Welcome to Online Bass Lessons at Studybass.com!
Hello and welcome to my online bass lesson website - StudyBass.com. My name is Andrew Pouska and I've been a full-time bass teacher for over 12 years. I'm creating this site to fill the holes I think exist in online music education and bass instruction. I sincerely hope you find the bass lessons clear, well-written, and - most of all - practical.
I'm currently working on the next development phase of studybass.com. I have more features and lessons on the way. Please be patient as I put them together. This is still very much the beginning of the site.
My Teaching Approach
I've been teaching bass guitar for some time now. My objective as a teacher has always been to develop creative and knowledgeable musicians. I want anything I teach to benefit the student for a lifetime. I'm not into just teaching you flashy techniques that can only be used to wow people at your local music store. I'm not saying you shouldn't learn today's new "triple-big-toe-over-the-shoulder" slap technique, I just think it's important to prioritize your learning if you want to have a lasting relationship with music. In music there's a lot to learn and there's a lot to distract you from learning it.
In my approach I first insist on teaching those things which are used 90-100% of the time in music and in bass-playing. Once you get those things down you might venture into the less used bass-playing concepts and techniques. I hope you'll recognize this as a sensible approach. I've seen a lot of people progress as musicians and many not. You can probably guess the approach I've seen help the most.
About the Site
I do everything on the site myself from the programming and graphics to writing the lessons and recording all the instruments in the examples. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on the site so far and I appreciate it. I love to hear that you're learning, advancing, and applying the lessons.
Please be patient as I put up the tutorials and resources. The site is still in its early stages. I'm starting with beginner bass guitar lessons. The beginning is everyone's most critical time. I'm trying to be thorough and not lose anyone along the way. More advanced lessons will follow. So far there are 75 bass lessons and counting with over 100 recorded bass exercises and examples. You can subscribe to the StudyBass.com RSS feed to be notified of newly posted lessons, tools, and resources.
I hope this has given you some idea of what this website is about and where it's headed. If you really want to learn to play bass, I promise you're going to like where this bass lesson site goes.
Keep learning, practicing, and playing,
Andrew Pouska
bassist and bass teacher
July 12, 2007
Popular Bass Lessons and Bass Player Tools...
First visit to studybass.com? Check out these popular bass lessons and tools:
- Bass Guitar Fretboard Printer 2.0
Print fretboard diagrams for most scales and chords in any tuning, or just the bass notes on the whole neck. I just updated the fretboard printer. Try out the new version. It has a new interface and now you can combine scales, chords and natural harmonics on one diagram. - Online Metronome
Click, click, click. Use the metronome to learn to maintain a steady beat and to pace yourself as you practice. Metronomes also give you a sense of your progress. - Bass Clef Note Quiz
Test your skill at identifying the notes on the bass clef. - Bass Technique
I have a lot of work to do in this section. But, you should get a pretty good foundation in bass guitar technique from the tutorials and exercises I've posted so far. - Effective Practicing
Two things can really sabotage a student's progress - not knowing what to practice and not knowing how to practice. These are some articles and thoughts on how to practice effectively.
Beginner Bass Lessons...
Looking for beginner bass lessons? Beginning bassists should make sure they know things in the bass lessons: basics section. You won't get far on the site without thoroughly learning these initial concepts.
After that take a look at the bass technique lessons, and the common bass patterns lessons. You'll be surprised just how much bass-playing falls into that small set of bass patterns.
These lessons are meant to be practiced, not just read through. You might spend several days up to a week or more really absorbing the material in each lesson. Take your time. Read and reread them. Apply them.
If there's one bass lesson you read on this site, I'd recommend chord tones are primary. It's so critical for new bassists to get this concept and many don't. I'd go so far as to say it is one of my prime motivations for creating the entire website.
I'm adding more and more beginning bass lessons all the time. Please check back often. And, hang in there. The beginning of playing any instrument is the roughest part. With consistent practice you will get better. Early on it's hard to see your progress. Just don't quit! You will really love playing once you get over that initial period of frustration.
About Your Online Bass Teacher...
For those who are interested, I've been privately teaching bass lessons full-time for the past 12+ years. So far I've taught nearly 2000 students of all levels how to play bass guitar and about music. I love teaching bass lessons and music. I've been really privileged to do it and still manage to eat. I hope my passion for music and teaching come through on this site.
Where did I learn all of this stuff? Over the past 20 years I've learned a lot about music from teachers on many different instruments, music classes, teaching others, continuous self-study, picking apart thousands of songs and basslines, and my general undying curiosity about it all. Learning is a neverending process. Hopefully this site will give you an enormous head start with your own bass playing!
