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This sounds like he just wants clicks.
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
In video in the OP, it's Not Jeff's channel, and not his clickbait titles
I watch the whole thing
he just repeats his constant theme that institutional Bass education, such as it is,
is not how the vast majority of successful players learned their trade
they learned it from copying their heroes and getting their hands dirty at gigs
it's a much more lukewarm take than the title suggests
I watch the whole thing
he just repeats his constant theme that institutional Bass education, such as it is,
is not how the vast majority of successful players learned their trade
they learned it from copying their heroes and getting their hands dirty at gigs
it's a much more lukewarm take than the title suggests
Irrelevant? Jeff Berlin is one of the greatest bassists this world has ever seen.
Unless one is pursuing a Classical path -- Orchestra, Chamber, Solo -- going to a 2nd or 3rd rate music school is 99% guaranteed to fail you. Music school is a Business for the School.
Even the Classical path has an EXTREMELY low success rate concerning coming from a TOP music school AND landing a gig in a MAJOR organization.
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He would have, but he couldn’t hear it. Not only because he was deaf, but also because it hadn’t been invented yet.
I know, on the ABWH tour when Levin got sick. But he still does not seem to work much proportionate to his ability, and I think it's in large part because he's talked crap about so many people.
Personality is certainly a factor for any job.
Whenever one talks in such generalities you are going to come across as grumpy old man fighting windmills
Listening to diverse genres and thinking about how the bass is working with the other instruments surely helps and certainly cannot hurt
Listening to diverse genres and thinking about how the bass is working with the other instruments surely helps and certainly cannot hurt
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Sorry, he did say the same thing forty years ago.
I attended a clinic he held for Peavey at a local store when the Palaedium bass was introduced in the early 90s. He said that if all you want to do is play rock music, you do not need to go to school because that is not how the people who created rock and roll did it.
I’ve mentioned this many times here at TB over the years.
That’s not to say that knowing some theory isn’t helpful for playing rock, blues, folk, coiuntry, etc., but you don't need to get a degree for that…you can get books. I’m 71 and grew up when there was still musical instruction in public schools. I learned to read music and play the clarinet in elementary school and while at college studying engineering I took a theory course and a piano class as humanities electives. I took some lessons off and on over the years, but no more than 5 years in total. Learning to read was the most important thing because I was able to study from books and do transcriptions.
I’m a little younger than you, but not that much. Early on, Berlin was more dogmatic. I think Billy Sheehan really impressed Jeff Berlin on how accomplished a self taught, non-reader, can be. He wrote an essay about it in Guitar Player.
Personally, I think listening to music is and playing by ear is huge, but we are different. I would have benefitted from more serious instruction early on. As I have often said, for me, focusing on gear became a way feeling like I was doing something when I really wasn’t.
I just think that for many beginners, the notion of being self-taught is too broad. It needs to clear parameters to be useful.
This sounds like he just wants clicks.
Funny, coming from a self-proclaimed master at click-bait titles.
If that is aimed at me, I guess it is a fair point. I teach as a profession and I love bass, but I am not good enough to teach bass, so I love sharing things I find interesting. As with anything on the internet, if you don’t like the content I share, don’t waste your time looking at what I post.
He was plenty dogmatic at that clinic. He pointed out that classical musicians have been trained the same way for centuries and noone has found a shortcut yet. He didn’t show disdain for rock musicians, either.
Not as different as you might think. Like you I wish I had studied a lot more than I actually did.
Didn't mean to insult - I was thinking back to a previous post somewhere where you jokingly bragged about crafting headlines that get clicks. That's what I meant by "self-proclaimed".
