What bass "bootcamps" are out there?

AcridSaint

AcridSaint

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Jan 30, 2012
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I don't play well.
#1
Hey everyone, I was hoping you could tell me of any other bass camps you've heard of or been to other than Victor Wooten's camp and Gerald Veasley's. I'm doing some research before attending one.

I know that there are also a couple of "jazz camps", but I don't know if I'm good enough to attend one.

EDIT: Sorry admins, not sure what I was thinking putting this under "Basses", please help me move it to the right place.
 
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#5
Killed_by_Death said:
A friend of mine went to V.W.'s camp & said it changed his life:

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Aha! A Volkswagen sponsored event (Kidding)
images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTf5DV-dvi14GNyAujFIk715cykOncGWip_2IouUV-LkKmWvjWP.jpg

Edit: Hey! Upon further reflection, this was entirely a coincidental pun of this being a Camper Van and the topic being a Bass Camp.
 
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#7
nostatic said:
Changed my life far beyond music.

If all you want is to get good on your instrument, start doing Skype lessons with Anthony Wellington.
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Anthony is someone who I consider a big influence and someone I'd like to take lessons from, but I currently take lessons locally with someone I'm quite happy with and also recently started online lessons for some technique specific stuff. So, I don't know that I have "space" currently for another instructor full-time. A bootcamp is something I've wanted to do for a while, where I can go and spend several days working on what I love to do. If Ant offered something similar in MD, I probably wouldn't even consider any other camp.
 
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#8
AcridSaint said:
Anthony is someone who I consider a big influence and someone I'd like to take lessons from, but I currently take lessons locally with someone I'm quite happy with and also recently started online lessons for some technique specific stuff. So, I don't know that I have "space" currently for another instructor full-time. A bootcamp is something I've wanted to do for a while, where I can go and spend several days working on what I love to do. If Ant offered something similar in MD, I probably wouldn't even consider any other camp.
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Anthony and I rode up together to Gerald Vesley's camp one time, since at the time I was his student and he was a neighbor of mine. He was going to be teaching there. The camp was good, but I soon realized that while there were many instructors there from different parts of the world, I already had the best teacher there as a private instructor, so I didn't go back again.

You may like the guy you are studying with, but I'm here to tell you that I don't care who it is, he is not on Anthony's level in any way, shape, form or fashion. You want to talk about life changing... I can't begin to describe it... Honestly there are players with more chops, speed, etc. than Anthony, but I don't think there is a better teacher anywhere on the planet. I doubt there's anyone that can out-slap him either, lol.
 
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#9
I wanted to add that while I think the bootcamps are a good experience and a great hang, I didn't really learn that much at the one I attended. Learning takes a lot of focused effort and you really don't have time to focus that much. Others might have had a different experience.

Also if you don't already have your s**t together, they can be intimidating. I had to play some stuff in front of a bunch of people and I had only been playing like 6 months at the time. So that kinda sucked. Also, if you are really new, you don't know exactly how to absorb what is being presented.

Having said all that, I've been playing and gigging for awhile now, so I think I'd like to attend the Victor camp.

Edit: I said before I didn't learn that much, but that's not really true at all after I thought about it. Musically, I didn't learn that much, but there was a guy who taught us about stretching and maintaining your body for performance and I still use his techniques and have everyday since I learned them. I think because of them, even at my age (57) I can practice literally 6 or 7 hours and not feel any effects. 4 hour standing gigs are no problem.
 
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#10
Spin Doctor said:
I wanted to add that while I think the bootcamps are a good experience and a great hang, I didn't really learn that much at the one I attended. Learning takes a lot of focused effort and you really don't have time to focus that much. Others might have had a different experience.

Also if you don't already have your s**t together, they can be intimidating. I had to play some stuff in front of a bunch of people and I had only been playing like 6 months at the time. So that kinda sucked. Also, if you are really new, you don't know exactly how to absorb what is being presented.

Having said all that, I've been playing and gigging for awhile now, so I think I'd like to attend the Victor camp.
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Well, I consider my self a beginning intermediate player, lol. I've been playing 5 years, so I can get around my bass. I'm also the kind of person who gets a lot out of dedicated learning time like this, and learning with other people around. Sometimes I'm less than stellar just playing and learning by myself, which is the other reason I like taking in-person lessons very regularly.

I approach this the same way I did language learning, when I learned Japanese some of my best progress was just showing up to the country and using it with other people, it was also some of the best motivation I would have coming back to study harder.
 
#11
AcridSaint said:
Well, I consider my self a beginning intermediate player, lol. I've been playing 5 years, so I can get around my bass. I'm also the kind of person who gets a lot out of dedicated learning time like this, and learning with other people around. Sometimes I'm less than stellar just playing and learning by myself, which is the other reason I like taking in-person lessons very regularly.

I approach this the same way I did language learning, when I learned Japanese some of my best progress was just showing up to the country and using it with other people, it was also some of the best motivation I would have coming back to study harder.
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I'd say your best bet is to join a band. Lessons are very valuable, but it's just information. I didn't learn to actually play and control my instrument until I started gigging.
 
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#14
Spin Doctor said:
You want to talk about life changing... I can't begin to describe it.
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I wish someone would try to describe it, because I get a similar response from the local bass player who went to V.W.'s camp.


Spin Doctor said:
there was a guy who taught us about stretching and maintaining your body for performance and I still use his techniques and have everyday since I learned them. I think because of them, even at my age (57) I can practice literally 6 or 7 hours and not feel any effects.
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I didn't learn stretching techniques from the camp directly, but my friend shared some with me that indeed changed my life.
Prior to learning the stretches I couldn't play for more than 45 minutes/day without jacking up my arm, sort of a tennis-elbow feeling. (to the point that I couldn't even lift a bottle with my left arm)
After I learned the stretches & did them for only two days I was able to play for 3 hours straight, and of course I'm still doing the exercises daily.

Can you share any of the stuff you learned?
or is there some sort of disclaimer?
 
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#15
Killed_by_Death said:
I wish someone would try to describe it, because I get a similar response from the local bass player who went to V.W.'s camp.
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Well, Learning with Anthony one on one is life changing, but if you have been to their clinics, the thing about when Victor and Anthony get together, you get that whole Yoda/Obi One thing in real life. And they have a way of presenting the same information in so many ways that you'd have to try not to understand it. You should just try it and see.

I've not been to the Victor camp, but I know it's more like a retreat in the woods which I think would add to the experience. Gerald has his in a hotel which is cool but it can't be as cool as Victors
 
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#17
Spin Doctor said:
Anthony and I rode up together to Gerald Vesley's camp one time, since at the time I was his student and he was a neighbor of mine. He was going to be teaching there. The camp was good, but I soon realized that while there were many instructors there from different parts of the world, I already had the best teacher there as a private instructor, so I didn't go back again.

You may like the guy you are studying with, but I'm here to tell you that I don't care who it is, he is not on Anthony's level in any way, shape, form or fashion. You want to talk about life changing... I can't begin to describe it... Honestly there are players with more chops, speed, etc. than Anthony, but I don't think there is a better teacher anywhere on the planet. I doubt there's anyone that can out-slap him either, lol.
Click to expand...

My old teacher Victor Wooten would give anyone a run for their money in the Slapping show-down
 
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