I’m struggling with how to tell my teacher that he’s sucking the joy out of my bass life. Every time I leave a lesson I leave feeling like the worst bass player on the planet. It’s quite possible that I am but throw me a bone here, dude.
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As has been discussed before, finding a good fit with a face-to-face teacher is not necessarily easy. Communication is key. Tell him how you feel, whether it’s because of him, the lesson presentation, the lesson material, expectations, etc. Remember, he is working for you. You can do work he recommends, but it must fulfill your needs and goals. Just come out and tell him how you feel. If it doesn’t work out, move on to someone else.
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Yeah. Either he will take the feedback well, or give you a definite sign to drop him.
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Dear bass teacher, I would like to inform you that due to personal reasons I will be terminating my bass lessons.
Thank you and take care!
Edit: Oh sorry I thought you wanted to drop him. I would just tell him you’re not enjoying the lessons and see how it goes.
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I tried to have a discussion with him last night. I told him that I wasn’t feeling like I was making any progress and did he feel like maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a bassist? He just sort of stared at me. So then I said, “Do I suck that bad?” and he stared at me some more. Finally he said, “Well April, I just need you to get through one simple song.” Which I totally get except I get two new songs every week to learn by “following along with the song on YouTube.”
And I’ve told him countless times that while I appreciate the concept of tabs and how easy it is to use them, I come from a bell choir background with a little bit of bluegrass guitar mixed in there and I like to see notes and tempos and time signatures. But apparently theory is very hard and I’m not ready for that yet.
Ugh, quit whining April. Whine whine whine.
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To me it sounds like you would probably benefit from a different bass teacher with a different approach.
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@RuknRole, I’m debating having a broken arm or being laid off from work and being suddenly very poor. 
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Yeah you need a teacher who meets your needs and this doesn’t sound like a good fit
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Get out now. You deserve much better.
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This is the wrong guy. Period. Lose him post haste. You need/deserve better.
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Run, April, RUN!!!
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I run about as well as I play the bass!
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Oh, you can give the guy the old heave-ho and sashay out the door. That’s totally doable.
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If you don’t feel like it is working out with him I would be up front and tell him you appreciate his help but need go in a different direction and hope you can still be friends. No comments need to be made about you as a student or him as a teacher. I would just leave it friendly. You dont owe him anything more than that.
BTW, this strategy DID not work with my ex-wife…
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Yeah, I’d have a hard time not saying “Sorry, guy, but I don’t much care what your needs are - I’m paying you.”
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Yikes! The song you should play for him is “You’re History”!
Hope you find someone that gives you encouragement 
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As @MikeC said Remember, he is working for you.
After all you are paying him and don’t need the additional pressures you seem to be experiencing.
Just do not give up. If you want to play Bass you can do it. All it takes is time and practice - and lots of it.
Hopefully you are doing the B2B course.
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To echo others, I personally would off him and find a new teacher.
Ultimately you’re paying him, and if you view yourself as a customer so to speak, he’s providing you with terrible service and likely not providing value for money.
It also sounds like he’s not able to adapt his teaching method to the individual student, so you would almost certainly have a better time elsewhere.
In short : you should never be paying someone to have them make you feel bad about yourself. You can do better and deserve better, move on
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