BrunoBass Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Like most people here I learned by playing along to records, first with an acoustic guitar that I'd removed the top E and B strings from, and once I could afford to buy my first bass guitar I continued learning with that, playing unamplified at first. Also I had a friend who played and he gave me a lot of tips. Most of the stuff I learned playing to was roots and dub reggae, simple repetitive but tight basslines. I got my first bass in 1991 and have played on and off ever since. I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of scales and if I'm honest I've never felt the need to learn them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 [quote name='roceci' timestamp='1475177583' post='3143858'] I can't help thinking with kids learning advanced techniques aged 8 & whatnot, there's a lot of feel missing in a lot of playing these days. [/quote] Completely agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribbetingfrog Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I took lessons for 6 months, great foundation for me as my tutor made sure i didn't start with any bad habits. (i've got plenty since). I used youtube lessons for a couple of years, there is a lot of wonderful stuff on there and all free. Specific song lessons and a lot of how to look after your instrument. I definitely negelcted the boring theory whilst doing the youtube stuff, which i shouldn't have. After that I joined a band which is where my learning really took off. Playing with others the theory really helps to communicate ideas with each other so I have had to go back to basics a bit there. I've learned guitar to a basic level and this really helps to recognise what the guitarists are doing so i can play along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivansc Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Given an acoustic guitar and a book called "Curly Claytons 1001 chords for jazz guitar" for my 10th birthday. Spent about ten minutes with the book, which taught me to tune my guitar and not much else. Same year I got offered a gig playing banjo in a North London dixieland jazz band. Moved to Cambridge and couldn't find a gig playing Banjo. Bought an electric guitar and amp & started a band. Moved to bass when we recruited a better player than me and fell in love instantly. But I have been hovering between the two ever since. HOW did I learn to play? Listening to tunes and copying them. I got my first bass guitar in 1962/3 and there weren't that many bass guitars out there at the time. And certainly nobody to teach me in darkest Cambridge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josie Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 (edited) Brought up on classical music, I can remember as a small child sitting with my ear to the speaker of our mono record player trying to track the cello line in Mozart string quartets. Later spent years listening to basslines on rock / blues records and watching bass players at gigs never daring to dream I could ever play myself - learned to recognise the sound patterns but had no idea how or why they sounded like that. It wasn't until I found a good teacher that I began to understand how to make my fingers get those sound patterns out of an instrument. The first thing I learned was the root notes for a basic12-bar I-IV-V, which felt pretty cool at the time, but when he showed me how to play a turnaround it was a joyful lightbulb moment. Playing along with your favourite songs is good as long as you don't feel you have to copy every note of some quick ripply bubbly bassline - just get to where you can get the root notes right, and decorate that line gradually as you feel more confident. In some ways it's better to have a drum machine and jam to a beat - less pressure, and you can develop your playing at your own pace. As said, playing with other people is the best, but you have to get to a certain level, and they have to be the right people, who don't criticise or intimidate you. Jamming with the right other people is exhilarating - play as much or as little as you can keep solid, and soak up that amazing feeling of being the backbone of a living collective thing. Best feeling in the world imho, and will give you the motivation to work on your musical knowledge and technique. Motivation is probably more important than any book or video or teacher. If you want it badly enough, it will happen. Edited September 30, 2016 by josie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 My friend had a proper guitar, a Futurama and a Watkins Dominator, so he got to play the guitar parts. I had a crappy Spanish acoustic so I had to play the bass lines. I was a terrible guitarist anyway, so it was one of those happy accidents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 The Harvey Vinson book, a Dansette record player and a copy of 'On The Level' by Status Quo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1475185224' post='3143943'] I had that book as well. The flexi disk was a pain and sounded dreadful. Must have worked though, still playing after 30-odd years. I learned by reading the book, playing along to records & joining bands. [/quote] Is that the book with the picture of the cool looking black dude with an Afro and a Precision sat on a stool?? If so I followed exactly the same course as you with the addition of a handful of lessons above the local music shop with a keyboard player who doubled on bass, which were quite good actually and gave me the confidence to keep going... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Given the number of BC-ers namechecking this book it would seem that a considerable debt is owed to Mr Gregory and Mr Vinson. ([i]beams out a cosmic 'thank you' [/i]) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1475173054' post='3143791'] By listening to records & trying to copy what I heard. [/quote] Pretty much this , plus a couple of basics books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubit Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1475173054' post='3143791'] By listening to records & trying to copy what I heard. [/quote] This ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivansc Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Just realised nobody name checked Bert Weedons book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I had Play In A Day and a book by Chas McDevitt. Both a complete waste of time IME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaRik Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) Bit like EZBass - I was already a competent guitarist with reasonable theory and good fret board knowledge. I became a bass player when one was needed after the bassist quit a band that I was in at the time. Edited September 30, 2016 by DaytonaRik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 30yrs in and I'm still always learning - so never stop learning and listening. For me it's a mixture of everything already said but trying to play with musicians who are better than me usually helps raise my game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 From watching Beatles videos. Which is why I'm not much good, you really needed to be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) [quote name='roceci' timestamp='1475177583' post='3143858'] Copying records. Put the needle on the vinyl...wait till the lick played...lift the needle...try to play the lick...try to put the needle just before the lick again...aaand repeat. Slow process, but may have taught me something about patience & perseverance. YouTube wasn't an option back when I started. It's an amazing tool & I often use it to see what other people are doing with covers I'm learning. But I can't help thinking with kids learning advanced techniques aged 8 & whatnot, there's a lot of feel missing in a lot of playing these days. Says the old timer XD [/quote] Yes, same here. Youtube really helps these days, at least as a starting point But I well remember lifting the needle on & off records to replay a bit I was trying to learn! I did go along to an adult learning /craft & art sort of place in Cardiff for a while (place called Llanover Hall) but the "tutor" there was a guitarist, who always seemed stoned. He used to tell his guitarist pupils all about chords, but just say to me "play a C, then a D". Didn't really teach me much, but gave me a first opportunity to jam along with guitarists (room full of them) Luckily, a few months later, I had a couple of free lessons from one of my heroes of the bass, Paul Gray (ex Damned , Hot Rods, UFO) which inspired me tremendously. But it was all about trying to copy what I was hearing on vinyl for me; JJ Burnel, Paul Gray, Pistols etc etc Stick with it - and watch plenty of Youtube covers & lessons - but in a way actually "listening" to tracks, without any visual clues might just be the best way of learning; copy, assimilate and create your own basslines anyway. Good luck (and don't take a 20+ year break like I did!) Edited September 30, 2016 by Marc S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1475179334' post='3143872'] Like others, listening to records I liked and trying to pick out the bass line and copy it... much simplified if necessary. Also worked through this classic tome. Oh the joy of getting a flexi disk to work properly... Oh yeah, and any opportunity to play with others, however modest or low key! [/quote] Another +1 for this book and playing along to records, plus endless jams with my mates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1475173054' post='3143791'] By listening to records & trying to copy what I heard. [/quote] This. Led Zeppelin II and a compilation CD of Soul tunes (Midnight Hour, Knock On Wood, RESPECT etc...). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I came from playing the guitar, and by the time I got my first bass I was also dabbling with mandolin and balalaika, so for me it was just another stringed instrument to play. I went to basic folk guitar evening class lessons when I was 13. For the first year I could barely play anything, and then something clicked over the summer so when I came back the following year I was better than everyone there except the teacher. After that I was completely self taught. I learnt the bass by listening to what other bass players were doing and then applying it to the songs that I was writing. It was the time of post-punk and there were plenty of tuneful bass lines up front in the mix of the records that I liked, so it wasn't very difficult. Once I'd mastered being able to change chords on the guitar I don't think I ever seriously sat down to work out how to play songs off records or sheet music as I was too busy writing my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1475235137' post='3144249'] Once I'd mastered being able to change chords on the guitar I don't think I ever seriously sat down to work out how to play songs off records or sheet music as I was too busy writing my own. [/quote] I'm the same, once I'd reached a certain level of competency I just started just noodling around & coming up with my own stuff rather than learning other peoples stuff. I'm the same with guitar, I can play very few songs by other people, I just don't have the interest in doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1475237677' post='3144279'] I'm the same, once I'd reached a certain level of competency I just started just noodling around & coming up with my own stuff rather than learning other peoples stuff. I'm the same with guitar, I can play very few songs by other people, I just don't have the interest in doing it. [/quote] Apart from a few bass lines that I can half-remember from playing in a covers band a few years ago I doubt whether I could play anything that I hadn't written myself. It doesn't look very impressive when someone asks me to "give them a tune" but TBH I'd rather play them a recording of my band than perform something on the guitar or bass in that situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Quite an eye opener, this thread, I didn't know you could get books about playing bass. I've never seen one (probably because I never looked for one!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The-Ox Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 bass was the first instrument I learned how to play. I just looked for a few tabs and my technique developed from there. Only know the basics in terms of theory tbh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1475173054' post='3143791'] By listening to records & trying to copy what I heard. [/quote] This. Actually it is pretty much what I still do now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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