Hi everyone

Ive been playing bass for a very short time, maybe 4 months and ive been having private lessons, although i didnt know when signing up for the lessons at the music store (where i bought my squire), my teacher is a guitar player. Now i feel like im not getting my moneys worth, hes a good guitar player, but im doing bass you know, and to be honest he really doesnt know the bass techniques 100% and all i do for 30 minutes is jam with him, we're going at a slow pase i guess.
Should i wait until i get all music theory down or something? Or should i not pay the music store next month and seek lessons elsewhere? Maybe im just over reacting?

Thanks guys

PS: Although he wanted me to play with pick, i play with my fingers if that matters.

I did that for a while, but it was more because I wanted some one to jam with than any type of lessons. We did go over a bit of music theory though.

The questions you need to ask yourself are: Are you learning anything? Do you feel that it is worth however much money you pay?

Maybe you could talk to the music shop manager and see if they have bass lessons. When most people go to a music shop and ask for lessons they usually assume you want them for gutiar, simply because it is that much more common.

Just some suggestions.

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He wanted you to play with a pick??? FIND ANOTHER TEACHER.

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thats bassically how i started he will be good for learning your theory but ignore his requests for a pick we dont need another grindcore emo bitch around here

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^
What????

Let me explain it to you Myles. Pick bassist =

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what i did was bassicaly learn from the internet n a few friends who had been playing for a while and then i went to a teacher.....that ways i already knew some stuff and i knew what all i wanted the guy to tell me so it really didnt matter to me wheather the guy was a guitarist or a bassist( but thats just my case..as i couldnt find a good bass teacher ) a good thing that i figuered out by this was that i knew that the guy wasnt wasting my time and stuff.... coz i realised that he was teaching people the same thing in 3 classes or so what he taught me in just one..but then again this could be only my case and wouldnt hold true with everyone

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yeah and what he said

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Blasphemy!!!!1

Lessons are good for learning music theory; with all these instructional books these days that teach you sheet music, a lot have tabs to go with them, which turns out to be a total bitch because tabs are easier to understand so you may always try and look at the tab first (at least thats how it was for me) and you could have a hard time learning standard style notes.

On the other hand, if you have a bass teacher, he can teach you how to read music AND techniques. and he wont make you to use a pick (fucker). anyways, imo stick with the lessons you got for now until you find a good bassist giving lessons. anything is better than nothing (well, usually). Lessons will help you get started playing properly instead of, like a lot of us here, starting off self-taught and just playing stuff that we like to listen to.

hope this helps

Funny story right?

About a year after I got my first bass and had been teaching myself, I went in for a bass lesson. The dude pulled out his bass and we plugged in. He asked me what I knew, and I played some Dream Theater stuff. (Mostly pieces from Glass Prison and Pull Me Under)he sat silence for a minute then tells me I should learn a blink 182 bass line. I told him to fuck himself, packed up my shit, went to the counter and got my money back. Haven't bothered with lessons since.

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i feel bad for you man

but just cuz your first lesson experience was bad (err horrible) i wouldnt expect that from everyone else.












lol, blink 182...

Haha, i would of just laughed at him, and said stop joking with me..

Well handled though.

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my instructor did something of that nature to me but he told me to work on green day songs to help with rythms, i dont think he was in any way insulting your intelligence but just trying to help with rythms and helping you to learn easier shit first ...... not that i learned any green day crap but it is good to start off easy with some stuff but also challenge yourself with things that you know you cant play
I used opeth and primus for my challenging shit and soad for the easy part and im a pretty decent bassist.

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Besides, who needs lessons when you can just PM Tattered?

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i was just thinking the same thing, geesh sometimes guitar players just assume that the bass is just a low version of what they are playing , but come on the techniques and especially riffs and lines are way different.
Here is a good question , "how many guitar players walk during verses?", and the answer is none
"how many guitar players slap at the funky parts", usually none

my advice get a new teacher

the teacher i had was cool, he taught me some classics ( sweet home alabama, enter sandman, and sunshine of your love), then he taught me some theory, you know scales and arpegios and such, He wasnt the greatest player, but he knew his stuff. Find somebody like that.

P.S. Me and tattered should have a dual sometime lol

bass = easiest to play, hardest to master

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AMEN!!!!! all my friends think their good when all they play is new age crap. I on the other hand play maiden and metallica(burton). I also have never taken lessons.

Maiden and Metallica isn't exactly impressive as far as bass goes. Learn Flea and Claypool, then I'll be impressed.

And as personal opinion, I think there are more options for a bassist to experiment with in new age rather than in metal. More room to groove and be heard.

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Hey, fuck off Blink is cool

Ps, I meant how the fuck does a pick bassist = Grind emo bitch?

Wait, how the fuck do you grind emo?

Welcome to Metaltabs

Also, what do you class as 'new age crap' ?

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Emo stuff that is all quarter notes, and mabye an eighth. Oh yea, and they use picks too. in my mind if you use a pick ur not really playing a bass, ur just playing a guitar with big strings and a longer neck.

Not true. Matt Freeman plays all his solos with a pick and is a very good bass player. Steve Harris plays with a pick on occasion. Anesthesia was played with a pick.

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I was thinking the same thing, but he got his point across.

Also, just because you're using a pick on a bass doesnt mean your playing a larger guitar. That would mean classifying a bass as basically a larger guitar played with fingers. Remember that Jason Newsted of Metallica used a pick and he did a fine job.

Btw if the new blood played metallica and maiden, it could be impressive, depending on how long he has been playing

Ive been playin bass for like 9-10 months but when i tell people they almost shit their pants....they do shit there pants. i can now pick up maiden like nuthin, and early metallica like nuthin. i can play anestesia til the drum part(learned it after playin for like a month) and havent learned the rest. can play some slap but am looking for some sites with different teqniques. my drummer and guitarist have gotten better after getting served at our shows, but i have saddly only been served like once out of our fifteenish shows. im workin on a bass solo im gonna put on my comp and put all over the place.so think wut u wanna think.(oh yea and im better than my dad)

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send me some tough songs i should learn cuz i just want to get better. cuz bass is my life.

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Spastic Ink.

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kk, a few mixed replys (and some off topic ones :P).
Il stay with the teacher for the meantime i guess, i really dont know if i would be playing any better with a bass teacher, sometimes i feel like im wasting my time with this guy, sometimes i think its just me ^^. So yeah im still in limbo : /

(If i had a bass teacher i wouldnt need to ask the following question...)
Is it important to keep your thumb on the pickup? Ive gotten use to picking with my thumb in the air, tell me if this a bad habbit or not. or just point me to a thread if you can be bothered

Thnx

Well its good technique to have your thumb anchored on the pickup, or resting on the strings/end of the fretboard, but if your comfortable with the floating thumb technique and it doesnt restrict you to any fingerstyle stuff, then keep doing it, but its worth trying out of the pickup thumb rest.

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I do both ie resing my thmb on the pickup and on the strings but on different occasional.......i mostly rest it on the pickup when i playing the B string while for the other stings i rest it ont he string above the one im playing on.this way i can mute that string at the same time..i dont think it really matters where u keep ur thumb......as long as ur comfortable

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screw this, im DEFINATLY getting a bass teacher, i found out today im not even alternating my fingers! half the time im raking the strings when going from high to low.
Who knows what else im screwing up on.
Thanks for your help ladies

Cool man, it's definitely for the best....just make sure he doesn't play with a pick or he'll be no better than a guitar teacher! Cheers!

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