Hambone Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Hi! Having recently retired, and probably an advanced beginner, I'm considering doing a year-long full-time bass guitar course in or around London. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 ICMP in Kilburn do a one year full time higher diploma which is excellent. I did my BMus there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 And only £6350 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: And only £6350 ... It’s eligible for a student loan. Work it out, though; contact time is about 30 hours per week, three 12 week terms, that’s 1,080 hours of tuition. How much would that cost you? Believe me, it’s a fantastic course. The tutors are brilliant. It’s not just bass, it’s a music course, it’ll turn you from a bass player to a musician. There’s obviously lots of bass related tuition from amazing players, but you’ll also do sight reading, aural skills and harmony and theory. Edited July 7, 2018 by ambient Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 Oh, I don't doubt that it's a fantastic course. The clue is in the OP's use of the word "retired". A student loan is largely irrelevant when you're no longer earning, and that's a helluva lot of money to spend on improving your bass-playing with little prospect of earning it back. What would a good bass teacher charge for tailored one-on-one sessions? £30 an hour? £50 an hour tops? Even at that rate, that course would buy 127 personal sessions in your own house, twice week for 15 months. Think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: Oh, I don't doubt that it's a fantastic course. The clue is in the OP's use of the word "retired". A student loan is largely irrelevant when you're no longer earning, and that's a helluva lot of money to spend on improving your bass-playing with little prospect of earning it back. What would a good bass teacher charge for tailored one-on-one sessions? £30 an hour? £50 an hour tops? Even at that rate, that course would buy 127 personal sessions in your own house, twice week for 15 months. Think about it. Yeah I can read and I do know what retired means. What is it with some people’s attitudes on here recently? The OP is asking about full time courses, a full time course will be expensive, I’m guessing the OP realises that. I’ve replied and told him about the course that I have personal knowledge of. It actually makes no difference if you’re retired, you can get a student loan at any age 😁. There was a guitarist doing the course when I was there who was well past retirement age, plenty of mature students in their 40s too. Edited July 7, 2018 by ambient Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hambone Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 (edited) Thanks for the replies! I'm not concerned about earning it back afterwards. It's just something I have always wanted to do, and I'll enjoy the challenge of learning. Edited July 7, 2018 by Hambone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, Hambone said: Thanks for the replies! I'm not concerned about earning it back afterwards. It's just something I have always wanted to do, and I'll enjoy the challenge of learning. Go along to one of their open days, have a look around and chat to the tutors. There’s also BIMM. You won’t regret it, and don’t worry about thinking you’re too old, there were plenty of mature students there when I was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hambone Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 You're never too old! I'm currently living in the US, but may head over for an open day or two. My son is an ACM Guildford graduate, and that's up for consideration, too. I'm not particularly interested in any of the music business courses, just the performance. Perhaps I'll have a few years of function band life left in these old bones! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 You’ll do plenty of performing. You have lpws and rsw every week. Lpw is live performance workshop, rsw is rhythm section workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hambone Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Any other recommendations in South London/Surrey? I don't think ACM Guildford do the one-year bass guitar performance diploma any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 BIMM? I know they’ve opened one in London, I’m not sure exactly where it is though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 (edited) Also think about further afield perhaps, something more of an adventure. It’s only a week-long course (so could perhaps fit alongside another course you do), but seriously consider Victor Wooten’s ‘Wooten Woods’ retreat near Nashville. I did it back in 2014 and it was amazing, very eye-opening. I did the ‘Music & Nature’ course which worked out to be about half bass players, and half other musicians. You get bed and board onsite, and it’s 5 days of music and nature lessons (about a 70-30 split). Lessons from Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Anthony Wellington, Dave Welsch and any number of other guests who happen to be available (we had Felix Pastorius for the week as a surprise....he bought the Bass Of Doom with him). My dad’s a big country music fan so we both flew out and spent a week in Nashville, judging hanging out, seeing lots of music. Then he flew home and I went to the camp, then flew home on my own a week later. The courses are beginners to advanced together, all ages (we had 16-65), so it’s a really great learning experience. Some amazing concepts, and is really inspiring. In 2014, it worked out to about £800 + flights (plus any bed/board you take in Nashville seperately). http://vixcamps.com/ Si p.s. You absolutely don’t have to be a Wooten slap fan, it’s very little (if any) of that. He’s an incredible teacher and player, the YouTube slap thing is about 10% of what he does . Edited July 8, 2018 by Sibob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 17 minutes ago, Sibob said: Also think about further afield perhaps, something more of an adventure. It’s only a week-long course (so could perhaps fit alongside another course you do), but seriously consider Victor Wooten’s ‘Wooten Woods’ retreat near Nashville. I did it back in 2014 and it was amazing, very eye-opening. I did the ‘Music & Nature’ course which worked out to be about half bass players, and half other musicians. You get bed and board onsite, and it’s 5 days of music and nature lessons (about a 70-30 split). Lessons from Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Anthony Wellington, Dave Welsch and any number of other guests who happen to be available (we had Felix Pastorius for the week as a surprise....he bought the Bass Of Doom with him). My dad’s a big country music fan so we both flew out and spent a week in Nashville, judging hanging out, seeing lots of music. Then he flew home and I went to the camp, then flew home on my own a week later. The courses are beginners to advanced together, all ages (we had 16-65), so it’s a really great learning experience. Some amazing concepts, and is really inspiring. In 2014, it worked out to about £800 + flights (plus any bed/board you take in Nashville seperately). http://vixcamps.com/ Si p.s. You absolutely don’t have to be a Wooten slap fan, it’s very little (if any) of that. He’s an incredible teacher and player, the YouTube slap thing is about 10% of what he does . That sounds like the best fun ever,did you take your bass with you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Reggaebass said: That sounds like the best fun ever,did you take your bass with you I did, it was just a Jazz, so took the neck from the body and packed it into my normal case (wrapped in pants and T-shirt’s haha). A short or medium scale would make that even easier (my 34” scale Jazz neck just about for diagonally in the case). Put it together when I got to Nashville and let it settle for a week before camp. You could always ask Holly (Victor’s wife who organizes the camps) if there are other options now. Someone from Germany borrowed a bass from Anthony when I went. Si Edited July 8, 2018 by Sibob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 29 minutes ago, Sibob said: Also think about further afield perhaps, something more of an adventure. It’s only a week-long course (so could perhaps fit alongside another course you do), but seriously consider Victor Wooten’s ‘Wooten Woods’ retreat near Nashville. I did it back in 2014 and it was amazing, very eye-opening. I did the ‘Music & Nature’ course which worked out to be about half bass players, and half other musicians. You get bed and board onsite, and it’s 5 days of music and nature lessons (about a 70-30 split). Lessons from Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Anthony Wellington, Dave Welsch and any number of other guests who happen to be available (we had Felix Pastorius for the week as a surprise....he bought the Bass Of Doom with him). My dad’s a big country music fan so we both flew out and spent a week in Nashville, judging hanging out, seeing lots of music. Then he flew home and I went to the camp, then flew home on my own a week later. The courses are beginners to advanced together, all ages (we had 16-65), so it’s a really great learning experience. Some amazing concepts, and is really inspiring. In 2014, it worked out to about £800 + flights (plus any bed/board you take in Nashville seperately). http://vixcamps.com/ Si p.s. You absolutely don’t have to be a Wooten slap fan, it’s very little (if any) of that. He’s an incredible teacher and player, the YouTube slap thing is about 10% of what he does . That would the adventure of a lifetime. I bet it was amazing. With this kind of thing, if you approach it right, you can come away with ideas that you can keep dipping into whenever you need to. I did a weekend thing with 6 string player Todd Johnson about 8 years ago. He did a lot of chord melody playing and soloing concepts. Things that take ages to assimilate into your playing anyway. There were things that he covered that every now and then I think ah yes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisthebass Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 23 hours ago, Hambone said: Hi! Having recently retired, and probably an advanced beginner, I'm considering doing a year-long full-time bass guitar course in or around London. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance! Might be worth investing in one of Joe Hubbard's online courses? I've never had any lessons from him, but he's quite a thorough teacher from what I've seen and heard. https://www.joehubbardbass.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hambone Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 Thanks for the suggestions! I'm looking for a full-time course, but purely on performance. ACM Guildford used to do a year-long Bass Performance diploma (my son did it), but I don't think they do it any more. It's now a 2/3 year degree encompassing all aspects of music and the music business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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