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Terrible Teachers

Sep 2, 2008
1,952
11
Jambi
Anyone ever have a terrible teacher? The only ones I've had were orchestra teachers. My middle school teacher once asked me hat a triad was, because she thought I was not paying attention. I replied, "A three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds?" She said wrong, and asked one of the cello players. He said the exact same thing as I did, and she said "Correct." Later that year we had to write a song. She yelled at me for writing my song in 5/8, claiming that "nobody does that." How ignorant. My current teacher is equally as bad. On a song we're playing, I recommended that the basses use drop-d tuning. She said, "That's a stupid idea, it's not in the music!", even though a lower d is written in the music. Yesterday she told the basses to go to drop-d. She said, "Wow, why didn't I think of that before?" I then reminded her that I suggested the idea a week ago. She replied, "That was last week, this is today.":mad: I have way more stories from both these teachers, but I don't feel like typing them now. Anyone else?
 
I guess I had a teacher who was somewhat terrible. For the short while I was with him each lesson was very disorganized and he could never remember where we left off, and when confronted that we had covered something in the previous lesson he'd say " it doesn't hurt to practice it some more", well it does if i'm paying you for it!! He was also one of the guys who would solo/noodle around a lot while looking at me, both creepy and a wast of time and money. And what finally caused me to can him is how shady he was with lesson. I showed up to his house once and he wasn't there, said he was stung by a bee in the eye...yea ok, saw him two days later and his eyes looked fine.
 
wow:eyebrow:...thats pretty bad....i would challenge them on every slip if i were you....if thier wrong ,point it out!!:D

the first guy that every gave me lessons (13yrs ago) ..well firstly,he was bragging about how he just learned the star spangled banner....i remember thinking ''jesus,really?''

he had a 4 string jazz

i had a 5 string soundgear

Him- ''so,you know what the difference is between our basses?''

me- ''uh?...I have a B-string?''

Him ''yep! your right!!'' :scowl:

thats pretty much how that entire hour went...i didnt learn anything .....i mean nothing:rollno:....after hearing him play the star spangled banner (very roughly) .....i ask if he knew how to play ''slap''

he said ''yea''.....he thumped a G once or twice (two notes literally)..he looked very unsure..and then proceeded to talk about other bass players who played slap....and shortly after the lesson was over.

i later found out that the guy was the music store owner's son
....and apparently,he was a begginer too.(and thier instructor:eek:)......epic fail.
 
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Well, when I first started guitar I took lessons at the only music store in town. The owner of the store gave lessons and was one of the few people around that was reliable. At the age of 16 I wanted to learn how to rock and he was teaching me "Michael row the boat ashore". Almost made me quit playing all together cause I was so bored with it. Thank God I met some guys my age that played and just picked stuff up from them.
 
The first teacher I had wasn't too great. I remember one week I asked him, "Could you teach me some theory?" He replied, "Sure, I have a huge theory book at home I'll bring in, it's really well written an easy to understand." So the next week I come in all excited, and instead of having this theory book he has tabs for Led Zep song. Thank the gods that the teacher I have now went Berklee.
 
Went to my first lesson (on guitar, age 12) and the guy says "What do you want to learn?"

See I've started lessons like that but only to get an idea of where the student wants to go... If I was to ask a 12 year old I'd be finding out if he like's his dad's music or the Jonas Brothers

I had a teacher who would teach me songs... not even lead me in learning them... I would bring a CD... then he'd learn it on headphones so I coulnd't hear it... then teach it to me... that didn't last long
 
I've only gone for one lesson (so far). I've been involved with music for half my life and I've self taught my bass for a couple years and yadda yadda yadda.

T: So have you studied any music at all?
Me: Yeah, been playing clarinet and sang bass in choir and all that stuff for a while.
T: Oh good.
*Brings out the beginner beginner book*
T: This is a staff and this is a bass clef and these are whole notes. They're held for four...
Me: *thinking* Seriously?

Though I told him SEVERAL times that I know about theory, he went on...

"These are ledger lines and they're just like the notes on the staff but lower. They can also be written up here and that means they're higher."

I wasted $20 and an hour of my life on that 'lesson'. Not to mention he wanted to chat with me for half the lesson though I kept playing the 'exercises'.
 
A couple years back I went to a small music school for some one on one lessons to brush up on stuff.

Well on the 1st day I was on time and waiting patiently in the study room, & I can hear other bassists playing down the hall. It turns out that my teacher was still with the student on the time slot prior to me. Finally by the time I started to pack up, the teacher (whom I never met) marches in & sits in front of me and says "Well go ahead and play something".
I started some F walking stuff & within seconds He pulls out his cell phone to look @ texts. I stopped playing didnt say a word or even look at him or listen to him, just left.

Never went back for lesson #2.
 
I got a clinic from this one guy that looked like he was fresh out of high school and attending EWU, and he was a terrible teacher. Everyone in our high school wind ensemble got a clinic, and I was stuck with this guy. I've been playing for 5 years, (8 years of music history) and he had the nerve to tell me that there are things called octaves, and then he proceeded to show me how to play them.