The best Formal, and Informal, musical lesson of your life?

[ARGH]

Who has been your best tutor, the one person..or persons that gave you something that lasted, you may even still use what they taught to this day. It might even be a VHS/DVD, or YouTube vid, even a book.

 

Secondly, in the latter part of the heading, what did you learn, by experience or discovery, by yourself?

[diskwave]

Not so much persons etc but technique, and it's.... Jazz. Study Jazz, learn the board so you can walk all over it. I'd say in general the best bassists in our time have been good Jazzers. Sorry thats not quite what ur looking for but I think its important. 

[Dad3353]

My 'Middle C Principle', recounted in a previous post, here ... 

[chris_b]

The band I was in at school had a 3 piece brass section (all jazzers) and parts were provided for all the songs. In amongst the Stax and Chess songs we threw in some Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus. I not only learnt to read music but learnt how to play with other musicians, good technique and playing the groove. I learnt 90% of what I know in that band.

 

The best musical lesson? Play with guys who are better than you.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Being the youngest of a large family , it wasn't easy to get into a routine without distractions . 
Long story short , the 3 most valuable things spring to mind : 

1. A graphic designer who worked in the same company as mine gave me lessons for £5 once a week 

2. Rudy Sarzo Hot Licks instructional video 

3. After reaching a plateau , I found a teacher in Tooting via loot magazine ( John Hills) .

He played double bass , and he let me have a go on his Wal Fretless . This encouraged me to get a fretless bass .

The circle of 5ths is what I found very useful . He even got me playing autumn leaves while reading music instead of tab.

 

Troubke was unfortunately,  work and trying to stay sociable plus  joining bands etc made it difficult to keep up.

Sometimes going to Tooting on a Saturday morning  from the Borough half cut from the night before was manageable for a time .

Then overtime on a Saturday morning put a kybosh on that .

 

All this before the days of YouTube ! You tube is something I recommend . So many options out there ..

[Agent 00Soul]

I'm a lefty.  My first guitar teacher (he also was my first electric bass teacher a year later), asked me how left-handed I was.  When I told him I was very lefty and not really ambidextrous, he suggested I simply learn the guitar playing lefty.  Otherwise he was worried that the first few months would be taken up with simply learning coordination rather than making music and I would give up in frustration.  It had happened to him a few times before and he learned his lesson. Such a wise thing to say because I know myself much better now and I would have indeed have given up too soon.

 

The added bonus is that the lack of lefty instruments is a great G.A.S. reliever!

[Elfrasho]

Alexis Sklarevski the slap bass program vhs. Showed me how to slap when I was 14. Still probably at the same level 28 years later!

[meterman]

Getting the ex-Higsons (and PJ Harvey / Nick Cave / JAMC / Spiritualized etc) multi instrumentalist Terry Edwards to play Hammond organ in my live band, albeit briefly, about 20 years ago. 
 

I’d already been playing Hammond on and off for about 10 years, but standing next to him and watching as he did all the tricks that make for great Hammond playing - proper palm slides, grace notes, two-finger trills on one note, the volume swells during the solos, etc - it was a series of lightbulb moments, like “Ah, that’s how you do that!”.

 

I’d previously been playing Hammond like a caveman because I’m self taught  and I always came away from keyboard gigs with bleeding fingers or loads of skin missing from my knuckles. Seeing someone close up doing it all properly was the best lesson in technique I ever had. I learned (well, nicked really) so much from him that I still use today. And he’s a top geezer 👍

[Lozz196]

The two band leaders of my first proper bands taught me in pretty much equal parts what to do and what not to do whilst in a band. I should clarify this was in respect of things they did themselves, never in respect of advice given. Sometimes what they did made  so much sense, other times I actually wondered if they needed a brain in their donkey to make their legs work as the one in their head clearly wasn’t up to the task of the most simple things.

[diskwave]

2 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

He even got me playing autumn leaves while reading music instead of tab.

The tune that can set you up for life. Learn to walk that tune in diff keys and different arrangements and you'll be able to play anything, anytime, anywhere.

Edited October 24 by diskwave

[Doctor J]

The old Billy Sheehan video, when he had the pink BB, where he talked about strap length, the resulting difference in playing position between sitting and standing and the importance of practising in a playing position consistent to that at which you'd be performing or recording. It was a very simple but really intelligent observation.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

32 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

The old Billy Sheehan video, when he had the pink BB, where he talked about strap length, the resulting difference in playing position between sitting and standing and the importance of practising in a playing position consistent to that at which you'd be performing or recording. It was a very simple but really intelligent observation.

I got him to sign that video back in the Wapping bass centre back in the day . It smudged unfortunately ,and is long gone . 
On that video he did make me laugh about rocking at the bar 🙂

[SumOne]

I think it was a Hal Leonard Bass book that taught me the fundamentals (really learn the fretboard, chords, and 'positions'), and an online lesson from somewhere like SBL saying the importance of proper muting.

 

The noticeable step-up  was from playing at home to being part of band. Once I started playing with drummers that perhaps don't keep perfect time or throw unexpected things in, learning how to play 'in the pocket' as a rhythm section and playing to fit the whole band sound felt like a whole new skill learned. Main lesson from that is probably the importance of good timing, and that stuff that sounds good in practice doesn't necessarily sound good in a band -  one well played note (or not played at all) often sounds better than many notes played quickly. 

Edited October 24 by SumOne

[paul_5]

Listen. Then adjust your playing accordingly.

[ahpook]

Never had a formal lesson, but the best informal one was from my Mum, and had nowt to do with music.

 

"Turn up on time and be nice."

 

It's my ability to do both that has got me in more bands than my musical acumen IMHO.

 

 

[miles'tone]

Formal: I learnt how to construct any chord by understanding what intervals they are made of (not as hard as it might sound).

I can, in at least the simplest of ways, play anything with anyone and bulls**t my way through a chord chart now 😄.

 

Informal: If you can sing it, you can play it.

Edited October 24 by miles'tone

[musicbassman]

Joining a pro band when I was in my early 20's, and meeting their guitarist, who I soon realised had more talent in the tip of one finger than I had in total.

I had thought I was fairly on top of my game at the time, but (without putting me down) he suggested a few bands and bass players I really should be listening to, and I then realised how ignorant I was of a lot of excellent players. An absolute revelation.

He went on to have a long career working as a successful producer and session musician - still active now, although well into his 70's

Forever grateful to him.  🙂 👍

[Agent 00Soul]

I just remembered on more that I learned years later when I started recording regularly: try to track the bass part, or at least the final bass part, last.  It gives you the most room to be creative with bass lines and sounds if you a slaloming around the other parts in the songs.  I'm aware that this doesn't work as well in every genre. 

[Heathy]

1 hour ago, ahpook said:

Never had a formal lesson, but the best informal one was from my Mum, and had nowt to do with music.

 

"Turn up on time and be nice."

 

It's my ability to do both that has got me in more bands than my musical acumen IMHO.

 

 

My best informal lesson was also from my mum. I had been playing a few months, and was showing her what I could do. Her response? “Can you do it with your mouth closed?”

 

Also +1 with being on time and nice. I think it was Guy Pratt who attributed a lot of his success to being someone that people wanted in the room.

[JapanAxe]

Formal: the concepts of modal interchange and borrowed chords.

 

Informal: in an unfamiliar musical situation, watch the singer, listen to the drummer. That principle has served me well.

[OliverBlackman]

I’ve had a number of very good teachers but Joe Hubbard pushed my playing along more than anyone else. 
 

I also got a lot from just watching Daf work his magic on the west end. Being up close in a pit for one of London’s biggest shows was an incredible experience, and I picked up different tips each time.

[Mykesbass]

No disrespect to the musicians who have exceptional technique, or to those that love 'complicated music', but my real ear opener was when I was working as a teenager in a record shop. At the time I was learning guitar, and getting into the likes of Alan Holdsworth and John McLaughlin. I was playing an Al DiMeola album in the shop when one of the bosses said 'this is good and very clever, but it doesn't swing'. He then put some Count Basie on. I genuinely think that moment transformed the way I thought about music.

[wateroftyne]

When I was a young pup, I got a gig with a band who I was a long-time fan of.

 

Knew the songs inside-out already, so I was clearly going to nail it.

 

After the first song, the drummer politely says 'that was nice, but can you play about half the notes next time?'

 

OK... I can do that. Another run through.

 

'Better. Now play half of what you just played.'

 

And he was right.

Edited October 25 by wateroftyne

[BassTractor]

4 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

No disrespect to the musicians who have exceptional technique, or to those that love 'complicated music', but my real ear opener was when I was working as a teenager in a record shop. At the time I was learning guitar, and getting into the likes of Alan Holdsworth and John McLaughlin. I was playing an Al DiMeola album in the shop when one of the bosses said 'this is good and very clever, but it doesn't swing'. He then put some Count Basie on. I genuinely think that moment transformed the way I thought about music.

Doncha think that Alan Holdworth c.s. and those who love 'complicated music' all actually lurve both Count Basie and 'when it swings"?
I'd say: Carrie Underwood one day, Count Basie another, John McLaughlin a third, and Iannis Xenakis a fourth.
It's all good, and addresses different sensibilities/sensitivities.
 

I hope your experience in that record shop hasn't closed you down for Al DiMeola c.s.

 

 

 

My received musical lessons, all of them important at the time, and changing much for me:

- "As to phrasing and timing, sing along (in your head or out loud)."

 

- "Support your phrasing through well-chosen fingering, so it flows naturally."

 

-  "You're not ready."  (he was right, and I needed to hear it)

- "This is garbage." (composer about a piece I'd written, and that other composers ill-advisedly had given top marks; he was right, and I needed to hear it)

- a composer of extremely 'technical' music confirming my claim that he too overrode "the compositional system" when its results didn't sound musical to his ear. It's all about the ear.

 

Edited October 25 by BassTractor

[SimonK]

21 hours ago, chris_b said:

The best musical lesson? Play with guys who are better than you.

 

This - I've very seldom been the best - indeed most of the time I feel the worst - musician in any of the bands I've been in. But boy have I learned a lot especially from keyboardists or guitarists (or even brass sections) suggesting bass lines that I would not have thought of, or drummers suggesting where accents should be etc. It's not that I don't come up with my own bass lines (I do 90% of the time) but I always ask the rest of the band what they think and happily take suggestions - especially if I can't initially work it out/play it - then I have a challenge!

 

But playing live with better musicians is easily the best musical lesson!