"Musts" when looking for a bass teacher

[bassguy74]

Not sure if this is the right category for this. But anyway...

I'm wondering what are some "musts" that one should look for when searching for a bass teacher. In other words, what are some things that a bass teacher should have that the bass student should not be willing to compromise on? What are some things that someone should look for in bass teacher to find a great one, especially one that is suited to that person? What type of questions should one ask to discern all these things?

Thanks for all the forthcoming tips and answers, guys!

[catyak]

Not be a guitar guy that's willing to learn how to teach the bass.

[Mesa]

I'll say that it depends on your goals. Guys who are looking to become proficient enough to be weekend warriors vs guys who want to be bedroom players vs guys who want to be like Wooten all may look for different things in a teacher.
I've had friends who loved a particular teacher because he never gave drills or exercises. He just did what he could to get the guys ready to play in blues bands.
Some guys want a teacher to help them work their way through particular songs.
Some like the model of teacher that teaches music, heavy on the theory and the exercises, with the goal of slowly and incrementally building musicianship.

I agree with the idea of getting a bass player rather than a guitarist who teaches bass.

Overall, make a list of what you are trying to get out of playing and find a teacher who can tell you what you need to do to get there. You may have to work through a few to get the right one, but chances are you'll learn something from each one you meet.

[Muzoid]

Nice Hooters....oh wait, that's when looking for hookers.

Catyak has a great one that I would have posted...make sure he/she is actually a bassist...there is a gtr player here who teaches bass...the students almost always eventually leave him and call me...I spend the first 3 or 4 lessons undoing bad habits and faulty information.

Interview the teachers, pick the one you feel most comfortable with, and is familiar with the style(s) you like....it's never fun trying to learn Rancid basslines from an old fart that only prefers 'tear in your beer' country music...well rounded teachers are great, I love all genres that my students throw at me...I've taught Rush, Weather Report, Flecktones, Motown....and even 'cough' Myley Cyrus basslines.

Hope you find a teacher who inspires you, and keeps you 'into it'

[MalcolmAmos]

IMHO you find the good teachers by asking other bassists who they have used and would they recommend them.

Plus you want a bassists that gigs bass in your style.

Only takes a few lessons to find out if you have a fit.

Good luck.

[BassmanSBK]

Originally Posted by catyak

Not be a guitar guy that's willing to learn how to teach the bass.

This is really, really important. One way to weed out the guitarists trying to fake it is to find out if they play and teach upright. If they do, you've got yourself a bassist. If they don't, you still can't be sure.

[LegoBass]

I like having a teacher who can go deeper and teach more than just bass. My teacher can play basically every instrument (I think it is over 20). I don't just go to learn bass, I am learing so much theory and arrangements too. He really loves shows how every instrument fits in with the music we are playing or maybe showing me it's job and purpose, something that can be hard to understand when young and just wanting to play bass.

I guess if I had to sum it all up, I would look for someone with experience and versitity. Taking leasons isn't always about techneque or scales, they are often about the building blocks of music, even the insivible ones.

[Bting]

Originally Posted by LegoBass

I like having a teacher who can go deeper and teach more than just bass.

I guess if I had to sum it all up, I would look for someone with experience and versitity. Taking leasons isn't always about techneque or scales, they are often about the building blocks of music, even the insivible ones.

I'm kind of in this camp.
I've been taking lessons for about 6-8 months now, from a accredited Music teacher.
His primary insturment is Piano, followed by Guitar, then Bass.
In my weekly hour, we maybe have 15 minutes where I am playing. My practise time is where I improve playing, because I dont pay for that.

The rest of the time is theory and application of.

My chops arent very good right now, but what I have learned in this time is monumental.

I went from struggling through Tabs, to our last excerise was to create my own arrangement to Lazy Bird (Coltrane), from a fake book. I didnt kow this song from Buttercup, so it meant nothing to me. He just flipped through the book and at a random song said "this one"

It actually sounds like a jazz tune. I'm actually kind of proud of myself on it.

I think it depends on what you want to get out of your teacher.
He acknowledged that when it comes time for me to start learning advanced techniques, and playing skills, I may need to move on.
But my aims were to understand music itself better, so I could get myself to a spot where I can at least be aware of what is going on in a song or session and "fake it" if necessary.

We are taking a 2 week break at the moment becuase of some life things happenign for both of us, and I'm using that time to re-evaluate what I want now.
I think I have reached my initial goal and want to sepnd the summer on playing.

Short answer, what do you want out of your lessons and time?

[Billnc]

Originally Posted by bassguy74

Not sure if this is the right category for this. But anyway...

I'm wondering what are some "musts" that one should look for when searching for a bass teacher. In other words, what are some things that a bass teacher should have that the bass student should not be willing to compromise on? What are some things that someone should look for in bass teacher to find a great one, especially one that is suited to that person? What type of questions should one ask to discern all these things?

Thanks for all the forthcoming tips and answers, guys!

Ask "Do you teach sight reading?" "Do you teach walking lines?" (the walking theory is applicable to any style) " Do you teach different styles?"

But I'm firmly in the camp that the student should study jazz for two to four years so they learn how music works. This is not to say they can't play whatever they want. Studying one thing and playing another are not mutually exclusive.

The student dictating lessons is like taking martial arts classes and telling the instructor what to teach you, you're gonna get a whooping. You don't take any other classes and dictate to the teacher do you?

[Matthew_84]

One thing that has been mentioned, but I'd like to further emphasize it is to make sure you agree with your teacher's technique, and that it would be something that you want to emulate.

I was self-taught for about two years and decided to pay $50 for an hour to get taught by a reputable bassist in the area. I really just wanted someone to evaluate how I was doing and to look to see if I had any bad habits forming. I was very open to changing my hand positions/technique if necessary.

The guy was great, and a great bassist (heard some of his songs), but we couldn't agree on technique at all. I played for a minute or two and he watched me. Told me what I was doing wrong was that my plucking fingers were bent too much, and that they must remain straight as a ruler. I have big hands though and showed him that it was impossible for me to do the floating thumb technique (something I love and believe is a key element for muting) while keeping my fingers straight. But he insisted that I kept working on it. He even told me that it's of the up-most importance, that I can get a lot quicker with straight fingers, and that if I can't do the floating thumb technique to not worry about it, it's not as important as straight fingers. Then he said that my problem with my fretting hand was that I was fretting notes individually and that all of my fingers should be on the strings at once, so if I was to fret with my pinky to have all three other fingers on the three lower frets, and to just release each finger as I chromatically descend or to fret each finger as I ascended. When I asked about switching to an octave for one note, he wanted me to move all fingers off of the root string and onto the octave string.

And he kept insisting that I do it his way. Which in reality is why I went there, I wanted to learn another/better way of doing things. I just didn't think his way was better for me. I never went back to him, but he did still point out some things that I've corrected and it made me a better bassist, but I'm sure had we agreed on some sort of technique I would have stuck around longer and been much better than I am now.

[SalmonKing]

Many years ago I took a few bass lessons from a guitar player who doubled on bass. I decided to stop seeing him when he more-or-less implied that with my talent, I ought to play the guitar rather than the bass. I won't go so far as to assume that every guitar teacher who also teaches bass has this attitude, but I suspect many of them do; otherwise, they'd invest at least as much of their own practice time in the bass as in the guitar. I'll never take bass lessons from someone who considers the bass to be a subordinate instrument, if I can avoid him.

[dave64o]

Finding a teacher who actually plays bass is important. I took lessons from a guitar player and only had limited success with him.

Find a teacher who wants to make you a better musician, not a better bassist.

Find a teacher who is flexible and can work with you to accomplish your goals as well as accomplishing goals he feels are critical. You should also be smart enough to accept the teacher's experience and work toward the goals he sets for you, assuming they really are worthwhile for your development as a musician and as a bassist.

[Octavian]

+100 on avoiding the guitar players who "stoop" to teach bass. I get about half of my students who get frustrated by these guys at the local mega-music stores.

I also would think twice about sticking with a teacher who uses your lesson time as an excuse to give you a private concert. You're not paying for a concert. You're paying for a lesson. I'm not saying you can't learn anything from this situation, but it's not easy on the pocket book when you consider how much you get in return for your money. Although I teach, I am always a student and work with a pro once every 4-6 weeks. The lessons go like this:

1) I play for 2-3 minutes showing what I've worked on since our last session.
2) He noodles and talks for the next 55 minutes.

I go back because I have picked up a golden nugget of information from each session. I am, however, on the lookout for someone new.

[zachoff]

One that cares about more than mechanics and theory. There's so much more to playing bass than that.