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Teaching myself bass guitar...

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Mars:
I don't get why everyone says that a teacher is important. Having a good teacher can help, but it's not essential for learning. Having a bad teacher can be worse than learning on your own.

The way I see it, a teacher is necessary for the stuff you can't figure out on your own. Example, I was having a hard time getting all the finicky details of classical guitar down, so I took a few lessons to get the habits formed and get some exercises, as well as having someone to point out when I screwed up. It was helpful, because classical was something I was having a hard time wrapping my head around. A teacher for rock or blues guitar wouldn't have been likely to teach me anything I didn't learn on my own, so that would've been a waste of money.

You don't have to spend money on lessons. Although if you are teaching yourself and don't have much (or any) prior musical experience, a metronome is a very good idea.

Note that an instructor can help to keep you motivated, so if you think that's going to be a problem you may want to look into it. Of course, I figure that if you're not motivated on your own you probably shouldn't force it, but I also recognize that what's worked for me doesn't work for everyone.

Other than that I agree with pretty much everything that's been said. I especially agree about playing with people better than you. As long as you can get your ego out of the way you'll learn tons.

Albatron:
Yeah I agree with playing with people better than you. my roommate plays guitar pretty well. The other nite he showed me what notes to play for a simple bassline, then once i got it down he soloed with slide guitar over it. I wasn't great, but I stayed on beat more or less, and played with the notes a bit too. though simple, it was so encouraging just that I was able to provide a bassline. I've really been trying to practice as much as I can and once I learn some scales, I'm going to get a couple guys I know that play bass to tell me what I'm doing right and wrong.   

Mars:
Sounds like you're off to a good start.

Metronome! If your timing is less than perfect and you're not in a band with a drummer you should have one. It will help immensely. Remember that bass is typically a rhythm section instrument; as a bassist, one of your jobs is to keep the beat.

Albatron:
So the other night some friends came over and we all jammed and it was really fuckin cool. We all clicked really well and actually jammed some decent indie-postrock for a good 45min.

But sometimes I was having a hard time fitting in with what they were playing. How do you guys fit in with the rest your bands jamm partners etc.

sean:
Dude, your bass. Just hit roots till you think of something else.

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