How to play bass guitar by learning songs not scales!

I don't know about you but when I first picked up the bass I wanted to learn how to play bass like my bass heroes - players like Geddy Lee and Steve Harris and John Deacon - but my first two or three bass teachers insisted on teaching me scales, and then arpeggios. Whenever I asked about learning some songs I was told to master the basics first, think about playing songs second.

After going through another couple of teachers I branched out on my own, taught myself to read music (there was no tab in those days!) and started playing along to records...the Police, U2, Dire Straits, some Zeppelin and Rush, that kind of stuff.

In the early nineties I had started to play bass regularly with a couple of bands, earning some decent cash, and decided to try and push on to the next level. I found a new teacher, one of the most renowned in the UK and started lessons with him.

And guess what?

He started me off with...scales. And more scales. Scales in different positions. Scales played starting with different fretting hand fingers. Scales with extension fingerings. All the modes of the melodic minor scale AND the harmonic minor scale.

I eventually gave up these lessons and went back to learning songs. (Side note: since those days I've played around 1600 gigs, not once have I ever played a 'scale' per se on any of those gigs. Not once. Go figure).

To cut a long story short this year I bought my 5 year old son his first bass and I spent many hours figuring out what to teach him so he could learn how to play bass guitar.

The approach I came up with was based on songs, starting him with very easy material (With or Without You by U2, Every Breath You Take by the Police) and with a planned progression to get him up to some complex and challenging basslines (some Flea, some Muse, LOTS of Rush, a bit of Maiden etc etc.).

This is the approach I now take with teaching. Most beginners just want to play some songs - either play bass along with the original, or play/jam with their friends - and with the right practice you can happily progress from being a beginning bass player to being an intermediate quality bass player without worrying too much about scales and arpeggios (Side note 2 - scale and theory knowledge is vital if you want to advance beyond intermediate standard BUT when you're starting out, it just ain't crucial IMO)

On this site you'll find articles that reflect my approach to teaching and learning how to play bass, we'll talk about goal setting, making the most out of practicing time, how to maintain an effective practice schedule, how to practice playing time, how to practice groove, ear training, transcribing, and of course we'll talk a LOT about playing SONGS.

At some stage soon there'll be some material for sale - at a reasonable price of course! - and I'm going to try and work out how to film short tuitional clips to post on Youtube. If you want to help keep the site going please feel free to use the donate button in the left hand column - any amount is appreciated.

If you have any comments I'd be happy to hear them - use the Contact page. If you're interested in lessons check out the lessons page.

'till then, keep learning songs and grooving hard.

All the best

Paul Wolfe

How-To-Play-Bass.com

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