So how did you learn to play?

[obbm]

When I started there were no tutors and only one book, by Chas McDevitt and Josephine Douglas. That got me playing basic scales and the rest was by listening/playing along to records and watching/listening to other bass players. 35 years later I took some lessons. Now I just have therapy.

[The Funk]

[quote name='markytbass' post='182379' date='Apr 21 2008, 11:11 PM']I havn't a clue when it comes to timing, I just follow the drummer. If someone was to shout this ones in (insert time sig) I wouldn't have a clue.[/quote]

I'd be scared of just following the drummer. There are a fair few drummers out there with bad time.

But then some people can disagree about time signatures as well. I once jammed with two very good drummers. I brought them a song I thought was in 7/8. One agreed with me, one said it was in 7/4. After a heated discussion which verged on the philosophical, both drummers agreed it was in 7/4. I deferred to their judgment. A couple of years later someone said "well, it's a compound rhythm: a bar of 4/4 followed by a a bar of 3/4". The nicest thing I had someone tell me was "well, that's definitely the funkiest 7 I've ever heard". After one gig my drummer (a third one) told me he could see the headline band "counting it". That's the most complicated time signature I've ever had to deal with. I'm pretty convinced now that it's a 7/8 and not a 7/4. I also know that it makes no difference to how I play it. I never count as I play - it's too distracting.

Most tunes I've had to play have been in 4/4, with a few in 6/8. You get the odd 5/4 and 7/8. I've never had to play a 3/4, which is odd because classical music education places such an emphasis on it.

So, I guess what my rambling post is saying is that you should look into time signatures a bit but don't always take someone's word for it (as they could be wrong) and if you can feel what the groove of the song is, that's better than 'counting' while you're trying to play. Obviously you can't fight against a drummer if you want to sound like a coherent rhythm section but if his time slips or meanders then you should feel entitled to reign him in and get him to follow you.

[markytbass]

[quote]Obviously you can't fight against a drummer if you want to sound like a coherent rhythm section but if his time slips or meanders then you should feel entitled to reign him in and get him to follow you.[/quote]

I find myself doing that quite alot with the drummer in the current band, some songs he starts too fast and then slows down as he run's out of puff. On others he speeds up and slows down throughout leaving me playing catch up. So does that make us a Jazz band?

[Josh]

A mix of the 2 for the initial "Muck Around" years.

As for when I got serious (I.E when the pick dropped), I used (And still do regulary) one Jaco and one Billy Sheehan exercise (Not the 3 finger business!) to build strength and stamina and to gain impendance. I had compulsory lessons with Dave Savage (Our very own BottomFeed!) for the first year of my college course, which were great and all though it's only been in the recent year that his teachings have shown in my playing, I still learnt a great deal from Dave and will always be grateful. The second year at college.....well basically I'd have to tell my "Guitar" teacher what to teach me and how, every lesson.

Since finishing college it's been very much using my ear to figure out songs I thought I knew and ones I thought I could never play, and just catching up on parts of my playing I should've worked on at the very start of college. But lately I'm practicing less frequently, but for the better. I have noticed vast improvements in my playing, in both soloing and grooving, all thanks to barely moving an inch of my original finger position. Basically my index finger misses the bridge pick up whereas my ring still glides over it.....it's so much more comfortable and the tone is exactly what I was after.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Josh

[Cantdosleepy]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='182280' date='Apr 21 2008, 09:26 PM']Oh and at church you cant make a big mistake![/quote]

I heard that there's this Jesus guy and he's all about forgiving people and stuff...


Brother got a guitar for his bday. I wanted one for my 14th but my parents wouldn't get us two guitars so they got me a bass instead. Thought it was rubbish until I got to uni. Started playing in a band. Loved it.

[The Funk]

[quote name='markytbass' post='182422' date='Apr 22 2008, 12:04 AM']I find myself doing that quite alot with the drummer in the current band, some songs he starts too fast and then slows down as he run's out of puff. On others he speeds up and slows down throughout leaving me playing catch up. So does that make us a Jazz band?[/quote]

Unfortunately it makes you guys a 'loose' band who need a new drummer.

Dave Davies of The Kinks once hurled his guitar at their drummer on stage, knocking him from his drum stool to the floor out cold, with blood pouring all over the stage. He thought he'd killed him and immediately fled the venue and hid for 2 or 3 days. He eventually found out the drummer was ok and they carried on with the rest of the gigs they had lined up.

I'm not saying you should go that far over sloppy time but I refuse to play with any drummer who has bad time (except for at social things like jam sessions). Noone should have to put up with it.

[lateralus462]

Self Taught - although I had saxophone lessons for years up untill I was about 16, which gave me a fair grounding in theory and reading.

After that I picked up the guitar, and then eventually moved onto the bass a couple of years later. Haven't ever had a lesson on the bass and I'm sure my technique is pretty awful in places, but I like to think that it just adds a bit of individuality to my playing.

[tauzero]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='182185' date='Apr 21 2008, 08:02 PM']I just taught myself from 15-ish. No books, TAB or lessons, and I can't read music.

I just played along to records, and got in a band environment as quickly as I could.[/quote]
Pretty much +1, except that I was 17, already in the band environment, and got volunteered to play bass as we had a sufficiency of mediocre guitarists.

I have occasionally set out to try to learn to read music but not persevered sufficiently.

[john_the_bass]

i taught myself. I learned to play a guitar by playing with others and buy buying tab books for the bands i liked and listening to the cds and playing along. Helped me learn the chords, positions on the fingerboard followed naturally and then 9 years later, i pick up a bass.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Self-taught. Joined a band (good way to gain experience).
Thought tuition was the way forward, but my choice of teacher was VERY poor.
Yup, he could play.
Nope, He couldn't teach.
Just destroyed my confidence, cost me lots of money, prolonged the agony, and made me strongly consider ditching the whole thing.

A word of warning, then;
A good teacher is worth their weight in gold. A bad teacher is worse than none at all.

Still playing when I can, and learned more in a few hours watching others' technique than I ever did from tuition.
Yes, I'd try that route again, but could barely stretch to a lesson a month between rotating work schedules and bills!
They'd have to be pretty damn good, too!

[foal30]

Lessons
one on one for 5 years

I still have a strict practice regime and are taking Jazz papers at the University.
There is so much to learn, paying for lessons can be a focus or a discipline.

also, sometimes you don't know why you are learning this sh*t. Then 6 months later when you add it to Lesson 16 and 23, it's like I'm glad I got shown that.

also teaching others is real good for you. It helps solidify concepts or question beliefs/superstitions.

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='foal30' post='182640' date='Apr 22 2008, 11:15 AM']also teaching others is real good for you. It helps solidify concepts or question beliefs/superstitions.[/quote]

+100000000
for two reasons, it teaches you to value what you know, and it ensures you know what you're talking about.
There is no better way IMO to consolidate learning than to give it sufficient consideration to be ale to pass it on

[Carl]

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='182427' date='Apr 22 2008, 12:12 AM'][b]I heard that there's this Jesus guy and he's all about forgiving people and stuff...[/b]


Brother got a guitar for his bday. I wanted one for my 14th but my parents wouldn't get us two guitars so they got me a bass instead. Thought it was rubbish until I got to uni. Started playing in a band. Loved it.[/quote]
[b]Yer like the dudes that like wipped him so bad and just beated the holy crap out of him.And were laughing at him and banged a few nails threw his hands/wrists,and feet and left him to die a slow agonising death on the cross.
But hey if he can forgive him them i`m sure he can forgive everyone even satanists.[/b]

[lowhand_mike]

a mate of mine got a guitar for his birthday and i thought cool i'll get one and we'll start a band till he suggested i get a bass as i had big hands and we'd be better sorted to start a band that way. obviously band never got started and i just learnt some basics out of a beginners book got rapidly bored with that and bought some G'n'R tab books and promptly learnt their catalogue. after that couldnt be arsed to buy any more books and learnt stuff by ear. Played in a folk band at 18 that didnt have a bass player till i joined which then became a folk rock band , did 2 gigs then the singer/guitarist went weird and that stopped though learnt alot by righting my own lines.A few offers of starting bands came up but nothing ever happened and i continued playing along to songs i like the sound of, chilli's etc. then had to sell my bass stuff and then 8 years later my mate asked if i wanted to play bass in his covers band, in at the deep end learn these 30 songs and we'll do a gig type of thing, band still going with added songs.
Would like to learn some theory but just dont have the time (or should that be patience)
in fact if anyone can recommend some good things to know for blue/rock that would be good.

[bremen]

I bought Live At Leeds.
Then, later, Bob Marley and the Wailers Live at the Lyceum to learn which notes to leave out.

[bremen]

[quote name='Carl' post='182685' date='Apr 22 2008, 12:02 PM'][b] and just beated the holy crap out of him..[/b][/quote]

Literally, in this case ;-)

[Bilbo]

Like many of us here, my learning is a mixed bag. Mainly self taught, I had a half dozen lessons with a guy called Dan Quinton (Otis Grand and the Dance Kings) and a couple with Dudley Phillips but that was about it. I can read but was entirely self taught in that area. My main learning was done through listening and transcribing off records and time spent with a few theory books. A handful of videos appeared here and there (Jaco, Jeff Berlin, Gary Willis and John Patittucci IIRC) but, as I said, it was mostly transcribing and theory books.

I actually think that most learning is from one's self - a good teacher can impart information but only you can LEARN it!

I would argue that reading music is one of the most useful things for learning as it really speeds up your ability to benefit from the materials available and to understand the 'maths' of music (an important aspect of more sophisticated musics). Transcribing helps you share in the problem solving and creativity of those players (of all instruments) that move you but effective transcribing is, to some degree, dependant on your ability to at least understand written music. You can, of course, transcribe by rote rather than by the written note, learning the stuff by repeated listening etc, but this is a much slower process in my experience.

[mic mac moe]

I branched out from drums 10 years ago(praise the Lord!!!)Always had a teacher on drums and carried on the tradition.
Just started some lessons with my mate Nick Carey (listed under tutors on this forum)

I think you need at least a sounding board for ideas/technique,and a guru figure to set you straight on any bad habits that you may be developing.Fair do's,i probably could have picked up basic rock and blues by ear at a stretch,but what about complicated jazz figures etc?


Do yourselves a favour and track down a local tutor.

[mcgraham]

[quote]You can, of course, transcribe by rote rather than by the written note, learning the stuff by repeated listening etc, but this is a much slower process in my experience[/quote]

Hang on a second, are you saying that learning a piece from written music falls under the category of 'transcribing'?

I'm not disagreeing by the way, I'm just wondering if the generally accepted definition of transcription is a lot broader than I imagined it to be.

Mark

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Carl' post='182685' date='Apr 22 2008, 12:02 PM'][b]Yer like the dudes that like wipped him so bad and just beated the holy crap out of him.And were laughing at him and banged a few nails threw his hands/wrists,and feet and left him to die a slow agonising death on the cross.
But hey if he can forgive him them i`m sure he can forgive everyone even satanists.[/b][/quote]

Spare a thought for Tecuciztecatl, though - he got upstaged by Tonatuih & turned himself into a second sun. But the other gods threw a rabbit at his face & transformed him into the moon! Imagine how he must have felt!

I'm entirely self-taught, started by copying records (first bass riff was very probably [i]Peaches[/i]!), learned a bit of technique (positional playing, one-finger-per-string etc) from watching other bassists. Played in bedroom bands for 3 years, so by the time I played my first gig I'd found my way around the fretboard fairly well.

If I was starting now, I wouldn't do it that way - what it took me months, years in some cases, to work out for myself, a good teacher could show/tell in half an hour.

Jon.

[thepurpleblob]

I pissed around my myself for several years on and off and got nowhere. At the grand old age of 38 I decided it was now or never, bought a decent bass and took lessons. That got me good enough to join a band which I guess made a big difference. I still take lessons off and on. I also have some books and dredge the Interweb for info/lessons/help. After years of effort, I'm still mostly rubbish and get shown up by 12 year olds all the time!

[cheddatom]

I had guitar lessons for 8 years so I don't know how to vote. I've never had a bass lesson, and I keep being indecisive about getting some, but i've been playing the bass for about 7 years now (wow, that's 15 years of guitar!) and i'm very comfortable on my 6 string basses now. My playin is a little weird with constantly changing style, and the only reason it's like this is because of the band i'm in, so I doubt i'd make a very good bassist for anyone else, although I have done stand ins for a folk/pop band and that was pretty fun and easy.

[Grand Puba]

As a newbie I went straight to a tutor, and I have a lesson a week every week. My feeling is that the problem with self teaching is that you pick up very bad habits/techniques which will be very difficult to correct even with the best bass tutor in the planet.

The tutor has provide guidance using [acronym=""Registry of Guitar Tutors""]R.G.T.[/acronym] Exam Structure for learning the boring things such as Scales, Arpeggios and Musical Theory. This allows me to take exams if I want to. I can also supply him with my favourite music, which he translates into tabs and standard musical notation so I can practice to CDs.

[clauster]

I was made to have 12 guitar lessons before I got a bass for my 12th birthday. Taught myself by playing along to records and jamming with friends for the next year.

The head of music at my school found out I played bass and along with a guitarist friend we got asked to join the band for school musical productions. On the strength of that he hired an external bass guitar teacher for me and anyone else who wanted lessons. I hated that teacher. I'd turn up every week and he'd have forgotten that I already had the basics, "I'll prepare something different for you next week, I promise". After 6 weeks of that I decided double chemistry was more interesting and stopped turning up.

Music O-level was probably the best tuition I had - taught me loads about theory and I had to get my playing up to scratch for the practical. Since then I'm pretty much self taught / picked things up from friends.

Thinking about some lessons at the moment - my technique is pretty sloppy after 2 decades of mostly playing punk/rock/indie + I've always wanted to slap but can't get beyond a couple of simple licks.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='Grand Puba' post='182902' date='Apr 22 2008, 04:06 PM']As a newbie I went straight to a tutor, and I have a lesson a week every week. My feeling is that the problem with self teaching is that you pick up very bad habits/techniques which will be very difficult to correct even with the best bass tutor in the planet.[/quote]

Y'see, this is what puzzles me... What is bad technique? Who says?