Found a teacher!

[Cheshire Chris]

I've found a teacher now and my practice sessions are much more "structured" as a result and I'm making far better progress. Each practice session I begin with practicing scales and arpeggios, then do exercises to develop muscle memory for accurate jumps between basses (eg going from C to A or A to G), and only at the end do I play tunes. Really enjoying it and making good progress through Palmer-Hughes Book 1. My teacher also gives me tunes and exercises to work on.

Chris

 

[olivigus]

That's great, Chris! I just got back from my lesson in San Jose. I feel really lucky to have found a teacher, I am gathering they are in short supply out there. I really like that at my lessons he is teaching me harmonies and chord patterns that are found in many different songs from different places. That's something I would not/could not do on my own. Then I try to find a simple version of a song that has similar patterns to learn and practice at home. I was just thinking today that I need to be more disciplined in my practice sessions. Maybe play something I've learned that sounds halfway decent at first for fun and to warm up, but then really focus on technique and exercises for at least half the time. Leaving tunes for the end as a reward seems like a good idea.

 

[TomBR]

That's great Chris, one of the great things about a (good) teacher is that they can give specific advice based on what you're doing.
One of the reasons I took up clarinet, with a teacher, a couple of years ago was being inspired by hearing about my wife's 'cello lessons.

Your topic heading immediately brought to mind that great song "Found a peanut!" (Peanut, not hazlenut since we don't want to go off Topic!)