TKenrick

I made a short comparison video between 5 analogue octave pedals to see how they compare to the much-celebrated synth sound of the Boss OC-2. Extremely niche, I know, but hopefully some Basschatters will find this useful!

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Berklee does online courses? I'd imagine that they'd have a more goal-oriented approach. Other than that, I know that Joe Hubbard has a 2-year online programme. He might have something shorter as well - his style is fairly hardline, but his concepts and content are some of the best out there.

Hey Huw, Is your student after an online course, or something more along the lines of method books to work through? Lots of online courses of varying quality out there, but I don't know how many have a specific goal or accreditation in the same way that the graded exams do.

Great song choice (again!).

YES! Such a great book. And great value, actually - years of horribly beneficial exercises in there. I still come back to mine if I feel like I need to sharpen up my rhythm reading skills (which, in fairness, is most days). Quite a lot of the syncopation in there is written 'badly', which means that if you can survive the book then you can get through pretty much anything. It works brilliantly away from the bass, too, which is an excellent way to confuse people on public transport... why is that man spasmodically tapping on his leg and swearing under his breath?

A stupid comment, but one that signifies a wider problem of confusing the instrument with the music: And a tune that pops up on gigs frequently but I've still been playing wrong for years: Tina Turner - Proud Mary bass transcription PDF

Remembering the late Joe Osborn with some lovely melodic playing: Simon & Garfunkel - 'The Only Living Boy in New York' bass transcription PDF

Great bass playing from a saxophonist... Wilton Felder puts the soul into Christmas: Jackson 5 - 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' bass transcription PDF

This is probably not the answer that you want to hear, but it's the best one. Gear doesn't really matter. If you're serious about pushing your playing to the next level, then take the £600 you have allocated for gear and spend it on lessons instead.

Reading is a very useful skill for accessing information quickly, not only in gig situations but also for your general musical life. It also means that music written for any instrument is now fair game, which can help you sound less like every other bass player out there. On the subject of reading on gigs, it depends hugely on the sort of gigs that you go for - obviously, any sort of musical theatre or cruise work will require it, but there are plenty of function bands out there that use written arrangements. It definitely means that you can 'slot in' to more gigs at short notice without any prior preparation. Another fringe benefit of getting better at reading music is that your writing skills will improve, meaning that it takes you much less time to put together decent charts. This can cut down on gig prep time massively, regardless of whether you actually use the charts on the gig or not. When it comes to learning to read, there are a few practice strategies and books that I'd recommend:

I must admit that it's my least favourite envelope, and it got sold soon after the review!

This is probably my favourite disco groove of all time. Great work from Jimmy Williams on a track that nearly got given to The O'Jays: McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now bass transcription PDF

Some of my favourite books for working on sight reading and some tips to maximise your practising efficiency:

I always thought that this was an American band... Here's a classic slice of US soul from Merseyside: The Real Thing - 'You To Me Are Everything' bass transcription pdf

This is a tune that appears periodically on set lists and always appears to have fallen out of my brain. Delightfully sloppy bass playing from Ronnie Wood: Rod Stewart - 'Maggie May' bass transcription pdf

This is such a great version, Greg Phillinganes plays some ridiculous stuff! I seem to remember some lengthy debates on here as to whether or not Anthony Jackson was doubling the synth or not... Anyway, found this lurking on my hard drive. Not one of my transcriptions and I haven't played through it, but it looks good - I tried to find the original link but couldn't. Chaka Khan - We Can Work It Out.pdf

Had a request competition from my email subscribers and here's the winning entry - George Porter Jr in fine form... The Meters - 'Funkify Your Life' Transcription

@stewblack@Reggaebass thanks so much for the kind words, really means a lot!

I've collected an embarrassing amount of instructional material over the years; some books are brilliant, others somewhat mediocre, but there's one in particular that I think is by far the worst...

Joe Dart playing lots of notes in a short amount of time: