unless you try different ways. Usually it's the ways you are most comfortable with.
Me, I abhor theory lectures with no practical application and rote memorization. The best way I found is going to jam nights and playing along with folks, but I could only do that after some initial self-learning. Learning where the notes were by sound, visually where they were and the logical patterns scales they formed. Then play along, find the key, and figure out the chord progression with the roots, then add the hooks, and rhythmic components. Discovering how to do walking bass lines was a thrill, and was the only way I ended up understanding the different scales, NOT the other way around! I didn't know what it was called yet, but later ear training played an important role. Absolutely none of which is traditional.
The only other things I'll say is that having mentors (people you can watch and steal stuff from!) was great, and there ARE some instructors today that understand all this stuff and are really good. The only problem is finding one.
EDIT: Oh, the final straw of the vocal lessons. At lesson 5 I asked when were we going to talk about my pitch. How was it, do I need to work on it? She said oh, it's fine, pretty good actually. If it wasn't, I'd have told you about it a long time ago. Not one positive comment about it before. I mean, come on, that's nuts, I was worried about it the whole time, it's kind of important. Meh.
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My preferred methods, in order of importance as I see them :
Learning songs by ear.
Playing with others.
Recording myself playing along to songs, as well as playing with others, in order to monitor my timing and
groove.
Learning basic theory.
Taking lessons from time to time, especially if I feel stuck and need a "kick start" to get me back on track.
Learning songs by ear.
Playing with others.
Recording myself playing along to songs, as well as playing with others, in order to monitor my timing and
groove.
Learning basic theory.
Taking lessons from time to time, especially if I feel stuck and need a "kick start" to get me back on track.
