Newbie Needing Help

[energy73]

I am reading, and studying but I don't see any progress, I still can't remember where the notes are located.   I have started praying before I pick the bass up.  I have not been able to find a teacher (for gospel) in the St. Louis or Florissantm Missouri area.

Is it possible to become a well rounded player without a teacher?  How do you remember were your notes are?  I don't recall the piano or the trumpet being this difficult, but it was years ago.

Would going from a 5 to a 4 string help at all?

I'm just looking for some spiritual suggestions.

God Bless,
Energy73

[malthumb]

I'd strongly suggest finding a teacher.  I was years into playing (and developing BAD habits) before I got a teacher.  You should be able to find someone at a local music store.

As for getting more familiar with the notes on your fingerboard, start off simple.

Your fattest string is B (I think you mentioned having a 5 string)
The next string is     E
The next dtring is     A
The next string is     D
The next string is     G

REMEMBER THAT!!!!  MAke a word out of it if you must.  Bead-G.

Start with your B string and memorize each note starting from the open string.  I'll let you in on a little secret.  Everything repeats every 12 frets.  Your open B string note is B.  Your 12th fret B string note is B.  Your 24th fret note is B.  That is, if your fingerboard has that many frets.  Some basses have 21 or 22 frets.

So, if you learn all your notes from the open string down to the 12th fret, you can easily figure out from the 12th to the end of the fingerboard.

As I said, start with your open B.  Play it and say the note.  Play each fret position from the 1st to the 12th, saying the note value out loud.  Do that for 3 or 4 days and then do the same thing with the E string.  After you've gone through all 5 strings (should take you about 2 weeks) start over with the B string and E string together.  I think you can see where this is going.  Make certain you say the note as you play it EVERY TIME.

You do not have to go to a 4 string instead of the 5 unless you want to.  The basic concepts are the same.  You just have one additional string.  That's my OPINION.  Others will have varying opinions wrt 5 string v 4 string, but I believe that it doesn't matter which you start on.

Peace,

James

[energy73]

Thanks

[Cone]

Welcome,
  I started off with a 4 string and then I moved my way up to a 5 string.  I would say start off with a 4 string because you'll learn the concept of bass playing.  If you learn the first 5 frets on each string then you should be ok.

[Bullitt]

It's possible to learn on a 5 but a 4 would probably be easier since there would be one less string to think about while playing.

I never had a teacher and started with a 4 string then moved up to a 5 and think I've done fairly well in teaching myself.  However, if you have the means to do so, get a teacher since it will most likely make the learning curve a little easier.

Most importantly, keep praying and seeking God.  Don't play to learn, play to worship and you'll begin to "feel" the notes coming to you.


God Bless,
-J

[BruhMann001]

IF YOU CANT FIND A TEACHER, THEN TRY TA THINK OF THE BASS AZ A PIANO(IF YOU PLAY) BECAUSE ITS BASICALLY THE SAME. YOU KNOW THAT GOINIG FROM A Bb TO A C ON A PIANO IS A HLF STEP RIGHT? SAME ON BASS. IF YOU START ON AN OPEN B AND MOVE UP A HALF THEN ITS A C. JUS TRY IT.

[Andrzej]

It doesn't really matter if you use a 5 or 4 string bass.  As malthumb said, the basic concept is the same.  I use both 4 and 5 strings and there is no variation to the approach.  The only benefit that you get from a 5 string is that you can cover the same bass notes that you find on a piano from the extra B string and you can also expand your scales.  When I play in a ministry band I would often show up one week with a 5-string and the next with a 4-string, depending on my mood.  I would play in the same way no matter which one I used.

I don't really see notes on a bass neck.  I see shapes.  I know where all the notes are, but I know where and when I need to play them according to the key and scale I am playing to.  Try the scales just using one string, then two, three etc...  Try as many variations as possible and have fun with it!  Once you have become confident where the notes are on the fingerboard try practicing your scales within the octave of the note that you started on (in other words, end on the same note that you started with either a full octave up or down) and play the the scales using different shapes across the finger board.  Then do it all over again using a different keys.  Start your scales either acsending or descending at different start points (low or high note) up or down the neck.  After a while it will fall into place and your confidence of reaching the right note will improve.

[Andrzej]

It doesn't really matter if you use a 5 or 4 string bass.  As malthumb said, the basic concept is the same.  I use both 4 and 5 strings and there is no variation to the approach.  The only benefit that you get from a 5 string is that you can cover the same bass notes that you find on a piano from the extra B string and you can also expand your scales.  When I play in a ministry band I would often show up one week with a 5-string and the next with a 4-string, depending on my mood.  I would play in the same way no matter which one I used.

I don't really see notes on a bass neck.  I see shapes.  I know where all the notes are, but I know where and when I need to play them according to the key and scale I am playing to.  Try the scales just using one string, then two, three etc...  Try as many variations as possible and have fun with it!  Once you have become confident where the notes are on the fingerboard try practicing your scales within the octave of the note that you started on (in other words, end on the same note that you started with either a full octave up or down) and play the the scales using different shapes across the finger board.  Then do it all over again using a different keys.  Start your scales either acsending or descending at different start points (low or high note) up or down the neck.  After a while it will fall into place and your confidence of reaching the right note will improve.

Oh, I forgot to mention this!  A good style of music to practice for all of this is 12 bar Blues.  It really helped me understand the positioning of notes on the finger board when I first started learning.  You can play 12 bar Blues lines anywhere you like on the finger board and it's good to help you remember where all the notes are.

[MikeGee]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0793563836/104-3656302-4167902?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155


I highly recommend this book, HIGHLY!

[Torch7]

My Suggestions would be to slow down, and process what you are learning.  That's when a teacher becomes handy.  IF you have a teacher yoru EUREKA moments come alot sooner, than force feeding yourself information that is not processing, then months later your like.... OH that's why that is like that.

I relate it to typing class, I couldn't stand when the teacher had me typing "asdfjkl;" over and over again, then we progressed to "#*gh" or something like that...This ain't looking beneficial its just random letters but it was just here showing us how to access those things when we had to actually type words.  Scales and practice excercises look like "asdfjkl;" starting out, it doesn't sound like music.  But what it teaches us is how to access the 4-5-1 when necessary.

The 5 string actually helped me learn the Fretboard better because I could really see that the bass was perfectly tuned.
So I progressed from moving up and down the neck to across the strings better.

All I had to learn was the circle of 5ths, and the rest fell into place. B E A D G C F, Bb Eb Ab Db Gb ( I remembered it like Malthumb said, BEAD G, CF, then Flats without the CF)

B    E    A    D    G
C    F    Bb  Eb   Ab
Db  Gb  B    E    A
D    G   C    F    Bb
Eb  Ab  Db  Gb  C
F    Bb  Eb  Ab  Db
Gb  B    E   A    D   and so on all the way down the neck.

Like Malthumb suggested play it a string at a time, saying the note aloud.  It might sound funny but be able to say the alphabet from A to G backwards.

Over time you just learn where the notes are in relation to one another... Patterns begin to jump out...
Take Eb for instance its   If you are at the Eb on the B string and move up an octave to the next Eb, you move up two strings and up on fret and thats the ocatve of E.

You really learn all these things to forget about them when you play.  Once its been practiced over and over again, it becomes second nature and you don't have to really think about
what you are doing.

If you can post some more specifics about what your practicing and not progressing on, maybe someone here can offer more specific tips to get past those issues.

Stay blessed.