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Feeling Discouraged by a competent teacher

#21
Part of having a productive learning experience is being a competent student.

Remember that teachers are not mind readers and it can be difficult for them to know what is sinking in to your skull and what isn't. You can help a whole lot by asking questions and just talking about what you have learned.

Also don't confuse being a competent musician with being a competent teacher. From how you describe it he may be more of the former and less of the latter.

But still you can learn from him by tapping in to his brain with good questions. I am trying to teach my nephew music theory but he never asks me anything. He just says "okay" when I tell him something. Obviously I'm not a good teacher, but I have so much knowledge I want to give him because he is playing and stumbling along with his guitar every day just with his tabs and rocksmith. If he knew what I know in music theory with the amount of dedication he is showing he could really take off and excel at it.
 
#23
I take lessons from a really good teacher and I feel overwhelmed all the time.At the time he shows me something I may not understand it at first,but once I do the material on my own it all comes together. I embrace the feeling of being overwhelmed. It makes me know I'm making progress.
 
#24
If the teacher is teaching beyond your comprehension and you don't say anything, I'd put that on you. If the teacher can't bring the lesson to you in a way you can work with, that's on the teacher.

Providing feedback to the teacher is your job - either by doing your assignments well or telling the teacher your problems with the assignment.

If you are having problems and never communicate them to the teacher you are being unfair to yourself and the teacher.


How many lessons have you had with this teacher?
 
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#25
For theory basics, get the (Hal Leonard) Ed Freidland v1-3 bound book w/cds for $25, and simeotaneously work through it.

And repeating: see if video taping your lessons with a phone or simple laptop is an option ... that made all the difference to me of being able to practice EVERYTHING he threw at me in that 60-90min
 
#26
devnulljp said:
go to Invalid Link Removed and supplement what you're getting in lessons there.
I've been playing for 40 years (yikes!) and there's still loads to learn, and Scott has a knack of presenting even difficult stuff in a way that you can easily digest.
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That's funny -- it is Scott's that discourages me. He'll explain something patiently and encouragingly, and then he'll whip off a blast of 1/1024 notes and a couple of chords with names longer than mine. And I think, well, if that's bass playing I'll never live long enough to do that.
 
#27
LordPanze said:
So i'm still learning the basics of playing my bass guitar. My current teacher is very talented and knows his stuff, but I cant comprehend much of what he tells me. As he sits across from me, explaining scales and showing me them, I can't put what he says onto my own bass. Where as my looking up tabs for songs is very easy for me to understand. Looking at the frets by numbers rather than fingers/finger placement as numbers is working for me more. My point is, every lessons leaves me feeling discouraged and inadequate despite my being fairly decent at what I practice at home. Are there any good bits of advice I should follow? I wan't to enjoy learning, not dread it.
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It is your teacher's duty to empower and encourage you. It sounds like he is woefully inadequate in that regard. A good teacher can easily tell when the student is lost and not comprehending, and it is on the teacher to adjust his method accordingly. Good teachers understand the theory of multiple intelligences and how to approach topics with multiple strategies. We don't all learn alike or at the same pace; a good teacher is sensitive to this.

Do not confront him. If he hasn't figured out there is a problem and taken the initiative, not only is that a sign of a sub-par educator but you may do more harm than good. Find a new teacher.

15 years as a private music teacher averaging 20 weekly students and 3+ years retention per student, I know a poor dynamic when I see it.
 
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#28
i teach also ... i feel it is my Job to explain things in whatever way it takes for someone to understand !!!

and yes ... drop the tabs . ! learn to read real music ...

maybe take a look at scales on a keyboard ..? might help the note spacing make more visual sense .. !??!

whole , whole , half ,... whole , whole , whole , half major scale
1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8
 
#29
i'm reminded of a scene from "the young sherlock holmes":

young holmes (sawing away terribly at a violin and visibly frustrated): "i don't understand - i should have mastered this by now!"
young watson: "how long have you been at it?"
holmes (exasperated): "three days!"

don't hold unrealistic expectations for yourself, don't hold yourself to too high a standard; that way, frustration lies. be gentle with yourself; give yourself time. don't expect to get it all on the first try. you'll remember the important stuff for the rest of your life, and you'll keep learning from it over and over, more and more deeply, long after the lessons are over.
 
#31
Nev375 said:
Part of having a productive learning experience is being a competent student.

Remember that teachers are not mind readers and it can be difficult for them to know what is sinking in to your skull and what isn't. You can help a whole lot by asking questions and just talking about what you have learned.

Also don't confuse being a competent musician with being a competent teacher. From how you describe it he may be more of the former and less of the latter.

But still you can learn from him by tapping in to his brain with good questions. I am trying to teach my nephew music theory but he never asks me anything. He just says "okay" when I tell him something. Obviously I'm not a good teacher, but I have so much knowledge I want to give him because he is playing and stumbling along with his guitar every day just with his tabs and rocksmith. If he knew what I know in music theory with the amount of dedication he is showing he could really take off and excel at it.
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+1

My first thought was, how much time a day does the OP put into practicing his lessons. Not looking up tabs or playing along to his favorite songs, but actually practicing what the teacher is showing him.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but if he can understand tab he should be able to understand a scale.
 
#32
Amazing how everybody seems to side with the teacher while stating that the OP is the one at fault for not speaking up :rollno:

A good teacher would realize that the lessons are not sticking and a different approach should be applied considering that the setting is in a 1 on 1 basis, not a whole classroom with other students.
 
#33
Barry Bass said:
Find another teacher. I spent way too long with a teacher thinking I was the issue. It's like driving with the parking brake on.
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I'm going to have to disagree here. We don't know yet if OP has tried communicating this to his/her teacher. Also, OP is new to the instrument and seemingly has the mindset that tabs are going to be a big part of his musical journey. A good teacher should smash that mindset. As a beginner, OP has to try communicating and also has to understand what playing music really means (not just playing memorized tabs) before chalking it up to a poor teacher.

NoBlackTShirts said:
That's funny -- it is Scott's that discourages me. He'll explain something patiently and encouragingly, and then he'll whip off a blast of 1/1024 notes and a couple of chords with names longer than mine. And I think, well, if that's bass playing I'll never live long enough to do that.
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I sometimes feel that way about SBL, but then I go back to his Groove Workshop video and watch what he can do with just a root and fifth in a simple I-IV-V, and realize that the real skill is in playing the simple things amazingly well, and that's what I need to work on.
 
#34
5544 said:
Amazing how everybody seems to side with the teacher while stating that the OP is the one at fault for not speaking up :rollno:

A good teacher would realize that the lessons are not sticking and a different approach should be applied considering that the setting is in a 1 on 1 basis, not a whole classroom with other students.
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You're right, it's a little unfair, and I hope we're not discouraging OP!

But I think it's because OP said scales were not working out and wanted to just use tabs. If we were on a saxophone forum, and a student came complaining that his teacher was trying to teach him to read music instead of just giving him fingerings for his favorite licks, don’t you think people would side with the teacher? To a lot of people, this is the same thing. Can you be a proper bassist if you don’t understand what a root note is?

To OP: keep at it! Trust me when I say that working through scales is the way to go. I've been playing for a while, and I'm still trying to learn them well (there are so many notes on the fretboard!). Once you learn that, your pace of learning will speed up dramatically, as scales are the foundation for pretty much everything musical (it's all notes and rhythm!). And shoot, you can teach yourself the fingerings for each scale if you have to!
 
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#35
Like others here are saying, you should explain to your teacher that you are having a hard time. He may be able to provide some short-term solutions to help you out (learning tab and memorizing fret numbers is one of those temporary shortcuts). It's easy to get discouraged in the beginning because there is so much to know and it seems overwhelming.

The long-term solution is to learn every single note on your fingerboard without ever having to think about the name of that note. If you combine that with a knowledge of what notes are available in each key, you will be way ahead of the game.

Some people may disagree with me here, but IMHO learning patterns, modes, and scales is secondary to this. Once you know all your keys and all the notes, all of those patterns and scales will reveal themselves naturally as you play.

If you just focus on those 2 things, this time next year you will be a much better player and musician in general. Learning music is like eating an elephant, you can't do it all at once so take it one bite at a time.
 
#36
eekamike said:
You're right, it's a little unfair, and I hope we're not discouraging OP!

But I think it's because OP said scales were not working out and wanted to just use tabs. If we were on a saxophone forum, and a student came complaining that his teacher was trying to teach him to read music instead of just giving him fingerings for his favorite licks, don’t you think people would side with the teacher? To a lot of people, this is the same thing. Can you be a proper bassist if you don’t understand what a root note is?

To OP: keep at it! Trust me when I say that working through scales is the way to go. I've been playing for a while, and I'm still trying to learn them well (there are so many notes on the fretboard!). Once you learn that, your pace of learning will speed up dramatically, as scales are the foundation for pretty much everything musical (it's all notes and rhythm!). And shoot, you can teach yourself the fingerings for each scale if you have to!
Click to expand...

Scales may not be working out for the OP because the teacher isn't showing the student how to apply them. Now this may be elementary to most people here but for a lot of beginners, there is a huge gap between playing a scale and creating music with the scale. That is where it sounds like the teacher is failing - at least that is where teachers have failed for me in the past.

C,D,E,F,G,A,B - notes of a C major scale.

C Major scale on bass:

G---------------2--4--5--4--2----------------
D-------2--3--5----------------5--3--2-------
A--3--5--------------------------------5--3--
E---------------------------------------------

Example of C major scale in a song (piano - it must be easy considering a little girl is playing)

 
#39
Good teachers are gold, but you don't have to learn from a teacher, it is possible to teach yourself.
I recommend just starting with the major scale: play the hell out of that, play it in each position, play it in every key, play it and think about the scale degrees as you do so (eg. first, second, third, etc.). Eventually you'll get that down to the point where you can start using the major scale to build chords, and then you've got a world of arpeggios to practice up and down the neck, and you only need a few simple pieces of information to start: what constitutes a major scale, and what makes up a chord. There's a huge amount of meat on them bones, believe me.
 
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#40
5544 said:
Amazing how everybody seems to side with the teacher while stating that the OP is the one at fault for not speaking up :rollno:
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I've been a teacher. Sometimes the student just sits there saying yes to everything- "Do you understand?" Yes. "Are you getting this?" Yes. "Are you following?" Yes.

Unless the OP is 8 years old, he needs to speak up and let the teacher know that he DOESN'T understand what is going on.
 
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