Teaching a newbie

[Blaktop]

My skill level is what I'd call lower intermediate. Been playing guitar for many years, bass for a couple (and loving it).

I have a mate who is a drummer and he's been donated a cheap bass and practice amp and he wants to learn bass....and has asked me for tips.

Apart from timing (he's a drummer remember) he knows nothing about music. I just realised I don't know how to teach someone from scratch, everyone who has asked me for musical help already has some basic knowledge, chords etc.

What do I tell/advise him to get him started?

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

There's this book "Bass Guitar for Dummies" which could be a good starting point.

 

[SteveCS]

...
Apart from timing (he's a drummer remember) he knows nothing about music.
...

He has probably spent most of his drumming life listening closely to what the bass is doing and how it connects rhythm and harmony. Without realizing it, he probably has a lot more practical experience of hearing the role of bass than a lot of bass players. A good approach might be to take a couple of simple songs that you are both familiar with and pull them apart from the harmonic rhythm point of view - when the chord changes happen and what the bass does to announce, support and/or prepare those changes. Technique will follow out of necessity...

 

[Malcolm35]

Teaching --- find out what he wants and then help him go there. Enough of the burger to satisfy his hunger, but not so much that it makes him sick.

That's "teaching" in a nutshell.

 

[mambo4]

What do I tell/advise him to get him started?

How to tune by ear should be everybody's first lesson.

 

[Blaktop]

How to tune by ear should be everybody's first lesson.

Umm, yes....when I got there the other day the bass was tuned to ADDF#.....

 

[fearceol]

How to tune by ear should be everybody's first lesson.

Agreed. Learning safe technique in order to avoid potential injury problems should follow close on its heels.

 

[fu22ba55]

There's this book "Bass Guitar for Dummies" which could be a good starting point.

This book, or the Ariane Cap book: Music Theory for Bassists, OR better still, the Hal Leonard Complete Bass Method (3 volumes in one spiral bound, by Ed Friendland).

Divide lesson time 50::50 with working through the book, and learning tunes/technique.

 

[Spin Doctor]

How to tune by ear should be everybody's first lesson.

Why?

 

[mambo4]

Why?

Be cause it introduces several fundamentals to someone who may know nothing about music or instruments.

• Listening for if your paying sounds right
• discerning unisons and fourths
• the pitches of the open strings
• how frets impact the pitch (what a half step is)
• how a fourth appears horizontally and vertically
• possibly introducing harmonics

I see it as the first exposure to the "play, listen, adjust" loop we use in all our playing.
Some of them could be skipped by a teacher I suppose, but I'd see teaching to tune as the perfect opportunity to spell out these basic concepts. Experienced players might not even consider them worth mentioning in some explicit way.

 

[Deathblade Eric]

Why?

Because one day you'll forget to pack your tuner, or the battery will be flat.
With one string in tune from a reference note you ought to be able to be tuned up inside 30 seconds.

At a pinch its possible to tune to mains hum. In the UK, G is slightly flat (49Hz) & in the US B is a bit sharp (61.74 Hz).

 

[Spin Doctor]

Because one day you'll forget to pack your tuner, or the battery will be flat.
With one string in tune from a reference note you ought to be able to be tuned up inside 30 seconds.

At a pinch its possible to tune to mains hum. In the UK, G is slightly flat (49Hz) & in the US B is a bit sharp (61.74 Hz).

This sounds completely ridiculous. If you're not prepared to play your gigs you shouldn't be out there. I'm not trying to play with anybody so unprofessional that they have to tune to a "hum". I've had to change the battery in my tuner maybe two times in the last 13 years.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Be cause it introduces several fundamentals to someone who may know nothing about music or instruments.

• Listening for if your paying sounds right
• discerning unisons and fourths
• the pitches of the open strings
• how frets impact the pitch (what a half step is)
• how a fourth appears horizontally and vertically
• possibly introducing harmonics

I see it as the first exposure to the "play, listen, adjust" loop we use in all our playing.
Some of them could be skipped by a teacher I suppose, but I'd see teaching to tune as the perfect opportunity to spell out these basic concepts. Experienced players might not even consider them worth mentioning in some explicit way.

The problem with all that is people who tune with their ear are tempted to actually use it. I played with a guy who tried to tune by ear and it sounded like ass. I told dude to go buy some technology.

 

[mambo4]

For certain. I use a tuner pedal in real-life situations, like a gig
I can tune by ear and get acceptably close to a calibrated electronic device
But at a gig I rely on technology, it is more practical and reliable..

But I do believe that learning learning to tune by ear enforces certain fundamentals,
and that may be its primary value.

 

[Blaktop]

I taught him how to tune (by ear and with a tuner), explained the semi tones to a scale, 5 semis to the next string and showed him how to do a major scale without moving using 4 fingers....oh and told him to start plucking using alternating fingers. Won't see him again for a couple of months so I'll see how he's getting on. He's determined, he taught himself drums fairly quickly.

Also told him to find songs he wanted to learn on Spotify, find the chord sequences online, crank it up through the stereo and play along....well see how he goes.