me personally, if i was ever going to take private lessons (and i would not because i’d rather rip off all my skin), i would make very very clear to the instructor at the start that i will take ONE initial lesson that i will pay for, to see if i groove with their teaching style. then continue from there. i’m really wondering if this original guy was actually a bass player, it used to be most bass lessons were given by a guy that usually played guitar.
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On original topic. I had my first lesson with my new instructor yesterday. This will be my third in-person instructor I’ve worked with since starting bass.
So far, I am more impressed with him than my previous two instructors. He took more time to ask about where I am in my playing and what I’m looking to get out of lessons.
The lesson definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone but everything he had me working on, he was able to explain WHY he had me working on those things. Most of the time was spent practicing licks from recognizable songs that really worked specific techniques. E.g. Playing “Come Together” across all 4 strings to work on quiet fingers moving my index finger from the A all the way up to the G.
My only semi-negative critique is that he maybe had me work on more exercises than I was probably going to really benefit from, but this was also our first lesson, and he was very likely throwing different things at me to get a clearer sense of where I’m at.
My takeaways for the OP:
You can find an instructor that fits you better. A good instructor will make it clear why you are being asked to do what you are being directed.
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Mr Baron. You had such thoughtful insight on the Ibanez neck. I am curious. I am looking into private lessons also. Questions:
- How do you look and find a bass focused teacher?
- How much should we spend for a quality teacher.
- Anything else I should consider?
I am in a medium size city so I should be able to find something. Just don’t know how to find someone that plays and knows the bass
Short version is: lots of online searching. Try one for a while, and then move on if it’s not the right fit.
I did a search for “Bass Guitar Instructor” and got lucky finding an independent instructor who focuses on bass. I liked that, he has his own website that talks about his method and focus as an instructor - just that he HAS one. I also like that he plays upright and electric.
Check out local music schools. Go in and talk to them. Get a feel and see who they recommend and why. Read their instructor bios. Go into multiple locations. Not only are there local music schools - my local Guitar Center and Music Go Round retailers do lessons. Check out several places… or just try one if it’s really convenient for you.
Price… is personal. It’s about your budget, and how much you’re getting out of the lessons. I expect $40-$80/hour. I’d rather pay $80 for a great instructor than $40 for a mediocre one.
You’re not really going to know who’s a good fit for you until you meet them (or maybe get a chance to talk with other students of theirs). It’s probably going to take a couple of lessons before you really know how good of a fit they’ll be. It’s entirely likely that - even if they’re a decent fit - you’ll learn what is most useful for you in a month or two.
The most important thing is to have a solid sense of what YOU are looking to get out of lessons. When I started, I was looking for an instructor who would help me catch and correct any especially bad habits that would take extra work to unlearn. I got that in 2 months of lessons. Then I focused for the next while on B2B and playing in a band. Now, I want someone to help give my playing a boost by refining my technique, and giving me more ways to move bass lines around.
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Big +1 to this!
Setting up a first lesson as a trial lesson for both of you is great.
And it’s changeable every session. I had a student where we worked great for about 2-3 months, but then he decided he needed something more B2B like, so I steered him here.
You’ll want/need different things at different times, so just remember that you’re always in charge of whether to continue, and it’s nothing personal with the teacher, it’s just you on your bass journey.
Best of luck to you!
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Exactly. And you’ll learn different things from different people.
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Update on my private lessons. I’ve done 4 with this instructor so far. I’d say he’s the best I’ve worked with yet, but I’m questioning how much more value I’ll get out of working with him, and how best to get it.
Deciding whether to:
- Keep working with him every week.
- Keep working with him but less frequently
- Take a brake and just work on my own for a while longer.
- Seeking out another instructor.
I’m thinking I’ll probably shift to every other week but go for a couple more months.
I think to get the most out of him, I need to clarify what I’m looking to do and pick songs that allow me to focus on ideas or concepts.
I think I need to pick a couple of songs or pieces of music with lots of layers of complexity. Probably some jazz standards to use as case studies to pick apart and examine different approaches I can take. Something that I can use to explore different musical concept with.
Any suggestions on good pieces to take different approaches to?
First three that come to mind:
“Love Me or Leave Me”, “How High the Moon”, “My Funny Valentine”
I’ve not done the private lessons thing but one would think getting advice and direction from someone much more experienced would likely be only good.
I was wondering the costs of the lessons?
And how much and how often do you practice?
Private lessons provide value. The question is if I’m getting the value from them equal to the time and money necessary.
I would say this instructor is good at providing advice, but not so much direction. He caught some technique issues my first couple of lessons. If I tell him, “I’d like to work on [a piece of music]”, he gives me helpful feedback and insight. When I leave it to him to come up with things for me to do, he tends to slap a random piece of sheet music in front of me, and it takes a lot of time struggling trying to sight read that I don’t carry with me through the week.
Cost is $50 for a 1-hour lesson. Which is a good price, but it’s still $200 - $250 every month. Could I get more value spending that money elsewhere?
On my own, I practice… probably 5 or 6 days a week. Ranging from 30 minutes in the evening to several hour practices. Probably averaging 6-10 hours per week. Time is generally a mix of learning and practicing songs we’ve picked for the band, low-pressure playing along to music and thinking about technique, and slowly working back through B2B using a pick.
I don’t need him to give me extra stuff to work on. My time is pretty full. I think to get things out of working with him, I need ideas of what to focus and think about WHILE working on the music I’m already working on.
Which is why I’m thinking of picking songs I like that I want to fold into my evening play-alongs that would let me think about the concepts I’m interested in improving.
It seems your getting a decent amount of practice but is that solo, or?
I believe in expert instruction, so maybe one day I will.
Only after experiencing private lessons will I be fit to gauge the question from experience.
I’m at 14 hours minimum per week and only solo using songsterr virtually always and am very pleased with my growth and wonder if an instructor would have been of much value as I was gaining basic control of my own motor and recognition processes, along with learning the fret board.
So far the answers I have found have come from hands on bass and a great amount of YT.
I hope you continue your instructor journey so I can follow the saga… 
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2 hours with the band. 1 hour with the instructor. The rest solo. I don’t need an instructor for motivation. I’m not actually tracking my hours and probably understimating.
I practiced a lot more when I first started, but that was because I had health issues that prevented me from engaging in my other, physically strenuous hobbies. Now that I’m back to exercising, that’s another 10 hours per week that I’m not practicing.
The biggest value I’ve gotten from an instructor is very specific critique of the technique issues that I’m blind to. Small but significant things. He improved how I struck through strings, which gave me more volume and tone control. He noticed that I often drag my thumb when moving up the neck, pulling it out of alignment instead of maintaining a good fretting hand shape. He’s also helped me notice and improve technique for sharper not release. I’ve gotten some decent feedback on noticing when I was… not rushing… but pushing the rhythm when I wanted to be laying back on the beat further.
All of those things popped up in the first couple lessons and there will be fewer of those as time goes by.
Or… the way this guy works… I will need to direct things more and find projects for myself that will push the technique.
I find messing around on Songsterr is what I do the least. I use that to supplement to help me figure out songs for the band, but not the primary way I play.
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To clarify and condense:
I’ve definitely gotten $200 of value out of my past month with him. That has been great. But we’ve already tackled the lowest hanging fruit.
I don’t know if another month would still be $200 of value.
I think it can be, but I’ll need to be more active in what I go to him for and ask him to work with me on. I think if I get him to work with me on understanding jazz, and applying that to some jazz standards that I’m already broadly familiar with, that will probably be the right call.
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Have you taken your band songs to him? I get what you’re thinking with picking songs like jazz standards to have him show you things on, but why not combine “lessons practice” with “practice for the band”? That way you’re getting advice on techniques and bass line construction and whatnot on songs you know you can use them on.
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I’ve done that with one that I am in process of learning. That was the first half of this past lesson.
But this is probably a good idea. Maybe split our hour lessons between a band song and a for-me jazz project.
And earlier lesson we worked on two Soul/Jazz songs (“Coffee Cold” by Galt MacDermot, and “I’ll Stay” by the RH Factor), and that was a very solid practice day.
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Technique improvements and perhaps unknowing mistakes are worth knowing if they exist.
Not lately but throughout my life I’ve been around many great musicians and picked up lots of points that are just common knowledge for the experienced, and YT has more info than anything that has ever existed. The data and lessons available are abounded.
As for songsterr its been great and after only one year of concerted effort I can play the greatest songs ever made including YYZ, loads of Rush and several Yes songs…
It seems to me that just practicing over and over again a person can keep getting better.
And if there’s a difficulty I’ll YT it or find the how to somewhere online or find it within through effort, practice and thought.
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Those are nice enough songs but fairly distant from my choices of songs I focus on.
Prog, 70’s and 80’s rock, Stevie W and Steely Dan to slow it down, heavy reggae and lead bass is much of what I dig. Rush is what I play more then anything else but lots more including at least one song a day I’ve never played.
This cut is on songsterr so I gave it a couple runs, conclusion is - totally doable…
I wouldn’t feel it to be money well spent for a lesson focused around that type of song, its mostly a 3 finger song leaving a lonely pinky not doing much.
I’m still stuck in the lead bass, prog rock thing…
However, I watched your vids and its clear you got it going on… Well done.
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…and David Gilmore’s solos are simple…
I think you and I have different styles and philosophies. I’m trying to be a groove player. I’m focusing on HOW I play, rather than WHAT I play.
I already knew how to play both of those songs. They’re fairly simple. I wasn’t looking for help learning them.
I was looking for assistance on how to take them to the next level. Where and how to find ways to play around with/within these simple forms to add extra texture and sparkle without making them too busy. Getting more ideas for tiny fills and embellishments to work in.
Also I was doing these on fretless bass.
I’m also working on like… playing along with J Dilla beats and nailing that timing.
I’ve progressed a lot since I put those videos up. I think I started in September or October.
The Fretless bass requires texture I’m thinking as I have no experience yet with one.
Is that when you started playing bass?
I think you have actually answered your own question and the progression with this teacher seems pretty natural. They were able to immediately help you fix some low hanging fruit, but now that that’s out of the way, you probably need to shift to more focused, goal-oriented learning. Pick specific things you want to work on and take that to them.
You may also see a shift in value here where you go from a teaching environment (i.e. they show you what you need to do) to a coaching environment (i.e. where they help you develop your own innate capabilities by leading you in the right direction to grow yourself). Both have value.