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teaching a new guy

U

uethanian

Mar 11, 2007
1,070
4
#1
i'm teaching a lesson this week with a guy who has had zip musical experience. i've taught people before that were already experienced in some way, but this is something new. i think i have a general idea about how to go about it...well he said he was into classic rock, and i was wondering if i could (or should) teach him an easy and recognizable bassline. i don't listen to much of that, so i was wondering if anyone had suggestions for what to pick.

also maybe i'd like to demonstrate something, but i have no idea what. i can kind of fumble my way through portrait of tracy and YYZ, but i want something thats just simple and groovy.
 
#2
If he is a new guy going with a bassline for the first lesson might be a good idea to keep him interested. Could also give him some exercises to keep his tehcnique from going down the drain. And if you can attach a bit of music theory to that bassline it would be great.

This coming from a bassist who hasn't played in 8 months and is now looking for a teacher. In 2 months no luck. I guess there just aren't any bass teachers in Estonia....

It seems that during those 8 months I have also lost my ability to speak english.....
 
#3
Classic rock = 60's-70's.

If he has no musical experience, you'll probably want to just intro the bass, what the parts are, how to hold it and how to fret and pluck. Names of strings, basic stuff like that.

Maybe pick a song from the Rolling Stones like Satisfaction or Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. Here's a link for LL:

Or maybe introduce him to some simple blues in E.

You may want to check out the links in my sig. for some TB threads that may help you out with more info for beginners.
 
#5
greencow said:
If he is a new guy going with a bassline for the first lesson might be a good idea to keep him interested. Could also give him some exercises to keep his tehcnique from going down the drain. And if you can attach a bit of music theory to that bassline it would be great.

This coming from a bassist who hasn't played in 8 months and is now looking for a teacher. In 2 months no luck. I guess there just aren't any bass teachers in Estonia....

It seems that during those 8 months I have also lost my ability to speak english.....
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^his first paragraph^^^^^^^^^^
I used to have 32 students and that's a good way to START.
 
#6
An easy way to get a guy started after all the good stuff above (ie the names of the bits of the bass, what they do etc) is to start on his right hand and try and get him playing some open strings along to a drum track (nothing fancy, 8th notes at 50 or 60BPMS) and show him how to play WITH OR WITHOUT YOU. Gotta be the easiest rock song in the world - but is a great one for getting students to focus on alternating finger playing, evenness of tone and volume, etc etc (and also is a good introduction to the rest stroke/floating thumb system if you teach that).

Hope that helps.
 
#7
yea that does help. 'with or without you' is cake, i didn't even realize.

right now i'm trying to figure out what i'm going to talk about (without talking too much and boring the guy to death). of course there's the parts of the bass, but there's also the history of the bass, styles of playing, the player's role in an ensemble, some philosophical mumbo jumbo...i guess i'll just go with it and see what happens.
 
#9
In my opinion (and it's based on relatively limited experience(!)) I'm not sure if it's necessary to wow and impress a new student with an impressive piece. I think sometimes it can be a bit intimidating to a student at a time when they need to be given confidence and not feel that being 'good' is all that important (since they're likely to be quite 'bad' for a while being an absolute beginner).

Also, I've always thought a good starter would be the Peter Gunn theme from the Blues brothers. I had this idea of doing a lesson called

"It's as easy as A, B, C, (and D)"

Because the notes in it are A, B, C and D.

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Blues+Brothers/_/Peter+Gunn+Theme

actually I just listened to it and there's a little hammer on.. So technically there's a C# too. Oh well I'm sure a beginner could learn the easy version...
 

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