THE DAY I RAN AWAY TO THE MOUNTAINS
The first steps on the how-to-play-bass.com journey started the day I left my 'real' job and went to work in a ski resort. A friend introduced me to a singer who said: "Wouldn't it be great to start a band and play out here next season?"
That was how I started my first band.
LESSONS WITH THE ARCH GURU OF SCALES
Having become a full time musician I decided I wanted to study and become as good a bass player as I could be. Research led me to a guy who was widely considered the best private tutor in the UK and I started taking lessons with him.
Only he turned out to be the Arch Gurus of scales. And wasted thousands of pounds of my money and far worse - the best part of 1000 Practice Hours.
FROM PLAYER....TO MANAGER
Believing I'd reached the limits of my talents thanks to the teaching methods of the Arch Guru of Scales I lost interest in 'getting better' at bass. Though I still played on a regular basis - more and more I was making the transition from being a full time player into a full time Manager who played a bit.
In the early 2000's I was managing and booking gigs for 6 or 7 Acts:
FROM MANAGER TO TEACHER
Two things put me on the road to teaching. The stepson of a good friend of mine wanted me to help him learn bass, but he lived 200 miles away. And I gave my son a bass for his 5th birthday. And I started researching teaching and practicing and topics like that - topics that if you've been following me for a while you'll know I'm passionately interested in.
HOW-TO-PLAY-BASS.COM
I never set out to start teaching the bass...but one thing led to another that led to another that led to another. Looking back now it seems like an inevitable progression.
The bass guitar is such a young instrument, with no history allied to classical musical like you'll find with say the Piano or the Guitar. As a result there are a lot of holes in the bass literature that is available. The How-To-Play-Bass.com website was set up to fill some of those holes, and help beginners and intermediate players learn more effectively. (And without learning scales).
FEEDBACK
No business that strives to improve can do so in a vacuum. That's equally true for a giant multi-billion company like Google as it is for a small, one man, internet-based teaching business....like www.How-To-Play-Bass.com.
So if you have any feedback I'd love to hear it. Whether it's good, or bad. Drop me an email and let me know how you got on with the material on this website dedicated to learning how to play bass. And how much of a difference it's made to you.
My final thought before we wrap up is simply this: remember that mastery of a discipline comes from a combination of great practice and great teaching and is not down to any innate talent. You can achieve just about anything you set out to achieve - provided you have the right plan in place.
So work out what you want to achieve. Work out a plan to achieve it. And go do it. Thank you for visiting this website. And I hope you enjoy it and it helps you with your bass playing goals:).
Paul Wolfe London
