Bass lessons for all ages, styles, and levels
Richard Rabatin teaches beginning, intermediate, and advanced bass lessons from first graders to professionals in many musical styles from the 1940s to the present: Rock Buitar Lessons, Blues Bass Lessons, Walking Bass, RnB, Funk, Metal, Country, and more. The lessons are very informal, personalized, extremely flexible and are – for most students – geared toward pure FUN: You choose the direction of the lessons, the songs and styles that you like and that you're most motivated to learn.
Beginners learn basic elements such as posture and hand positions while playing real music that you choose – no exercises. Elementary school students can learn songs they're already familiar with: from nursery rhymes to Disney or Sesame Street. Adolescents and adults can learn easy rock songs like classic rock by the Beatles, to modern day artists like Taylor Swift, the Black Keys, Sublime, etc.
Intermediate players choose from more complicated pieces they are interested in whether classic rock like Led Zeppelin, or Sublime, Green Day, The Chili Peppers, Steely Dan, grunge, metal, etc. The songs may include higher positions on the guitar neck, slap style and solos. Optionally students can play along with CDs or mp3s note for note.
Advanced players will learn more complicated chords, solos and techniques. Examples might be John Entwistle, Flea, Eric Wilson, Bob Weir, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooton, etc. High school students can work on reading music for jazz band, speed and technique exercises, and complete neck visualization, and how to pick things out from CDs using technology, software, etc.
Flexibility
At all stages the direction and intensity of the lessons are completely flexible based on the student's likes – from the pure fun of learning music by favorite bands and bassists, to very advanced career-oriented or professional materials. We invite you to explore our teaching philosophy for specifics on the learning process at Stony Brook School of Music.
ADDITIONAL LESSONS AVAILABLE
Guitar and piano taught by Richard Rabatin
Woodwind and brass lessons by other qualified instructors
Lessons in music skills including improvisation, song writing, ear training, composition, harmony, picking music out from CDs, and more taught by Richard Rabatin
