Instructors

Pat Abbott

Pat teaches both upright and electric bass. He has a bachelors and master degree in music education from Nazareth College of Rochester. Pat also Teaches Orchestra and Jazz Band at the Elementary, High School, and College levels. While continuously striving to learn more and improve his own playing, Pat enjoys teaching students of all skill levels and helping them to achieve their musical goals.

Pat has had the opportunity to play with many great artists including:

•Bill Watrous

• Paul Smoker

•Phil Haynes

Currently Pat performs with the group Triple Play Quartet with Tom Fowler on Sax, Trip Ziegler on Piano, and Dave Hardin on Drums.

Student Testimonials

“Pat has taught me a lot in a short amount of time. His lessons are structured to incorporate a mixture of song learning and music theory so they are both fun and technical. His musical knowledge is versatile; he has taught me how to play songs in a variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz and classic rock. He has been able to suggest low cost equipment, books and videos on various techniques, music education software/applications and provides instrumental tracks for each song and exercise I learn so I have something to play along with. Every suggestion he gives is tuned to my specific needs as a student, and I've found it immeasurably helpful to have an experienced player guide me and answer my questions. Overall, I'm glad I found this school and encourage anyone interested to try it out.” - Sarah P.

“I've been Pat's student for over 5 years, and his guidance has been instrumental in my development as a bass player. I started playing bass in my early thirties and initially found learning a new instrument by myself to be pretty daunting. I was worried about establishing incorrect technique that would require a lot more effort later on to correct. I also wanted to learn how to make the songs I was practicing sound more musical, groovy, and energetic so that maybe one day I could start gigging on the side. I emailed Bass Lessons Unlimited and started taking weekly hour-long lessons with Pat on skype. Since then, each lesson has been a great learning experience. Despite the music lessons being over video chat, Pat has a great ability to see whether my technique is correct to the minutest detail, such as whether I am alternating my fingers consistently when plucking or how I am positioning my hands around the fret board. He also has a great ear for hearing changes in my bass tone overtime. Pat has been playing bass for many years, and thus is extremely knowledgeable about both the instrument and the music. So far, he has helped me play some of my favorite songs in all different genres (for me: funk, slap, rock, and metal), start recognizing scales and key signatures in many songs, improvise grooves, learn music theory, and further understand the mechanics of what makes a great bass tone. All in all, I am getting a great learning experience with a lot of room for creativity.” - Andrew Han

“I’ve been doing online lessons with Pat for a few months and he is a really great teacher, very patient and specific with homework and practice suggestions. I have played different string instruments for decades and decided to start on bass a few years ago, so I started at a good comfort level with the physical aspect of playing bass. But I couldn’t figure out how to approach the conceptual and theoretical challenges of learning to play jazz bass in a systematic way, despite watching a million Youtube lessons. Pat has given me very precise suggestions for exercises to do while practicing each week between lessons, and I am thrilled to say that I’m finally beginning to achieve my long-held dream of improvising walking basslines.”

— Jennifer T.