Play The Recorder Month on March, 2025: Okay. I wanna learn how to play the bass guitar.?

March, 2025 is Play The Recorder Month 2025. 2013 Play the Recorder Month 2013 Play the Recorder Month

alot of people i see here post things such as ''i taught myself piano its easy''

let me say any instrument is easy (&these are most likely the ramblings of people who have only played their instruments a few months), but to properly play it & understand what the heck your doing (this helps your creative process when writing your own stuff or just in general) is another different matter.

i could be taught to recite out 10 basic piano tunes, but give me the likes of Mozarts music & ask me to use certain techniques that are heard on piano. i would fail (as would all the people claiming ''its easy'' on their respective instruments)

eg most typical rock/pop bass-lines are pretty much easy & can be taught in a matter of days, however if you go to jazz/funk you will find the bass to be one of the hardest instruments in that genre to use due to it being so up-front.

eg most acoustic guitar songs use relatively simple chords thus by logic then the entire genre is ''easy to learn'' however you can look further into the genre at the likes of Phil Keaggy/Newton Faulkner and see that there are ways to express in an even more difficult technical manner acoustic music

the problem with teaching yourself guitar (or any instrument) is that alot of people give up they get frustrated. (supposedly 90% of self taught musicians quit whilst quoting statistics are generally wrong i wouldn't put it past being a damn high figure especially as its such a common method for a first timer to start out this way)

also alot of people can ''play'' guitar, ie bang out a few songs & intros eg starirway to heaven. But there is a notable difference heard between a self-taught guitarist playing a song & a trained guitarist, the trained guitarist will know how to play the song rather than just play the skeleton melody (ie trained will understand note duration, muting & various other techniques that adds more to the song).

guitarists are a dime a dozen, everybody plays guitar (heck i play guitar) however a decent guitarist is hard to find this is where you can benifit from lessons as most people don't take lessons thus their main experience is from playing live if they ever manage to as self-teaching doesn't help confidence.

Lessons are definitely a great idea, a teacher can show you techniques & correct you. i still get corrected over things i do at my lessons.

alot of the internet resources aren't that great, again it is alot of amateurs with bad technique posting who started out similar to you, or looking to make a quick buck, any person worth their weight on an instrument will tell you the best way to learn an instrument is through face-face tutoring hence why its such a staple practice in music/drama colleges.

every music autobiography i have read (& i read quite a fair bit of them as i LOVE music) the guitarist/any instrument, has gotten lessons at some point be that off others who got lessons when out playing on the scene, or took lessons initially.

there are a rare few virtuoso (ie talented) people who didn't get lessons but even at that they start practicing with other people who have got lessons & learn off them.

As somebody said those ''guitar for dummies'' are great, however that is as a side tool to reference to. not to just teach yourself, at a glance you learn the basics but when you study those books they can get quite complicated & a teacher can clear any questions you have.

a teacher also encourages you to practice & gives you set goals.

Don't get me wrong you can learn by yourself but if you are in any way serious about wanting to play music & want to get to a good level, i'd DEFINITELY suggest lessons. Also alot of people seem to start their music career out on guitar as it is such a famous instrument & lots of people own guitars in some form. Don't be suprised if you feel like quitting guitar because everybody plays it after a few months it happens to alot of people, it doesn't mean you aren't musically talented.

PS try not to ask people to give you the chords to a song, its better if you can work them out yourself it creates an ear for certain notes. however make sure what you are playing is correct.

PPS: i read here an answer off somebody who was in a music college, she roughly said ''the teachers would cringe when they heard that a new 'self-taught' musician was coming to the colllege, because the teachers all knew he/she would have to be retaught due to them having bad technique''

Rory Gallagher- Cradle Rock (Live ROCK/BLUES unbelievable guitar playing)

Rory Gallagher-Young Fashioned Ways (Live cover)

''Rory's death really upset me. I heard about it just before we went on stage, and it put a damper on the evening'' Jimmy Page (Led Zep)

Sources: bassist

experience in music (ie reading books, being out there etc)

Which instrument is harder to play?

Id say drums, piano, guitar, recorder, i play acoustic and^^ yes strings are hard to press however a few month and you can do it. Drums are difficult cause your playing with your whole body, piano is supposed to be easy cause all the notes are in front of you so that shouldn't be too difficult to get some basics down. A recorder? Well that's just a few holes to cover up?:)