8 year old beginner need good starting point??

[jstrong625]

Hi, i am getting my 8 year old son a bass guitar for christmas, can anyone tell me of a good teaching method or product. I have seen dvds, cds, and books, anyone think one is easier for a young child. I would guess the dvd or cd would hold his attention a little better, but i am DUMB on the subject. Any advise you would have would be very much appreciated. thanks again, joe

[labgnat]

get him a teacher if you can. I've found the bass guitar book for dummies to be the best all around resource for learning bass guitar. in book form i mean. good thinking by getting him playing so young. wish i could have started that early hope he sticks with it

[simonrex22]

I think a dvd would be good to keep his attention for a while and introduce him to the basics. For the long run, find out some of his favorite bands and get him some tablature books. Or if he uses the internet, show him how to search for tabs.

[Worrpigs]

get him a teacher. ever since i got started with my teacher, my playing has skyrocketed. also, if you can get him some books on learning to read sheet music. i wish i would of started to learn to read along time ago.

[Jody LeCompte]

Tell him if he doesnt show progress evreyday then he doesnt eat dinner.

[kilian]

Let him actually hear the bass, I bet that he doesn't really know what a bass is before he gets it for christmas. Or he has to see daddy with a bass and has to know it is a guitar with 4 strings and goes like thum thum dum. ;)

A teacher would be the best thing. You want to keep his attention to the instrument and you can't do that with a book. He needs to be motivated I suppose :)

And let him practise with his friends! That would be perfect.

[Chaos]

Wouldn't hurt if you got into it too.

definitely a teacher though, if you find him a good teacher, there's no doubt that he'll progress immensely.

[groundzero]

Another vote for a teacher.

An 8 year old probably isn't going to be captivated by a book as much as a DVD, but even so all the videos I've seen are geared toward older players. Getting a teacher (make sure the teacher has experience teaching children AND is a bass teacher, not a guitar teacher that thinks they can also teach bass) would be much more suitable.

[cliff_bass player]

Let him actually hear the bass, I bet that he doesn't really know what a bass is before he gets it for christmas. Or he has to see daddy with a bass and has to know it is a guitar with 4 strings and goes like thum thum dum. ;).

ha i never knew wat bass was i wanted to play drums and i just saw it and said i wanna play that... im glad i did cause i love it as much as shutting down smart *** drummers with drummer jokes....

also ive got a guitarist and a bass teacher... and i can only learn the basics i cant learn all the things a bass player could teach...

cliff

[tomtom]

you guessed it, another vote for a teacher.
it would also help if YOU played as well, often someone will want to play to be like someone. my brother took up guitar because i took up bass, so it wouldn't hurt. if you can't get him lessons, i'd get a dvd. i can just see a dvd being a bit more captivating than a book.

[Wintermute]

When I was just a little younger than your son I started playing the trumpet - didn't stick with it, because I wasn't hugely into music back then, and none of the music I DID like had any trumpet parts. So if you want him to stick at it and get practising, make sure it's fun. Encourage him to listen to music, and to learn the basslines from the songs he likes.

If practising is a chore, you'll eventually make excuses and stop doing it. If practising is a fun pastime, you're on to a winner.

[Bassinator89]

Help him into reading majorly...I really stink at reading and I think it might be a big wall in my way to getting better. Now I have a teacher, and hes teaching me, but prior it kinda sucked.

[Akira]

If practising is a chore, you'll eventually make excuses and stop doing it. If practising is a fun pastime, you're on to a winner.
That is key - with a younger child practicing can become a chore. That is a good way to ensure he willl never actually like music. So be sure to make playing fun for him, something he actually enjoys.

[Orange Fog]

If practising is a chore, you'll eventually make excuses and stop doing it. If practising is a fun pastime, you're on to a winner.

Can't emphasize this enough.

Also, 8 seems pretty young for a bass player, I mean. The strings are pretty rough for beginners that are in their teens...

[Caleb3221]

I don't think 8 is too young. The strings are hard on everyone when they first start. He might have to build a bit slower, but he'll be fine I think. And, my vote goes to a teacher as well. The learning will be faster, and probably better with a good teacher. But I stress the "good" part, I could have been turned off of music by a bad piano teacher I had when I was younger. If the teacher dosen't know what he's doing, or dosen't let him really enjoy the instrument, something's wrong. The teacher shouldn't just make him learn theory and excercises, but shouldn't let him stagnate either. And, as said above, enjoyment is key. If he's not having fun, he's not gonna be learning much either.

[hartke20g]

definately make sure he learns how to read music, seeing as tabs are illegal now :upset: i wish i learned how to read music fluently.

[Wintermute]

Can't emphasize this enough.

Also, 8 seems pretty young for a bass player, I mean. The strings are pretty rough for beginners that are in their teens...

Ah, some of the most technically able players in the world started younger than that. :)

Wooten was about 3, and Jon Reshard was only 5.

Threadstarter - he should adapt quite quickly to the coarseness of the strings, but if it's proving a problem, look into Flatwound strings. Quite a different sound (not as bright, a little more boomy) but they last longer and, crucially, are very smooth.

[enterwilde]

Well if you are looking for a good bass to start on for him i would really suggest an ibanez gsr 200 instead of a squier... they sound a qhole lot better and are like 50 bukcs cheaper! only about 200.

[Your Tourniquet]

Try and find a shorter-scale bass, but stay AWAY from the Squier Bronco Bass- that thing is NASTY! :eek:

I'd get a teacher to get him going, and get him some tab books so he can learn his favourite songs... I started at 11 playing Muse, and that got me a looong way.

[[LP213]]

The DVD that came with my Ibanez was quite a great DVD. IT also offered acoustic and electric guitar lessons on it.

[ocean6860]

Ah, some of the most technically able players in the world started younger than that. :)

Wooten was about 3, and Jon Reshard was only 5.

Threadstarter - he should adapt quite quickly to the coarseness of the strings, but if it's proving a problem, look into Flatwound strings. Quite a different sound (not as bright, a little more boomy) but they last longer and, crucially, are very smooth.

I thought Wooten was 4 and his brothers forced him too play it and tought him how because they needed a bass played for the familly band "The Wootens" because they wanted to be the partridge fammily.

[Basstallica]

yeah, ill just go with everyone else and say get him a teacher, also show him a variety of music so he doesnt only learn one type, get him playing a variety, maybe that will catch his interest

[IndigoSound]

I would advise something like a Squeir Bronco if you were looking for a bass for it's shorter scale which makes it alot easier for younger players, sounds nice and plays beutifully and looks pretty sweet in a white on red. For learning products the absoute beginners seris is awesome the bass version comes complete with a book and cd to learn making it easy to pick up and for Dvd's the absoutle beginners would also be a good move and the learning methods wouln't clash. Another slightly more advance thing is the ' Play bass with' Books which include a book and cd with artist tracks on and once to grips with general bass skill and movement on the fret-board the easier play along bass books are fun to play and slightly more intersting than some of the rock school books. Hope this helps!!!


IndigoSound.

[king of suede]

joe, you are an awsome dad for not getting your son an electric guitar... i am told i am a great bassist, but i've only been playing for a year, i had no experience with string instruments before, so playing bass was new to me, now to answer your question
Gear:
i started out with a "fender starter pak" it comes with a squire bass (great for beginners), a strap, a cord, a 18/38 watt amp, not sure right now, and an insructional video,
Teaching/learning:
now when i first got my bass, i took it out of the box, plugged in the amp, plug the cord in, and put the movie in... i was only watching the movie for about 3 minutes when i realized i had no idea what was going on...
so no movie
what i started with in learning was i went to bass lessons (figures huh?) for me they were and are now $25 for a half an hour lesson, you may be able to find better prices, but yeah, thats the least i know of
the book i started out with was called "Mel Bay's electric bass Method - 1" this book had a very slow learning curve, it teaches you what the notes are on the strings, how to read music (instead of tabs, which most bass players will do, musicians will respect you more as a player if you can read music)

thats about it, fender starter pak, mel bays electric bass method - 1, throw away the instrustional videio,
you thought that dvds or movies or cds would hold his attention better, they might acualy aggrivate him, making him have to rewind and paudse all the time, it's better to have a book which he can move at his own pace,
also lessons will really help him get going, it will be painful at first (the sounds comming out of his amp) but you will be so proud when he can start playing songs like... say... money, which was one of my first songs, and you can actualy recignize it, plus i think teachers love to see children get into playing more than teenagers
thats all, again thank you for getting him a bass, there are too many guitarists, plus, musicians are ALWAYS looking for a bassist for their bands, if he gets good, he'll have people all over him