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Self Taught

#82
I am self taught!

Pro - I've develloped my own style, and my owns strengths by just playing different techniques and figuring what I like best.

Con - DEFINITELY the lack of ability to read music. I think I am subconsciously learning keys, scales, and al that, but I couldn't put a name to them or anything.

I am a garage punk player, though, and damm proud of it, so for me, self taught is more than suitable.

If my goal was Berklee, welllll, I would've taken some lessons :D
 
#84
I'm self taught on bass, but took piano lessons for years, and am a former music major at a State University. Also I've taken classical guitar lessons for a couple of years and messed around with guitar for my whole life. So I knew notes, theory, scales and had a lot of the finger strength and "brain pathways" in place going in.

After a couple of years and tons of practice on bass, I'm now in a band and doing pretty well with it......lots still to learn though.
 
#86
pacojas said:
be careful which YOUTUBE demo you watch! (this guy is definitely SELF TAUGHT)

Click to expand...


I laughed so hard.... "I play a Fender bass because I find it's the only way to express myself and show people who I really am."

Crap, maybe the chicks would shake it more if I stopped using my Ibanez.... not only that, I obviously was playing the wrong blues scale.... not. Bahahahaha!
 
#87
I learned to play trumpet and read music in jr. high. Picked up drumming (self taught with some pointers from pops) in high school. Bought a bass guitar when I was 19 (self taught) took double bass lessons for two semesters in college where I learned to read music for bass and took percussion class for one semester also where I learned to read for percussion.

Recently picked up the bass again after a couple of years layoff so I'm kinda re learning everything again..
I guess I'm a mix of the two, learning to play witout a teacher at first was good to build a relationship with my bass but the instruction helped to "learn" about music.
 
#88
I taught myself to play bass, which was my first instrument. I learned to read music, play by ear, and all the different styles on my own.

I'm proud of myself for what I've accomplished, but I would have done it a lot faster with a proper teacher I think.
 
#93
Self taught. I am blessed with a great ear so can learn just about anything (that I really want to learn) that way. Any theory I know I either learned in Jr. High when I played alto sax or I learned through books. I'm doing very nicely making $$ and having a blast!
 
#94
I'm also self taught both on guitar and bass.

Pros: well developed ear, no "wrong way" to do it, no boundaries, etc.

Cons: looked down to by jazz snobs (waahh, get over it), took me longer to get my reading chops up to par with my ear (still not there yet either), nothing else.
 
#97
Something to think about is the ORIGINAL bass players (the ones who inveted the instrument) were self taught. They began with nothing and eventually created music with it.


anyway being self taught is a good way to start but I think in the end it never hurts to take lessons or at least research techniques and theory online ( I honestly don't know what music theory is lol). It never hurts to learn from someone more expierenced then yourself and it never hurts to try things your way.

Also years down the road you can always start teaching others and join the cycle.
 
#98
stratovani said:
Absolutely. Nowadays there are so many good resources - the Web, DVDs, etc - that if you're the slightest bit disciplined you can learn just about anything, for little money or for free. It's all out there on the Internet. If you want a teacher, there's a bunch of them on the Web offering lessons. Hell, there's a ton of lessons on YouTube alone - all free! This ain't like the old days (and I'm old enough to remember) where you had to have a teacher in order to progress, and self-learning books were few and far between. I know I've learned a ton of stuff on the Internet. Just here on TB alone I've learned so much since I joined.
Click to expand...

indeed
there're great stuff on youtube really
I like (Walt Ribeiro channel) http://www.youtube.com/user/waltribeiro
this one is so cool http://www.youtube.com/user/richardjpugh
specially the circle of fifths videos

dvds I like very much Bass Grimoire and the way
the wizzard :) explained scales and intervals I also have the book.
Ed Friedland dvd (that one for beginners) is also great

I've learned how to read music by books and couple videos but if you don't want to
expend money just search for "how to read sheet music bass clef"
"time signatures" "key signatures" "circle of fifths" among all those videos
there are great stuff to learn.

you won't be " limited" by being a self taugh
and of course if you feel like you need a teacher
go for it. :)
 
#99
capnsandwich said:
I'm also self taught both on guitar and bass.

Pros: well developed ear, no "wrong way" to do it, no boundaries, etc.

Cons: looked down to by jazz snobs (waahh, get over it), took me longer to get my reading chops up to par with my ear (still not there yet either), nothing else.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to say people studying music with a teacher somehow harms your ear? If you have a good teacher your ear will improve way faster and with a broader spectrum. How exactly does having a teacher weaken your ear?

Also this 'no boundaries' thing boggles my mind. If any time a teacher would suggest any kind of limits, it's usually for the purpose of targeting a weakness in your playing. Said boundaries are usually temporary so that you will focus your attention on a certain thing until you actually understand it and master it. It's called discipline and it's not a dirty word. It helps you progress rather than just repeating the same old weaknesses.

When you're playing on a gig you can play whatever the heck you like. There you are free to play whatever you want. Practice and learning is exactly that. Performing is where you use or don't use what you've learned.

And by the way, perhaps you don't want to believe it, but often in music there actually is a 'wrong way' to do things. Unless you're lucky enough to be leader of a hugely sucessfull international musical group, you're going to have to play somebody else's music at some point. If you can't play it the way they want, they will very quickly get somebody who can.
 
#100
Rob W said:
And by the way, perhaps you don't want to believe it, but often in music there actually is a 'wrong way' to do things. Unless you're lucky enough to be leader of a hugely sucessfull international musical group, you're going to have to play somebody else's music at some point. If you can't play it the way they want, they will very quickly get somebody who can.
Click to expand...

Rob I agreed with you all up to that point. Music is art and there is no right or wrong's in art considering that it's based soley on the individual rather then a guide book. A teacher can help you with technique and improve your weaknesses but they can not teach you everything (just like you can't learn everything on your own).

music groups (corperations) are only interested in music because it sales. They do not care about what it sounds like. If they could sell the sounds of a group strangeling cats they would. So by saying that they will replace you for not doing what they want doesn't mean anything if you're playing music to create music as apposed to making money off of it.
 

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