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Is he a teacher or not?

Stanley Design

Stanley Design

Dec 20, 2002
3,842
5
39
Prince Edward Island
www.myspace.com
#1
A jazz trombonist that "can play bass but doesn't own one, but hopes to buy one soon" teaching me anything remotely decent considering I've been playing for a few years now?

Seems to me that the only person I'de want lessons from is a bassist, not a person that can play bass, they need the lifestyle, and they need the instrument too:rolleyes: .

So what am I to do? My girlfriend went ALL out on me for Christmas, bought me Rush live in Rio, The new ZAO cd, the new CKY dvd, a poster, chains, some other stuff, and 4 of these lessons. I don't only feel bad for the sheer effort and money put into all this, but the fact that I don't think the teacher would help me progress much if at all. I didn't want to accept it in the first place. This is her Bari Sax solo teacher as well.

I haven't got a clue what to do.
 
#2
Depending on his skills and general knownledge , you can probably learn something from him.

Besides from rudimantary technique and so forth you can definately study music with a teacher of a diffrent instrument, it's even quite often beneifitiary to do so.

perhaps if his technical skills on bass are somewhat limited, maybe he can offer advice on other things? Working on your ears, note reading, maybe improvising ?

/lovebown
 
#4
Can you read bass clef? If the guy is a talented musician and/or has been teaching for a while, it might be worth it to learn music theory and some basic stuff. Alot of my friends who are in bands but never played another instrument at school (or private lessons etc.) just don't know as much regarding time and key signatures, scales, playing as part of a large ensemble- a lot of which really helps.

Getting a classically trained viewpoint of a non-classical instrument (electric bass) will probably help quite a bit.

P.S.- I was a band kid in highschool, played trumpet, euphonium, trombone and at one point drums. Being in those bands really did alot for my ear, my time and most importantly my musicianship.
 
#9
If he is a decent trombone teacher, i'm sure he can teach you a lot about theory, soloing, and phrasing, but he probably can't teach you as much about technique, forming basslines, etc. than a skilled bass teacher. It would definitely be good to learn music from a different point-of-view, so you can't really go wrong.
 
#10
I want to learn the basic theory and stuff from a girl I know that plays violin. She's been playing for about 10 years and is majoring in music at Univ. of South Carolina. I want her viewpoint, and I want her to see that I'm serious about music not just a crazy rock person. Did that make sense? Prolly not, oh well.
Aaron
I guess I'm saying that you should see what this guy has to say.
 
#11
Originally posted by thrash_jazz
Strikes me that a jazz trombonist that dabbles on bass could teach you much more about MUSIC than a rock guitarist that dabbles on bass.
Click to expand...

Excellent point!

Learning Jazz harmony will pretty much make anything else a cakewalk.

I agree with Lovebown. I studied under a guitarist for a while. I had been playing for over 7 years so my technique was pretty much developed. (luckily I developed it correctly) I studied a lot of advaned theory under him. Really inspired me in the harmony/composition departments. IMHO, If you study theory, it doesn't matter what instrument your teacher plays; a dorian scale is a dorian scale no matter if it's played on a bass, a piano, or a trumpet. Remember, all Western music is based on the same 12 tones.
 

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