Hi all,
Thanks in advance for constructive advice. I'm a busy adult, and I've been playingb ass for about 1 year now. I am loving everything about it. I fooled around with bass as a teenager, but have taken it more seriously now (in my forties), and play much better than when I was younger.
Perhaps this question has been asked many times, but everyone is different. What should I learn next? My goals are:
A) be able to pick up music from a rock/soul/R&B/disco/etc. song, or from a fake sheet, and learn to play it quickly.
B) be able to improvise - knowing where to throw in cool fills - things like that. This includes using the whole fretboard, and gaining more experience in difference styles/rhythms/grooves
C) learn proper technique to get me to the next level (e.g. fast disco octaves still kick my butt - I suspect they would be easier with direct guidance).
Here's my present status:
1) still self-taught
2) have learned to play about 40 rock/R&B/soul songs. I think I play them well. I typically play covers and record over the original and in most songs the cover is very close to the original. I've done some improv, but not much.
3) mostly fingerstyle, but starting some slap - can play some easy slap, but am still looking to get the "right sound" - present issue is properly muting E and A without getting stray overtones.
4) I understand basic music theory and like it (e.g. circle of 4ths and 5ths), I have the basic books on learning bass, and slap, and I've read the entire www.studybass.com website more than once. I really like the theory part.
5) I play major and minor scales as finger warm-up practice, but for not much more than that. I can identify scales in songs (which helps a lot), but I haven't done anything really inventive yet.
What's your advice for the next step? Get a good teacher? Anyone out there knowledgeable enough to provide steps that i can do self-taught while I look for a teacher?
RSVP - and thanks!
Hedgehog
Thanks in advance for constructive advice. I'm a busy adult, and I've been playingb ass for about 1 year now. I am loving everything about it. I fooled around with bass as a teenager, but have taken it more seriously now (in my forties), and play much better than when I was younger.
Perhaps this question has been asked many times, but everyone is different. What should I learn next? My goals are:
A) be able to pick up music from a rock/soul/R&B/disco/etc. song, or from a fake sheet, and learn to play it quickly.
B) be able to improvise - knowing where to throw in cool fills - things like that. This includes using the whole fretboard, and gaining more experience in difference styles/rhythms/grooves
C) learn proper technique to get me to the next level (e.g. fast disco octaves still kick my butt - I suspect they would be easier with direct guidance).
Here's my present status:
1) still self-taught
2) have learned to play about 40 rock/R&B/soul songs. I think I play them well. I typically play covers and record over the original and in most songs the cover is very close to the original. I've done some improv, but not much.
3) mostly fingerstyle, but starting some slap - can play some easy slap, but am still looking to get the "right sound" - present issue is properly muting E and A without getting stray overtones.
4) I understand basic music theory and like it (e.g. circle of 4ths and 5ths), I have the basic books on learning bass, and slap, and I've read the entire www.studybass.com website more than once. I really like the theory part.
5) I play major and minor scales as finger warm-up practice, but for not much more than that. I can identify scales in songs (which helps a lot), but I haven't done anything really inventive yet.
What's your advice for the next step? Get a good teacher? Anyone out there knowledgeable enough to provide steps that i can do self-taught while I look for a teacher?
RSVP - and thanks!
Hedgehog
