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 .