Bass Guitar Learning Methods
The best way to learn Bass Guitar
As a part of our ‘Beginner’s Guide To Learning The Bass Guitar’ collection, this specific segment offers you the knowhow to choose which approach to learning will most likely be most effective for you and your personal situation.
Primary forms of Learning Methods for Bass Guitar
Humans learn in different ways. Some have got photographic memories; some can speed read, while some can’t read in any way. We are all different, and because of this, there isn’t one ‘correct’ way of studying a musical instrument.
You will find four principal choices open to you, each one with their good and bad points:
- Traditional, face-to-face, one-to-one learning
- Traditional, face-to-face, group lessons
- Video Tutorials
- Apps
Whatever your own personal situation, one of those four choices are going to be perfect for you. We only need to find out which one…
Traditional, face-to-face, one-to-one classes
If you think of bass guitar lessons, you might image images that contains a teacher and a student…
Having private, one-to-one training is definitely a remarkable experience if you find the appropriate teacher. There really is no substitution for absorbing all the knowledge of your teacher.
Our Founder, Robert Emery, was in fact coached by Ruth Nye at the Royal College of Music. She really was among the best professors on earth, and the fact that Robert could soak up her knowledge in 4 years ended up being a priceless gift.
There is a challenge though:
Not every mentor has got the knowledge of Ruth Nye.
In truth, the frightening issue is the fact that to be a music trainer, you don’t need any qualifications in any way. Absolutely nothing. Zip. As a total newbie, you could be taking income from people and pass yourself off as being an expert. And this, dear viewer, is definitely the most significant disadvantage to a conventional trainer:
Quality control.
You will need to look for a really skilled instructor who you connect with. Who recognizes both you and your demands. Who makes you laugh. Who you anticipate going to see each week. When you can find this person, you have then accomplished something a lot of people fail at. Getting inspired by your instructor is the miraculous dust which will keep you learning for years to come.
Of the many possibilities in this article, this is actually the costliest. But as always with things in daily life, you are likely to get what you pay for…
PROS
- Personalised feedback
- Lessons Adapted To Your Style Of Learning
- The Most Efficient Way Of Learning
- Can Be The Most Inspiring Option
CONS
- Expensive
- Difficult Scheduling
- Finding Right Teacher Is Difficult
- Requires You To Travel
Traditional, face-to-face, Group lessons
Depending on where you live, you may be able to find group lessons.
The ethos is similar to one-to-one sessions, but the cost per person is much lower because the hourly rate of the teacher can be split amongst the group.
The drawback here is that the attention of the teacher must be split too though. So whilst you may get lesser personal attention you may get a much more social experience and it can be encouraging to have other students to speak and learn with.
PROS
- Personalised feedback
- Can Be Fun Learning In A Group
- Cheaper Than One-2-One Lessons
CONS
- Difficult Scheduling
- Limited Choice Of Teacher
- You'll Learn At The Speed Of The Group
- Sharing The Teacher With Others
- Requires You To Travel
Video Tutorials
Free Courses
YouTube is definitely the most significant source of video tutorials on the globe. There is absolutely no more effective place than YouTube to discover instructional content for X. Because of the sheer amount of alternatives on the platform, it’s out of the question to review all of them.
Like lots of things in daily life, 95% of the material you’ll come across is pretty terrible, with the remaining 5% being absolutely magnificent. The trick is to find the 5%, and that may be easier said than done.
If you do want to go down the YouTube root we can give you a head-start with some good channels to watch. Our top picks are Scott’s Bass Lessons, Talking Bass, Daric Bennet and Hugh Richardson.
All of these channels have websites with further courses, articles and members areas should you want to check out their paid content.
For those who would rather not shell out your hard-earned cash, and to make use of the no cost information on YouTube, you’ll need to commit a respectable amount of time choosing a well-respected teacher that you like.
Paid Courses
With thousands of paid programs online, it’s totally unattainable to examine each of them. So we thought we would simply offer the two most desired alternatives:
It’s not just another beginner’s guitar course like so many of the products around. In fact, it appeals to guitarists of almost any level, as nearly all guitarists recognise that they need to improve their fretboard knowledge. It’s also applicable to guitarists in any genre, so the potential market is all but the most experienced guitarists – not just beginners, or blues/rock/metal guitarists, but nearly all guitarists!
And no, it’s not yet another overpriced eBook – it’s a high-quality software application that you’ll love. So try Guitar Notes Master now by clicking here.
Intuition Guitar have created some excellent books and ebooks that can really help kick you off in the right direction. Take a look at what they offer here.
PROS
- Low Cost or Free
- Huge Amount of Content
- Learn Whenever You Want
- No Travelling To Lessons
- Great For Popular Material
CONS
- So Much Choice It's Difficult To Find Great Content
- Quality of Content Is Questionable
- Not Great For Classical Playing
About the Author
Hugh Richardson
Hugh Richardson is a bass player and writer currently based in London, UK. Recently, he has been busy playing on West End shows and tours including Bat Out Of Hell The Musical, Kinky Boots and Priscilla. When he's not performing, he is probably teaching or spending time perfecting his table tennis game!
You can find out more about Hugh from www.onlinebassguitar.com
Other posts by this author
You can find out more about Hugh from www.onlinebassguitar.com
Zoom Lessons
If you’re looking for that one-to-one setup, but don’t want to trek around to a teachers house every week, then online lessons can work really well.
There are A LOT of companies out there that do lessons over Zoom, so you have to be ultra careful the quality is up to scratch. But the service we have found that has consistently great feedback is www.lessonwithyou.com. We like that they offer a half-hour lesson completely for free so you can try out the service and that they offer flexible scheduling with no contracts. They have teachers from Julliard, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins – so the standard is high. Lastly, we LOVE that they don’t as for your credit card details for the trial lesson.
Bass Guitar Learning Methods - Summary
Let’s get straight to the point.
If you want to learn well and progress quickly, there’s no substitute for a private tutor.
If you want to be part of a community then look at group lessons or joining an online membership like Scott’s Bass Lessons. SBL has a members forum, hours of pre-recorded content from the biggest names in bass and they put on a lot of online events that bring their community together.
If you’re unable to spend money or you want to shop around before committing to a certain teacher, use YouTube.
If there’s someone in particular that you’re really inspired to learn from, send them an email and ask for an Online Lesson.
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