Adam Neely
- Brooklyn, NY 11211 (map)
- (240) 274-4378
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Bass Guitar Teacher
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Adam Neely • Brooklyn, NY • $40 per hour
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Hey, my name is Adam, and I'm an electric bass teacher with a passion for teaching. I'm a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, and I am a Berklee-certified music tutor in music theory, ear training, and composition.
I do all styles of music, from rock to funk to jazz to pop to everything in between, and teach beginning fundamentals all the way up to advanced soloistic techniques. I'm an experienced performer who has tours and performs often in the New York, Boston, and Washington DC areas.
I pride myself on being attuned to exactly what students need to do to improve and give them the tools and knowledge to take their musicianship and their playing to the next level.
When students might have learned piecemeal before - just learning what they can off the internet or elsewhere - I fill in the gaps in their learning, whether it be technique (posture, breathing, movement, and fingering), theory (arpeggios, chords, chord functions, modes, and keys), or general musicianship (reading, practice techniques, and learning and memorizing songs, etc).
I'm also big into e-learning. I teach Skype lessons also and have a YouTube channel (search "havic5" on YouTube) with over 280,000 views and 1,000 subscribers where I post bass lessons and recordings of me playing. Here are a few comments posted on videos from the channel:
"Greetings from the UK. These are by far the best bass tutorials that I've seen on YouTube. You explain your ideas very clearly and this is just the type of material that I need to push my playing on to the next level. Fantastic stuff, thank you so much!" - BlalddGlas
"Hi! My name is Fernando I'm a bassist from the south of Brazil and I have been studying chord-melody for a while now. During my research on the technique I found out your videos and it was very good to see someone thinking the bass playing and the harmony concepts like I do. So first of all, I want to complement you for your wonderful work!" - Thunderblind
"Outstanding explanation! I wish someone would have explained this to me years ago! After checking out your lesson, I need to do some homework. I'm going to refer this lesson to a bunch of musicians I know. Excellent bass playing too! Great work! Genius!" - Learn4stringbass
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Adam
Question and answer
Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. Not all great players are great teachers, and quite a few of them are just terrible at explaining how they do what they do. It takes a real desire to teach, and it might take a while to find a teacher that really loves what they do in showing others the joys of music and isn't just doing it for financial reasons.
My suggestion is to schedule a short consultation with the teacher so they can see you play and then give you a brief idea of what they might work on you with based upon your playing and what your stated goals are. Many teachers do this for free, and it acts as a sort of "pitch" for them to show what they are about and whether or not you would be a good fit with them.
Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?
A. The life of a professional musician is an entrepreneurial one, and in order to make a living playing music, musicians must be able to wear a number of different hats. Very often music teachers do a number of other things besides teach, including performing, writing, arranging, and music directing in a wide variety of musical styles and situations.
One thing that's rather misleading is a private teacher's hourly rate. There is often a lot of preparation that goes into an hour lesson, and there is an average weekly retention rate for even the best organized teachers of 70%, accounting for cancellations, and missed lessons. This means that although a teacher's rate might sometimes seem high, they usually have to do that in order to cover a lot of other factors.
Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?
A. People looking to get a music teacher should ask what progress they expect to make over a certain amount of time, and what goals could be considered realistic given the amount of time they have to practice and what level they are starting at, whether it be learning a certain song, or playing a certain scale, or whatever. They should also also ask what payment expectations are, what the cancellation policy is, what the teaching studio is equipped with, and whether or not books and materials are included in the price of the lesson.
Also important, if people are looking to study with a certain person for the long term, is asking why they teach music. The answer to this question can wildly vary.
