Tips For Beginners

[Terry Farmer]

Many, if not most, teachers offer lessons online via Zoom or Skype as a result of the virus situation. While not the ideal learning environment, it's still "one on one" personalized instruction. Find one that is a bassist, not a guitar/bass multi instrument person. The bass is unique in every way. I played guitar for many years but when I progressed with my bass studies I realized bass and guitar have very little (if anything) in common. I think, most importantly, have fun with it. Sounds like you are, so best of luck to you.

 

[Killing Floor]

What @Gorn said, now is the time to make sure your hand position is correct. Work on your hands/arms/posture so as you develop you can grow better habits which will also strengthen your bassin' muscles.
As you improve you'll appreciate not having to relearn to play different techniques.
Fundamentals. Do the work. Scales are boring but so is pandemic lockdown. Sounds like you're on the right track.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Hi Everybody,

I recently joined this forum and I've gotten a lot of positive responses on my first post (thank you to everyone who responded to my questions about equipment).

Since I'm a total newbie I'm curious- For the more experienced players-What sort of tips/advice would you offer to someone who's starting to learn bass?

I started a little over two weeks ago and I'm trying to practice at least 60-90 minutes a day by playing tabs online at full speed using Songsterr. I'm not sure if this is the best way to learn but I feel like even in the short amount of time I've been playing I'm getting better.

I've been pleasantly surprised how much fun playing is especially after having failed at learning guitar earlier in life. I'm not entirely starting from scratch musically as I took piano as a kid and did choir in middle school.

Really wish I had picked up a bass sooner and really given it a serious try because it seems to fit my personality a lot better than guitar and it's a lot more fun to play from what I can tell.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to improve and how to learn for a new players beyond taking lessons. Ordinarily I would probably try to find in person lessons, but with the pandemic I think I'm stuck doing it virtually or learning on my own for the moment.

Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Avoid bad habits. I've only been playing for 2 years, yet in that short time I've picked up some bad playing habits, which are extremely hard to break. If your plucking with your fingers, then make sure to alternate fingers going up the strings, and "rake" going down them. Also try not to fret with your thumb, although some people like it, it could cause wrist issues down the line. This is a great video for beginners-
P.S. Check out SBL Academy if you haven't already, you get 2 weeks free to see if its for you!!

 

[pingvuiini]

As strange as it may sound, sing the drum parts to songs. It will a lot like bibbly babbly boop pah pah pahmpoo raboo daboo pishh pishh boodaroom poom poom diddlydiddly dat dat dat boof, etc. Singing the drum parts will help you mentally internalize the rhythm structure of the songs. Even more effective, fun and good exercise would be to 'airdrum'. I was one of the best airdrummers at Rush concerts. Even my drummer/Rush fan friend was impressed at my performances. When the lights came on people would come up and ask about drums (even though I don't know much about drums) and I would chat with them all sweaty with steam rising from my head. (Much credit goes to the recently late Neil Peart, who was able to maintain around 97% concert playing accuracy through the years. Airdrumming is pointless without live playing accuracy from the band). Reasonably accurate airdrumming will get your whole body into the rhythm structure.

 

[rodsnhawgs]

Keep it fun.
Too much practice time could lead to burnout. Just be aware of it...
Keep it fun.
Drop the tabs crutch...that's something you'll need to unlearn at some point.
Keep it fun.
Get a good teacher...one you can connect with and that is leading you toward success. There are lots of good ones, but unfortunately, there are more bad teachers than good. Just because someone can play well, doesn't mean they can teach well.

Now:
1. ... learn the notes on the bass... start short...say all then notes up to the 5th fret, then to the 7th, then the 9th, and on to the 12th...I mean really learn them!
2. Learn good hand positioning. This will prevent potential hand injuries AND help navigating the neck more efficiently.
3. Learn the C major scale inside out. All music starts here. It's the foundation for everything going forward.
4. Get a metronome and use it.
5. Start learning how to read music notation. Some day you'll thank those of us that are making this suggestion.
6. A lot of what you can learn musically and particularly to the instrument are intellectual exercises...meaning you don't necessarily have to have the bass in your hands. As you progress, you'll see more and more what I mean.
7. Play along with some songs and keep it fun...jamming with a song is more fun than learning exercises (although necessary).
8. If you can find a couple of other musicians to jam with, do that...but make sure they're better than you and they are making music...not just noise. Playing with better musicians will get you better much faster.
9. Don't be too hard on yourself. Once you become aware of all you don't know, it's a journey...
10. Keep it fun (did I mention that? LOL)

Good luck. Welcome to the world of bass.

 

[backin82]

I second the advice to make it fun. It's really the only way the hobby will be sustainable. Generally, I've found that I enjoy playing along with random songs that I like and learning their bass lines.

Also, if you're unfamiliar with a fretboard, then start by locating a note, (any note) like C, and learn a major scale off of that note. That's your home base.
Then branch out from there. Find secondary home bases. Common scales would include A, E, D, G, and B. Learn where all those notes are located, and build major scales off of them.
At some point, you'll want to branch out and learn where all those notes are in the various locations / hand positions along the fretboard so you can have mini home bases all over the place.
You can also start building from there to learn relative minor scales, triads or chords, and various other modes.

From there, profit.

 

[El_Charro]

Keep it fun.
Too much practice time could lead to burnout. Just be aware of it...
Keep it fun.
Drop the tabs crutch...that's something you'll need to unlearn at some point.
Keep it fun.
Get a good teacher...one you can connect with and that is leading you toward success. There are lots of good ones, but unfortunately, there are more bad teachers than good. Just because someone can play well, doesn't mean they can teach well.
--------------
Thank you for your response- I'm curious about something you said above- That tabs are a "crutch"...

As a visual learner I think this is a good call out because reading tabs is helping me understand where I need to be keeping my left hand on the fret board when playing...

That being said (and pardon my total ignorance here), but how do I know if I'm getting the song "right" if I'm not using tabs...

To further clarify what I mean by that question- I understand that I'm going to need to get better at listening to the structure of the song and picking out the bass line under the other instruments which is admittedly difficult for me at times bc I'm a visual learner.

When I'm exercising I listen to music and when I was jogging yesterday I was trying to listen for the specific bass line. I could find it some of the time, but most of the time I have a hard time picking out the specific bass line because the drums are also going (I can usually mentally filter out the guitar when I'm listening to something bc it's the upper end.

A more song specific example- I usually warm up to Thunderkiss '65 by White Zombie bc it isn't terribly overly complicated and the tempo of that song isn't exactly blistering.

This is the Bass tab for the primary bass line for that song:

A|-----------------------------2---1------------------------------------|
E|-0--0--0-0--0--0--0--0-0--0----3---2----------------------------------|

I tend to have a really easy time playing the E pattern of that song and I can hit the 2 on the A string pretty well but for some reason I have a hard time hitting the first fret on the A string which isn't as prominent in that song as the notes on the E string or the 2 on the A string. I'm also usually trying to get my left hand in to hit the 3 and the 2 because they are a little more emphasized than the 1 on the A string...

So my concern in that instance- Wouldn't that mean I'm being inaccurate when I'm trying to learn a song?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I want to make sure I'm learning the right way, so accuracy matters to me bc if I were playing in a band- Wouldn't that infuriate the drummer or someone else in the band if I miss the high A? (Or does that even "matter" if you are playing the primary notes of the bass line?)

While it doesn't sound like there's as much of an emphasis on the upper A in that example in that song, it's still there, so if I'm missing it isn't that "wrong"? (Am probably showing just how new to the instrument I am by asking this question because it's probably going to show my ignorance).

The other response above that caught my attention was the comment about playing along with the drums.

Thank you for that suggestion- I'm guessing that helps you better understand the "groove" of the song.

Maybe this is something I don't fully understand about the bass in general (and maybe I'm overthinking this)- I can usually "feel out" the song in terms of whether it's going to go up or down on pitch and I understand the timing aspects in terms of the tempo of the song especially if I'm familiar with the song, I'm just worried about forming bad habits (i.e. playing "sloppy").

Apologies if what I have here is showing my ignorance- Appreciate all suggestions above and for anyone else on this thread please feel free to reply...Appreciate the positive suggestions...Thanks!

 

[Benjamin Earl]

There are a lot of good suggestions in this thread, but you need to start somewhere. Quite simply, I would focus on playing clean notes first. Quite a bit of your tone will come from your fingers and technique. Make sure not to get any weird buzzing. Practice to make every note sound good to your ear. This will develop your "sound".
I suggest doing finger exercises like 1234 index middle ring pinky. One finger per fret. Play four frets on the E string, then A, D, G. Then reverse 4321 and come back down. This will give you strength and muscle memory.
After this exercise you should have fun. Play some songs/basslines, or learn a scale that sounds cool. As suggested by others, the C Major scale is the best place to start.

 

[Jhengsman]

Since I started before high speed internet and free video I spent some time with the Hal Leonard method and some time trying to learn favorite songs. If not a teacher or video series do try to add some sort of method instruction to just the learning of your songs.