What makes a good bass teacher?

Steve Clark · #1 01-12-2008, 11:44 AM

Hi all, I get requests regularly to start teaching. My usual response has been to say that I have too much to learn still before I start teaching. However I've decided to start and have one student for next week. He's enthusiastic and understand that I am starting out therefore he'll be a bit of a test case as IO find my feet. Because of that I won't be charging him for the first few sessions.

I have questions for both teachers and student in TB.

First of all my approach at this point is that I want to introduce 3 basic concepts and make it as interesting as possible: technique, time and learning tunes/theory/. So introducing concepts and build from there on the students needs and wishes.

Questions for all:

What did you like about your lessons?
What did you want but didn't get or what would you change?
What books do you use for learning/teaching?
What did you pay for your lessons?
What is a good length of time for a lessons?
How often did you take a lesson?

For teachers:

What methods/books do you use?
How do you divide up the lesson time to keep it interesting for 8 year olds or 45 year olds?

I'd appreciate any input from the group and that will probably generate more questions from me. I'd certainly like to keep the discussion on a positive note rather than slagging teachers.

Thanks in advance.

Muss · #2 01-12-2008, 12:16 PM

What did you like about your lessons?
mostly, the attitude, no ********, no distance, my teacher is my friend( really is, great man).

What did you want but didn't get or what would you change?
maybe, it would be nice to work with a check list, of some kind.. so the teacher will have a clear plan, where does he want to take the student.

What books do you use for learning/teaching? mostly no books...

What did you pay for your lessons? money, he wouldn't take those meatballs...

What is a good length of time for a lessons? 45mins to 1 hour, my first teacher used to give 2 hours lesson, and they were just a 45mins lesson gone bad. just for an example: instead of showing the tune and letting me work on it later, I would play it several times, therefore, wasting time, because I don't need my teacher to sit next to me when I practice, do I? once I get the hang of it, the lesson should go on (that is if you give the student the music score after the lesson. also, at the beginning, you can record the part the student needs to learn ( if he cant read music yet...).

How often did you take a lesson?
Once a week, from my experience that's the right amount.

Valerus · #3 01-12-2008, 12:18 PM

What did you like about your lessons? He's a great, fun guy, likes the same music as me. I pretty much controlled what I wanted to learn, not a dictatorship.

What did you want but didn't get or what would you change? More theory, but that was because I was so burned out by exercises and scales, I told him I wanted to lay off of it for a while.
What books do you use for learning/teaching? Used a basic book for the first two years or so, then he pulled out some exercises and scales and stuff. He didn't really need a book
What did you pay for your lessons? $75 a month
What is a good length of time for a lessons? We had 30 minute lessons, I'd rather have an hour
How often did you take a lesson? Once a week

Steve Clark · #4 01-13-2008, 04:42 PM

Bump for some more input.

jschwalls · #5 01-14-2008, 01:19 AM

Questions for all:

What did you like about your lessons? The challenge that was just out of my ability.

What did you want but didn't get or what would you change? more time per lesson i was a knowlege whore.. lol

What books do you use for learning/teaching? none.

What did you pay for your lessons? $25 1 hour back in early/mid 90's

What is a good length of time for a lessons? i like hour lessons, get to know the student, rather than just shovel info at him/her.

How often did you take a lesson? twice a week

For teachers:

What methods/books do you use?.. no books. I tailor each lesson to the particular student... 1st question i ask is "why did you start playing bass?" then i ask "why are you taking lessons, what do you want to get from this?"

How do you divide up the lesson time to keep it interesting for 8 year olds or 45 year olds? I listen to what they want for their money...if a kid comes in and wants to learn Rage against the machine, then i will make them learn a technique that is used in the song 1st.. then when they learn it i will show them the lick, their reward. If an adult comes in and wants to learn 'Closer my god to Thee' for church then there we go.

Also... i STRESS learning the fret board 1st and foremost... scales and stuff they will pick up and learn when they really want to... i show them major, minor, and blues scales...
I watch their response to each one when they learn it....
major.. i teach the basic rock-a-billy bassline... always gets a good reaction.
Minor i use mainly for easy finger exercise at first. they find it easier than major and they conquer it faster, feeling like they have improved on the instrument faster... good for morale.
then blues scale.... show them sunshine of your love by Cream... most enjoy that as well, and the younger kids can play something that their parents know, so that shows the parents that their hard earned money is paying off.

I ask each student what bands/music they like and try to find riffs from the songs to turn into exercises, i use more guitar riffs for that, young bassists find it amazing that they can play the guitar riffs on bass.

For more advanced students.. i show them how locked-up their hands are... and we get into permutations of fingering... basically.. 1,2,3,4....1,2,4,3...1,3,2,4...1,3,4,2...1,4,2,3.. .1,4,3,2... you get the picture....
by this time they are so intersted in playing these it's not funny.
I will also show advanced tapping upon request, but i steer most away from that, unless they are ready. I tell most students "you gotta lern how to play bass before you can play on the bass"

I teach Peter Gunn theme as first bass line everytime... every age group has heard it and they can usually play it before the 1/2 hour is up... it uses straight 8th notes so they can easily count them 1.2.3.4.1.2.3.4....

if a student isn't interested in theory and such, then i try to show them what they want from me, but i make them work hard for my cover song knowledge.. lol

A fun thing to do is take a familiar riff and show it to them slow, never playing it at full speed to give it away...
i sometimes use the Papa Roach song Last Resort, the guitar riff...

the 1st note of each riff is different but the last 7 are the same... when they put the pieces together, they look up and say, "I just played Last Resort".. i love it.

I am very fortunate to have a new student that i think will be the next best bassist ever... this kid has only been playing for 5 weeks (never touched another instrument before) and can already play some crazy stuff...and he comes in every week having learned everything i threw at him and some basslines from other songs... crazy kid... he came in last week, 5th lesson and played the bass line to Longview by Green Day... i was impressed. So i gave him the guitar part to Crazy Train, that will slow him down a bit.. lol

Bass players learning guitar riffs build confidence way faster i have found...

sorry for the long post

JON

Steve Clark · #6 01-14-2008, 08:19 AM

Jon,

Excellent post. Thanks very much. Great ideas to work with. Your last comment about the strong student is an interesting one. While I am quite skilled as bassist I expect I will come across some strong players along the way. But I'm sure I can still help them in their playing.

tswd · #7 01-14-2008, 03:01 PM

What did you like about your lessons? Learning all the basic techniques of the instrument (finger style, slap/pop, pick). I didn't want to be limited as to what I could do.

What did you want but didn't get or what would you change? More practice writing bass lines off of chord charts. When I went out to find a band, I found out nobody had bass lines written for me to use. I had to write my own. My teacher used songs to teach, so he just showed me different bass lines from different songs. That was useless to me in a band context.

As a side note, I didn't really learn chord theory until I took guitar lessons. Not totally my teacher's fault (he tried to explain it a couple times). It's just easier to have the difference between Em and Em7 driven home when it affects your hand position.

What books do you use for learning/teaching? Tony Oppenheim's Slap It! Even if you don't want to play funk, it covers most of the left hand techniques you'll need no matter what style you end up playing.

What did you pay for your lessons? I don't remember.

What is a good length of time for a lessons? Mine were half hour. I liked that because I could learn a couple things then go off on my own and work them. Come back the next time and learn something new or go over the old stuff again if it hadn't totally sunk in.

How often did you take a lesson? Once a week.

jschwalls · #8 01-14-2008, 03:01 PM

yeah man, the kid is really talented.... i have never taught anyone who has picked up the instrument so fast... his left hand has great position and his right hand is doing really well for 5 weeks of playing... he is a natural for sure.

I have been teaching for a long while now, if you have any more questions please contact me..

JSchwalls@comcast.net

later

lomo · #9 01-14-2008, 04:15 PM

I started bass on my 39th birthday. I stuck with my teacher for 1 year. His main shortcoming IMO was that he was not capable of carefully and clearly explaining theory. He'd refer to the flat 5th, or whatever, and I had to bleed him with questions to find out that all these terms are relative to the major scale. I had no previous musical experience and he frequently spoke to me as though the basics were obvious. I wish I could find another teacher, but it's a small town and I've been on my own for the last 5 years. The only exception was a fortunate bit of luck. I had a single 4-hour lesson with Mike Dimin that really shook me up for the better, but he lives 3 hours drive from me :-(

Mike Dimin · #10 01-14-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lomo

I started bass on my 39th birthday. I stuck with my teacher for 1 year. His main shortcoming IMO was that he was not capable of carefully and clearly explaining theory. He'd refer to the flat 5th, or whatever, and I had to bleed him with questions to find out that all these terms are relative to the major scale. I had no previous musical experience and he frequently spoke to me as though the basics were obvious. I wish I could find another teacher, but it's a small town and I've been on my own for the last 5 years. The only exception was a fortunate bit of luck. I had a single 4-hour lesson with Mike Dimin that really shook me up for the better, but he lives 3 hours drive from me :-(

You know I'll come up anytime (especially during trout season) ;o)

Mike

Muss · #11 01-15-2008, 06:54 AM

hey, I just read a very interesting interview with jeff berlin, check a little quote from there:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff berlin

"GB: How do you feel about a student trying different teachers over a period of years to gather different knowledge, different approaches to music?

Jeff: Sure, that's a very good thing to do. But, if you ever get with a teacher who, once you walk into their studio says to you, "What do you want to work on today?" My suggestion is to walk out. It isn’t your job to know what you are supposed to be learning. So whoever asks this question is, in my opinion, doing a disservice to their students.

You need a teacher with a repertoire of lessons. You need people who know how to listen to you play and be able to decide the best course of action to make you a better player. "

here's the whole interview:
http://www.globalbass.com/archives/n...eff_berlin.htm

hunta · #12 01-16-2008, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muss

here's the whole interview:
http://www.globalbass.com/archives/n...eff_berlin.htm

lol, I love this quote:

"Jeff: Tablature is a bunch of **** and has delayed the musical growth of many musicians who use it. Tablature is not an existing form of music. It never shows up on a studio session, it never shows up on a gig. It never shows up in music of any kind in any way, shape or form except when it is used by guitar magazines or rock solo transcriptions. It is a complete fallacy. It is in use today because musicians will not learn the language of music that has been proven to work for 400 years.

To be quite honest, tablature is a musical version of how they teach a chimp to do tricks. That chimp has no idea what he is actually doing. He just knows that once he does the trick, he is going to be rewarded for it."