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Starting to teach - help!

Venom of God

Venom of God

Oct 8, 2007
704
257
38
Australia
#1
Well, I'm a bit of a hair metal guy, and as a result of that I have pretty hair metal hair. For a student with very little money, this is an expensive thing to have. Anyway, just today I was getting my regrowth bleached and my layers fixed up, when my hairdresser (who is also into hair metal and just a really cool dude) asked me if I ever gave bass lessons. Now, I haven't, but his girlfriend just got a bass (she's an absolute beginner) and he said that if I gave her lessons, for free, he would start doing my hair for free. I'm really keen to do it, but I'm not entirely sure where to start.

I was thinking that to begin with it would probably be best to cover the names of each string, explain a little about how music "works" and maybe teach the major scale and also some basic playing technique? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
#3
Would it be shoving too much information down her throat to try and explain every position of every note? Or should I just start with the open strings, maybe the 5th and 7th frets and also G on the E string and C on the A string? I don't know why I said those last two, they were just the notes that knowing the location of helped me the most, I think.
 
#4
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(Of your hair)
 
#7
I know this probably goes without saying, but thought I'd throw my 2¢ worth anyway. Make sure you spend some time on proper position of the hands and exercises that practice good fretting and plucking/picking techniques. I'm a newbie that started teaching myself and got into some bad habits that were hard to break now that I know how to do it "correctly".
 
#9
When I took lessons eons ago, the instructors always had me buy a book - they then taught me out of that.

When I gave lessons, I did the same thing. Easiest way to do it. The curriculum is all laid out for you.
 
#10
Stumbo said:
Buy [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Stumbo, that is a good book. I'm going through it now. I try to keep a book on music/theory around and work through them. This book is clean, easy to understand, and covers a ton of basics.

Don't forget to give her something to work on during the week. Maybe a printout of a scale to work on, at least to begin with.
 

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