Starting Bass lessons

[DazBoot88]

Hi all, i'm trying to get some money in from teaching bass lessons and was wondering if anyone could give me a little advice on how to get started. I've put an advert on gumtree and i plan to stick some cards up in local shops but not too sure what else would be useful. Any help would be much appreciated as my finances are a shambles.

[Doddy]

I've never advertised so can't really help you there.
What do you plan on teaching?

[icastle]

An acoustic guitarist I work with started a bit of teaching about 18 months ago.
He used cards in shop windows and then word of mouth from his initial students.
He also does a lot of plug n play nights and has picked up a few students from those.

He doesn't do a huge amount of it but he earnt enough from it to 100% pay for his family holiday in Portugal last summer.

[pietruszka]

Ill be interested to read more comments on this. It's something I'm looking into as well.

I would think you'd need to know what it is you want to teach and can teach first.


Dan

[DazBoot88]

I was thinking of using the rockschool grade books as a benchmark and take it from there. I suppose my basic aim is to get people playing multiple styles at a good level while putting heavy emphasis on groove. Thanks for the interest and advise so far.

[OliverBlackman]

I just put up a poster in my local shop and got a bit of interest. I think the best thing to do is teach at a store. This is good for both you and the shop.

For you it means you may get more interest because people will associate your lessons with the store and if they like the store they will think your more credible.

For the store they get more business if you sell it to your students right. An increase in sales may lead to them bringing your rent down as my dad found.

There is also busking but don't busk too far away from where your going to teach as even if people are going to be interested they may be put off by distance.

Also Rockschool is an absolute sin, i wouldn't put anyone through it personally. If your good enough to teach you don't need a book to tell you how to do it. The best thing to start with is songs, because thats why people pick up the bass, to play songs.

[mrtcat]

I do a little teaching for holiday spending cash. I have a few cards in the local music shop but plug my services at our gigs as does our drummer and guitard. We made some cheap business cards on the PC that we can hand out. We seem to do well and it helps that people see you play first before asking you to teach them. It's funny how many times kids call saying "dad saw you play last week and said you do lessons?".

Remember to self assess tho as you'll be publicly advertising that you take money to teach. It's remarkable how many strings / guitars / amps you go thru when teaching tho - it's no wonder there's so little taxable profit!

[RhysP]

[quote name='blackmn90' post='1152445' date='Mar 7 2011, 01:16 PM']If your good enough to teach you don't need a book to tell you how to do it.[/quote]
Being a good player is absolutely no guarantee that you'll be a good teacher.

[OliverBlackman]

[quote name='RhysP' post='1152478' date='Mar 7 2011, 01:49 PM']Being a good player is absolutely no guarantee that you'll be a good teacher.[/quote]

i didn't say player specifically, but i did mean both. Trouble is a good teacher should have a good grasp of musical knowledge but also can come up with idea's of how to get this knowledge across to the paying student. Iv found when teaching that each student learnt things in a different way meaning if i made plans i would ether have to alter them slightly or scrap that and do something more beneficial.

If someone uses a book to tell them what method of teaching they should use, then your not being as efficient as you could be as a teacher. Plus the student will have to a) buy the book, and b ) pay for an assessment. Both (when using Rockshcool, trinity arn't too bad) are massive wastes of time and money.

Edited March 7, 2011 by blackmn90

[Doddy]

[quote name='DazBoot88' post='1152254' date='Mar 7 2011, 10:04 AM']I was thinking of using the rockschool grade books as a benchmark and take it from there. I suppose my basic aim is to get people playing multiple styles at a good level while putting heavy emphasis on groove. Thanks for the interest and advise so far.[/quote]

The Rockschool grades are OK,and I've taught them,but I don't think I'd use them as a basis for lessons unless someone specifically
wanted to do them.

'Multiple styles at a good level while putting heavy emphasis on groove'.... I get that,but how will you approach it?
Will you be showing licks and playing songs,or will you be explaining how to create music? Will you be explaining the basics
of scales and arpeggios and then expanding on them and using them musically? Will you be showing the student at least the basics
of reading or will it all be ear and tablature?

The main reason I'm asking,is because in your opening post you mention right at the beginning and right at the end that it's about
the money as your finances are bad. I can understand why you'd think that you could earn a bit from teaching,but I wonder if you
are actually thinking of teaching for the right reasons.

[skej21]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1152705' date='Mar 7 2011, 05:28 PM']The Rockschool grades are OK,and I've taught them,but I don't think I'd use them as a basis for lessons unless someone specifically
wanted to do them.

'Multiple styles at a good level while putting heavy emphasis on groove'.... I get that,but how will you approach it?
Will you be showing licks and playing songs,or will you be explaining how to create music? Will you be explaining the basics
of scales and arpeggios and then expanding on them and using them musically? Will you be showing the student at least the basics
of reading or will it all be ear and tablature?

The main reason I'm asking,is because in your opening post you mention right at the beginning and right at the end that it's about
the money as your finances are bad. I can understand why you'd think that you could earn a bit from teaching,but I wonder if you
are actually thinking of teaching for the right reasons.[/quote]

+ 1

There's also a huge diffence between you WANTING to teach for a bit of money, and actually being able to/knowing how to teach.

Being able to adapt to the student and changing your approach so that it maximises their learning is crucial. As is making sure that the pupil feels like they are progressing and that you facilitate progression so that they can move forward in every lesson (even if that means small steps) and so they know they are getting quality tuition for the money they have paid.

The second that the student realises you're just using them as a cash machine and don't care about how they are progressing and aren't helping them to move forward as a player/musician, they will just stop the lessons. End of.

[DazBoot88]

My intentions for teaching are genuine, the comment about the finances were not related to why i want to teach but it means i could do with finding ways to get more lessons quicker. Thanks for all the advise given and i totally agree with being a good player doesn't make you a good teacher. I have thought about teaching for the past few months and it's not something that i've jumped at and thought that'll make me a few quid. I may have opened this post poorly but i was only after a bit of advise about the best way to advertise and didn't mean to come across in any negative way.