»

[MrAnderson]

I teach a bit of bass (am qualified but still studying so not teaching full time...)
Sorry for the mass of text which follows, I just had a lot of thoughts to put out there!

I really would advise getting at least a few lessons to get you started, there are so many bad habits to pick up that will not only hamper your progress, but will lead to problems over time (RSI and other injuries)...these seem to be especially prevalant among guitarists, most likely due to the number of people who pick up an instrument and 'teach' themselves to play

Also 'practise' is not always the answer, if you are doing something wrong and can't see why, doing it repeatedly won't solve the problem!

Any decent teacher will have a well balanced approach, focussing on building your technical ability, musicality and ear-training; exercises are obviously an essential tool, as for learning to read notation or tab that really depends on you and the teacher...personally I think reading is an invaluable tool if you want to be a versatile musician, however if you just want to play by ear/learn a few chords + riffs then it's not essential. It does take some effort on your part to learn, rather than relying on tab

Also if you want to learn theory, you will learn much more efficiently from a decent teacher than from the web, the amount of misleading (or just plain wrong) info on the net is unreal...also the terminology varies a lot between different countries, such as UK/US.

For older pupils, the path lessons take is more under their control, it's really up to them how much time is spent on reading/improv/technical work/tunes; obviously I structure the lessons, but the emphasis on the specific aspects we work on is down to them.
For younger guys, I tend to focus on real tunes and/or exam work (ie rockschool tunes), as well as elements of ear-training and playing by ear/improv. Again, I tailor my approach depending on each pupil's wants and needs.

[droid]

Getting lessons can be very fulfilling when being taught from an experienced musician and teacher.George Norval has been playing and teaching for well over 20 years now,and has passed on his knowledge to many a guitarist....[and bass player].It's a nice feeling when a pupil excells at their instruments.One of my first pupils went on to play bass for Morcheeba,so i think the things i taught him as an experienced bass player left him in good steading!

[Sam Munro]

Originally Posted by Mac Atom

GEORGE!!!! His name is GEORGE norval!!!! he's the man by the way... easily the best teacher I know.

Yup don't don't have a bad word to say about GN