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What did you all do when you were a beginner?

#41
Just started playing this Spring at age 38 so you are certainly not alone...

Please don't discount playing with others. Even if your goal is self jamming, your fun and skill and learning level will grow like a 100X times faster playing with others.

Don't be to serious about it all the time. Be sure to have playing time away from lessons/strict learning to just play around. Maybe come up with a little part in your head and try to figure it out on the fly too.
 
#44
I started playing in April (43 no musical training). I recommend learning a few easy songs like:

Don't get caught up on a particular song. I've abandoned many a Tool, Rush and Maiden tab when it became obvious the bass line was simply to complex for me (for now).
I approach the instrument concentrating on what I CAN do; and try to do a little more each day. The juice for me is the small accomplishments. "Hey, look at me! I can do something I couldn't yesterday. Yeah me! :hyper: "
f n o r d!
 
#45
MarshallNole said:
What did you all do as a beginner? What should I be doing? Does it all click one day and you just find it easier to learn the songs you want?
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I did a combination of learning/playing whatever songs I felt like (and could play), and working through a method book. I think combining those tWo aspects helped be to persist and improve without getting bored and frustrated. It was self-directed but not unstructured.

So I think the important thing is that you have fun and learn at the same time.

But I totally get the frustration of not being able to play what you hoped you could. You've just got to work towards it and start with the easier stuff. There are lots of easy and fun songs out there, it just depends on the styles of music and bands you're into. If you keep building on the songs you can play, and on your technical ability and theoretical knowledge, you will gradually start to grasp harder, more complex stuff.
 
#46
MarshallNole said:
Unfortunately I am not young. I am 30 years old. I have no desire to start a band. My only goal for the bass guitar is to be able to sit in my house and play all of my favorite songs almost PERFECTLY. This is just a hobby.
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Whether a kid or adult, you still have to put the work in if you want to play your favorite songs well. So quit whining about the academic stuff and just do it ;) I did it and it worked wonders. Most people who don't do it end up getting frustrated and quit playing. Those who can actually figure stuff out without the academics are what are known as "flukes."
 
#47
I was a beginner before the Internet. I guess it was technically there, but it wasn't anything like it is now and tab wasn't anywhere to be found outside of books. So, I got books and Guitar Player mags to learn songs. I also sat in front of MTV & tried to play along and learn the songs by ear, but you can't really do that anymore either since MTV doesn't play music.
 
#48
I just started with easy, 4/4 power chord rock songs and worked my way up. Just pick songs that are *just* out of your comfort zone. Spend time learning them, and then pick another song that's even tougher. It's like climbing a ladder. If you keep just reaching for the next rung up, you'll get to the top sooner or later.

Another huge thing is try to find a band. You get so much better trying to keep up with a band, because you are forced to compose your own parts, even if they are just root notes. Preferably find a group that is more skilled than you so it's a challenge, but anything that involves musical fusion will absolutely make you a better player.
 
#49
MarshallNole said:
Trying to play any of the songs I want to learn (from Tool) simply leads to frustration. The only song I can play at length is Otherside by RHCP, although I still don't have the bridge down.
[...]
Sometimes I find myself sitting my my room picking randomly at the strings because I don't know what I should be doing.
Click to expand...

I know what you're going through. There were times when the instrument would just be a book with seven seals. But one day something clicked and things got easier. I've learned to read music, get into theory, and it all fell into place. Putting in the hours doing exercises, scales and chord tones really gets you familiar with your instrument and soon you'll be flying all over the fretboard. One particular provlem of mine was ear training - at first I had to rely on band mates to transcribe bass parts. With practice it became easier and now it's become second nature (so much so that I now have people coming to me for transcriptions - picking up sax helped me a lot too because to transpose scales and chords you can't just move up or down a fret, you have to get to know your instrument intimately which does wonders for your ear). Now when I hear a solo I can usually hear what's going on without needing an instrument to check.

Well, my point is that it's not an easy and gradual process. You have to put in the work but it WILL come together further down the road, in my experience it does so in bursts, you could also say plateaus.
 
#52
I found a couple of really bad guitarists and a really bad drummer my own age (14) and started to learn easy Rock tunes and play them at parties with my "band". That, along with some lessons, kept me going.
First two books:
Mel Bay's Electric Bass Vol.1 and 2 by Roger Filiberto
The Berklee Method for String Bass (I think that one is out of print).
Lots and lots of easy Blues, IIRC.:bassist:
 
#54
When I was a beginner, more than 35 years ago, I simply listened to songs and learned them. I hung out with fellow musicians to watch and listen to them. I learned a lot just by jamming with them. I have never had a lesson or purchased any type of music instruction book. I have always had a good ear and good timing so it came naturally to me. Some people learn better with lessons and books and that's fine too.
 
#55
I've been playing bass since age 11. I'm 62 today. When I first started, I picked up a basic Mel Bay bass guitar book that started me off with two key things. First where the notes were on the fret board and I quickly picked up the pattern. It then showed me two basic chord patterns that I used for mostly all the songs I played with in my early band. The chord patterns were the I - V pattern and a basic four note arpeggio that I referred to as a "boogie" pattern. After a while, I leaned a minor chord pattern which was the major arpeggio with a flatted third. But I didn't know such details at the time. Over the years, I just kept learning more and more and adding to my skills. That's about it....P
 
#56
I don't know if this has been covered yet, but jam with a friend, two friends. As many as possible...at the same time. Talk your way into a small band. But let them know you're just starting out. This will make you improve much faster, than if you practice on your own. I mean, DO practice on your own, but avoiding embarrassment in the band will provide one helluva incentive to get better quickly. :)
 
#57
Practice, practice, and practice.

Take a few lessons to learn proper technique.

I started playing bass seven years ago.

I learned bass very quickly by getting in a classic rock band and by learning the basslines to every song in an attempt to get as close as I could get to the original artist's lines - I'd work on each song as long as I needed in order to get them.

I now play in a 50's/60's Rock and Roll band, a C&W band, a Jazz band, and every Sunday at church on our Worship Team . . . Christian bass can be pretty intimidating at times.
 
#59
As a beginning musician, I was 7 years old, playing the piano. I took 2 years of formal lessons from 8-10. Started playing guitar at 14, drums at 20, and bass at 34. I only had the 2 years of piano lessons. The rest?

Practice. I played along with every piece of music I could find. Anything. If I got good at it while playing awake, I practiced til I could play it in my sleep. I got up at 6 so I'd have an hour before school to practice, and I would practice from after dinner til 1 or 2am.

Listen to everything. Try as hard as you can to visualize the fretboard(or the drum kit or the keyboard), the patterns and the phrasing and the nuance and crazy siht that you don't even understand yet.

Keep running your scales and get limber and strong and train your muscles and your mind because music is so, so bitchin'.
 
#60
One of the very first things I did all those years ago was to draw a picture of the fingerboard with all the notes written on it, so I learned where all the Cs, Bbs, Ds etc were located on the instrument. This was very valuable to me for about 3 months. At the same time, I played along with records and figured out bass lines from songs that somehow were stuck in my head. A good trick I picked up along the way was to sing the bass lines I was trying to learn. Somehow, once you can vocalize the notes, they are much easier to find on the instrument.
 

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