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This is a bit of research i need to do for yet another essay :)

thanks for your help in advance. Oh and also feel free to show me to a thread where this has already been done (i did a search but couldnt find anything).

Lastly please discuss your experiences of learning below :)

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[quote name='blackmn90' post='1296069' date='Jul 7 2011, 03:29 PM']This is a bit of research i need to do for yet another essay :)

thanks for your help in advance. Oh and also feel free to show me to a thread where this has already been done (i did a search but couldnt find anything).

Lastly please discuss your experiences of learning below :)[/quote]

All of the above!

Edit: Ok, that's not much help...

Everyone learns differently, I prefer a few lessons, getting stuck into some good music theory books and learning songs, I guess I learnt a little from my mates but not much. Also I started playing before teh internet so I had to work songs out by ear, it'll be interesting to see how newer players vote.

But ultimately it is pretty much all of the above for me.

Edited by Fat Rich
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I agree with the others that a mixture would probably work best.
Also, as mentioned, everyone has a preferred 'learning style'. For some it's reading first, for some trial and error etc.

But, if I could only choose one I'd say the lessons from a teacher.
I think the discipline it should encourage would play a big part. The financial investment made in paying for lessons should help too. Of course, there are different levels of ability amongst teachers!

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I agree with everyone who says it's is all down to your particular learning style.

My learning style resonds to lessons with a teacher, definitely. The main reasons being:
- my teacher showed me in 5 mins some things it would have taken me 5 hours to figure out for myself
- lessons motivate me to keep pracitising. I would hate to turn up for a lesson not having improved at all from the last time.
- Personally, I am quite motivated by praise so as long as my teacher keeps giving me little pats on the head from time to time I keep up my levels of enthusiasm
- teacher is introducing me to many types of good music! If I was teaching myself I would probably just be sticking to rock and blues, blissfully unaware of what else I was missing
- the theory is so much easier when explained in person rather than trying to read it all from a book.

All of the above just MHO of course.

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I'd argue this ain't rocket science!

Obviously personal tuition is going to help any bassist improve quicker than other methods. Unless, of course, the tutor in question is especially bad... and/or a guitarist :)

And there's probably scientific blurb somewhere that suggests videos are a better learning tool than books - simply because us human beans are designed to learn things better when we're 'shown' stuff in pictures. But that's a complete guess on my part.

Books are surely going to be better than no tuition at all.

And my mates would just see it as an opportunity to get drunk.

So that would be my personal running order of usefulness.

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I think iv explained this pretty badly. Imagine your all just starting out. Things i'd like you to consider; Would you have much access to the internet, ie your own computer (although most kids have one when there 10 nowdays i did not) Would you be able to get to a tutor? Could you afford personal lessons? Or if you did have lessons did your tutors recommend you books to get as well as the lessons?

Inputs been great so far though chaps and has given me plenty to think about

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Easy [i]for me[/i] this one.

If you want to be [i]technically[/i] great on bass (or any instrument) get a teacher, but that's not what I voted for.

If you want to absorb, and enjoy, and learn, and have fun playing, then listening to as much music as you can, and playing along to it, [i]in my opinion[/i], is the [i]only[/i] way, and that's what I voted for.

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I don't think there is really any argument that lessons are the most effective way of learning.Having someone
explain and demonstrate things to you will help you improve quicker.
Books are great,but work best in conjunction with lessons. Sure,you can learn a lot from them,but you may need someone to go through them with you to help with your understanding of the exercises.
The Internet is a funny one...there is so much material out there,but there is no 'sh*t filter'. A beginning player could watch a bunch of really bad videos (expert village,anyone?),or read a lot of misinformation or half truths (or general poor advice) and it will have to be corrected later down the line. There is also a lot of great stuff,but a beginning player won't yet have the knowledge to separate the good from the bad.

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[quote name='Rayman' post='1296237' date='Jul 7 2011, 06:12 PM']Easy [i]for me[/i] this one.

If you want to be [i]technically[/i] great on bass (or any instrument) get a teacher, but that's not what I voted for.

If you want to absorb, and enjoy, and learn, and have fun playing, then listening to as much music as you can, and playing along to it, [i]in my opinion[/i], is the [i]only[/i] way, and that's what I voted for.[/quote]

I'd pretty much agree with the above although I'd always recommend getting a few lessons, so that's what I voted for.

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I think it's a combination. You can't teach creativity, which is what music is all about (for me anyway). Yeah it's cool to play other peoples compositions and see what they've done but ultimately making music is the best thing about it. And that is purely down to experience.
I know brilliant classically trained musicians who cannot play unless they've got a sheet of music to read, no improvisational skills at all. Don't get me wrong they can play amazingly off a sheet of music but it's the creativity they're lacking.

To learn the tools? All of the above combined. And you can't take them too seriously, one mans wrong could be the next inspirational masterpiece.

No one teaching method works well for everyone, especially where the arts are concerned. I could go off on a rant about how standardisation in the educational system is ruining the entire idea of it but I've just been for a 15 mile walk and I really cannot be arse.

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[quote name='Ross' post='1296253' date='Jul 7 2011, 06:26 PM']I think it's a combination. You can't teach creativity, which is what music is all about (for me anyway)...[/quote]

I know what you mean, but I'd say that in a way you can teach creativity. When I was starting out my teacher used to teach me to improvise around scales so learning scales didn't become monotonous and boring and it was far more musically relevant than smashing up and down a load of scales. He taught me what worked well where and why it worked well. This moved me on leaps and bounds in my creativity in terms of writing bass parts for band stuff. If you don't know something exists, how can you use it as a creative tool...?

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[quote name='Ross' post='1296360' date='Jul 7 2011, 07:00 PM']That isn't creativity.
That is teaching you how to use the tools and make your job easier.[/quote]


i had a student once that said everything comes from the soul.... erm! I admit to play what you feel but if you dont know what your playing you can only play by yourself. So i showed him how i would use scales over a simple song, think it was hard days night, and sure enough he then learnt the fingerboard and basic scales. And from that he found that the stuff he had "created" was based on a Mixolydian scale

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Gotta say guys thanks very much. The plan is that for my specialised project i was going to write a method book. From this data so far it seems the three best ways are private lessons, internet based stuff and learning by ear. So now im thinking maybe write a book that can aid teachers, almost be like a "homework" book. Probably have it as a PDF instead of a book so its more accessible to those online, possibly include video's as well. And finally an ear training section where a seperate PDF could have answers.


Please keep it coming though guys, its all helping and the more the input the better the average will be :)

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[quote name='Ross' post='1296360' date='Jul 7 2011, 08:00 PM']That isn't creativity.
That is teaching you how to use the tools and make your job easier.[/quote]

Well that's like saying "you don't need to know how to play a bass, just hum the line you're thinking of..." :)

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I can only speak for myself but I've learned more in two months of lessons than I did in the entirety of the three years previous that I had been playing and just bumbling along. For me lessons bring knowledge that I can apply and give names to the things I happened upon by accident but didn't know how to explain.

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