Studying Bass Theory - Advice Requested

[lou24d53]

Apologies in advance for the long post...!!

I'm looking for some advice...

I've been playing bass for around 20 years and up until last November, I had never taken a single lesson in my entire playing life. I learned to play the bass solely by ear, simple trial and error, playing along to stuff on the radio and CD's etc. Ok, I freely admit that it might not have been perfect what I was playing, but it always tended to fit in with the groove and with the songs I was playing along to.

Last year though, at the tender age of 38, I had an epifany moment and suddenly realised - "you know what Dougie, after 20 years, you know absolutely jack sh!t theory" - honestly, aside from the open strings, 5th and 12th frets, I really struggled to name any of the notes on the fingerboard. Still not exactly lightning quick at naming them if I'm honest.

So I decided there and then that I was going to take myself along to lessons for the first time in my life, which was a rather daunting prospect at first, and I found a really good tutor in Glasgow, really cool guy, very laid back, very patient, very helpful and had knowledge of all things bass that I can only dream to have. To date I have taken 6 lessons since I started and I have to say that they have been extremely helpful and beneficial to me as a player, although more from a technique point of view than a theory at present.

Here's the thing though...

The way I'm wired internally, unless I'm pressured into doing something, I'm really struggling at home in my personal life to dedicate time and effort into practicing what I am being shown at these one-to-one lessons, even though I absolutely love playing bass and really want to improve as a player - appreciate that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense!

I find it way too easy to find other things to jam and mess around with rather than concentrate on what I should be learning...call it "bass procrastination" if you will...and I have came to the conclusion that I need something to aim for. I was thinking I'd much rather enrole for a short or part-time course with an actual qualification as an end result, which would give me something to focus on rather than turning up for lessons on a monthly basis.

It's not a laziness problem as such, as I said I think it is more of a lack of focus I'm strucggling with. I've already been to Uni whilst working, and have studied and passed three seperate BSc courses during this time, so I know I can do it if I'm 'pressured' into working towards an end-goal with some time contraints applied.

Problem is, I'm working full-time, 9am-5pm, 5 days a week and I can't find anywhere in my area who will provide such a course, let alone one which will accommodate my timescales.

What would you do?

Edited May 30, 2013 by lou24d53

[Bilbo]

I am, by nature, an auto-didact and find that one lesson every decade seems to keep me going

Seriously, though, I think, for some of us, all we need is the occasional lesson to keep us on course and then the rest of the time is spent with self-teaching. I have never really been able to afford regular lessons so have just figured it all out myself. There are gaps but, like 90% of us, I have more technique that I can really use and most of the shortcomings in my playing are about a lack of REHEARSAL rather than a lack of knowledge.

Where basis theory is concerned, there is not THAT much to learn but it does take a long time to internalise things and to incorporate the concepts into one's playing. It is a case of whatever works for you.

[lou24d53]

Part of me wants to continue with the lessons, but at £125.00 for a six hour block course, I'm not really flush enough at present to continue with it in the long run when I'm not seeing the end results I'm wanting to see, which is - holding my hands up - purely on account of myself and absolutely no fault on the part of my tutor.

Perhaps I need to set my own goals and timescales myself. Create a learning plan for myself and stick to it?

I've bought an absolute tonne of theory books - probably waaaaaay more than I need - and I have downloaded umpteen lessons from the internet and here, from Scott Devine's website / The Major's Bass Boot Camp for instance.

I now seem to have far too much literature on my hands I don't know where to start. Feeling a little overwhelmed and daunting at the thought.

I had started with Hal Leonard's three bass lessons books (in the one, with the CD's) but seem to have drifted away and probably by now have forgotten more since than I had l learned!!!

Edited May 30, 2013 by lou24d53

[lou24d53]

Double post - sorry.

Edited May 30, 2013 by lou24d53

[Bilbo]

You will find that most of the information you will need is in one book and there is tendency to convince yourself that the route to bass wisdom is more and more 'stuff'. In truth, the path to knowledge is a long and tedious slab of tarmac that just requires you to sit there going over and over and over the same stuff again until it is internalised. Lessons are great but, fundamentally, we are all a product of the amount of time we spend running scales/chords/arpeggios, transcribing solos,learning lines etc.

Oh - and learn to read music

[louisthebass]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1369908541' post='2094217']
You will find that most of the information you will need is in one book and there is tendency to convince yourself that the route to bass wisdom is more and more 'stuff'. In truth, the path to knowledge is a long and tedious slab of tarmac that just requires you to sit there going over and over and over the same stuff again until it is internalised. Lessons are great but, fundamentally, we are all a product of the amount of time we spend running scales/chords/arpeggios, transcribing solos,learning lines etc.

Oh - and learn to read music
[/quote]

There's a great quote on the Jaco Pastorius "Modern Electric Bass Player" DVD (I've edited Jerry Jemmott's question for brevity):

Jerry Jemmott: "What about musicianship - how does this tie in, in terms of what you studied? What else did you study and how does this all come together under the heading of musicianship?"

Jaco P: "Work!"

.....and it's all about sitting down and shutting out any outside distractions (even if it's only for 45 mins every day) and working on the content of either what your bass tutor has given you to learn, or with a particular book (or books). Learning to read the dots is also a great idea.

This works for me, and it's made me a better bass player now than I was a couple of years ago.

[yepmop]

Try this [url="http://www.instituteofbass.com/courses/music_theory_for_bass/"]http://www.instituteofbass.com/courses/music_theory_for_bass/[/url] I did it (and still doing it) a module is release every week for 12 weeks, there are not exams etc and there is a tutour available by email for questions, they also have a course forum. There is so much in the course it's unreal, they also do sight reading courses as well as technique etc.

The best bit is, it costs £19!!!!!!!

[lou24d53]

Cheers for that, I'll look into it, next session starts on Monday as well, so good timing.

[ubassman]

Buy yourself a Tascam bass trainer - pretty cheap on e-bay second hand. With the course that you are going to do its great to apply the info. The bass trainer is a brilliant way of taking songs that you like as MP3s and playing along. YOu can slow the track up, put a loop on a couple of bars and really start to experiment with the stuff that you learn. Good luck with it !!

[lou24d53]

Cheers ubassman, will look into that.

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1369905214' post='2094112']
Apologies in advance for the long post...!!

I'm looking for some advice...

I've been playing bass for around 20 years and up until last November, I had never taken a single lesson in my entire playing life. I learned to play the bass solely by ear, simple trial and error, playing along to stuff on the radio and CD's etc. Ok, I freely admit that it might not have been perfect what I was playing, but it always tended to fit in with the groove and with the songs I was playing along to.

Last year though, at the tender age of 38, I had an epifany moment and suddenly realised - "you know what Dougie, after 20 years, you know absolutely jack sh!t theory" - honestly, aside from the open strings, 5th and 12th frets, I really struggled to name any of the notes on the fingerboard. Still not exactly lightning quick at naming them if I'm honest.

So I decided there and then that I was going to take myself along to lessons for the first time in my life, which was a rather daunting prospect at first, and I found a really good tutor in Glasgow, really cool guy, very laid back, very patient, very helpful and had knowledge of all things bass that I can only dream to have. To date I have taken 6 lessons since I started and I have to say that they have been extremely helpful and beneficial to me as a player, although more from a technique point of view than a theory at present.

Here's the thing though...

The way I'm wired internally, unless I'm pressured into doing something, I'm really struggling at home in my personal life to dedicate time and effort into practicing what I am being shown at these one-to-one lessons, even though I absolutely love playing bass and really want to improve as a player - appreciate that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense!

I find it way too easy to find other things to jam and mess around with rather than concentrate on what I should be learning...call it "bass procrastination" if you will...and I have came to the conclusion that I need something to aim for. I was thinking I'd much rather enrole for a short or part-time course with an actual qualification as an end result, which would give me something to focus on rather than turning up for lessons on a monthly basis.

It's not a laziness problem as such, as I said I think it is more of a lack of focus I'm strucggling with. I've already been to Uni whilst working, and have studied and passed three seperate BSc courses during this time, so I know I can do it if I'm 'pressured' into working towards an end-goal with some time contraints applied.

Problem is, I'm working full-time, 9am-5pm, 5 days a week and I can't find anywhere in my area who will provide such a course, let alone one which will accommodate my timescales.

What would you do?
[/quote]

Well the intellectual part of theory can be learned away from the bass so maybe you make use of otherwise dead time e.g. while driving.
Useful things to memorize include:

cycle of 5ths
mode interval sequences
3 & 4 note harmonisation sequences of main scales and modes
constituent notes of 3 & 4 note chords
constituent notes of keys

Of course to get most of the benefit of this knowledge in your actual playing you need to know the notes on the board really fluently.

Also a good way to ease yourself into theory is to analyses things you ready play. Pick some tasty bass lines youve learnt and try to work out why they sound good.

Edited June 4, 2013 by bassman7755