I need practice not lectures...

#42
Regarding the SBL youtube stuff, I got the most out of his videos from a few years ago, when he was actually focused on music content like applying fundamentals to executing a certain lick, expanding scale fingering patterns to cover more of the fretboard, etc. Those can be really helpful by offering some concrete items to latch onto and expand upon.

It's not the shortest road, the self-taught-via-media approach, but it's doable. Even comprehensive lesson plans like Roy Vogt's Teach Me Bass Guitar come with the expectation of plenty of independent practice and time spent in the shed.


Generally, my thinking for a fun approach when starting out is finding simple but enjoyable songs to play with. For example, Talking Heads doing Once in a Lifetime or Take Me to the River, or D'Angelo - Lady. Or some Rage Against the Machine tunes like Bombtrack if the first few prove simple. Spend some time really matching your timing and attacks and note control to the record, and you'll have improved your playing as a whole.


Though they're boring, scales and especially arpeggios are TRULY bread and butter, and it's worth doing stuff like slowly going through them and naming each note out loud as you go.


That's all stuff that online lessons will advise you to do, just with an hour's worth of monologue.
 
#46
The funny thing is that the list of what you need to learn is really short:

1. What are all the notes on the neck.

2. Learn the major, minor scales in all 12 keys, then the related pentatonics.

3. Learn what the chords and arpeggios are in each scale/key up to the 7th, ideally the up to the 9th.

4. Start learning songs by ear.

These can be done somewhat in parallel. Once you can play the common chords and scales in a few keys, you can start working on learning songs by ear.

After 40 years of gigging what do I study? The exact same stuff...just keep going back into it at a deeper level, focusing on aspects that are of immediate use on my gigs.
 
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#48
Raphael- said:
I've spent a lot of time on this forum looking up online courses and trying them out (reviews, free trials, youtube...)

Unfortunately I must say most of them do not suit me, including two of the most popular ones: SBL and Talkingbass. The reason is that most online lessons are basically video lectures, with little to no explicit guidance on what to practice and how.

Personally, lectures come into one ear and go out the other one. I'd prefer to use my bass when I'm learning bass...

I was lucky enough to find Bassbuzz (Josh Fossgreen) and made HUGE AND FAST progress. It is a structured and linear program, divided into small bits. Each concept is taught in a short ~10-15mn video which is accompanied by a "workout" video, usually based on a well-known song, that makes you practice each concept, and thereby learn by doing.

For eg. to explain the major scale, Josh would teach you a short riff and have you play along the video slowly and then faster and faster. And then magic, no only do you know the major scale, your fingers know it too.

The only problem with Bassbuzz is it's a beginner course. I finished it a couple months ago and have since been making desperately slow progress. I'm now looking for another course, similarly based on practice rather than lectures, but for intermediates.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
So, you're a bad ass now?
 
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#49
two fingers said:
If what it required to proceed is "Do this exact exercise for 45 minutes each day for the next three days" then it will be a long road ahead.
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Learning an instrument takes time with a lot of repetition. On-line courses can be helpful but you have to approach them properly. You have to practice the material until is mastered before proceeding to the next thing to work on. There are no shortcuts to mastering an instrument. I always liked the approach taught in Real Bass Lessons (free YT content by a retired (RIP) Berklee teacher).
 
#50
Staccato said:
One size fits all? I have doubts about that. How do beginners, intermediate level, or advanced dive into this site? After wading through testimonials, I was looking for the answer to these two basic questions.
Click to expand...

TL;DR Ari Cap is the real deal.

Hit the Snooze Alarm: A purchase of the Music Theory for the Bass Player book opens access to all the videos referenced in the book. Ari Cap is an extraordinary teacher. But all the work falls on you. There's no magic. People who feel they need support to complete the 40-week course can join the cohort. The next cohort begins in January. The record for completing MTftBP is seven times, I'm told.

Disclaimer — this winter MTftBP cohort is my third, and currently a volunteer coach for the 2021 winter and summer cohorts. Yes, I see both beginning and experienced players find palpable gain from this course. My personal take is beginning players see great benefit because they don't bring trails of bad habits like toilet paper stuck on a shoe.
 
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#52
Acoustic356 said:
You seem to be approaching music as an academic approach and not a musical one. If you want to get good, find people to play with and play. You will intrinsically learn the language that musicians use, and how to play the role.

Don’t overcomplicate it.
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Yeah but most of history's truly great musicians learned music as an academic undertaking. "Jamming with the boys" only takes you so far.
 
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#53
I agree that the delivery and especially the advertising can be relentless, with online teachers, however I have found this guy to be good Lesson Map - FREE bass guitar online tuition and tips
I also use a private teacher weekly , I don’t think it’s complex you just need to put a ton of practice to get results, I also find reading and writing music and being curious about music has been very helpful and interesting and made everything gel together
 
#54
Raphael- said:
I've spent a lot of time on this forum looking up online courses and trying them out (reviews, free trials, youtube...)

Unfortunately I must say most of them do not suit me, including two of the most popular ones: SBL and Talkingbass. The reason is that most online lessons are basically video lectures, with little to no explicit guidance on what to practice and how.

Personally, lectures come into one ear and go out the other one. I'd prefer to use my bass when I'm learning bass...

I was lucky enough to find Bassbuzz (Josh Fossgreen) and made HUGE AND FAST progress. It is a structured and linear program, divided into small bits. Each concept is taught in a short ~10-15mn video which is accompanied by a "workout" video, usually based on a well-known song, that makes you practice each concept, and thereby learn by doing.

For eg. to explain the major scale, Josh would teach you a short riff and have you play along the video slowly and then faster and faster. And then magic, no only do you know the major scale, your fingers know it too.

The only problem with Bassbuzz is it's a beginner course. I finished it a couple months ago and have since been making desperately slow progress. I'm now looking for another course, similarly based on practice rather than lectures, but for intermediates.

Any ideas?
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I haven’t read other responses yet, but I’ve been playing a year and I will tell you what I think (???) has worked for me in terms of improving…I say ‘think” bc I’m not in a band yet and still play on my own, but I have made a lot of progress on my own and this is how I did it):

Edit:If you consider yourself intermediate, you may have progressed past this stage so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt:

1) Play the kind of music you like…If you like jazz, play jazz…If it’s R&B, play that…If it’s country…Dude, I can’t help you (just kidding-Wanted to see if you were paying attention)…

I am trying to play Metal songs bc it’s undoubtedly my favorite genre…If you asked me to play Brown Eyed Girl or something from the 60s or R&B or scales I would probably lose interest immediately…

That is not to say that other genres don’t have talented musicians and you can’t branch out and play other types of music…
While you will become a better overall musician and well rounded by playing other genres, I’m saying this bc I think it’s important to HAVE fun (if it’s not fun then why bother?) is kind of my approach to bass…

A whole bunch of songs are still WAY over my head so I had to start off playing Black Sabbath which might as well be called Metal 101…Whatever your favorite band/genre is - Try to find songs you like that aren’t overly complex bc you’re more likely to want to dig into the song to find what’s making the bass sounds you like…

2) I use Songsterr…While I’m sure a lot of people here would look down on using tabs, it works for me bc I tried to learn guitar earlier in life and I needed something to orient me to the fretboard…I still memorized the Fretboard and fretboard notes mind you, however as I’ve played more I’ve discovered that I needed something especially when starting out to help orient me to high/low notes and to get an overall feel of how songs flow…The Website is free, but $10 bucks a month isn’t a bad price for the app-You get a better feel of backing instruments and because the tab works like Guitar Hero, it teaches you to keep tempo with the song

3) I realized that I couldn’t play tabs forever, so I started playing along to songs I like (which admittedly was terrifying at first)…Someone on this site recommended putting on Pandora (or shuffling your songs on iTunes)…While I did well for a while only playing to songs using this method, I found my mind drifting and my playing getting a bit sloppy so I figured a combination was probably the best way to go especially since I’m a visual learner…Which brings me to:

4) I feel like a combination of the two was the best for me…

So now I pick a song and play along to the tab on Songsterr as practice and then play the actual song…

This works (for me) because it forces me to pay attention to the tab and what it’s doing and bc the tab program is bass heavy you can pick out how the bass sounds pretty easily from the tab on Songsterr…Also-Playing to the tab gives me a little more confidence so I can really focus on song feel…

When I finish the song tab I immediately turn off the screen on my iPad and play along to the actual song without looking at the tab…Since I just heard the bass in the tab it forces me to try to listen in and find the bass line /pattern in the actual song…By no means is it a “perfect” system, but it forces my brain to engage both on a visual and auditory level…

While I don’t play everything perfectly, I find that “practicing” the tab is like a study part and then playing the song right after is the “test”…If you do this consistently for a group of songs you just kind of learn them…

No, that doesn’t teach you anything about music theory, but for me who’s just a guy playing in his basement (BASSment), it has worked wonders for me especially since I really only have about an hour a day to practice

5) To reiterate my point about having fun-Maybe have a day or two out of the week dedicated to just playing along to your favorite album and don’t worry about doing it “right”…

Of course you can always try to find a local instructor and I’m not trying to undercut/discourage you from finding a teacher or learning to read music-Just suggesting that there isn’t necessarily a “right” or “wrong” way to practice (or play for that matter)…

Someone posted this in another thread of mine this last weekend and I’m REALLY grateful they did bc I think there a powerful truth to it…

Our society is obsessed with accuracy and perfection…While those are noble goals…Music should be enjoyable:



Best of luck to you whatever you decide…

Just keep at it and you’ll find something that works for you…Consistency and frequency of practice might not be an exciting theory, but eventually it leads to improvement…About 2-3 months ago I kinda hit a wall and didn’t wanna practice, but I kept at it (an hour a day 6x a week using the method I mentioned above)…

I still have a LONG way to go to where I wanna be, but I’ve had a few “breakthrough” moments while playing recently and I never would’ve gotten there had I not slogged thru practice a few months back…

Thanks! \m/
 
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#56
Raphael- said:
I've spent a lot of time on this forum looking up online courses and trying them out (reviews, free trials, youtube...)

Unfortunately I must say most of them do not suit me, including two of the most popular ones: SBL and Talkingbass. The reason is that most online lessons are basically video lectures, with little to no explicit guidance on what to practice and how.

Personally, lectures come into one ear and go out the other one. I'd prefer to use my bass when I'm learning bass...

I was lucky enough to find Bassbuzz (Josh Fossgreen) and made HUGE AND FAST progress. It is a structured and linear program, divided into small bits. Each concept is taught in a short ~10-15mn video which is accompanied by a "workout" video, usually based on a well-known song, that makes you practice each concept, and thereby learn by doing.

For eg. to explain the major scale, Josh would teach you a short riff and have you play along the video slowly and then faster and faster. And then magic, no only do you know the major scale, your fingers know it too.

The only problem with Bassbuzz is it's a beginner course. I finished it a couple months ago and have since been making desperately slow progress. I'm now looking for another course, similarly based on practice rather than lectures, but for intermediates.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Develop a grudging respect for lectures. Sometimes they're the best way to get a point across, and you can always stop the video at any time and practice the concepts. Admirable that you want to be as hands-on as possible, but just like when you're talking, when you're practicing, you're not listening to anyone but yourself. To get anywhere past the beginner level, you have to learn to listen sometimes, too.
 
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#57
A good teacher will see the holes in your playing and understanding that you are unaware of, and show you how to develop those areas. If you know what you need to work on there are plenty of courses and books to cover it, but if you don't know what you don't know there is no substitute for one-on-one time with a great teacher.

There are lots of them, from super famous folks to people you've never heard of but are just as good. These days you can Zoom with the best from home. You don't even have to wear pants!
 
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#59
Raphael- said:
I've spent a lot of time on this forum looking up online courses and trying them out (reviews, free trials, youtube...)

Unfortunately I must say most of them do not suit me, including two of the most popular ones: SBL and Talkingbass. The reason is that most online lessons are basically video lectures, with little to no explicit guidance on what to practice and how.

Personally, lectures come into one ear and go out the other one. I'd prefer to use my bass when I'm learning bass...

I was lucky enough to find Bassbuzz (Josh Fossgreen) and made HUGE AND FAST progress. It is a structured and linear program, divided into small bits. Each concept is taught in a short ~10-15mn video which is accompanied by a "workout" video, usually based on a well-known song, that makes you practice each concept, and thereby learn by doing.

For eg. to explain the major scale, Josh would teach you a short riff and have you play along the video slowly and then faster and faster. And then magic, no only do you know the major scale, your fingers know it too.

The only problem with Bassbuzz is it's a beginner course. I finished it a couple months ago and have since been making desperately slow progress. I'm now looking for another course, similarly based on practice rather than lectures, but for intermediates.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...


I tried SBL...I like Scott and think he has a good Schtick but generally found SBL to be useless, I thought it was too much information presented without a clear guide on how to process it/use it/move forward from it and overall wasn't very organized and there was no clear educational plan/path.

the YouTube channel "free lessons" or whatever it is taught by that former Berklee professor is really one of the best things out there, check that out if you have not.

Have you looked into private lessons ? Nothing beats those
 
#60
Knavery said:
Ha! I have both of her books and in the beginning of book one she says to memorize all the notes on the fretboard. I'm still working on that, and it's been 5 months. :) I know the notes if I count, but not just by sight, which was the goal I believe. Her material is really good though if you can work your way through it.
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Ari is great! I'm not sure which methods she uses for fretboard awareness but there are a few things that helped me a lot, and worked for my students back in my teaching days:

Get out notebook paper and draw the fretboard (the blue lines are your frets) and write out all the notes. You can start with just natural notes (no sharps/flats) and the first 5 frets. Then expand from there. I find that the physical act of writing/drawing it helps more than just looking at a diagram made by someone else.

Next, print or copy your diagram, which covers your entire bass, and pick a note. For example, let's start with C. You can use a highlighter to mark each one as you go, and ask yourself some questions:

How many total C's are on the bass?
How many different pitches of C do I have?
How many C's are on the E string? A string? etc.
In a given hand position (IE open through 4th fret, 5th to 9th, etc.) how many C's do I have access to? Where are they?

I'd also sing or say the note names throughout my practice, whether it's playing songs or scales. Take your favorite bass line and sing the notes as you play it, which can help reinforce your hand-eye-brain connection.

From there, look at the relationship between different notes and you'll see patterns that repeat everywhere. The fifth of C is G. There's a G if we go down one string and stay on the same fret, OR if we go up one string and up two frets. That relationship is true regardless of the pitch, so once you're used to doing it in C, you can use the same distance tricks in every other key.

To help build quick reference points, you can look at relationships to your open strings (7th fret, 12th fret, 5th fret harmonic, etc.) to give you some "guideposts."

Personally, I found memorization to be boring and not very useful, so looking for ways to work on fretboard awareness while doing actual musical things, or asking musical questions, worked much better for me.

Good luck!
 
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