yea yea yea i know this thread is a new and exciting concept...But i seriously need some help.

I have been playing around with a bass for almost 6 months now and I still suck... and by playing around I mean: plucking notes while listening to the dead and phish.

and its time to get serious. real serious, and play for at least 2 hrs per day. serious. real serious.

Where do I start? I know some simple progressions and scales.. but I am slow with these and have to look at the frets and such... basically I am a noob , as one would say.

i don't yet have an amp or any other fancy stuff. what should I look for in an amp? any other gadgets or gizmos or apparatus that may be helpful? (my budget is ~$500 for supplies)

any advice at all would be helpful. seriously.

Here is what I am working with:

You've got two options: Learn music through some sort of academia inspired method or just learn to play songs. If you go the former you'll wanna start learning scales and play technique exercises and such. Teach yourself theory and proper technique and what have you.

Or just start learning songs. Pick a song with a simple bass line and learn to play it with the recording note for note. Do this with some blues songs or something. Knowing the frets isn't really that important at this point. If you learn 20 bass lines from recordings you like you'll be surprised how much you start to pick up aurally. Learning to play with recordings will boost your technique and if you learn enough songs you can then go back and start learning the theory behind what you are playing.

That is all a long way of saying learning to play music shouldn't be as much about understanding what you're doing as it is about actually making music. This is coming from a saxophonist/bassist who for years understood what he was doing but didn't realize he didn't like how any of it sounded. Sounds stupid right? Well its really easy to get swept up in the intellectual side of things and neglect your ear. I would highly recommend just starting to learn songs and playing along with them daily. Note for note as perfect as you can. This is called transcribing and it is the one thing you can do that will adress all things pertaining to playing your instrument: time feel, rhythmic accuracy, technique, note choices, articulation, dynamics. Learn to play music by learning music.

My $0.02.

I would MT this thread if I could. I'll be picking up one very soon. I love what you have there, how do you like it?

A little tack-on to my previous post.

Jamming out with your favorite Phish and Dead cuts, while fun and certainly not un-worthwhile to do, will not benefit you that much because improvising and being technically proficient on an instrument are two different things. And being a good improviser is hard if you don't have technical proficiency. Once you have gotten that and maybe some theory knowledge from learning bass lines/parts to songs the next step (if you want to learn to improvise) would be transcribing bass solos and taking your own solos (which will suck for a long time but will slowly get better, it's the hard truth).

@Penn42 said:

A little tack-on to my previous post.
Once you have gotten that and maybe some theory knowledge from learning bass lines/parts to songs the next step (if you want to learn to improvise) would be transcribing bass solos and taking your own solos (which will suck for a long time but will slowly get better, it's the hard truth).

yea, I have stayed clear of the technical stuff because I don't have fun doing it, and when I sit down to play I want enjoy.

But it sounds like i just need to stick it out and deal with the shitty learning curve.

thanks

@frump said:

@Penn42 said:

A little tack-on to my previous post.
Once you have gotten that and maybe some theory knowledge from learning bass lines/parts to songs the next step (if you want to learn to improvise) would be transcribing bass solos and taking your own solos (which will suck for a long time but will slowly get better, it's the hard truth).

yea, I have stayed clear of the technical stuff because I don't have fun doing it, and when I sit down to play I want enjoy.

But it sounds like i just need to stick it out and deal with the shitty learning curve.

thanks

Learning songs will get you technically proficient. That was the point of my first post. You are learning to play an instrument by learning to play music. Start however easy you need to. Learn smoke on the water or something. After you get good at that you will be a slightly big more proficient bass player. Then learn something a bit harder. Do that process for a year and you could be playing super hard shit. I can guarantee you that you can become a great instrumentalist without practicing scales for hours.

Learn the mixolydian and dorian modes!!! Jam over almost any phish song with those modes (wolfmans, tube, gotta jibbo, moma dance, back on the train) and just listen to which notes sound good and which don't and roll with it. Then learn all the other modes and try lydian over reba. Thats how I learned how to play bass. And learning the major and minor scales are important too.

Jam over Gotta Jibbo after you learn mixolydian. You'll have hours of fun.

And as for which Phish songs to play along with, I recommend some of the tunes in the bluegrass/country vein. They'll stick with the I-IV-V pattern, for the most part (song in G has mainly G, C and D chords; song in A has mainly A, D and E chords, etc). Plus you can hear some very basic walking going on, and it's a simple move to walk between these chords.

Good choice in instruments. I picked up the bass about 18 years ago. My best advice would be to stick it out while you learn the basic scales and the technical stuff. If you can afford some bass lessons, and you can find a hip teacher, than you should definitely take some lessons.

Learning the basics is going to be difficult and frustrating. You know what good music sounds like, but you can't just pick up your bass and make the music. I think that discourages a lot of beginners. The key is to not quit. Play around with your mistakes and just practice, practice, practice.

Slowly, you'll hands will get used to the instrument. Your muscle memory will slowly build so that movements will become easier. Practice, practice, practice.

If you can find a cool teacher to show you some exercises and teach you some theory, then you'll probably learn more quickly. And knowing the technical stuff can make it that much easier to communicate with other musicians. If you can find some other beginners who are cool to hang out with, starting a little jam group will be very constructive and make the whole learning experience more fun.

This post might have been rambling. Sorry. To sum it up: Take Lessons. Learn basic theory. Play with others. Be patient. Have fun with what you can do right now! Practice, practice, practice!!!

Lots of good tips here. Practice, practice, practice. The drummer in my band preaches the idea that the longer you keep at it in once sitting, the more you'll get out of it. There's something that happens at the one-hour mark that makes the practice exponentially more valuable. There's a mediation that happens, and then all the grooves you're working on start to come naturally, without any thought. That's one of the benefits of playing with others: you keep going until someone stops the jam, whereas sometimes it's more difficult to keep it going on your own.

Also, I highly recommend that you arrange for lessons on a trial basis. You're not necessarily going to jive with the first teacher you meet, and you're going to find it easier to move on if you start the relationship saying, "I'd like to take a lesson or two."

@GeoudaDiSaze said:

Good choice in instruments. I picked up the bass about 18 years ago. My best advice would be to stick it out while you learn the basic scales and the technical stuff. If you can afford some bass lessons, and you can find a hip teacher, than you should definitely take some lessons.

Learning the basics is going to be difficult and frustrating. You know what good music sounds like, but you can't just pick up your bass and make the music. I think that discourages a lot of beginners. The key is to not quit. Play around with your mistakes and just practice, practice, practice.

Slowly, you'll hands will get used to the instrument. Your muscle memory will slowly build so that movements will become easier. Practice, practice, practice.

If you can find a cool teacher to show you some exercises and teach you some theory, then you'll probably learn more quickly. And knowing the technical stuff can make it that much easier to communicate with other musicians. If you can find some other beginners who are cool to hang out with, starting a little jam group will be very constructive and make the whole learning experience more fun.

This post might have been rambling. Sorry. To sum it up: Take Lessons. Learn basic theory. Play with others. Be patient. Have fun with what you can do right now! Practice, practice, practice!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwAYUUJ28UU

@ledzepmaster said:

Don't buy any effects until you're experienced enough to pick up an out-of-tune bass, tune it, and play in any key knowing where the notes lay on the fretboard. Effects are great to implement after you have reached this point. Honestly.

This!

A good, and free, drummachine: Monkey Machine. Click here

@me_no_are_no_nice_guy said:

Another one I would reccomend is an SWR 12" Workingmans Combo. They go for around 550 new, but you may be able to find a used one within your budget.

I just picked one of these up about a month ago. It's f'ing sweet. It gets good low end for a smaller speaker and is super punchy which I love for my sound. I found mine for $225 and it is lightly used... I definitely got a deal.

My story about how I started playing will probably not work for everyone, but it made me serviceable to pretty decent in a relatively short time. I was basically thrust into a jammy band (lots of extended originals and Phish covers) where we practiced twice a week for 8-12 hrs each session. Plus, the guitarist and main songwriter/song figure-outer was my older brother (@Looks2Much). We practiced even more outside of band practice. So, yeah practice is the name of the game as is playing with people who are proficient at their instruments but also just patient enough to deal with someone who is learning. However you slice it playing music is great though.

@me_no_are_no_nice_guy said:

If you're as serious as you sound, GET LESSONS. When you start to feel confident and feel that you're ready, find some people to play with. Out of everything in my bass playing experience, playing with people is what helped me out the most.

I am starting to realize this is an inevitable place to begin, thanks.

Teaching myself from scratch has been mostly unproductive thus far, as I am a grad student I don't have all day to noodle around.

I live in Chicago currently, and if you guys know anyone that you can recommend for lessons that would be awesome.

Also, I will be moving to NYC around May, so if anyone can recommend an instructor in the NYC area that would be great too.

@PricklyHairs said:

@me_no_are_no_nice_guy said:

That's a really great deal for that SWR. I've used everything from a 12" peavy to a 4x10 Guild Hartke cab with a GK head. Right now I'm back to using a small shitty 10" crate amp because I'm not in a band, and don't really have any aspirations to be in one at this time. But if I were to upgrade my amp right now, i'd go SWR for sure.

It was between the SWR and the Gallien Krueger MB112. I basically found a better deal on the SWR than I could on the GK so I took the plunge and I'm very happy I did.

Yeah, I'm actually finding some real decent deals on SWR's on craigslist. Unfortunately I just had to buy a new computer so I can't really drop a few hundo on an amp right now. Good to know deals are out there though.

Just got back from band practice, so this thread of course resonates with me right now...

Yeah, I'm with @@me_no_are_no_nice_guy 100%. It's all about the interaction. I especially love playing with people who are good listeners, folks who know when to step back and let others shine and who are paying attention to the groove as a whole. When you're in a room with these folks it can be a real thrill.

Playing by yourself at home: great
Playing with others: four times as great
Playing a gig: ten times as great

For me, it's all about putting myself in a position where I have to keep going. It's so easy to stop at home. The phone rings, there's email to check, blah blah blah. It's harder when there are other people there. If you're like me, you're a bass player in part because your personality wants to jive with people. I never want to be the first guy to stop playing... no, I'm not going to be the guy to give up on the jam. And then when there's an audience there? Time to pick it up a notch and make every note count... plus, you'll practice extra hard at home to make sure you're ready.

@me_no_are_no_nice_guy said:

\When you start to feel confident and feel that you're ready, find some people to play with. Out of everything in my bass playing experience, playing with people is what helped me out the most.

Here is some of my playing. Best of what I have on hand to share. This is from a band I was in about 8 or so years ago.

https://soundcloud.com/alanblah/until-the-credits