thisnameistaken Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Long version: I've done 20 years of playing bass guitar, all in originals bands, mostly just knocking together 2-bar patterns as it happens. And I got old so I bought a double bass and I've been muddling along with the double bass for about 18 months now, and I've tried to be good about using the correct fingering and not doing anything bad with my wrists and so on, and I've practised every day and made some progress but generally felt like there were too many aspects of my playing I wasn't confident about, and when I've seen good players perform I've wanted to be able to do what they can do. So I saw BC'er Geoff Chalmers announce he was back in York and available to take students, and I decided to get in touch and see if he could target the things I felt I was particularly lacking confidence in. Two hours of tuition (mostly spent beaming a harsh spotlight on my intonation and demonstrating approaches to changing position more reliably and accurately) and a week or so of practice later I feel like I'm a considerably more capable bass player already and - most importantly - that the time I spent practising privately is now time very well spent. And I've also identified many more areas I'd like/need to work on, and rather than being worried about them like I used to be, I'm excited about how much I can improve once I learn how to do it. Once I feel like I've got enough double bass instruction to chew on I'll be going back with a bass guitar to start filling in the gaping chasms in my theory. Too Long / Didn't Read version: Just get lessons, it's quicker and easier and better than not getting lessons. But make sure you get a disciplined musician, not your local hotshot music shop slap bore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Yup. Thats on my ToDo list with Jake very soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I love taking lessons.Even though I take them really sporadically,I can get enough material and ideas to study for months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I learned more in a couple of months of lessons than I did in the entirety of the time I had spent pretending to play bass before that. I probably knew more than I give myself credit for, but the lessons were instrumental in bringing all that fractured information together and making it all make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Found myself a teacher and it is great. Good way to supplement the stuff i am picking up from books. I found it very hard to get a decent proper bass teacher locally (within 30 miles). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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