intermediate lessons?

[Jersey Jack]

Like many people here (I suspect), I'm transitioning from guitar to bass. But when I look through various online or DVD learning materials, I find a lot of stuff devoted to real beginners (scales, including a lot of theory) and a fair amount of advanced stuff (slapping, chording, jazzy or funky improvisation, etc.). I can't find very much, however, that is intermediate.

 

As a multi-intrumentalist with many years of playing and training, I have no need of beginners lessons (although I did review hand position, plucking styles, etc.). As a country/folk/rootsy player, I have no need of advanced techniques. What I condsider imtermediate would be something like groove creation--ideas of what to play in various circumstances. I don't want to get fancy or virtuosic, but I'd like to develop some creative bass lines.

 

For 90% of what I would play a simple 1/5 alternation and some walking lines would suffice, but it's hard to see how to advance if I'm not entering the realms of jazz or funk. Perhaps I'm making too much of this--given what I already know and given the kind of music I play, there may not be much else to do at this point beyond simply logging more hours on the bass and listening to and copying the bass lines in music I admire. But if someone could point out the way forward for me I'd appreciate the advice.

[rpsands]

I'm a huge fan of this guy - http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/

 

Gotten a lot of pointers on intermediate stuff from reading his posts and the magazine.

[melancholy mechanic]

Well, you say one of your goals is to be more creative. Part of the creative process is having tools at your disposal that you can use while playing. The more tools you have, the more creative you can be. The more approaches you can take to a musical section the more interesting basslines you'll be able to come up with. Now, if you're playing a blue grass tune and you throw in a syncopated rhythm at the end of each phrase, you're likely to be fired but if you do it once or twice in a night and have the facilities to do it without dropping the groove, you might sound pretty hip. I guess what I'm saying is I would recommend learning something outside of your comfort zone if for no other reason than to do it as a mental exercise.

[One Bad Monkey]

Yeah, I'd recommend learning some of the other stuff, if only to have more knowledge. It can only help and you will be surprised at what you will learn.

 

When I taught lessons years ago, I had a guy in your same spot. The problem was, many of the things he was asking for in terms of creating grooves and moving between chords were based in jazz, but once you learned the concepts you could easily - EASILY - apply them to roots/country/blues. He didn't want to hear any of it, and after a month of lessons quit.

 

Honestly, had he just said "Well, let's give this a try," I could've shown him the concept AND given him some ways to incorporate it into his genre of choice. As it sat, whenever you did something that sounded remotely like jazz, he shut down.

[Jersey Jack]

Thanks to all. I don't want to appear closed-minded. While I'm not so into listening to jazz and funk, I really do appreciate the value of learning any music. I'm just trying to get up to speed in my own genre, and I'm thinking that there must be a middle ground between this is the pentatonic scale and Jaco. That's over-simplifying, of course, but I'm not finding much in the way of intermediate lessons.

 

Paul Wolfe's song-based lessons look promising.

[Pine Apple Slim]

Ive played roots country & bluegrass upright for many years. I feel pretty darn confident doing it. Copping the groove, doin my thing while holding it down. I learned what I know playing with others, not out of books. To me thats where the language gets internalized, where the feel and grove comes from.

I always wished I could find that jazz guy, guitarist or piano player, with the patience to jam with me regular and long enough for me to internalize the concept and forms, to really take my upright playing to the next level. I mean I can do key of Bb, but pretty much I,IV, V, trad country feels. Just for example, Id like to be comfortable enough in Bb to walk thru something like a I, VI, II, V with substitutions and really swing. But I know for me, that will require some serious jam time with someone who really knows their stuff, and is patient enough to let me sit at their knee.

Any old jazzers around N AL willing to try to teach an old bluegrass dog some new tricks?

[Tolka]

 

I don't want to get fancy or virtuosic, but I'd like to develop some creative bass lines.

 

 

Then you might find these lessons helpful. I know I certainly do. These lessons encourage you to get away from always playing the root note first, thus making for a more interesting bass line. There is also a section on how to practice scales. In case you are curious about the black glove the guy wears... it helps to correct a nerve problem in his hand.

 

http://scottsbasslessons.com/video-tutorials/tutorial-6-how-to-practice-arpeggios/

[Mr.Grumpy]

I'm in a similar situation - a long time guitar player transitioning to bass. I am taking lessons because I figured I might have bad "habits" (techniques) from playing guitar and didn't want them to ingrained. Sure enough, my hand position and fretting technique which work fine for guitar aren't really ideal for bass, so I'm relearning. My teacher is great, he's a full-time pro bass player and can play practically any style (including country). I think what's most helpful about a teacher is that they can give feedback about things like hand and finger positioning, your tone, feel, ect...

 

Even though I'm playing bass in a country band, I'm learning some pop and 70's/80's R&B stuff, but I like that kind of music. Getting "serious" about the bass has been more fun and more difficult than I originally expected.