That is the key isn’t it? Getting feedback. That’s one of the reasons the cover thread is such a great idea IMO
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I think it is great for technique feedback, but still what is missing is idea feedback on playing. Did you see the video someone posted here with Carol Kay teaching Gene Simmons a little lick from a Beach Boys song? This is what I am talking about more here.
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I’ve had a twelve bar bass line running through my head all morning, and at lunchtime I sat down to work out how to play it.
Having just some basic knowledge of intervals, thirds, fifths and octaves enabled me to work something out in the 10 minutes I had.
Theory has a practical application.
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That’s exactly it. Sure, you can stumble through stuff like this by trial and error, but knowing even a little theory will be a much, much better time for you. Unless you are a prodigy with perfect pitch, it’s much easier to learn a bit from others rather than stumble your way through discovering it all on your own. And without a structure to formalize it, like theory, you’ll probably forget it and have to keep relearning it every time anyway.
Put another way, this is a good illustration of how understanding how and why something works will always beat just memorizing and mimicking.
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Well said @howard 
Unfortunately in this day and age people seem to want, and expect, instant gratification. 
IMHO music theory, like learning to play the Bass, is going to take time and effort to learn and there is just no shortcut around it. How much theory, time, and effort depends on an individuals goals.
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It does. And I picked it up by playing the blues 
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This is true, and people can pick up understanding through meomorisation and mimicking, as long as they’re engaged with the music and not just mindlessly drilling.
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Everything does depend on the goals, but if I just want to play, why should I have to slog through 20 hours of Music Theory to show that I deserve to play the bass? If I can achieve my goals by playing songs I like and improvising on them?
I’m not personally against having a strong knowledge of music theory but this has to take a back seat to being able to play an instrument
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Maybe, but likely at least two orders of magnitude more slowly and less effectively than learning it from those who went before them as theory, while applying the same level of musical engagement.
Why doom yourself to repeating the same stumbles taken by others when you can simply learn from them?
What I don’t get is the seeming aversion to learning here. What is the disadvantage? It seems much easier and more effective.
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But there’s no aversion to learning. I should really note that the original point of this thread was to help decise whether to be a jack of all trades player or specialise in one genre. One person replied to tell me that I should first learn music theory and then start playing, which I don’t agree with. This may be good for a theory nerd (OK there’s a bit of that in all of us) or someone who is studying music (like for a degree) but by analogy with language learning, I don’t consider it to be an effective approach to getting proficient at playing an instrument.
To learn something effectively, to internalise it, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that there is a need to present new material in context and personalise it. What’s better for this - repeating abstract scales or practising and improvising on music you like? Don’t forget that the latter approach will also draw in multiple skills and aspects of theory and allow you to practise them at the same time.
I’m also seeing a massive gap between memorising a scale or key signature and writing an engaging song. Maybe you can say “Dorian mode = good for insurance commercials” or something, but you can’t mathematically produce music that is catchy, memorable or meaningful to you - you have to involve a range of elements that you can only acquire from listening to and playing music.
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I think this comes down to time and other life time-users. Learning music as an adult ain’t easy, and putting in the time later in life with all of it’s demands and distractions is hard. @Barney just mentioned in the other thread that he puts in a lot of time because he can, and his progress shows splendidly.
A lot of time is spent here, and in sax conversations I have, about how to practice as efficiently as possible for the goals you want. This thread is really asking that too. “What do I really need? , What path is really right?”, etc. I think we all know you can’t “Amazon Prime” musicianship, but we all want to know how to get there in the most efficient manner.
The answer is always ‘it depends’, and, it’s a tricky one because everyone learns differently and can pick up certain things easier than others.
Like I said before, it’s the last 5 lbs of the diet that takes the most work, but without it, you ain’t fitting into those rock star bass player pants.
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I wish it was only 20 hours 
Again the bottom line is as long as you are happy with what you are doing, and how you are doing it, and getting enjoyment out of playing that is all that really matters.
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Music theory is just music explained, which one can use as a guide to learn how to play, it’s simply the accumulation of knowledge by those before, there’s nothing to it, no different than any other subject
Everyone (unless they’re in a vacuum, isolated from all civilization) who plays knows music theory, even those who learned by ear eventually learn some from just talking with their band mates
Now, how deep into music theory do one needs to go? Well how many words from the dictionary do you need to memorize? It turns out that not many relatively speaking, and memorizing all of them doesn’t make you a great speaker or writer, but it might win you a spelling bee 
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I think anyone learning bass must choose a path otherwise that person is unlikely to get results, and very likely to just stop
That path will have music theory to learn along the way
The path should probably be genre/style focus because it’ll be more satisfactory and attainable
To be a jack of all trades one would have to put a huge amount of time which most of us basssbuzzers just don’t have, and honestly nobody that I know is a really good jack of all trades (playing pop, rock, and blues does not make a jack of all trades in my view, that’s all the same really)
But I understand you @Ed I would like to play all kind of things , and learning songs from different genres sort of accomplish that and for now that’s enough for me
However it’s time consuming and slows the overall progress
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This I think is the big take home from this thread . For me the question is how to measure progress with something as intangible as musicianship, and this is much easier if you narrow the focus to a genre.
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Yea man. I totally feel ya there! I have been looking into licensing; and this suggestion was for someone (I.E. myself) that is trying to go public.
One thing i had been told was that you won’t make anywhere fast trying to diversify your skill set. Everyone is gonna have the style they familiar with or was taught. Such as classical, no matter how much metal, techno, hip hop or funk, I practice, there has always been this deep rooted classical structure in almost everything I write. That being said, you can benefit from finding your strength and when you focus and progress you will be iconic and recognized this way.
Cuz nobody associates anything with that guy that can play all those styles.
My ultimate goal is to develop my sound to accent my style in a unique way.
After the 90s introduced the ‘seattle’ effect I was unable to determine 1 artist/genre from the next. It would be a nightmare if my identity contributed to a term like “theory of a nickel creed”.
All things considered though if you create something you choose to share with society it is then art and it’s significance is determined by you and viewers/listeners are limited discovering whether or not they appreciate it…
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(I generally agree though; advancement can happen faster if you stick to one axis at a time. Up to a point. Of course, you also don’t want to pigeonhole yourself or you risk becoming derivative.)
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This is so true. If you don’t feel what you’re playing then what’s the point?
Unless I’m being paid to do it of course, in which case I’ll even try and play smooth jazz 
That’s not a bad thing though - it can really add something unique to your compositions
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Didn’t Pino start off with classical and then move into other styles?
Jazz and rock I thought? He started as a guitarist. But yeah, he’s played and excelled at almost every style, from Elton John to Nine Inch Nails.
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I’ve never considered it to be lol I love classical music (k. Mostly the D minor stuff)
I do find it gets in the way of trying to be funky or jazzy but I have also realized that’s why I can play every slayer or system of a down song (sans ‘Questions’)
But I can’t play the doors or things that are below 120 bpm in 4/4
3/4 is easier but i wasn’t given the same tapes as the kids I grew up with they listened to backstreet boys and Ricky Martin and I got black sabbath and Motörhead HAHA 
auto correct!
Anyway I learned that if you don’t yet live and breathe funk and jazz the way I have some variety of metal; your not going to sound right. Like ordering something of a menu at an ‘authentic’ restaurant. (Pro tip: always record these moments! 
)
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