• Getting Bass lessons at after school.
    11 replies, posted
Hey FP! I recently took up on Bass lessons at my high school. What should I expect? Is it hard to learn bass for a lazy guy like me?
dont forget to drop it
[img]http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/singing-fish-singing.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=Bobie;37721348]dont forget to drop it[/QUOTE] Thanks. This is amazing.
It's difficult to learn any instrument if you're lazy. You actually need to practice
yes, please practice. a lot. otherwise you will definitely suck.
Bass is easier to start with than guitar but is just as hard to master. But you've done the good thing and gotten lessons which is always a good thing. As for buying gear and whatnot, never buy the cheapest stuff and never buy middle ground gear that you slowly upgrade as it isn't worth it. Gear wise it's good to start off looking secondhand, Mexican and Japanese Fenders are always a good place to start. Have it cleaned and setup after you buy it though. Fender also do great bass amps but there are loads of other companies for amps such as Ampeg and Ashdown which are big, well known bass amp suppliers. Bassists are usually pretty in demand since people usually play guitar cause they want to show off. But the important thing to do is get lessons for a good long while, and keep practicing. The key to being a great player is practice.
and the key to being a great bass player is timing practice with a metronome
After half a year-a year (basically when you think you are good enough), try to get into a small, casual band if you can (it was easy for me because I'm in school and had some friends looking for a rhythm guitarist). I'm not sure on this for bass (I'm a rhythm guitarist) but when I joined a band (I had never had lessons) my learning curve went from going up slowly to going up quite a bit faster. The good thing is that the other people can help you learn where the notes are and also writing your own music/learning to play covers with your band help to develop confidence which you need as a musician (and as a bassist confidence is vital- bass and drums are the backbones of a song)
[QUOTE=dcalde78;37774724]Gear wise it's good to start off looking secondhand, Mexican and Japanese Fenders are always a good place to start. Have it cleaned and setup after you buy it though. Fender also do great bass amps but there are loads of other companies for amps such as Ampeg and Ashdown which are big, well known bass amp suppliers.[/QUOTE] If you're just starting, get an SX from Rondo Music. A [url=http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa1rncar.html]P[/url] or [url=http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa2mncar.html]J[/url] bass will do you fine. Personally, I like the P more.
[QUOTE=DwarfOverlord;37782798]After half a year-a year (basically when you think you are good enough), try to get into a small, casual band if you can (it was easy for me because I'm in school and had some friends looking for a rhythm guitarist). I'm not sure on this for bass (I'm a rhythm guitarist) but when I joined a band (I had never had lessons) my learning curve went from going up slowly to going up quite a bit faster. The good thing is that the other people can help you learn where the notes are and also writing your own music/learning to play covers with your band help to develop confidence which you need as a musician (and as a bassist confidence is vital- bass and drums are the backbones of a song)[/QUOTE] Yeah, it's always beneficial to be in a band - partly because you end up being more driven to practise so as not to let the band down, partly because you learn how to work with a band/other musicians. Unfortunately I've never been in a proper band - never one that's played live either :( I'm happy to play a range of styles but Hull's music scene is in dire straits atm
You should probably know that it's possible you won't dig it I played guitar for about three years, but I wasn't really enjoying it so I just kind of faded out and stopped playing. Then again that's because I couldn't get my old teacher back and I wasn't really getting any better, but if in six months time or so you aren't having fun anymore don't be surprised Then again I had those periods when I played, and overcame them. But in the end I was just too lazy.
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