New bass teacher new style?

[Chaser1]

Hi everyone,
I just started with a new bass teacher and I believe he primarily plays upright, but the style that he teaches is playing really heavy on the right hand, saying it gives
The best tone. As well playing Jamerson style one finger for anything that is slower and only moving to two fingers when it is required for speed. What do you think of this? It's completely new and different to me. I have heard him play and he is very good, and seems like he has a lot to teach especially from a theory standpoint, it's just very different from what I have learned in the past.

[Roy Vogt]

With anything like lessons I believe the concept of "take what you need and leave the rest" applies as far as technique. It sounds like he's coming from almost an Old School Double Bass concept like Ray Brown. Is he by any chance a doubler?
You can always take his techniques and add them to what you do. I was (and still am) way more adept at bouncing my thumb than the double-thumb technique, so now I do them both. Some things will sound and feel totally different with one finger than with two. I'd not give up what you already do but add his concept to it.

[Chaser1]

Thanks Roy for the response. He is primarily a double bass player. Before him the other guy I got to teach me was primarily a guitar player, and he never said anything at all about my technique. I think its probably better to learn from someone who primarily plays bass, which this teacher does. I definetly will still use the two finger technique as on fast parts of songs its really the only way, but incorporate his style as well. Who knows maybe after a little practice it will make me a better player.

[Marty Forrer]

Roy's sage advice applies to any teacher. Absorb what they have to offer, but use what suits you. When I was learning double bass, I went to a total of four different teachers. They all played in a different manner, and I learnt their way of doing it. Ultimately though, I distilled that into my own way of playing, taking a bit from here and a bit from there. Any bass player with a distinctive style is merely an amalgam of their influences.

[Fergie Fulton]

To say that any technique is limited is in fact a home truth, so once a technique has been learned the question is "what do do with it....what have I got to say"? The great thing about playing a double ( or any acoustic instrument ) is you learn the best technique to get tone and movement combined. There is no hiding from it by looking to amps, pedals, cabs, etc, the way forward in under your hands through your head. You learn to be better by playing and understanding better musical ideas. Some will say it is the other way around and you cannot play what you cannot understand, but I say no, sometimes you can play and play and play without any understanding of why, then a new completely unrelated piece of music or idea then gives a light switch moment on that thing you did not get. That is what I call " the leap of faith", in as much as you trust your teacher to teach you, and he trusts you to learn.

When a guitar player turns to bass because he is a lousy guitar player, he will normally be a lousy bass player, fact is he would be lousy on any instrument because he has nothing to say or offer of any musicality....his idea that bass is easier because it has less strings does not involve the fact that it's not string but notes, and a bass has the same amount as a guitar, piano, trumpet etc. Yes others have more or less pitches but they all have 12 notes and that it where true learning come to the fore....how to use and the interaction of those 12 notes and there pitches against rhythms.
Any teacher that can open that door to you and teach you to work in it will give you musical tools for life.