My first lesson

[Andyalfa]

I had my first double bass lesson last night. I was pretty excited beforehand and would have been gutted if the snow had prevented me going. Anyway, I made it OK and the lesson went really well, although not quite what I expected.

For a start, he had me playing with a bow. I have never used one before and had no intention of ever using one in the future, but I thought what the hell, I'll give it a go. Although I still don’t think I’ll ever use one outside of lessons, I have to admit, it is a very good aid to teaching. Using the bow to hold a note really helps with getting your intonation correct, because you can easily hear whether you are sharp or flat.

In fact, when I tried plucking the strings instead, the sound was very dull. The bottom E in particular, had so little sustain, you could hardly tell a note had been played at all, even on an open string. Maybe it was the choice of strings (arco only?) that was the cause, or more probably, trouble with my technique. Whatever it was, the sound was totally dead. The only way to hear what you were holding was to use a bow. This is in total contrast to the Stagg, which has probably too much sustain when plucking. Definitely nearer a bass guitar than a pucker upright.

At the end of the hour, I realised that this is going to be difficult to master. There’s the physical challenge of the left hand, of course. Holding the strings down, spreading my fingers to reach the notes and concentrating on keeping my first finger still when stretching was all demanding. My left hand was shot by the end. Not painful, just tired.

The hardest bit, however, is going to be learning to read music. It didn’t help that the printing was so small. Even bringing the stand closer didn’t really help. I could barely make out the individual notes despite wearing my glasses. For the first few exercises, I could just make out finger numbers underneath the stave, but I know that there will come a time when they aren't there and I have to learn to read. I confess, am dreading it.

In summary, it was a case of realising just how much I have to learn. I have exercises and scales to practise, stretching and strengthening to work on and sight reading to do too. Thank goodness there’s a two week gap until my next one.

The verdict is that I am more keen and enthusiastic than ever. In fact, I can't wait to get home tonight and have another go.

[Guest subaudio]

Nice one mate, there's no looking back now

Edited February 5, 2009 by subaudio

[Hector]

[quote name='Andyalfa' post='399741' date='Feb 4 2009, 10:07 AM']The hardest bit, however, is going to be learning to read music. It didn’t help that the printing was so small. Even bringing the stand closer didn’t really help. I could barely make out the individual notes despite wearing my glasses. For the first few exercises, I could just make out finger numbers underneath the stave, but I know that there will come a time when they aren't there and I have to learn to read. I confess, am dreading it.[/quote]

Welcome to the DB world! Having lived there for the last two or so years, I can tell you it's great fun! It is hard to play at first, but stick with it and after a while all sorts of doors start to open.

If you're dreading sight reading, do lots of it! Naturally you avoid doing things that are difficult/fiddly, but if you never practice the difficult things how are you going to improve? Good reading is an important skill to develop, especially if you ever want to get involved with orchestras etc. (Sounds like you aren't too keen on it, but the feeling of blasting out some powerful stuff is great, and it really improves your playing).

Remember, the only limitations on your development as a DB player are the ones you impose on yourself - in fact, your potential is night on limitless! So get out there and enjoy that thing, hopefully you'll fall in love with it as much as I have.....

[kembo_dee]

Hi Andy Alfa,

I had my first lesson last week, I totally understand why you can't really learn the DB by yourself. I learnt how to play a chromatic scale and a basic rock and roll rhythm (dum-dum-dum-dum dee- dee-dee, get the idea !!)

I'm on my stagg EDB, I have never played it through a bass amp before just my sons guitar amp, the different sound really made a difference.

To help you with the site reading download this pdf.
[url="http://www.studybass.com/lessons/reading-music/bass-clef-fretboard-notes/bass-clef-notes-fretboard.pdf"]bass clef notes[/url]

if you find it hard to remember the notes on the ftretboard just remember your alphabet. A B C D E F G (this may be really obvious to some people but I think it's helpful)
on the G string notes down go ABCDEF
on the D string notes down go EFGABC
on the A string notes down go BCDEFG
on the E string notes down go FGABCD

Then on the 5 lines and 4 spaces
top line is A
middle line is D
bottom line is G
and again if you remember the alphabet your brain should start to fill in the gaps.
This page is good for help too.
[url="http://www.bassclef.co.uk/bassclef_bass.html"]Bass Clef Help[/url]

I'm doing it this way anyway.

Let me know how your lessons are going, I might start video recording myself and blog it and this time next year,I'll be able to see all my improvement.

The best advice I had was from my mates dad who used to play the Sax in the 60's he said,
"Have lessons, practice and you will improve slowly, too many people give up because they want to play like the records they hear straight away, it won't happen."

cheers

Kembo
keep practising I am !!

I'm gonna start a first lesson thread





[quote name='Hector' post='405724' date='Feb 10 2009, 08:39 PM']Welcome to the DB world! Having lived there for the last two or so years, I can tell you it's great fun! It is hard to play at first, but stick with it and after a while all sorts of doors start to open.

If you're dreading sight reading, do lots of it! Naturally you avoid doing things that are difficult/fiddly, but if you never practice the difficult things how are you going to improve? Good reading is an important skill to develop, especially if you ever want to get involved with orchestras etc. (Sounds like you aren't too keen on it, but the feeling of blasting out some powerful stuff is great, and it really improves your playing).

Remember, the only limitations on your development as a DB player are the ones you impose on yourself - in fact, your potential is night on limitless! So get out there and enjoy that thing, hopefully you'll fall in love with it as much as I have.....

[/quote]