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Why Are There So Many Bad Bass Teachers Out There?If you want to get better at the bass guitar the quickest and most effective way is to get a private teacher. However if you read the forums at a place like Talkbass.com – like I do nearly every day – you’ll quickly notice that there’s a lot of guys posting that they’re having a bad time with their teacher. And very few posting that they’ve got a great teacher. And this fits in with my own observations, and my own personal experiences, that there are a lot of bad bass teachers out there. And I think there are three reasons for this. So let’s look at this more closely: The First Reason: Too Many Guys Teach As A Gig There are a lot of guys that ‘teach’ the bass guitar as a supplement to their normal gigging. They see it as a more cost effective way of supplementing their musical earnings than say working a part time job. And I can’t argue the logic of that. However guys who are teaching as a gig are generally guilty of short changing their students. I’ve written at length in another article (Link here) about the responsibilities of a teacher – and the guys who teach primarily as a gig are interested primarily in the financial return this teaching will give them – and not much else. And this approach manifests itself in poorly prepared lessons and a sloppy approach to teaching. And even the ultimate: you walk into a lesson and your teacher asks, So what are we going to learn today man? And he’ll think he’s doing YOU a favour. And a guy who’s teaching as a gig probably won’t be too interested in HOW you should teach. And that’s the second reason. The Second Reason: Too Many Guys Don’t Know How To Teach Knowing how to teach something isn’t rocket science. Even teaching rocket science! There’s a process that I call the Teach-Critique cycle that’s crucial in helping a student learn and make consistent progress. This teach-critique cycle is present in just about every schooling system you’ve been exposed to – and even more so the higher up you move up through the schooling system. And it’s crucial because when a student is learning, they will make mistakes. I’ve never had a student who didn’t make mistakes. When I was taking lessons I made mistakes by the bucket load. But making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process – provided they are critiqued and fixed at the appropriate moment. And most guys who teach the bass privately not only don’t know about the importance of the Teach-Critique cycle, but most of their lessons are spent showing their students some flashy lick. Or a bass line to a tune. And then sending them off on their way. And often the reason a guy who’s teaching doesn’t use the teach-critique cycle – even subconsciously – is because no teaching tradition has yet evolved for the bass guitar. And that’s the third reason. The Third Reason: There’s No Established Teaching Tradition For The Bass Guitar I’ve written about this at greater length. But essentially the bass guitar is not even 60 years old – and the first practitioners of the bass were guitarists or upright bassists who doubled, and brought the disciplines of their first instrument over to the bass guitar, with varying degrees of success. The electric bass didn’t start getting taught at college level until the 60s – and often later. BIT wasn’t established until 1978. So most of the guys out there who are teaching privately were probably taught privately themselves back in the day. And it’s only human nature for them to copy the way that they were taught – because that’s all they know. And what they’re missing is that they’ve achieved their current ability level often DESPITE the way they were taught, not because of it. So I’m Looking For A Bass Teacher, How Do I Avoid The Bad Ones? When you’re looking to find a bass teacher to help you get better at the bass guitar what you need to do is ask questions. Ask prospective teachers how they teach, do they use any teaching systems. Ask prospective teachers how THEY learned the bass? Ask them if they have lesson plans- how do the teachers structure their lessons? And there’s a final question you can ask, and the answer to this will tell you a lot about whether you’re in the hands of a good teacher or a bad teacher. Ask them WHY they teach.
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