My first electric bass instructor!

[backline112]

I want to start taking private electric bass classes. This is the first time I'd be taking classes, and I already have my goals (get into Berklee, McNally Smith, CCM, or MI,) teacher, energy, etc. but I still don't know how much time is it necessary/recommended in a private lesson.

-I'd say in a half hour you could get some exercises related to your goal and how to do them right and that's it.

-In 45 minutes you could get an explanation of anything theory-related and apply it to BG in front of your teacher.

-In an hour you could get all that but it seems to me it might be too much wasted/inefficient time (?)

Please people, tell me what length you would recommend or if I'm right or wrong about what I'll get in a lesson, your experiences, and opinions.

Thanks a lot.

(PS: I already have my opinion about college.)

 

[NickInMesa]

Always remember that you're paying your instructor for something, which can be learning to play, or tuning your instrument, or chatting.

My stepson used to take guitar lessons and he was not making progress. One day I sat in the den and listened.

It was 15% tuning the guitar, 50% talking and chatting, 35% actual lesson, if you can call learning the Iron Man riff a guitar lesson.

In one hour a week you can not only get to do a few things but also get good instructions for the rest of the week.

Often an instructor will give you pointers and teach you principles, but often will sit and watch/listen you play and tell you what you're doing wrong, and that's priceless.

Always take 1 hour lessons, it's not too long, it's not too short. Once or twice a week.

 

[backline112]

Always remember that you're paying your instructor for something, which can be learning to play, or tuning your instrument, or chatting.

I want him to teach me:
-Minor, major, other common scales.
-Triads.
-I-IV-V Blues progressions.
-Arpeggios.
-Two-feel, walking, pop/rock, samba, bossa nova, and funk standard chord progressions.

In one hour a week you can not only get to do a few things but also get good instructions for the rest of the week.

Yes, and that is also priceless. I already have some knowledge about all of the above, and I can always google it, but I need some direction and some answers.

Always take 1 hour lessons, it's not too long, it's not too short. Once or twice a week.

Alright. Hey, thanks for posting.

More opinions? I need different points of view.

 

[ysand]

I also suggest 1 hour.
I think less than that is not enough and more than that is too much.
In one hour you can tune, show your progress, get the new excercises and advices for next time.

 

[Silas Martinez]

I also prefer an hour. Less than that feels rushed. That could be personal perspective.

If you've done hour long lessons a time or two and it feels like it isn't productive, is there some reason you couldn't change it to 1/2 hour?

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Always remember that you're paying your instructor for something, which can be learning to play, or tuning your instrument, or chatting.

My stepson used to take guitar lessons and he was not making progress. One day I sat in the den and listened.

It was 15% tuning the guitar, 50% talking and chatting, 35% actual lesson, if you can call learning the Iron Man riff a guitar lesson.

In one hour a week you can not only get to do a few things but also get good instructions for the rest of the week.

Often an instructor will give you pointers and teach you principles, but often will sit and watch/listen you play and tell you what you're doing wrong, and that's priceless.

Always take 1 hour lessons, it's not too long, it's not too short. Once or twice a week.

+1

When I was teaching, I had some students who literally wanted to just talk. I explained to them, very clearly, that they were paying me no matter what, so if they wanted to just chat I get paid just the same - and some were good with that. Some were nothing but serious about grinding through theory/technique. It sorta depended on the student. Heck, I got to feeling like an unlicensed teen therapist after a while (kids from broken homes, or kids just trying to deal with being 16) - I am hardly qualified for that sort of work, but if the kid need to talk to an impartial male adult more than to learn bass, who was I to turn him away?

Anyway, you can get GREAT info in 30 min, 45 or an hour. More than an hour and you'll get some burn-out, so I'd keep it at 60 min max. If you are SERIOUS, I would not do this through a music store - I would call local universities, play voice mail until you reach the music department and get some names of bass instructors. Music profs make their spending money on outside instruction, so don't be afraid. Finding an electric instructor at a university won't be as easy as finding a good upright instructor, but I'll be you'll be amazed what you might find. But it won't be cheap - no $20 per half hour guys at the local university, for sure.

If you have no joy at local schools, look in the local Craigslist - and do NOT be afraid to axe a teacher after a few lessons if you aren't getting what you need. You are the one paying the money, not them, right?

 

[Ed Fuqua]

The only time I see half hour lessons offered it's in music store/strip mall type settings. If your teacher can't fill an hour with stuff you need to work on, you may want to look around. Pretty much anybody up here only offers hour lessons.

It's great that you have some ideas about what you want to work on, but remember you're going to someone who has been through all of this before and should have some definite ideas about how to get you to learn the skill sets needed. So instead of going in and saying "I want you to teach me two-feel, walking, pop/rock, samba, bossa nova, and funk standard chord progressions" and basing your assessment of your lessons on whether or not that is happening, you have to trust that when your teacher says you need to work on these ear training exercises and these scale and arpeggio exercises and these improv exercises you are going to GET to a place where nobody has to "teach" you funk standard chord progressions, you'll be able to not only hear them with enough clarity to transcribe what you are hearing, you'll be able to create your OWN lines in response to what you're hearing.

 

[backline112]

If you are SERIOUS, I would not do this through a music store - I would call local universities, play voice mail until you reach the music department and get some names of bass instructors. Music profs make their spending money on outside instruction, so don't be afraid. Finding an electric instructor at a university won't be as easy as finding a good upright instructor, but I'll be you'll be amazed what you might find. But it won't be cheap - no $20 per half hour guys at the local university, for sure.

If you have no joy at local schools, look in the local Craigslist - and do NOT be afraid to axe a teacher after a few lessons if you aren't getting what you need. You are the one paying the money, not them, right?

Thanks a lot for your advice Harry, very useful as always.
Yeah! I'm inclined to take classes in the College-Conservatory of Cincinnati outreach/preparatory division, and the guy who teaches electric bass graduated from the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Australia with a bachelor in jazz studies majoring in bass guitar + is a Masters student at CCM. I don't judge people for what they studied, but it's a good starting point.

The kids part was funny haha.

 

[backline112]

The only time I see half hour lessons offered it's in music store/strip mall type settings. If your teacher can't fill an hour with stuff you need to work on, you may want to look around. Pretty much anybody up here only offers hour lessons.

It's great that you have some ideas about what you want to work on, but remember you're going to someone who has been through all of this before and should have some definite ideas about how to get you to learn the skill sets needed. So instead of going in and saying "I want you to teach me two-feel, walking, pop/rock, samba, bossa nova, and funk standard chord progressions" and basing your assessment of your lessons on whether or not that is happening, you have to trust that when your teacher says you need to work on these ear training exercises and these scale and arpeggio exercises and these improv exercises you are going to GET to a place where nobody has to "teach" you funk standard chord progressions, you'll be able to not only hear them with enough clarity to transcribe what you are hearing, you'll be able to create your OWN lines in response to what you're hearing.

I can imagine a guy who wants to be an actor asking a professor:
-I want you to teach me how to act.
lol

Or like a patient who doesn't do what the doctor tells him to do.

Yes, indeed. I meant I want the instructor to guide me.

Thanks guys for your comments. I'll just go for an hour of pure, concentrated bass instruction.

 

[lael]

As someone that took private violin lessons for 10+ years, I will concur with the idea that 30 minutes is more than adequate to pick up technique and learn new things.

That being said, the 30 minutes wasn't filled with conversation or chit chat. It was filled with scales, fingering, position, new music, etc.

I took lessons from elementary school through high school. So I ran the line from kid to teenager to college student. The best lessons I took from my instructors was when I practiced in the intervening time between lessons.

My last instructor could always tell if I'd practiced 4 hours or 8 hours in between lessons.

That being said, as someone who doesn't even own a bass yet, I take that same thought process into bass lessons. If I am paying someone for lessons, I will take the techniques and thoughts from those lessons and practice them during the week in between. If I don't practice as much as I should, that's no shame on the instructor, that's just shame on me....

Lael

/new guy

 

[Jake of Bass]

When I was teaching, I had some students who literally wanted to just talk. I explained to them, very clearly, that they were paying me no matter what, so if they wanted to just chat I get paid just the same - and some were good with that. Some were nothing but serious about grinding through theory/technique. It sorta depended on the student. Heck, I got to feeling like an unlicensed teen therapist after a while (kids from broken homes, or kids just trying to deal with being 16) - I am hardly qualified for that sort of work, but if the kid need to talk to an impartial male adult more than to learn bass, who was I to turn him away?

Yeah, I get all of that and more. Had a very attractive girl about 20 years old who'd come for lessons and totally stare into my eyes the entire time whilst we'd talk - kinda "the look" y'know? She'd want to spend 5 minutes playing and the rest of the time talking - she'd actually say she wanted to do this at every lesson. One day I mentioned I had a girlfriend and she stopped coming back... next term she came back for a lesson to "see how she would go", first question was about my girlfriend, said things were good, and she didn't come back again. LOL.

Anyway, you can get GREAT info in 30 min, 45 or an hour. More than an hour and you'll get some burn-out, so I'd keep it at 60 min max. If you are SERIOUS, I would not do this through a music store - I would call local universities, play voice mail until you reach the music department and get some names of bass instructors. Music profs make their spending money on outside instruction, so don't be afraid. Finding an electric instructor at a university won't be as easy as finding a good upright instructor, but I'll be you'll be amazed what you might find. But it won't be cheap - no $20 per half hour guys at the local university, for sure.

If you have no joy at local schools, look in the local Craigslist - and do NOT be afraid to axe a teacher after a few lessons if you aren't getting what you need. You are the one paying the money, not them, right?

That's great advice. Once you find a teacher it's good idea to define your goals to the teacher right from the outset. That helps for understanding where you're at and where you're wanting to go with it, and also to keep your practice and commitment to learning in check. Sometimes you need to pull up a student to make sure they're sticking with it and give them a bit of extra encouragement or incentive to practice.

 

[groooooove]

FAR more important than the length of the lesson is who the instructor is. ive gone to study with guys that were "amazing" and felt like he should be paying me (honestly). ive also been lucky enough to study with a lot of great teachers that will always have something to offer..