Bass Lessons
Jonathan Randall
Musician / Bass Player / Bass Teacher
Online LESSONS
It is not always possible to have “in person” lessons. Maybe you live in a remote area or the teacher you want to study with lives in another state, or maybe you just want to be able to relax and have your music lessons in the comfort of your own home. As such, I offer the very convenient option of Online Bass Guitar lessons using ZOOM or JamKazam.
All you need is a computer with a video camera and a microphone, good internet connectivity, some headphones and a little patience getting things set up. With this method of lesson delivery, you can have your lessons occur in real-time in the comfort of your own home.
So what are the pro’s and cons :
PRO’s:
Very convenient
No wasted travel time
Might be the only way to access your own live bass teacher due to location or time constraints
CON’s:
Lessons have to be a bit more structured as it helps a lot if I can send a lesson plan and materials ahead of the lesson to you.
The technology is still emerging - so some patience to set up the equipment and connection plus some tolerance for disconnections - honestly this has been minimal.
Sound quality - using Zoom and your computer’s microphone means that the quality of what I hear as well as what you receive can be fuzzy. This does NOT affect my ability to help you with playing issues but can be annoying. To resolve this I recommend getting a dedicated microphone and audio interface for your bass (approximately $150) as well as switching from Zoom to JamKazam (which can be Free or up to $8 a month) - this is something we can discuss if you really want to have a more seamless lesson (after you’ve had some initial lessons)
Patience - Especially using zoom - Unlike an “in person” lesson we have to take it in turns playing and talking - which if you have used Zoom before you will be familiar with. JamKazam resolves this to some degree but its still not quite the same as an in person lesson.
WHATS THE HONEST TRUTH - Having done this for a few years now I think this is a great method of delivery as long as you can be patient and understand the limitations. As is the case for all my lessons - given the $35 cost and the fact that lessons usually go for between 50 minutes and 90 minutes this is great value for money especially for busy people.
I currently have students in Australia who do structured Online lessons with me at the beginner and intermediate level as well as more advanced level students in the USA who are more focussed on learning specific songs