The Stupidity

[Pete Academy]

We have a guitar/bass teacher, who teaches privately and in schools around our area, and he is driving us mental. He keeps sending pupils in with guitars and basses, insisting that they are not properly set up. Kids with ultra-cheap used internet crap are sent in by him, and we have to try to explain that the instruments are buzzing and have a ridiculously high action as a result of poor quality, coupled with beginners lack of technique, which can be a bit embarrassing at times.

His latest is telling the pupil that the guitar or bass is not intonated properly because the bridge saddles are staggered and need to be set level with each other.

I'm not making this up. He's been teaching and playing for more than ten years.

I realise it's actually good for business, as we can prompt the kids' parents to upgrade, but I'm seriously ready to kill this bloke.

[Kiwi]

Stick by your guns and wait for word of mouth to get around.

[Pete Academy]

Thanks, I certainly will. I really can't see how he gets work all the time.

[Rayman]

It's scary that people like that are some young people's first contact with working musicians. I've recently taken a young lad under my wing, searched hard on here to find him a great first instrument, a nice Yamaha, so nice I nearly kept it for myself I hasten to add, and he's loving it. Hopefully a new young bass player has been started off on his way, and I'll be just as careful when finding him a decent teacher. The last thing a new young player wants is some pillock telling him his gear is no good and giving him duff info. What a turd.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Rayman

[ThomBassmonkey]

Just because someone has no idea about gear, doesn't mean they're no good at teaching. Though if I were you, I'd let him know (politely so you keep his custom) that his talents probably lay elsewhere.

The shop I teach at's main competitor is crap, their priority is to sell a guitar rather than help people. Not long ago we had a 9 year old child that wanted to start learning, he didn't know what kind of guitar he wanted to learn, their advice was to buy a full sized spanish. So he did, then took it upstairs for the free lesson with them and straight away the guitar teacher told them that they'd made a bad choice (when they just followed the advice of the shop).

They never went back, came to us for lessons after but the kid didn't keep up the lessons. Not a surprise when he was struggling with the guitar.

[Rayman]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='885773' date='Jul 4 2010, 08:25 PM']The shop I teach at's main competitor is crap, their priority is to sell a guitar rather than help people. Not long ago we had a 9 year old child that wanted to start learning, he didn't know what kind of guitar he wanted to learn, their advice was to buy a full sized spanish. So he did, then took it upstairs for the free lesson with them and straight away the guitar teacher told them that they'd made a bad choice (when they just followed the advice of the shop)[/quote]

That makes me mad, so many young people must get put off in a similar way.

[thisnameistaken]

That's a shame. I had one of my girlfriend's students approach me at a rehearsal room the other day to ask about my Warwick and he was clearly in awe of the thing when I let him have a go. When I told him I actually gig a Squier Jazz he looked totally bemused, but when I let him play that one too he appreciated what I was using it for, and I hope he has since stopped apologising for his (perfectly decent from what I could tell) Mexican-made Jazz bass.

[Pete Academy]

I've known this guy for years, and he's always been a prat.

[TRadford]

When I was taking drum lessons, it was at school, first thing in the morning at about 8.00 before lessons

I worked really hard to get the school to get a drum teacher. The music teacher was a prick, when I asked him about getting someone in for lessons, he said I'd have no chance. He sarcasticly said, if you get 20 people to sign up, Ill book someone.
Two weeks later I presented him with a letter with 20 signatures.

Anyway, the drum teacher came and we got started on just basic stuff, mainly learning to read music. It was 4 weeks in before we even touched a drum kit, and when that moment came, he covered all the drums and cymbals with tea towels and told us not to hit the drums, just tap them lightly, because he said He couldnt stand the noise that early in the morning.
We had paid a hell of a lot of money for this guy, and it was a joke. All but 3 of the 20 people I had got dropped out because they said they hated it and I kept going until the drum teacher actually quit, as he didnt want to work that early.

Thankfully it didnt put me off, but I can see how that kind of experience does.

[martindupras]

That reminds me of something that happened to me.

Years ago, when I was in my first year of jazz school (it was a sort of 2-year NVQ-type course in Canada) we had "combo" classes, which were really just about learning to play as a small jazz ensemble playing jazz standards. We were supposed to create our own groups but of course all the ones who were experienced knew one another from somewhere else and gravitated towards one another. Which left all the really inexperienced newbies (me included) to group haphazardly. Many of us, I imagine, had not had that much contact with jazz by that point so we didn't quite know what the standards were supposed to sound like, even. (This predates YouTube and the like by... let's just say a while.)

Now the combo I ended up with consisted of drums, bass, three guitars and flute. I was playing guitar.

The teacher we got was a keyboard player, who was very active professionally and often touring with the likes of Celine Dion, from what I gather. He didn't particularly seem too enthralled having to coach a bunch of newbies. And because he thought Real Book standards were "boring" he'd bring us lead sheets from the likes of Lyle Mays and Herbie Hancock.

So, we turn up, he gives us the charts, and asks us to learn two numbers a week. We do, laboriously, and we have to play them the week after.

After about 6 weeks, he listens to us, shakes his head vigorously and says: "Man, you guys suck even more than you did in the first week." My heart sank, and I thought "hmmm, the next 54 weeks are really going to be fun."

I can't remember if he quit or he got on tour or what, but several weeks later he was replaced by one of the most incredibly inspiring musicians I've ever met, Jean-Pierre Zanella, who's also a fantastic saxophone player.

The difference between the two teachers was a blinding revelation.

He played with us. He'd take what someone had played and re-play it, explain to us what was good about it, what directions it could be taken in, and whenever he heard something good, he'd smile, or say "yeah!" and he was just overall encouraging.

The truth is that we did suck before and after, no doubt; but one teacher nearly made us all give up, and the other encouraged and inspired us.

- martin

[Doddy]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='885841' date='Jul 4 2010, 09:34 PM']I've known this guy for years, and he's always been a prat.[/quote]

The simple answer is to give his pupils my number

[OldGit]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='885841' date='Jul 4 2010, 09:34 PM']I've known this guy for years, and he's always been a prat.[/quote]


Ah My suggestion to have a polite word is probably not going to work then ...

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='OldGit' post='886052' date='Jul 5 2010, 09:03 AM']Ah My suggestion to have a polite word is probably not going to work then ...[/quote]

The next time a pupil comes in, I'll send a carefully-worded letter to him via the pupil.