Through The Bass Teacher, I guide musicians beyond the mechanics of playing notes. We focus on the essential building blocks covering technique through to individual expression. This means developing a physical connection to the instrument, understanding the harmony that shapes the music, and internalising rhythms to enable the flow of solid musical ideas. My goal is to equip you with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills to play well, compose, improvise, and enjoy playing bass with absolute confidence, supporting your unique musical voice towards playing to make music.
Follow a structured learning pathway designed to strengthen the essential areas of bass playing. Across the three course blocks, you’ll develop technique, harmony, timing, feel, improvisation and a deeper understanding of your role as a bass player.
Each block focuses on a specific stage of development, allowing you to build strong foundations before progressing into more advanced musical applications.
Work directly with Yolanda through personalised lessons shaped around your current level, musical interests and individual goals.
One-to-one tuition gives you the space to focus on the areas that matter most to your playing, whether that means improving technique, understanding harmony, strengthening timing and feel, developing improvisation skills or finding your own musical voice.
Block One covers the Fundamentals of playing & practicing bass, learning technique, essential harmony and the harmonic structure of the instrument.
Block Two is focused Timing Feel and Technique. In this block we study phrasing, internalising the pulse by learning subdivisions, and the more subtle components of how to communicate Feel is covered. This block also introduces the elements of slap bass that allow the learner to write unique slap bass riffs rather than practicing the riffs that are usually taught.
Block Three is for intermediate and above players who have covered the topics in Block One either independently or have completed my Block One Course. In the module we apply the topics covered in Essential Harmony to explore playing the Blues, covering Walking Bass, Jazz Blues, Blues Funk, Blues Rock. I teach how to improvise riffs through the chord sequence as well sharing effective soloing techniques.
Bassist, composer, bandleader and educator, Yolanda Charles has been teaching bass since 1989. Alongside her work at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and the University of Cambridge, she has built a distinguished career as a session musician, working with artists including Paul Weller, Queen, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Robbie Williams and Hans Zimmer.
In 2020, she was awarded an MBE for services to music in the UK. Her teaching combines technical development with real-world musicianship, helping bass players build confidence, musical understanding and an individual voice.
Whether you’re ready to join the Building Blocks of Bass course or would prefer personalised one-to-one tuition, take the next step towards becoming a more confident, expressive and complete bass player.
Patrick