About Bass Lessons Los Angeles
Hello! I’m David Hilton and I am a professional bass teacher in Los Angeles, California. I started Bass Lessons Los Angeles in order to share the knowledge I’ve gained after spending nearly two decades as a professional bass player and in order to help other bassists in the Los Angeles area improve their playing
As a graduate of Berklee College of Music, I studied under legendary greats like Bruce Gertz, Eddie Tomassi, Hal Cook, Gary Willis, and Rufus Philpot. And since becoming a teacher myself, I’ve taken what I’ve learned and used it to help my own students become they players they’ve always wanted to be.
Even though I’m still a gigging and session bass player—primarily in jazz—I’ve taught and worked in nearly every genre imaginable. Through the years, played everything from jazz, funk/fusion and blues to rock and hip hop. And after some 20 years of teaching I’ve helped countless students—beginners and pros alike—improve their playing.
Let’s set up a lesson and get you playing better bass today.
Lessons
$60/hour
As a teacher, I’ve taught students of all ability levels throughout the Los Angeles area. I’ve incorporated the approaches of Jerry Bergonzi, Eddie Tomassi, and Gary Willis’s fingerboard harmony and combined them with 20 years of teaching basic, intermediate, and advanced electric bass technique, intermediate and advanced music theory, jazz harmony, harmonic considerations for improv, and chart/sight reading to hone in on what a student really needs to become a better bass player and a better musician.
Projects
When I’m not teaching, I’m still a working musician in the live and session scenes in the Los Angeles area working with other artists like Danny Carrey (Tool), Doug Webb (Freddie Hubbard, Brian Bromberg) Antonio Sanchez (Pat Metheny, Gary Burton), Joel Taylor (Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale), Brad Rabuchin (Ray Charles, Bonnie Rait) Tom McMorran (Natalie Cole, Leonard Cohen, Vinnie Colaiuta), and Dela and Rymo of Slightly Stoopid.
Here are a handful of my past and present projects: