LEARNING HOW TO LEARN BASS

Welcome! We’re going to take a bit of a detour this month to talk about how to learn. Most of the lessons in this column are generally about the specifics of how to approach a particular aspect of bass playing. Woven in between those specifics, you’ll have noticed a series of observations about the process of learning.

For a lot of more experienced players, at least those of us who are still progressing in our craft, the mechanics of learning are so ingrained in what we do on a day-to-day basis that we rarely stop to think about how to learn rather than what to learn. This month, I’m going to draw some parallels between bass playing and something that I’ve been learning a lot about over the last few years—riding a bike.

Bass-playing and cycling each get me thinking about the kind of equipment and practice schedule that would help me to get the most out of them

Stick with me on this! Like bike riding, there are a lot of different reasons for playing bass. Where bike riding can be about getting to work, about getting chores done, about long-distance endurance, about racing or about increasing your fitness, bass playing can also fit a range of purposes in our lives. The bass guitar is a fantastically versatile instrument, and what we want to do with it can