Bass Lessons: Week One

I had my first lesson with H last night. Mostly she showed me lots of stuff. It was alot to take in, but not too much. At the end of the lesson she tried to write down what we'd done (which may mean that she picked up that I wanted this from my inquiry email).
Take-aways:

• I should learn the 2-3 octave "box" patterns for major and minor scales. Just gotta do that. Other scales probably aren't so very important at this point.
• I should be thinking about intervals and relative placement on the fretboard...so like knowing if I'm on the root...where else does the root live...and where do the 3rd, 5th, and octave live. Like the scale boxes, this is just memorization and repetition. the other intervals are important too...but maybe less so at first. And they will come with knowing these main ones. She also highlighted the importance of the 9th, which I've never thought much about before, but it does sound nice.
• We talked alot about the role of various scale intervals for major and minor scales in playing against guitar chords. She encouraged me to think in terms of bass lines against chords...rather than about scales and theory per se. And this is already how I think, so that was good.
• She talked about passing notes and moving from one chord to another and how to think about a progression.
• Despite the above, she encouraged me not to get lost in the theory, though.  To more just play and try things and not be afraid to mess up and to just learn what sounds good. To do this she suggested recording guitar chords and playing along and trying to write various parts. Just noodle and figure it out.
• She said that it is always nerve wracking to write parts on the fly even if you know what you're doing. So there's nothing wrong with being prepared.
• She reminded me that strategic accents can really change up a part
• What you play will often come from listening to the rest of the band. More on this below.
• I got a little confirmation on correct technique. With the left hand think of a claw...and with little pressure on the thumb. Don't let the fingers flatten. Use a soft touch. She recommended running scales with a metronome at various tempos and said that if you do this enough good technique just comes because you can't play fast without good technique. It was a similar exercise to the one I've seen before and already knew was a good idea. She also said "but maybe you don't care about playing fast" which was a nice point. I do think these exercises are easy and worthwhile though.

Going forward I'm going to try to have a lesson every other Thursday and see how it goes. She thought that we could either have me bring in songs that I'm working on parts for...or she could play guitar and I could try to write songs along to it. There were a couple of other ideas that I can't remember now. I asked if she had a certain approach to teaching and she said it was really individual. Usually people want to learn a certain song, or how to read music, etc. So it is well defined. What I'm asking is to develop my own style and voice...and that's a harder thing to address.  "You can't tell me who I am." I said and she nodded. But I think she'll be a good guide. She's open and non-threatening and didn't have any set expectations. A few times when she took a scale too fast I didn't have to say much and she was right there slowing it down and doing it over again. She could tell when I was confused and needed reinforcement.

On the drive home it struck me that I'm really interested in R Ring right now and that they play music without a bass. So writing parts for their songs would be a perfect exercise. So I think I'll use that as a jumping off place...along with refining the parts for Halle and Sarah's songs.  Those are the two things I think I'll bring in to lessons. At home...mostly I just need to play the damn scales every day and learn the pattern and start thinking more about relative intervals. It'll come if I just do the work. 

This morning I sat down before work and figured out a bass part to Hundred Dollar Heat pretty easily. Mike plays a bass line of sorts on the guitar, so it was cheating a bit because I was more following along with him rather than writing my own part, but it was still a good exercise. It also showed me that I pull alot from the other players...like the strumming style...in the case of Hundred Dollar Heat it is wide open and syncopated at the start in the verses and then becomes more driving and 8th note based and dense in the chorus. I followed along with that instinctually. I guess I always think of this as cheating...like when my bass drum line follows Twan's bass guitar line or J's vocal...but maybe it isn't so much cheating as just serving the song.

I think that I get really caught up in whether or not I'm complicated or technical enough...on whether I'm going to be "found out" as a total hack. But maybe fitting in doesn't make you a hack...it makes you a sensitive musician.  And there's the whole thing about...the million dollar riff doesn't come along every day. Not every song can be the catchy song from hell. And they don't all have to be. I don't know. I have alot of basic practice work to do...but way more than that I have alot of mental work to do. I need to stop telling myself these stories about how well I play or what I ought to be doing and just...play. As much as possible. 

I don't know who I am as a bass player yet. How could I? It's too soon. So I should stop putting myself in boxes and tearing myself down. I'm like a teenager in my bass life. I've got this whole long life ahead of me and who knows who I'm gonna become. I should give myself the space to have an adolescence without so much pressure to grow up.