bass course tutors

You will learn advanced rhythm section skills and learn how to fuse your lines with professional drummers and guitar players to studio standards. At BIMM we are commited to our bass department: two of our directors are bass players!

		Dan Mckinna - Head of Bass Dan held down bass duties for the fantastic Straw (Warner Music, Columbia) as well as The Jeevas (Cowboy Music, Sony Japan) with Kula Shaker’s Crispian Mills. With BIMM’s own Andy Nixon on drums, they’ve become one of the best powerhouse rhythm sections around, and have toured the world in the last 2 years and now form two thirds of The Magic Bullet Band. In the last year he has also been playing with James Morrison, Stuart A. Staples (Tindersticks) and A Man Called Adam. Dan is also involved with the forthcoming tour of Ben’s Brother and has been busy this summer doing various festivals, including V and Montreux Jazz amongst others. He is a graduate of Goldsmiths’ College and an expert double bass player.

		Eddie Myer - Bass Tutor Brand new addition to the BIMM team, Turin Brakes’ bass player Eddie is a well rounded schooled musician who also plays stand up bass. He’ll be teaching Theory, Technique and Styles to the degree students. He was also once in Ozric Tentacles - how cool is that?

		Franc O’Shea - Bass Tutor Franc O’Shea is regarded as one of the best bass players of his generation. He has recorded and/or played with many renowned artists including legendary Yes guitarist Steve Howe, Level 42’s keyboard player Mike Lindup, 90’s soul sensation Lisa Moorish, top garage band Bah Samba, jorge Pardo from Chick Corea and Paco de Lucia’s bands and members of Jamiroquai. He was a featured artist at Eurpean Bass Day 2003 in Holland and has appeared on compilation albums with top bassists such as Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Doug Wimbish and Michael Manring. "When eveyone else realises how good O’Shea is remember where you heard it first" Steve Lawson, Bassist Magazine.

		Dan Partington - Bass Tutor Dan is in very high demand as a bassist and finds himself in a wide variety of musical situations. His time spent outside of BIMM is spent touring with bands, learning lots of new sets for function bands and recording. This enables him to help you develop the diverse musical repertoire and broad range of musical situations required to be successful within the music industry.

		Russell Carr - Bass Tutor Russell is one of the hardest working players in Southern England and has worked with a variety of artists and producers covering everything from rock (Mark Richardson, Feeder), pop (Carolyn Owlett, 411) and world music (Nitin Sawhney). He has played at many of the UK’s finest venues (and some of the worst!) from Wembley Arena to Skegness and made various apprearances on British and French TV. As well as a busy playing schedule Russell writes and produces work with Garth Vader and orginal artists. He also directs a number of corporate bands and covers acts.

		Stuart Clayton - Bass Tutor Stuart Clayton has been a bass player for 17 years. In that time he has obtained a Degree in Popular Music, worked on cruise ships, played in many function bands, taught a lot of private students and written fifteen books. In recent years he has set up his own publishing company Bassline Publishing, which publishes transcription and analysis books on bassists such as Mark King, Stu Hamm, Bernard Edwards and more. He has also written seven bass method books for Sanctuary Publishing and Music Sales. He is also a writer/reviewer for the Bass Guitar Magazine for which he reviews gear and interview players. He is a member of the Carl Palmer Band (Emerson Lake & Palmer), with whom he plays shows all over the world.

		Phil France - Bass/Upright Bass Tutor Phil France has been working in the Cinematic Orchestra since 1998. As well as playing bass he written co- produced and arranged music from the albums ’EveryDay’ ’Man with the Movie Camera’ and "Ma Fleur". Phil has travelled all over the world touring and performing but a recent highlight was a performance by the Cinematics at the Royal Albert Hall (Live CD available soon!) in November 2007. He’s currently working on more music for the Cinematics as well as teaching the double bass module at BIMM.

		Silas Maitland - Bass Tutor Silas Maitland is a London based session musician who graduated from the Musicians Institute in 1989. He has played with/worked for. Geno Washington/ Robert Fripp/ Seal/ Steve Jansen/Micky Moody/ Melanie Blatt (All Saints)/ The Blues Brothers / Noman/ Bob Carlton/ Independent Television/ Whoopee Club, Mark Lamarr/ The Flashmonkey/ D’Nell/Marcus Malone/ BBC Television and Radio/ Channel 4/ Discovery channel/ Mentorn Films/ April Hill/Marlon Saunders. Silas is a professional musician with 20 years experience in studio and live playing situations. He is also in demand as a producer/writer/arranger and has over 15 years teaching experience.