I went there for an evaluation. The teacher I met (Terry Gregory) suggested that rather than have a structured course I could have one to one lessons as and when.
I was told to bring my bass, but was not asked to plug it in or actually play anything.
Mr Gregory spent 5 minutes talking to me about the place, asked me how much experience I had, then asked to have a look at my bass. He had a quick strum and showed me how well he could play a right hooker upside down/left handed (as he is).
He then sent me to reception to pay my £10 evaluation fee and told me to call him when I was ready for a lesson, at the rate of £18 per hour. It cost me ten quid for ten minutes where I did nothing.
What really pissed me off is that I made the effort to drive down from
Leicester on a Saturday and got just about nothing for my evaluation. I was quite prepared to travel on Saturdays down to London for a decent lesson but after the evaluation I changed my mind based on that initial meeting.
Looking back it was probably a bit ambitious of me to think that I could get to London once a fortnight for a one hour bass lesson - the evaluation meeting changed my mind for me.
You may well have a different experience to me, just my suggestion that you make sure you get the right course and your moneys worth.
If London is accessible for you then I would suggest you have a chat with
Steve Lawson. He gives private tuition when he is not on the road, knows his stuff and is a thoroughly nice bloke. He sometimes posts on this forum, but I think his website is
www.steve-lawson.co.uk
I have e-mailed him a couple of times and actually had a chat with him when
I saw him supporting Level 42 in Leicester.
He would be my choice for a teacher if I could get to London a little easier.
Alternatively, nip in to the Bass Gallery in Camden and ask Martin Peterson who he would suggest. I believe that Alex is there who used to work at the
Bass Centre (I bought one of his guitars) - he may give lessons.
I'm thinking of going to do a few part-time courses at BassTech in Acton,
London, but first I want to hear what people's personal experience was when studying there. Was it worth the money? Was it worth it overall? I'm a self-taught bassist (and ex-guitarist) who'se been playing bass for about 8 years, but due to being totally self-taught, I'm finding myself stuck in a bit of a groove (and not the Vic Wooten type)
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