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Steve Lawson - lessons in and around BIRMINGHAM (changed)


Steve Lawson
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Hey all,

I'm back from 7 weeks in the States, and am teaching again, should anyone be interested. Am still in the middle of moving house, so am teaching in student's homes in and around London - £60 for a two hour lesson, including travel (that's the money includes the travel, not the time!), unless you're within 15 minutes of Watford/Rickmansworth, in which case I'll do one hour lessons for £30.

For more info on teaching/music/me see www.stevelawson.net

cheers!

Steve Lawson
www.stevelawson.net

Edited by Steve Lawson
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Steve, will you be doing lessons from your home again once your move is sorted out ( it would give us out of london folk a stationary target to aim at), If so when do you think it would be possible. I would be looking to get some lessons after the hectic summer has past.

All the best
Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all - status update! I'm moving to Herne Hill, South London this week, very close to Herne Hill train station (if you're coming from the north, I think there's a fast train from Victoria, or a slower bus from Euston), v. easy to get to, and I start teaching there next week... Please drop me a PM or an email if you want to book a lesson in - it'll be £25 a hour, or £45 for two hours, or I'm still happy to come to you for £60 for two hours...

cheers,

Steve

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With summer coming up, and some students heading off home from London for the holidays, I'll have a little more space for lessons, if anyone's interested. I'm in Herne Hill in South London - send me a pm or check my website at www.stevelawson.net for more info!

Steve

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[quote name='valentine' post='216442' date='Jun 10 2008, 09:32 PM']ent 30 quid for 1 hour quite expensive? like the going rate is 15/20 quid as far as i know per hour

id want flea or victer wooten teaching me for 30 quid an hour haha[/quote]

Think Steve is an exceptional bass player, I would love to be able to have some lessons - too far to travel for me.

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[quote name='valentine' post='216442' date='Jun 10 2008, 09:32 PM']ent 30 quid for 1 hour quite expensive? like the going rate is 15/20 quid as far as i know per hour

id want flea or victer wooten teaching me for 30 quid an hour haha[/quote]

You get what you pay for. Steve is a respected educator.
There's a saying:
Buy cheap, buy twice.
you'll learn more in one lesson from people of Steves calibre than you will in five years of lessons from someone who is cheap because they can't hold on to students.

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While I clearly don't think £30 would be a lot to pay for a lesson (I know a lot of teachers charging considerably more than that), I think you'll find, if you read it, that that's what I was charging for me to come to you for an hour... which is a steal. (assuming you actually wanted a lesson with me - if you don't, then £10 for 5 hours would still be a waste of money...) As it is, I'll still travel to student's houses sometimes, and charge £60 for a two hour lesson - I don't really do one hour visits to student's houses now, as it's just not a sensible use of my time.

So, just to clarify, if you come to me, it's £25 an hour or £45 for a two hour lesson. If I come to you and you're in London, it's £60 for a two hour lesson.

The principle though is as said before, a good teacher (and the right teacher for you) is worth whatever it costs. A crap teacher doesn't become a worthwhile teacher just because they cost less... If I was looking for a teacher, I'd find the one I wanted and have lessons less frequently if they were too expensive for me with that person, rather than just get any old teacher who happened to be cheap.

£25 an hour is a lot less than I could charge, I just don't want to make music lessons into some kind of rich-person's privilege. I still need to pay the bills, so I find a happy medium that works for me. Some people will still think it's too much, others will feel like they've got the bargain of a lifetime. C'est la vie.

Steve

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  • 4 weeks later...

A few more bits to add........
I was charging £20 in S.W. London 8/10 years ago. I had to, I was trying to make a living and those prices then were definitely lower than many other pro players were charging. I'd had 20 years playing experience by then so there was a lot of experience on offer from sessions, touring, depping, school teaching seminars etc.
I did travel to some students houses but added £5. I drove through rush hour for longer than the lesson took!
I was told that classical players paid a heck of a lot more for much shorter lesson times.
My first lesson was with a hopeless teacher. I didn't learn anything at all over three useless lessons. He finally gave in and told me he couldn't teach me anymore than I already knew! People like him "dabble" at teaching and often because they aren't good enough to hold down a band gig(s) or cut it live.
I was on a session once and the sax player was not hesitant to tell me that he did a lot of teaching. The more experienced of us that day sat back and waited for this "not so pro player" to do his thing. Sure enough he was hopeless, fluffing even the most basic stabs and eventually a real sax man (Derrick Nash) was called in.
I think Steve's rates are very good AND he will travel to your house, across London! Man, that is an offer to take.

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+1

£30 inc travel is a bargain for someone of Steve's calibre. Professional musicians don't spend their entire lives studying an instrument to come away with hardly anything at the end of it. Factor in how long it takes to travel to yours and back home again and the cost of that travel. The teacher is looking at just over £10 per hr taking those into consideration. Charge £15 per lesson as Valentine said, well, that's slave labour!

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  • 2 weeks later...

i ent read in this post in ages,and i agree steve is a great player but being a student 25 quid for a 1 hour lesson would probs be out of reach and something i couldn't do weekly,but i get your point on the sayings you learn more from a good teacher in one lesson than a bad one over 5 lessons,i will take heed of this when picking my next tutor.

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Hi Steve, so i sold my lined fretless sei and managed to get my hands on a wonderful 79 fretless stingray that sounds and feels amazing but i am struggling a bit getting my left hand positioning together (as the bass is unlined and using my eye is only so helpful i figured the best thing to do would be to get my hands knowing almost exactly where they have to go before i do any thing) and thought maybe a few lessons with someone who plays a lot of fretless would be helpful.

are you teaching in london at the moment, im in harrow and am cool to travel.

cheers

Dave

Edited by fretless bob
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[quote name='horribleman' post='471710' date='Apr 24 2009, 04:59 PM']Hi - I work in the City - although I wouldn't be able to bring my bass on the train. Do you have spare basses that students can use?[/quote]

Not really, sadly - I only own one 4 string bass, and prefer not to teach someone playing 4 string on a 6 string. I've got a few students in your situation though, so I may buy one that I'll make available for a nominal hourly rental... Would that work?

drop me a PM and we'll sort out details. If you're in the City, you're walking distance from me :)

Steve

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  • 3 months later...

[quote name='Steve Lawson' post='471947' date='Apr 25 2009, 12:01 AM']Not really, sadly - I only own one 4 string bass, and prefer not to teach someone playing 4 string on a 6 string. I've got a few students in your situation though, so I may buy one that I'll make available for a nominal hourly rental... Would that work?

drop me a PM and we'll sort out details. If you're in the City, you're walking distance from me :)

Steve[/quote]

Hi steve,Really interested in lessons ,i can drive to tower brigde no probs wana try and expand my playing and notes,
i got rythm and enthusiasm and here great riffs in my head but just got barriers i need to break down, and u were recomended.
Kindest regards
Ziggy./john.

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