Pros:

You can learn at your own pace, at your own time frame, and at the best time that works for you.

This is a pretty decent benefit, as with on site lessons, you are subject to the scheduling of your teacher as well as your own meshing up properly. Missed lessons will happen, its a fact of life, online lessons mitigate this issue completely.

Often times due to the scaling of the instructors time, you can save a lot of money.

Again, especially in this economy, this can be a great benefit. The instructor can have hundreds if not thousands of students with an online program, where as a personalized plan of instruction is limited to the amount of time the instructor has, which can mesh with your schedule. Of course, not all online instructors create canned packages, some may choose to teach interactively, via video and or audio conferencing. Others may use technology to offer group classes. This may save some money, but the scheduling issue is still a factor.

You can find a specialist

Are you having trouble with a specific technique or style? Perhaps you can find a online instructor specializing in that aspect. Doing so locally is likely a challenge, unless one is in a major metropolitan area with a lot of diversity.

Cons:

You will need significant self discipline and motivation.

If you know you need to prepare songs a,b, and c for a lesson, and the lesson is in 3 days, you will put in the time to make it happen (at least most of the time anyway). With online instruction, its all too easy to let things slide, and slide and slide.

You can go off track

Unless the online instructor provides some method of evaluation, and few do so, its very easy to go off on a tangent, and even pick up bad technique which needs to be unlearned later.

The lack of instantaneous feedback can slow progress

An onsite instructor may catch errors, or observe things that would be missed in the online arena. The end result, progress often times ends up being slower, than if you had an onsite instructor. Its possible, online instruction could cost more than an onsite instructor to achieve the same level of proficiency.

Learning plateaus require you to recognize them and take appropriate action.

An online instructor, unless they are providing some type of feedback, and even then may not catch learning plateaus as quickly as an onsite instructor. The responsibility then lies in your hands, as to identify them, and come up with a course of action. This can be especially difficult for the beginning student.

Finding a good online instructor is filled with headaches

This is a case where google is of not much help. Far too many get rich quick outfits are hocking online music lessons… The other day I saw one that held off teaching a beginner how to tune their instrument until much latter in the curriculum. In other words, someone was selling lessons who had never played, much less had ever taught a student. Referrals online, just as offline must play a role, as the risk of getting something of no to marginal value is just too high at this time.

The future:

I think there is potential in online music instruction. As multimedia and interaction continue to improve, I think it has some real potential, especially when the instructor is actively involved, rather than just selling a canned package. The basic technology exists to accomplish much, but as of today, no one I am aware of has taken many steps in that regard. Its possible for sure, I might even give it a go at some point, but for now, my focus remains in the onsite instruction arena.

First, they are an easy short cut and as such a temptation. Its not that I’m against things being easy, in fact simplification of complexity is a key part of teaching, but that they can become a crutch. Ie, rather than learning notation, chords structure, or working on ear training, its easy to grow dependant upon tabs. Sure, if all one wants to do is play tabs, thats fine… but if one learns them first, it can make it much more difficult to learn notation and to play by ear later. Now, for the experienced bassist, who is up against a brick wall trying to learn something, by all means check out tabs. They can help one work through a complex fingering issue, or maybe catch something you aren’t hearing correctly. They are not all bad by any means, the problem is short cuts in the early days often times end up costly later on.

Secondly, tabs dont provide any information on rythym, the cornerstone of bass guitar performance. Again, for the experienced player, its a none issue, but for the beginner, if rythym gets short changed early on, and its not a natural gift, it will more than likely make it harder later on.

Thirdly, they are limiting, ie if someone has not already made up a tab, one is out of luck without notation, ear training skills, or enough music theory/experience to improvise. This is especially key when playing new compositions, or with a group. Granted, there may be a few composers out there willing to write tablature, but they are in the minority. The vast majority either expect you to improvise, or will provide chord charts, likely mixed with a limited amount of notation.

Again, tabs are not all bad by any means, and for the experienced bass player can be a really nice lifesaver. But for the beginner, tabs imho bring more trouble to the table than they are worth.

Its that exposure to a wide range of styles is key, and that bass guitar and classical music is pretty rare. Part of it no doubt is mindset, ie electric instruments and orchestral styles seem at odds with one another, albeit it is becoming more common. Ie, a full rock band with orchestral backup. Another aspect of course is material, few composers write for bass guitar and orchestra, and the song writing styles of most rock and roll sound writers often times does not transcend itself very well to writing a full score for an orchestra. Its not that it cant be done, but that its a huge challenge, and few have stepped up to the plate.

Thus, on the surface it appears we are limited before we even start… but not really, its just where to look. There is a wealth of material out there which can be used, albeit it may take some creative thought processes to get there. Just as a band I was in did a speed metal version of Johnny Cash’s Folsome Prison, as well as a C-W version of Ted Nugents Cat Scratch Fever years ago, one can also use a multitude of classical music, and morph it into any number of styles.

Then add in the capability of home studio recording, where one even with a modest built in sound card can add a multitude of differing instruments, and the sky is the limit when it comes to transceding and mixing multiple styles. Of course, the other key is having an appreciation for different styles to start with, and that begins with listening. Rachel Barton Pine is doing some amazing things with introducing rock fans to classical music…

Initially, there is a wanting to practice a lot, perhaps a bit too much. It takes time for a thicker layer of skin to develop on ones fingers. It does no one any good to end up with bloody fingers and demoralized during week one. Thus, initially, it may be best to limit practice to 15 minute intervals, perhaps even up to a couple times a day, but no more, at least for a week or two.

If one’s goal is to play music for fun and personal enjoyment, and not so for profit or in a group, a reasonable practice schedule is 30 minutes a day. It will keep one learning, and develop skills, albeit not nearly as quickly as a more rigorous schedule.

If a group is where ones heart is, than an hour a day at least for the first few years is really the key. Less than that and progress is not as fast as one would like, and more, unless one has an abundance of time is likely not to produce significantly more value for the time invested.

From a professional perspective, practice time can end up being pretty substantial, with one caveat, and that is the potential for injury. Once one gets much beyond 4 hours a day, even if broken up into multiple sessions, combined with performance hours the potential for reptitive motion injuries skyrockets. Thats an arena no one ever wants to be in, thus care and planning is needed.