Hi Ed,

A little background. I am a 20 year guitar player who lives with a woman who wants to learn to play bass. I know from experience that her main problem right now is motivational. I think she is somewhat frustrated because she doesn't feel she can keep up with me musically. I believe she may be a bit intimidated but she'll never say that. I think she may be overlooking the fact that I have spent many years to get where I am. I've tried, to no avail, to explain that we are all at different levels but this shouldn't prevent us from interfacing musically unless we let it. I have arranged to have her jam with a friend of mine who is rather new to guitar in the hopes that it may spur more interest on her part. It didn't really seem to work like I had hoped.

Enough of the personal background. She owns your two books on walking bass and is starting to work through the 1st book. She works on the examples seemingly with the intent of memorizing them as opposed to gleaning the concept that drives them and permutating them 'her way'. I have offered advice,(she doesn't always willingly accept my advice) that she should try to apply any concept being taught to progressions other than the one being shown in a given example as well as playing the example. I realize we all learn in different ways and at different paces. I'm hoping you may be able to shed some light here. I no longer hold much hope of teaching her musically and she doesn't really have the time right now for lessons from a private instructor. Any tips you could give with respect to motivation and internalizing the concepts in your books would be much appreciated. I think I can get her to read any answers you write,(or that anyone else writes) so I am grateful for a forum like this.

Steve

It sounds as if your friend is still unsure of herself on the instrument. This should come as no surprise. It can take years to gain confidence, even longer when you feel that you'll be judged by your significant other (my assumption) if you make a mistake or can't cut it. If I were you, I would stop pushing her to play with others - which seems to be YOUR objective, rather than hers - and let her shed at her own pace until she feels confident enough to jump in. At THAT time, you will have the awesome responsibility of making her feel secure, even though she'll still be a struggling newbie. The slightest hint of impatience on your part, or on the part of others who jam with her, will discourage her further, and you'll never get her to play with you. Let her work at her own pace, encourage her, and give her all the time she needs. Arrange a lesson with a qualified teacher, if she's amenable to the idea. But DON'T push.

At the beginning of our relationship she asked me to teach her to play the guitar and she did REALLY well. I never had to push. She had an affinity for learning chords and I showed her lots of nice jazz voicings. At that point, she used to jam with me and the drummer from my current band and did better than quite a few rhythm guitarists we had both played with,(the drummer even pointed this out) even though the actual rhythm of music wasn't her strong suit,(knowledge of the neck was). She put a LOT more time into the playing of the guitar than she has the bass. I think she was expecting bass to be easier and got a little disheartened when she found out it wasn't. I agree with you about the 'don't push' aspect, it would do much more harm than good. I did,(at her request) put her in touch with a very good bassist who teaches but she only took 1 or 2 lessons. She DOES have fun with pattern based riffs and she'll jam on those with me, but I know she really wants to learn to play walking lines. Any suggestions for her in that area?

Steve

Well, I already answered Steve's first post privately in case you're wondering. But to answer his second query..

<<...but I know she really wants to learn to play walking lines. Any suggestions for her in that area?>>>

Get her to listen to some great players like Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Eddie Gomez. Maybe that will inspire her to get moving.

Get her to listen to Carol Kaye.
Buddy

Ed and Irbreez,

I did expose her to P.C.,(the tune and the man) Ron Carter and some of the Aebersold CD's,(the easy ones... she likes those a bit). She bought a Carol Kaye audio tape w/booklet and worked with it awhile. She's more into Vic Wooten and Steve Bailey,(which is why I think she's a bit daunted right now). It's possible that after listening to these guys she has a feeling that playing a walking line should be easy. We all know this isn't necessarily true. I can't really substantiate this belief, but I feel that, at present, it's a contributing factor. I turned her onto Roscoe Beck and she was transcribing a tune,(entitled 'Ain't Got Dough') that he did with Robben Ford and his brother Mark that featured some nice little walks in spots. I recommended this particular tune because it fed the walk concept in short bursts. She's gotten quite far with it I'm glad to say, but I think she expects to be able to do her own thing from just doing this to one tune. I don't feel she is being as realistic about the bass as she was about playing the guitar. With guitar, she KNEW what it was going to take and she didn't blink, she just DID it. She never really tried playing lead guitar much though. She learned a few scales, but she didn't stick with it. At that point she switched to bass and gave up the guitar. She may have felt this was a way to distance herself from being so tied to me musically. This is pure conjecture on my part, but if true, I completely understand the reasoning. I suppose I didn't really name this thread appropriately. Perhaps it should have been named 'How to teach your mate to walk a bassline without her walking away". I've played long enough to already realize the answer to the question of motivation. Maybe I want her to learn more than she actually wants to learn. As a noted bass player has pointed out to me recently, "If it's
important to her, she'll do it.". All I really have to do now is swallow the reality of this advice.

Steve

I don;t think there's any way to learn how to do walking bass lines without knows scales (and, I guess, which scales to use for Major, Minor, Dominant, etc. chords). The good thing (obviously) is that those scale patterns can moved just about anywhere on the neck, so if she can get down some scales, she's well on her way to making walking bass lines. Scales can be a little boring to learn and practice, but my first bass teacher had me write out and play about 8 different scales each week (each week was a different key), and that helped immensly both in terms of playing walking bass lines and improvising in general.

I don't play much jazz anymore, so I don't get the opportunity to play many walking bass lines, but when I did, if it started to get a little tedious in a long song, I'd try and make a mental game out of it. Since it's sort of like connect-the-dots, I'd try and come up with new (yet musical) ways of getting from one point to the next, or try never to do the same thing twice, and things like that.

Jonathan

I agree. Walking bass lines are showcases of music theory. Does she know how to play arpeggios of various chord types? (MAJ7, m7, 7, 9, 7#5, m7b5, dim7, etc.) This is essential. I wouldn't worry so much about scales at the start, but she's gotta put some shed time into those arpeggios. It's very important to proceed slowly. Ed's book (I have the first one) has the right idea. Start with roots only, then roots and fifths, then scale tones. Get comfortable with each level before moving on. If your brain has to think about too many choices, you tend to become overwhelmed and lose the groove. I strongly suggest putting her in touch with a supportive, patient teacher with a background in jazz (hey, sounds like Ed!). And get her a good fake book so she can work on tunes that she likes.

I like to practice walking lines with accompanyment. I program a simple drum (ride and high hat) and piano background in my sequencer and play along. It's not as realistic as Aebersold records, but the sequencer has several advantages. I can change the tempo, and I can loop a few measures until I get the hang of the changes. It's also REALLY helpful to record your performance. Even if it sucks at first, you get a clear understanding of where you need to focus your practice efforts. You don't need an expensive system to do this. Plus, playing the chords on a piano (or synth) helps you understand the harmonic structure more clearly. Good luck! Oh, one more thing. It helps to keep a 12 8 beat in your head - DUT dut dut DUT dut dut DUT dut dut DUT dut dah ...

As someone else mentioned, maybe the problem is the perceived "judgement" you may make on her.

This could be resolved, at least when she is 'shedding, by getting her a headphone practice amp. If you are not hearing all of her mistakes as she is learning, then maybe she will be more motivated to plug away at it. If you get one from Raven Labs, for example, you could also use it as a live DI, a recording DI, a headphone amp, and you can even plug other sources into it (like a drum machine) for practicing with.

Good luck with it...I have always wished that my "other" played an instrument...

- Christian
Budapest, Hungary
http://www.Crunchy-Frog.com

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xtian:
[B]"As someone else mentioned, maybe the problem is the perceived "judgement" you may make on her."

I wish it wasn't, but I think this is very true.

"This could be resolved, at least when she is 'shedding, by getting her a headphone practice amp. If you are not hearing all of her mistakes as she is learning, then maybe she will be more motivated to plug away at it. "

She has two to choose from. A little Peavey practice amp with HP jack and an SWR Gran Prix pre-amp. This does help, no question about it.

"Good luck with it...I have always wished that my "other" played an instrument..."

Thanks
Steve