And I'm not sure how I feel about this, in one way I'm happy to stop because the lessons I've been taking the last 1-2 months have been kind of useless to me. There were also some lessons during the past year that I haven't been satisfied with as well. On the other hand, I'm saddened to stop taking lessons as I've taken weekly lessons for the past 3.5 years and it's been a part of my routine so I'm saddened that this door of my life will be closed from this point on.
For context, I've taken lessons since February 2021 right after I got my first bass guitar in January 2021. I've tried learning online on YouTube, TB, and Reddit and I felt like that wasn't helping so I opted to go to a bass teacher for some lessons. The teacher is considered the best in the city, other bass teachers in the area speak highly of him and he has 40 years of pro bass playing experience and knows his stuff. But he primarily focuses on jazz which I'm more a rock/metal guy. My teacher however took an approach that you can choose what to learn which was fine at the moment but after 3+ years, for the past 1-2 months I felt like there was nothing to bring up in my classes anymore. Not only this, I feel like the dynamic of my relationship with my teacher has been shifted from "Student-Mentor" to a "Friend-Friend" relationship which also meant a lot of time was being wasted by just talking with each other wasting my money. (And the classes weren't cheap, it was $75 for an hour lesson and he was considering raising the price to $100 soon.) Also, keep in mind that the majority of his students leave after 1-2 years of lessons and I'm currently his most tenured student.
Not only this I have achieved my goals, I originally wanted to play songs that I enjoy and now I could play 98% of songs I liked with practice and dedication on my part. But when I recently introduced my teacher to a very technical song I wanted to learn, my teacher was stumped and it was clear he couldn't teach me how to play it and I had to use online resources and my own time to learn the song myself. My other goal is that I wanted to be in a band and start playing live shows, and recently in the past month I got into a band and I'm playing my first gig tomorrow! So now I don't feel there is an incentive for me to take lessons as my teacher would not be able to teach me how to play their originals as my band uses tabs as sheet music and he cannot read tabs for some reason.
The reason why I'm writing this post is that I was always led to believe on Talkbass and on other forums that taking bass lessons is the way to go, which I agree with if you are starting off. But I feel now that I've outgrown these lessons and that there isn't really any use for me to take these lessons anymore. So I'm just wondering if anyone had felt they "outgrown" their need for lessons like I did? Just thinking about it, I don't know how some people can take lessons for 5, 10, or even 20+ years. I feel like I'm at fault for how I approached my lessons but at the same time I feel that I've evolved so much over the 3.5 years of playing and now I feel competent playing the bass.
Edit: Oh and keep in mind, quitting lessons hasn't changed my love for the bass. I'm still trying to keep my habit of practicing 1 hour a day!
just a couple of random thoughts here. First off, congrats on landing a job with a working band, and have fun at the gig. If you are like me, gigs like this and being in a band will accelerate your growth as a bassist at a than any lesson can provide.
As a working musician for over 50 years ( like that qualifies me as some sort of expert..lol), I really haven’t had a lot of formal instrumental lessons.I have however spent a lot of study time exposure to various types of music as well as a couple of years of music theory under my belt. The most important parts of that is ear training and understanding musical logic. Once I had that part down, applying it to a musical instrument is a matter of working out the physical parts of getting the music to come from said instrument. It also helps speed up the process of learning new material because you aren’t reinventing the wheel as much so to speak.
I am in no way suggestion that taking lesson’s is a waste of time and money. There are issues that deal with physical technique aspects that a good instructor can resolve in short order and well worth the money as well as the time spent on working through these kind of issues. Just ask a really good DB player about the time and lessons they spend on their technique.
On a side m=bar since you mentioned this. I was schooled on standard notation music from a very early age. Mainly because there was no such think as tabs. For me they makes little sense and much prefer standard notation. Probably your instructor was having the same issue.
The main shortcomings of tabs is very clear when playing in bands with orchestral instruments. You hand a tab to a horn section and or keyboardist and say play this, and you’re like going to get a really odd response.
And my usual disclaimer, Tabs are great for guitarists and and bassists for learning songs quickly. It’s an awesome shortcut, so I’m in no way saying they are useless.
One last suggestion, record your gig and review it. Trust me on this. A pocket digital recorder is almost as good as an instructior. It does not lie. It’s an instant report card. No recorder? Have your wife, girlfriend , partner, friend to record it on a cell phone. Unless you are very unusual, you can’t remember every note you play and how well you did or didn’t. Do worry about it not sounding like a polished recording, or expecting it to sound like it did where you were at the gig. This is an academic exercise for your growth as a bassist, not as a sound engineer.
I hope you found this useful and best wishes on the gig. Please post a new thread post gig. I’m sure we’d want to know about your experience.