I agree because new bass players see Youtube as a source of credible learning. But, it sadly isn't.I'll take it one step further in that YouTube is accelerating the death of music education.
These days one isn't even learning from his "rock god hero". One is learning a "riff" or a song from some kid sitting on his bed with a Gopro camera or am iPhone who also happens to be a huge fan of the rock god. So even the possibility of learning from a rock star who happens to be a horrible teacher has been replaced by learning from "Zack from Sheboygan" sitting on his Star Wars sheets.
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Jeff Berlin says - Being a Fan is Hurting Your Playing!
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Depends on who one is a fan of. I'm a huge fan of Will Lee and Nathan East and similar workhorse bassists as well as all the funk bassists from the 70's. However, I have always been the kind of player that focuses on the groove. Giving the music just what it needs. Just solid bass playing. And vocal support. If anything, I get knocks for not being a showboat. I don't think either Nathan or Will have 'licks' or 'things' they do that would hurt my playing. I tend to absorb things from many different bassists. But no bad habit type of things.
I'm glad I was taught the basics of music early on in piano lessons. But after that, usually I prefer to figure things out on my own. I get inspiration from certain players and parts, and try to play it like they did. Eventually I'll get it, learning a lot along the way, sometimes creating something new and cool. After I get it myself, I do find it very interesting to go see how they did it, or how others do it. Then I can choose to incorporate some or all of their method, or keep mine. But this way at least I give myself a chance to learn something different than what's been done, otherwise I never will. Same reason when I learned off sheet music I'd leave the tablature elsewhere. I like the idea of everybody having their own way of doing things and still accomplishing essentially the same thing. That's how we got to where we are, with such a variety of players out there who learned before we had the ability to be spoonfed information at a mouseclick or fingerswipe. I don't like the idea of everybody's learning having to be stamped out identically because there is only one "right" way.
The players I am fans of... they're not gods to me. They're worlds better than I'll ever be but they're not perfect. Their playing is human and I like that. Fingers on the strings just like anyone else. Listening to how each time they play the same passage, it sounds just a little bit different. It's not a computer sample, it's the real deal. Also many of them aren't the greatest teachers, they just play because they can. I wouldn't be upset if they couldn't teach well, technique wasn't absolutely perfect.... Only thing I'd not be happy about is if they were major jerks but that's not just with music.
The players I am fans of... they're not gods to me. They're worlds better than I'll ever be but they're not perfect. Their playing is human and I like that. Fingers on the strings just like anyone else. Listening to how each time they play the same passage, it sounds just a little bit different. It's not a computer sample, it's the real deal. Also many of them aren't the greatest teachers, they just play because they can. I wouldn't be upset if they couldn't teach well, technique wasn't absolutely perfect.... Only thing I'd not be happy about is if they were major jerks but that's not just with music.
The fan admiration that I refer to is that some who follow bass players that teach bass see them as without the capability of being either wrong in their teaching or being poor teachers. Even beyond this, it is considered unacceptable to even question their expertise. Fans enter into a mentality resembling a cult because the "Leader" is never questioned and their teachings are taken as practically divine. This is why being a fan can hurt your playing, because your fan love is preventing people from knowing the truth about their favorite bass player's capability to teach.
But, being a fan, a total devotee to the playing of a musician is entirely different because there is no declaration by the teacher/bass players that some form of academic achievement is imminent. Loving a musician for their artistry is one of the highest forms of both flattery for the artist and a launchpad for the fan looking to learn how to play by ear. This is how practically every non-trained musician in history got into playing.
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My videos are centered in the teaching of musical content. Or they advise people to not trust the videos or lessons of people that don't have academic musical backgrounds and to seek videos and teachers of people that do.
My videos don't teach unproven methods. Mike Titlebaum's videos fit this approach as well such as this one.
I agree with you. My chance is to advise bass fans to not be so available to believe that their favorite bass teachers are perfect and beyond question. The reason that bass standards are so low ironically, isn't because there are poor bass teachers out there. It is because people allow this to happen. They finance schools unworthy of the insane tuitions that they charge people, and they behave as cult members. not music consumers when their favorite bass teachers teach them. These are the people that have a hand in how low the quality of learning bass has gone.
I would like to advise people that there is a much better way to view learning and invite people to seek higher standards of bass education instead of seeing bass instructors and music schools as perfect. They're not! People can still love the bass playing of their former teachers even as they seek improved ways to learn how to play the bass. And, if people are interested, they can save themselves huge amounts of tuition fees and learn the bass better than they could ever imagine.
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Jeff, I suspect that you, like me, are spitting into the wind trying to get across to some (many) people that there's more to music than playing only the songs you like in only the style you like with the equipment you like. It's a reason I appreciate those who teach; I haven't got what it takes. At least I haven't got what it takes unless the student is under twelve and doesn't yet know more than every teacher.
I never had any interest in telling any bass players that there's more to playing bass than just playing songs. But, I do have an interest in telling people who are attending a music school, who buy and learn bass lessons on-line, or who are fans of bass players who teach that they are not receiving the kind of information that will help them to play better that they think that they are getting.
My views are entirely focused on academic learning for pay or academic instruction by influential musicians. I did a tour in Asia a couple of years ago and followed this up with a European trip a couple of weeks later. In both places, I did interviews where the interviewers discussed my thoughts on bass education. What caught my ear was that in two interviews, both interviewers expressed how beneficial it was for them to wear blindfolds believing that this helped them to listen better. This is a completely false point of musical improvement for several reasons that I'll get into another time. But it was sobering to notice that people on two continents were influenced by lessons offered from America that literally don't work in helping people to listen or hear better.
This influenced me to comment on academic lessons, not one's artistic choices which I have no interest in discussing. But, my experience in Asia and Europe happened so often at clinics and chatting with people interested in learning how to play better that I concluded that the bass educational system is ill and that I wanted to share this with people. I knew long ago that most kids would reject my views outright as it is a very hard thing to regard what you are being taught by taking a couple of steps backwards and thinking about what is being taught to you. But, mixed into this overwhelming majority are a few people who are dedicated to musical improvement and who will at least think about what I share before they decide if my comments have merit or not.
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Besides the traditional music store lessons and bass clinics, there seems to be a new bass teacher on the internet everyday. It's getting to be a bit overwhelming. How do we, as students, locate a qualified teacher or program specifically for bass guitar? I've never encountered any difficulty like this for upright bass.
That's a wholly expected TB spin on my point. You read past the two uses of "only" in the post.
I deleted my post because I realized (obviously too late) that I didn't want to get into an subjective argument that I didn't care about.
I've never seen such a teaching before. This is cool because it's practical and musical.
I think what's happening in our world is that despite the proliferation of information over the internet, something insidious is leading the world into another dark age. How can it be done? By serving people Doritos instead of filet mignon.
It's not "despite" the internet, it's partly because of it. The "democratization" of the ability to publish (anyone can create a web site, anyone can post videos on YouTube) means that there is no longer a distinction between qualified professionals and people who know little or nothing. Again, this is not limited to music. We see the same thing with crackpots of all sorts building up huge followings among ignorant and stupid people on a wide range of topics: science, politics, religion, etc. It turns out that there was actually some value in having professionals decide what was worth publishing and what wasn't.
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I don't think that you will for upright because upright teachers have all been taught the same way using mostly the same material. And the result has always been that upright players that fully participated in learning as other upright players did always got better.
Electric bass education isn't constructed on solid methods. Everyone has their own method and most people love this not realizing that this is exactly what has prevented most bass players from improving. It's ironic when you think about it. I am dedicated to make bass players aware of this even in the face of a great resistance to the truth of learning. This resistance happens for several reasons, but the main on is that electric bass students/players are fans of schools, websites, and bass players that teach who are not teaching correctly even thought people believe that they are. I really would like to help open the eyes of people as they will be the musical beneficiaries of their newly found awareness.
It is how almost all music is taught outside of how the electric bass is taught. You and others have no idea about the low standards of teaching bass that are being taught to you and others. It shocks me which is why i try to let people know even if many don't wish to hear about it.
Perhaps from this video and my thoughts, you can seek a better way to learn the bass. I hope so and wish you the best of luck.
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