hello everyone, i've been teaching myself bass through online resources, SBL being one of them and although it is not great. because there is no sense of direction as a beginner and they assume that you would know where to start, although i did find a lot of the courses helpful and the workbooks are great. my issue with learning from online resources is that i don't really know where to start, and what to focus on the most as a starting bass player, also as far as practice goes, what is too much practice and is it better to focus on one thing for long periods of time or alternate between subjects and music theory to absorb the most out of the resources? so far i haven't really gotten lost, my playing has improved. I am sort of winging it. So long story short, as a beginner what should my practice routine look like? where should i start and and what should i focus on, and what would be the next step after that? if anything i'm asking for guidance or a sort of curriculum that will help me and other of self taught bass players to guide themselvles through this beautiful journey with the instrument. Without wasting time! would be much appreciated to get some advice from other fellow players.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
Welcome to TalkBass! Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
As a self taught beginner bass player, where shoul di start?
- Thread starter attilaLONDI
- Start date
devnulljp
Supporting Member
- Oct 13, 2009
- 5,743
- 13,388
- 5,321
- Disclosures
- Admin on the D*A*M Forum
This forum of BG "General Instruction" has a great sticky thread on just that issue. Navigate to the first sticky at the top of this forum and gather some info!
I'm in a similar situation. What is your goal? That probably dictates quite a bit about direction. Given that my main goal is to have fun messing about with it, it's hard for my "curriculum" to be wrong, as long as I'm enjoying it.
That said, the Ed Friedland Hal Leonard book seems nicely structured and I was getting a lot from that until I got really into playing along with tabs via Songsterr. As well as getting real-live people who know what they're doing involved (which I'll do next month), I recommend both of those and adjusting the ratio to what seems most beneficial.
That said, the Ed Friedland Hal Leonard book seems nicely structured and I was getting a lot from that until I got really into playing along with tabs via Songsterr. As well as getting real-live people who know what they're doing involved (which I'll do next month), I recommend both of those and adjusting the ratio to what seems most beneficial.
Focus on the days to learn, lifetime to master stuff.
For example, playing dynamics. How lightly and how hard can you attack your bass? Are you in command of your attack?
Phrasing. You don't talk in a mono-tone. Don't play that way either, within the bounds of playing your role as the harmonic foundation of the music.
And learn your fretboard. Be able to name any pitch your teacher points to as fast as you could answer 1st Grade math flash cards (2+2=4 instantly).
For example, playing dynamics. How lightly and how hard can you attack your bass? Are you in command of your attack?
Phrasing. You don't talk in a mono-tone. Don't play that way either, within the bounds of playing your role as the harmonic foundation of the music.
And learn your fretboard. Be able to name any pitch your teacher points to as fast as you could answer 1st Grade math flash cards (2+2=4 instantly).
Well, i'm a noob here but i've found that when i get sick and tired of practicing i make myself practice more :0
Find a song, play along
Find a song, play along
start with Mark J Smith's Talkingbass.net beginner lessons playlist
Mark's free content playlists are much better organized than SBL.
and respect the holy trinity of beginner bass technique videos for the sake of your health
---
reading your OP I think you may be at a point where your decisions about what to learn can be goal based. What do you *want* to do on the bass?
Some times the correct response to "no direction" is to pick a direction.
Assess the results after a time, and adjust as needed.
Last edited:
where i'm from the teachers are good, just really expensive, and also don't think about you're best interest so that's why i opted for an online approach
i mean i'm not terrible, i have a grasp at theory and i'm pretty fluent on the fretboard it's just that my learning is a little all over the place, i'll go from really complicated concepts just to try to understand them and then after a lot of research i realise that i'm way in over my head, i'm just saying it's hard to self navigate something you don't know very well
that's exactly what i'm currently doing, at the moment i'm just sticking to harmonizing major chords and navigating them around the fretboard then go on to minor chords and so on also learning some of my favorite tunes on the side. once i get a good grasp and majors and minors and their harmonization, i think i will start diving into modes
Hello fellow self taught bass'er! I also did a fair amount of SBL when I was doing a lot of more rigorous studying. I would recommend this as a resource as well: StudyBass - Free interactive online bass lessons
So for the "what to focus on", it depends on what you want to do. Do you want to play live? Cover band, Originals, or a mix? Do you play another instrument and are looking to write your own basslines and be a one-person band?
I think recommendations that apply to everyone is:
- Learn your neck (the notes, where they are). This will help you when you play with others if they tell you a note and not a fret. It also shows you where the notes re-occur and you'll start noticing "shapes" and paths to move up and down the neck in a way more interesting than pentatonic minor.
- Practice your chops. Pick songs you enjoy and learn them fully through. Then practice them till you're proficient and don't really have to look at your hands. Then pick harder ones
- Metronome or Click Track - use them
- As you encounter things learning theory, try them out. From studybass I didn't really know much about augmented or dimished stuff. So I printed both out and wing'd it writing a song using those as my framework. It's helpful in giving your a context for how those intervals sound together
- Too much practice is when it hurts or you're burning out. This will tie into the next point
- HAVE FUN. Just about everyone I've ever talked to at parties, shows, work, or in passing that tells me they "tried to learn" an instrument and gave up did so because they didn't get to the "fun part". I very truthfully believe the 1st third of your time as a musician is the hardest. When it's not fun yet, it is harder to mark progress. You're still learning to practice, you're still trying to find out what you can play. You eventually will graduate to where playing in and of itself is fun, then the studying and work becomes more natural. You'll have more of an idea of what you want out of it. Once you've gotten to where it's fun and you think you know generally what you can play, you'll find the last 2/3rds of your time as a musician (in my experience at least) is spent learning what you should play.
between harmonization and modes I would insert some study of common chord progressions and styles
understanding chord progressions and how to support them in various styles is more useful than understanding modes IMHO. ( even though it can be argued that they are ultimately the same thing)
If I can add on to Mambo's advice, finding the various "directions" you can hit those progressions in. For instance, you can do the simple major scale up the strings, you can do them diagonally towards the headstock from the same starting position, and if you can run the same scale up the neck towards the body. It'll give you a good roadmap of how to travel the neck naturally and where shapes happen.
Exactly why it’s not a good idea to operate this way. It’s also an indication that maybe you don’t know that the teachers in your area have no idea how to teach. I don’t know what to tell you, though if it were me, I’d buy a beginner book and work through it rather than just hit and miss the internet.
Thanks friend, this really makes me feel a little less lost when it comes to my practice, having fun is definitley the only thing that is not missing from my sessions!
will
i'll look into it and try with a teacher again, although i did get a lot further on my own than i ever hve with the teachers here, but i'll keep looking! thanks for the reply
Call your local college and high school music departments and ask for recommendations.
Since you’re already working on harmonizing the major scale I would suggest getting started on learning some jazz standards. Take a song like “Have You Met Miss Jones”, “All The Things You Are” or “Autumn Leaves”. Analyze the chord changes (find the ii-V-Is), play the chords on your bass, learn to play the melody and then work on some simple walking bass. The goal should be not just to learn about bass but to learn about music.
Also, get yourself the iReal Pro app - and Jeff Berlin’s reading course.
Also, get yourself the iReal Pro app - and Jeff Berlin’s reading course.
Last edited:
Im self taught too.
Couldnt afford lessons.
I started off with the Bass Guitar for Dummies...book.
However, I have been surrounded by musicians all my life. The day I bought my bass rig, I was thrust into a band before I had an inkling of what I was doing. Played my first show 3 weeks later.
15 min sessions, several times a day is the way I practice when learning new things.
I treat music as a language.
In order for me to master the language, I needed to now it's alphabet (scales, modes) and how to utilise this alphabet (formulation of patterns) and how to access the alphabetical patterns (know your fret board) in order to put it all together and speak the language fluently. Still working on this with each new song and technique I learn.
Surround yourself with other musicians and put all the theory into practice.
Couldnt afford lessons.
I started off with the Bass Guitar for Dummies...book.
However, I have been surrounded by musicians all my life. The day I bought my bass rig, I was thrust into a band before I had an inkling of what I was doing. Played my first show 3 weeks later.
15 min sessions, several times a day is the way I practice when learning new things.
I treat music as a language.
In order for me to master the language, I needed to now it's alphabet (scales, modes) and how to utilise this alphabet (formulation of patterns) and how to access the alphabetical patterns (know your fret board) in order to put it all together and speak the language fluently. Still working on this with each new song and technique I learn.
Surround yourself with other musicians and put all the theory into practice.