How did you learn?

[scalpy]

Hi there.

I am interested in how people learn to be a musician, and I thought a general quiz of this delightful forum would be a good place to start before I apply for an MA, looking at student motivation. Generating and maintaining motivation is central to my job as a classroom teacher, and whilst there is a lot of information out there from a teacher's perspective it would be interesting to hear from people who have maintained their enthusiasm for music beyond the age of 16 and the classroom.

I realise that it is a complicated process and most people don't learn from a single source, but if you could tell me how you got going in the first place that would be very useful. For instance, my dad started me with Keep On Running, and after that I started playing along to his Soul compilations, so I would have put from a parent. I sat in with a jam session with some older kids at school and felt a strong sense of right-ness. Before long being a bass player became central to what I wanted to be as a person and I had to start a band "to do it properly".

If you would be so kind anecdotes about how you got going and what kept you going would be very interesting. Music being a big part of the family or community is traditionally a big influence but this may be changing, if that's you let me know. What genre or direction you've ended up taking is not so much an issue, it's the period you spent getting your basic chops together that I want to focus on. I know this isn't very scientific but your input might help me improve my teaching and find an angle to research in a more thorough manner at a later date.

Thank you

Harry

[fatboyslimfast]

I voted with an instrumental teacher/tutor, as most of my theory skills have come from her although when it comes to learning songs I tend to teach myself as I think I've a pretty good ear. My tutor does guide me with suitable songs to learn though - ones that broaden my repertoir and stretch my skills.

[Lozz196]

My learning process was:

Bought a bass.
Went to lessons to find out what the notes were.
Bought the songbook to Never Mind The Bollocks, by the Sex Pistols.
Played along from the book.

Couple of months, could play my favourite album, by my favourite band.

[Ross]

Started on tabs and books, then got a teacher who was not a proper teacher and played mainly guitar and pretty much useless, then it was a learning curve for my band. Took a little break for a couple of years now it's all information off here, youtube vids and notation.

[Green Alsatian]

I started when I was 16 and played along with my records - I'd copy them to tape so I could rewind bits without wrecking my vinyls when learning. After that, I started borrowing tab books from the library, but still mainly from playing along.

[charic]

Mate left a bass in the corner of the room and I started messing around on it, he showed me one tune. I then went home and for a solid month was spending 5+ hours a day playing bass. Learning using powertab

[Kiwi]

Heh. I went from hero (in my own teenage mind) to zero.

Had rudimentary lessons from a multi instrumentalist but it wasn't until I went to a specialist teacher with a passion for the instrument that my world really opened up. My first lesson with him was the same week Jaco died, and the second session I had started with the newspaper clipping of his death and so, out of respect, he introduced me to Portrait of Tracey which still remains one of the most musically phenomenal tracks I've ever heard.

[Shawman]

got a bass because i wanted to play stuff by The Smiths, although when i got it all i wanted to play was all the Offspring albums

got a cheapo guitar at the same time to help with notes and chords etc, went to a guitar class but also got private bass lessons from the same guy. he's never taught bass before so after a few months he stopped charging me as the lessons were turning more into a jam, very bluesy!

after that i've just been learning what i can, where i can. in and out of different bands with different styles. don't really have money to spare right now but if i did i'd probably get a proper bass teacher once or twice a week

[Kes]

Was the standard 'average guitarist' took lessons in school from the guitar teacher there.. left school, mates band required a bassist, gave it a bash.. something clicked and just read forums/tutorials to teach myself technique (although STILL don't have the thumb in the middle of the neck thing) so many years later, bass just seemed to spark soemthing that guitar didn't....


-edit for clarification - lessons for guitar, picked up bass, had enough enthusiasm to learn off my own back using tab/tutorials etc online.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Kes

[seashell]

I've been learning for 6 months. I voted for 'instrumental tutor' as it is from my tutor that I learned everything I know and he is what inspires me to keep going.
However, what motivated me to start in the first place was something all together different. (Apologies for boring anyone on here who already knows this story!). My ex (a drummer and sometime acoustic guitarist) bought a bass a few years ago and tried to encourage me to play it. I tinkered about for a bit but never really got going. Then when the ex moved out he left the bass behind.
I decided I would learn to play it - somehow in an act of defiance really. Just to prove that I wasn't going to sit round moping, but would do something really different. Tinkered around with books but didn't get anywhere, so eventually booked some lessons.

That's when the motivation really kicked in. Because after the first lesson I could actually play something that sounded a little bit musical. And the tutor was so encouraging and also has a real love for the instrument. Which all rubs off. It makes me want to practice so that I can show him that I've improved
between each lesson - even if only a little bit.

I would now always recommend lessons if you can possibly afford it. When you think of how much it costs to have driving lessons or get your hair cut by a professional stylist, paying a highly qualified and experienced musician to give you a tailor made lesson is really good value. Especially when you take into account not only the hour he spends with you but also all the prep that goes beforehand. (Lesson plan, handouts Cds and all).

[dc2009]

I wanted a bass so blew all the money teenage me could muster on a MM copy and tiny amp. After about 6 months of self learning where things were and playing songs via tab, usually revolving around Nirvana, Muse, RHCP and moving onto Metallica and Iron Maiden. I had instrumental lessons once a fortnight for a coupla months. but the guy was a guitar teacher, who didn't know all that much about bass and didn't teach me all that much (asides proper slapping technique, which I've since largely neglected). From there I honed my timing with Powertab and Guitar pro, and then band playing, writing etc opened up whole new areas to me. I'm no great shakes as a player, but I have fun doing what I do and that's enough for me. A few years back I was getting to the stage where I could just about play most things I wanted (fingerstyle only) and would say that it probably wouldn't take me too long to get there again if I worked at it, but my slap and tap leave a lot to be desired, and as for my DTing it's non existent, though I would love to learn it properly!

[ead]

Whilst at school (when we had 3 channels on black and white tv) I learnt the violin to a decent standard (working on grade 8 when I left school). Harboured a desire to play bass after seeing Led Zep at Knebworth. About 30 years later bought a bass, taught myself to play it (sort of) and joined a band. Now loving it.

[lanark]

How did I learn? I'll tell you when I do.

[Skol303]

In terms of learning how to improve my bass playing, I use various tuition books and the standard exercises they recommend. And I try to practice these exercises routinely each week (ie. avoiding the temptation to simply jam along to records, although that's a lot of fun!).

In terms of learning how to play new songs, I always do this by ear and use notation (or tab) if/when I get stuck. Certain types of software help too... especially if I need to adjust the pitch or tempo of something in order to work out what's going on (ie fast and fiddly sections). For this purpose I use:

- Propellerhead Record
- Audacity (which is free!)
- A great little iPhone app called Robick

[Highfox]

At about 15, (roundabout 78-79) myself and mates were into the Punk thing (Do it yourself!), a friend already played drums (and very well I might add) so we decided to start a Band, I wanted to sound like Jah Wobble and another friend wanted to be like Mick Jones it was as easy as that and we did our first gig at the School disco lol. Isn't that how it was for everyone?
Listening and playing along to records and watching peoples hands playing live was how I guess I learned or figured some of it out and that fuelled the passion. To this day I'm not very technical but still love to play.
We all still play our instruments to this day (tho not together very often) I guess it has been somekind of life long therapy for us.

[KingBollock]

I started off with a book that had the tabs for some walking blues lines. My Dad decided my brothers and I were going to go to a teacher but he was a tight arse and only paid for one lesson a week and both my brother's and I had to learn in the same lesson. The best compliment I ever got for my playing was the teacher saying that my timing was really good. Unfortunately this ended up with me spending the entire lesson playing walking bass lines I had learned at home from a book while he taught my brothers to play stuff along with me. He also always used a guitar, never a bass. Though he was a bass player, infact I own a vinyl album that he played the very first bass I owned on.

After that I got a Guns & Roses tab book but could never play it along with the record because it was in a different tuning and no-one had ever told me about alternative tunings.

I do regret never having had a proper teacher though.

[Norris]

I'd played various other instruments before picking up the bass, so could read music. I've never had help/lessons with bass playing - as you'd probably tell if you looked at my technique

You never stop learning though and 25 years on I feel I'm much better than I used to be, but not as good as I [i]could [/i]be...

[Fat Rich]

I started learning songs purely by ear as there was no internet and most of what I wanted to play wasn't in books.

After a few years had a handful of lessons which led to a Saturday course for 10 weeks at the Musicians Academy in Wapping. Didn't get the best out of the course as I didn't have enough time to practice the material.

Now I still work things out by ear unless I'm in a hurry to learn something, then I'll look for notation, tabs or youtube videos.

I feel that the two most important things a bass player can learn are the note names on the fingerboard and to be able to work out songs themselves without having to use the internet.

Motivation was mostly from being in bands and wanting to do a good job.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Fat Rich

[wateroftyne]

By ear.

[daz]

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1331748' date='Aug 8 2011, 09:57 AM']My learning process was:

Bought a bass.
Went to lessons to find out what the notes were.
Bought the songbook to Never Mind The Bollocks, by the Sex Pistols.
Played along from the book.

Couple of months, could play my favourite album, by my favourite band.[/quote]

There is a songbook that has the bass parts on it for Never mind the Bollocks ? WHERE?? Enquiring minds need to know.

Edited August 8, 2011 by daz

[uncle psychosis]

Slowly!

...serious answer:

Started off as a guitarist. Bought a bass for messing about with and learned entirely by ear/tab/youtube. Joined a band as I "had a bass". Realised I liked playing bass more than guitar. Started to practice more. Just started lessons.

[Dood]

I think my votes break down like this:

A friend - I had loads of friends playing in bands all the time, so used to feed off them for ideas often.
Lessons from a classroom teacher - Well, in as much as I started with GCSE music!!
Notation
Tablature
Internet video tutorials - yes, although before internet video, I used to beg and borrow VHS videos and try my best to learn them inside and out before I had to hand them back!!!
By ear - this is definitely my main strength. - I've developed my methods for learning long gig sets in the shortest possible time, especially for dep gigs etc. But for particularly difficult music and songs, I have a bunch of PC tools that I use for weeding out the individual notes of niggley runs!

but would add these too:

Insatiable urge to pick up the instrument all the time - I mean, all the time! - I don't mind admitting I'm a fanatical geek! ha ha!
I guess I was a bit introverted as a kid too, which meant I spent hours with my bass, but not computer games or anything like that!
Playing with as many different bands playing different genres of music at all levels - beginners to professional players. You can, even as an accomplished musician learn loads from even a beginner. It helps me analyse my own technique and helps me to describe them to my students, because I can see where they are coming from.

[Dood]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' post='1332014' date='Aug 8 2011, 01:24 PM']Slowly!

...serious answer:

Started off as a guitarist. Bought a bass for messing about with and learned entirely by ear/tab/youtube. Joined a band as I "had a bass". Realised I liked playing bass more than guitar. Started to practice more. Just started lessons. [/quote]


Ahh good point actually - I'll add that too! I stopped Bass to play lead guitar in a shred band for 5 years! - The low end called me back though. (I can hear the voice of a certain green Star Wars dude uttering something about the force, right now!)

[scalpy]

These are all really interesting, especially the fact that "by ear" is in the lead at the moment. In the classroom, this is one of the hardest skills to explain and incorporate into a lesson when dealing with large numbers of students. It also demands quite a high level of skill and motivation early on, something that's probably worth exploring.

Keep it up people, this is useful stuff!

Harry

[MAIDEN CITY]

[quote name='scalpy' post='1332388' date='Aug 8 2011, 05:02 PM']These are all really interesting, especially the fact that "by ear" is in the lead at the moment. In the classroom, this is one of the hardest skills to explain and incorporate into a lesson when dealing with large numbers of students. It also demands quite a high level of skill and motivation early on, something that's probably worth exploring.

Keep it up people, this is useful stuff!

Harry[/quote]

I think that the ''by ear'', terminology will definitely be the one.Well with older bassists.The ones who remember vinyl, and lifting the needle back so many times to catch that particular note.Most people now can have software to play them through the songs, and it sounds like a xylaphone type keyboard playing the stuff.More like an idiots guide to learning.I just could'nt grasp it at all.But if I hear a piece, 9 times out of ten, ill grasp whats happening, fairly soon.But as always, its personal choice.But the main thing is practise.Not nessesarilly with others, but on your own playing.Posture to playing is important as is the height the instrument is played.So a lot more to it.But basically, I'll go for the ear test.

Mick MAIDEN CITY ROCK BAND