ambient

What's blues fusion?

You do need to 'shop around', and find the right tutor. This may depend on what it is that you want to learn, and improve on. I had the one guy from when I was about 15. I used to travel to London once a month with my parents, and have a 2 hour lesson with him. He then became the programme leader on my degree course, and I continued having private lessons from him. He's still a very good friend of mine. When I started to get more into soloing and more advanced styles, and 6 string playing, then I sought out another tutor, this was Steve Lawson, the guy who ended up having a major influence on my playing.

I'm very fussy, bordering on OCD about hygiene. The first thing I do when I get a new instrument is take the strings off, bin then, give a bass a good clean and fit new strings. Many people have no idea of hygiene, hand washing etc. I just don't want someone else's skin cells and bacteria all over my bass.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1490796820' post='3268112'] I accept your point here. If a guy does not want to accept guidance, then there is nothing you can do about this, except to give him what he requires. I am talking about the scenario where a guy buys a bass for the first time. Next day he goes for lessons expecting to be the next Jack Bruce over night. The teacher needs to incorporate a a balancing act to.. 1. Keep him motivated and interested enough to come back for more lessons. 2. Keep him on the straight and narrow road towards his goal. [/quote] Exactly. 'What do you want to learn', could equally be phrased as 'what do you want or expect to get from having lessons'. Or, 'why are you here sat in front of me ?' There's a new guy that started with me yesterday evening. Like most people I ask, he said, well I've been playing for X years, and really don't have much knowledge of how what I'm doing works, I just learn a bass line from a recording or YouTube, or TAB. I would then ask more questions to try and discover what they do know, which is often more than they think.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1490796206' post='3268104'] [ Well done !! You sound like the ideal teacher. [/quote] I wouldn't say that, but I'm maybe his.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1490795310' post='3268084'] Well...I did mention that asking a student what their goals and aspirations were are important. This is different to asking them what they want to learn. I agree that learning to read may not be appropriate for some. Once a teacher is equipped with the pupil's goals and aspirations, then it is his (the teacher's) job to teach the student what he [b]needs[/b] to learn. [/quote] Needs to fulfill his ambitions, also what he wants to learn. One guy just comes to me for advice on playing lines that he's learning. He doesn't know anything about harmony, he has no knowledge about the fretboard or what notes he's playing, even, he doesn't want to learn that. So I sit with him and help him learn a bass line, he's happy, even if it goes completely against my own beliefs.

My eldest student is 79, he's absolutely no desire or ambition to play in a band. He just enjoys learning to play. His previous 'tutor', just spent 6 months teaching him bass lines from TAB. I started by showing him the notes, we progressed on to triads and we're now looking at walking bass. He's a huge Sinatra and jazz fan. Yesterday we spent an hour with him playing the melody to a couple of tunes, all of me and I've got you under my skin, I was playing the chords under him on my bass. The smile in his face, and him singing and dancing down the hall as he saw me out made my day.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1490792894' post='3268034'] No..not necessarily. Someone completely new to bass and learning to play, will not know where to start. All they know is that they want to learn to play. It is up to the teacher to find out what the pupil's goals are and then advise/teach accordingly. This is what I meant earlier when I mentioned the importance of getting a [i]good [/i]teacher. It is not enough to be a good player and know your stuff if you don't have the teaching skill. IMO, if a teacher has to ask a pupil what to teach...it's time to look for another teacher. [/quote] I disagree, it's part of getting to know the student. You can't as a teacher assume the student knows something, the only way to find something out is to ask. I wouldn't automatically assume a student wants to spend time learning to read for instance, so I would ask them. It's part of the question, what do YOU want to learn, it's after all their lesson and time and money, so it's not for me to tell them what I want to teach them, merely advise them.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1490791617' post='3268003'] Other tutors have always started each lesson with the immortal question, "well, what do you want to learn?" Answer: "I don't know. If I did I wouldn't be here." . [/quote] But surely you have to know what it is you want to learn for, in order that they can help you? Do you want to learn to sight-read, more about theory, harmony, transcribing, walking bass, soloing, techniques. The list is quite endless, so they'd have to ask you.

With regard to the "only 3 or 4 keys" part of your post. It might be an idea to brush up on what accidental are in each key, and just remember them. That way if you're playing something in say E major, just knowing that each C, D, F and G are all sharp helps loads.

Why not ? Doesn't Meshell thingy-whatsit use flats on a jazz ?

Any users in here ? I'm doing quite a few solo gigs around the country, and favs a couple coming up over in Paris. I'm looking to organise how I'm transporting my gear around. At the moment I'm carrying my bass in a gig bag on my back, and carrying my MacBook, cables and other stuff in a bag over my shoulder. The bass safe looks good, I can carry my stuff in a bag on my back and pull my bass behind me. Is the bass safe any good though ? I'm reading a lot of mixed reviews on various websites. Looks like the newer version isn't as good,

[quote name='silverfoxnik' timestamp='1489928076' post='3260838'] Absolutely spot on, Chris. We've had the Greatest Hits CD on this morning, and his songs are like 3 minute works of art; perfect from start to finish. [/quote] Ignoring my ding a ling.

I have to say I wasn't aware that he was still alive, but agree that he did make a huge contribution to pop and rock music as we know it.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1489677825' post='3258916'] Same problem here... I'd like one that supports the bass from the neck but can't find one with a wide enough grip. [/quote] That's ideally what I want. I had a Hercules grab type that was just wide enough for a 6, but only just wide enough.

Specifically for my new Overwater 7 string Progress. At the moment I'm using a Hercules mini stand which isn't really ideal.

[quote name='Bastav' timestamp='1470841918' post='3108876'] [/quote] How do you play that without knocking it out of tune ?

Any of the Bach cello suites sound nice. I've got solo bass chord melody arrangements that I did last year scored out for autumn leaves, when I fall in love, summertime and what a wonderful world. They're for 6 string bass though. Just play the melody line with a bass note underneath. Sometimes the melody note is part of the chord which sounds really nice.

I'm in London Tuesday and Wednesday, if Marylebone and Kilburn are any good ?

It would depend on the work involved. If they were expecting me to learn an entire set then that would be taken into account in what I ask. It's not just those 2 or 3 hours then don't forget.

Brilliant, I'd love to have been there. So sad that they're closing it down as a performance space.

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1488341721' post='3248056'] It's also hugely expensive. Handmade in Japan, like the Adam Nitti bass. I believe it is 14mm string spacing, which is tight! [/quote] They do I believe male a cheaper model too.

The tc polytune clip does. The planet waves PT10 also does. I sometimes don't use standard A=440hz tuning, the PT10 still tunes a low B.