Bass lesson journey

Lounge
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As I said in a previous thread, I fell in love with the bass when I heard the disco sounds of Chic, Duran Duran, Taste of Honey, and the Bee Gees. Rio in particular made me go to the pawn shop and buy a low end Washburn. I simply loved it. However, I thought I could sit down, pick out the bass parts and play. It did not work. At all.

So after 15 years, I looked for a course.

Now I am on module 4, and purchased the course Jun 28, so a few days into it. I am really, really, enjoying the lessons. I will not lie, and was skeptical. The pitch for the courses was over the top and slightly … well, I will not say unkind things here. Let’s just say my initial skepticism was wrong. I am at the point where I have to learn the music alphabet, and since I am obsessed with music theory and talked about it here non-stop, I get my first exercise.

I am simply astonished on what I am getting from this, and how far I am going. I still cannot believe it. So thanks.

What I really want to do is learn the fretboard. That’s going to take some time, but I cannot even start that until I can say the music alphabet backward and forward.

I am going against the grain and taking a music theory course. Youtube has a full series from Yale for free, so if it is free, why not? In between learning technique and silly delivery in the videos, I get the stoic, formal, and the angry older man talking about circle of fifths. :smiley:

So where does it all go from here? I am hoping it comes to the point where it all makes sense, comes together, and I can enjoy playing the bass. In time, in tune, and all the right notes. Others did it. I really hope I can, too.

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That’s not really going against the grain – there are others who did the same thing, present company included. If I remember correctly, I more or less predicted that that would happen, seeing as to how you were interested in mastering multiple instruments. :smiley:

So yeah… sounds like a good approach! It’ll help you further down the B2B road as well.

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Learning fretboard is vital, so you’re on the right track. The nice thing is, the fretboard on the bass is laid out in a mathematically logical manner, so once you understand intervals (also vital), the fretboard is a piece of cake.
I’m also a music theory fanatic, as are a few others here. You’re in good company.

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5th fret: All Dogs Go Camping 7th fret: Bead. My wife LOVES beading, so those should be really easy to remember.

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I am close to module 9 and have been using the course as a way to learn sheet music and ignoring the tab 100 percent the whole time and I am thoughly enjoying the course as well, just am very disappointed when I have to go back to work because I won’t have as much time to practice and I have made so much progress during the quarantine.

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reading sheet music is helping me learn my notes that I had trouble learning specifically d string g string area around 6 to the 11th fret is where it starts getting fuzzy for me but the scales in the book on the extra materials really helped me to memorize these notes here…

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The strings follow a pattern of CFBEADG no matter what fret you’re on. Once you’ve got a handle on that sequence, you’ve got it made. (You just have to be aware of where the flats come in)

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More specifically it’s CFBbEbAbDbGbBEADG - and round and round

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I challenge you to come up with a mnemonic for this.

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I went to C the F’ing Bee (EAD) Gees

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Yeah, me too. I am simply amazed at what I can do. Never thought it was possible.

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Why do you think this is against the grain? I think a lot of us learned theory elsewhere.

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