Any Tips For Beginners Try To Become Intermediates?

[Grunge_Goblin]

I just was wondering what tips the community had for beginners.

[howard]

Take the Beginner to Badass course.

[Grunge_Goblin]

I’m currently short on cash but I am saving up for it. I mean something in the meantime. Just spent money on the other thing I was saving up for.

[Paul_9207]

Just try to play easy songs from your favorite bands. Use tabs at first and your ear will develop over time. If you practice every day you will get better, seems obvious, but I’m just trying to help you understand that things that seem impossible or hard are possible and doable with time. Also tune your bass every day.

[howard]

@JoshFossgreen (and also @markjsmith over at talkingbass) each have some free beginner videos as well, would be a good start. Both are excellent instructors. You won’t get up to intermediate level with just youtube though; that’s going to take a lot of structured practice on your part, and really that’s where beginner courses like B2B shine. You get nice structured learning that also doubles as practice while you are doing it, in an entertaining way.

I totally understand the cash thing, but it’s worth saving for, especially the split payment plan.

[MikeC]

Absolutely prioritize signing up for B2B. There are many free videos on YouTube, but most are little more than appetizers. If you truly want to learn how to play correctly, in a valuable structured way, B2B is the way to do it, fast.

[Al1885]

@Paul_9207

Just try to play easy songs from your favorite bands. Use tabs at first and your ear will develop over time. If you practice every day you will get better, seems obvious, but I’m just trying to help you understand that things that seem impossible or hard are possible and doable with time. Also tune your bass every day.

This is the most accurate!

You can practice the exercise all day and still not able to play bass properly. Play songs, then you’ll find out how your skills are coming along and what you need to improve. You can read and memorize the recipes, honing your knife skills but until you put everything on a hot stove and see how your dish will come out, you still haven’t cooked anything, lol.

[Barney]

@Grunge_Goblin as previously mentioned playing along to songs is fun and develops your playing. Here’s a good starting point of easier stuff to give a go.

Requesting Feedback - New Topic for Beginners

As promised @eric.kiser here’s my list of beginner friendly tracks in a mix of styles that you could turn into a thread. I think the play along to the scrolling tab/notation thing for free on YouTube is a great way to get started and have fun. Also I like to use Chordify when I’m working on songs. If you pay for the subscription you can loop sections you want to work on, slow down the track, transpose the key etc You can also use Endless video (free) to loop sections of the song you’re working…

Edit: Endless video doesn’t work for looping videos anymore. I now use Repeattube to loop video and work on parts that I’m struggling with

Repeattube: Loop Youtube - Auto Repeat Youtube Videos

[MikeC]

Fundamentals need to be learned and practiced first.

Then learning songs is not only easier to do but it’s most importantly done with proper technique.

This approach works out much better in the long run.

[howard]

Agree with Mike, playing songs is important, but without grounding in good fundamentals, it’s just going to be reinforcing potentially bad habits. So I would say, seek out some beginner instruction videos to get some of the basics down, then jump in to songs. It will just be much easier that way.

[Al1885]

@MikeC

Fundamentals need to be learned and practiced first.

Then learning songs is not only easier to do but it’s most importantly done with proper technique.

This approach works out much better in the long run.

Yep! Absolutely. Look on the bright side now a days we only (mostly) have to deal with 4/4 on the flipside the 4/4 has gotten more complicated than ever, lol.

[sunDOG]

@Al1885

Absolutely. Look on the bright side now a days we only (mostly) have to deal with 4/4 on the flipside the 4/4 has gotten more complicated than ever, lol.

This morning, I’ve gone down the 7/4 rabbit hole, specifically, Times like These by the Foo Fighters. It’s messin’ with my head

[Gio]

Josh made a real cool checklist for “Are You and Intermediate Bassist” a while back.
It’s a pretty great checklist of things to try and get solid / things to learn / things to practice.
Check it on out.
The nice thing is that just about every thing he mentions to practice has another (free!) video that goes over that specific thing.

Are You an Intermediate Bassist? (17-point Checklist)

[brik1970]

I concur that B2B is the best all around beginner course, but if you are cash strapped, there is at least 1 full beginner course on YouTube, published by a college if I recall. It’s dry as dirt, but it does cover a fair amount of the fundamentals, but you have to work on practicing through what is taught yourself.

That being said, I’d save up for B2B… well worth the money!

[gabe]

I’ve been loving the course so far. It’s very well laid out and I can see that there was a lot of thought put into moving someone carefully through each skill and concept.

I’m curious what kinds of results people have experienced once finished the course.

I always marvel at Josh’s little solo moments before the videos and wonder how far I away I am to that lol

[JD56hawk]

It’s all about attitude.
It’s even more important than practice, practice, practice.
Don’t just play the bass, 𝙗𝙚 the bass!
When you plug in, nothing should exist but you and the music.
Think about method acting.
A method actor doesn’t just play a character, he 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 the character, sometimes even staying in character off the set.
Attitude!
Once I changed my attitude, everything else fell into place.

I played guitar way back in the seventies. Not too bad on rhythm, just couldn’t handle lead. Gave it all up after five years or so.
I started playing bass ten years ago.
It’s a much better fit.
Things that helped me?

1. Finding the right bass/basses.
   Bonding with your bass is very important. I know people who quit in frustration because they weren’t playing the right bass.
2. Finding the right strings.
   GHS black tapewounds are my favorites. They feel good and sound even better. No way would I have progressed to the point I am now with regular roundwounds.
3. Putting aside an hour each day to practice.
   Don’t overdo it, but don’t slack off, either.
   Practice with purpose. As mentioned above, when you do practice, shut off the outside world.
   (By the way, I never took any lessons. I just took an approach that fit me.)

[Barney]

@JD56hawk

Don’t just play the bass, 𝙗𝙚 the bass!

Pretty sure he said this during the salt march.