Bass Guitar Lessons

The bass guitar is the low end of any band, in any style of music. Traditionally it’s played with the fingers, but as drummers and guitars got louder, bassists learned to pick too — so the bass can be heard, whatever the volume.

I teach bass at every level, working through the patterns most common across contemporary music, with a focus on the ones that matter most in your style of choice. Wherever you want to sit in the mix, we build the groove and the fireworks together.

New to the bass?

We start with some basic patterns in pop and rock styles, getting your timing and your fingers working together, then move on to more elaborate techniques and timings across other genres as you grow. No bass yet? No problem — I can point you at the right first instrument before we begin.

Already play?

My lessons can fill in the basics you may have missed over the years, or brush up techniques that have gone rusty. Play well but don’t quite understand what you’re playing? I’ll teach you to crack the code — so you start putting your own bass lines together, faster.

Your first three months on bass

Month one is the right hand and the clock. We set your plucking hand up — index and middle alternating, and muting the strings you are not playing, which is the half of bass nobody tells beginners about — get you reading TAB and naming the notes along the E and A strings, and lock a simple root-note line to a click or a drum loop. By the end of it you can hold a three-chord song from start to finish without the pulse wandering.

Month two brings in the fretting hand and the shapes: one-finger-per-fret position playing, the major and minor pentatonic boxes, octaves, and the root–fifth–octave moves that sit under most rock and pop. We start reading a chord chart and building your own line from it, rather than copying someone else’s note for note.

Month three is where it starts sounding like music. In come the plectrum as a second tone, eighth- and sixteenth-note subdivisions, ghost notes, slides and hammer-ons — and playing along to real tracks in whichever styles are on your list, be that Motown, rock, funk, reggae or metal. Most students have two or three full songs under their fingers by this point.

Where the level goes after that

From there the path splits by what you actually want. Groove players go deeper into feel and dynamics: subdividing, sitting fractionally behind or ahead of the beat, locking to a drummer’s kick, and knowing when to leave a bar empty. Players after the fireworks move on to three-octave scales and modes, slap and pop, tapping, chordal bass, and walking lines over blues and jazz changes. Either way, reading, theory and ear work keep running alongside, so that when you hear a line you can find it instead of hunting for it.

Graded bass exams, if you want them

Grades are entirely optional — plenty of good bassists never sit one — but if you want a structured target, bass guitar lessons here can follow the RGT or LCM bass syllabi, which make a sound spine for a year’s work. If exams are not your thing the milestones are simpler: your first complete song, your first time playing with a live drummer, and the first bass line you wrote yourself.

I’ve been teaching myself bass since start of 2022, and decided to get lessons with Malcolm during the summer of 2023 as I wanted guidance to help learn the bass guitar and music theory efficiently (not quickly). As of December 2024 I passed my grade 5 bass exam with a merit all thanks to Malcolm!— Skyler, bass guitar student

Where lessons happen

In-studio in London SE16 — Rotherhithe, Canada Water and Surrey Quays — at your place anywhere within TfL Zone 3, including Bermondsey and Borough (SE1), Walworth (SE17), Deptford (SE8), New Cross and Peckham (SE14, SE15), Lewisham (SE13) and Canary Wharf (E14), or live online worldwide over Zoom/similar. Get in touch and we’ll pick what fits you best. I teach music lessons right across South East London — see the areas I cover →.