Paid online bass courses you've done & can highly recommend

[lowlandtrees]

Excellent thread this. Been looking for recommendations. I thought that Scott Whitleys YouTube stuff is the best teaching of anything anywhere. Like the look of SBL as well. Will certainly cast my eye over the others

[Al Krow]

Interesting point I picked up (well to me anyway!) today on Mark's TB slap bass course.

For slap bass the thumb-through technique (Victor Wooten style) gives a fuller deeper sound including the fundamental, more akin to using a pick.

In contrast with the more common thumb-bounce (& percussive Mark King style) which results in a more zingy sound emphasising the harmonics akin to finger tapping. Particularly noticeable on the higher notes - and it really is noticeable now it's been pointed out! 

For the above reasons, Mark actually uses the thumb-through as his default.

But if we're going to try and match the speed of the traditional bounce with the thumb-through this will needs double thumbing. The one key downside I've noticed is the additional fret buzz (certainly at the lower frets) caused by the direction of the downward strike and resultant string vibration direction

Edited May 16, 2020 by Al Krow

[Grangur]

On 21/04/2020 at 00:09, MrCrane said:

I don't think Mark worked for SBL but he's mates with Scott and certainly used to turn up on some of his videos.

Geoff Chalmers (of this parish) used to work for SBL but moved off to start Discover Double Bass

https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/courses

I've not done any of the courses from that site, but Geoff is a top bloke and knows his stuff.

In fairness to Geoff Chalmers, when I joined SBL when it started, Geoff was already doing his own site: https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/courses

[BillyBass]

18 hours ago, Al Krow said:

The one key downside I've noticed is the additional fret buzz (certainly at the lower frets) caused by the direction of the downward strike and resultant string vibration direction

Is the action on your bass quite low anyway?  Is this something a minor tweak with an Allen key at the bridge would fix or would getting rid of the fret buzz bring the action too high?

[Al Krow]

33 minutes ago, BillyBass said:

Is the action on your bass quite low anyway?  Is this something a minor tweak with an Allen key at the bridge would fix or would getting rid of the fret buzz bring the action too high?

Good question. My action is relatively low and my first thought was exactly as you suggested to raise the string height and that certainly helped, but I wouldn't want it too much higher. Interestingly I found that Marc was also getting some fret buzz on his Ibby SR (which happens to be the bass I am using), which was at least reassuring!

Are you also a double thumb user / fan?

[BillyBass]

14 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Good question. My action is relatively low and my first thought was exactly as you suggested to raise the string height and that certainly helped, but I wouldn't want it too much higher. Interestingly I found that Marc was also getting some fret buzz on his Ibby SR (which happens to be the bass I am using), which was at least reassuring!

Are you also a double thumb user / fan?

I ask because I had a similar issue when I started learning slap, quite recently.

I'm not a big fan of slap bass music.  RHCP I like, and one or two others come to mind but most of the music I listen to is finger or pick stuff.  I just thought I should learn slap, as I'm learning the bass.  I have three basses: a P, a J and an Ibby SDGR 500.  The action on the Ibby is quite low, I generally set the action to be as low as possible without fret buzz happening (finger style), and this bass had a lot of fret buzz when being slapped, not so much the J which had a higher action.

I wasn't sure whether the action just has to be higher if you are slapping rather than just using fingers or a pick?

Edited May 16, 2020 by BillyBass

[cord.scott]

On 16/05/2020 at 11:46, BillyBass said:

I ask because I had a similar issue when I started learning slap, quite recently.

I'm not a big fan of slap bass music.  RHCP I like, and one or two others come to mind but most of the music I listen to is finger or pick stuff.  I just thought I should learn slap, as I'm learning the bass.  I have three basses: a P, a J and an Ibby SDGR 500.  The action on the Ibby is quite low, I generally set the action to be as low as possible without fret buzz happening (finger style), and this bass had a lot of fret buzz when being slapped, not so much the J which had a higher action.

I wasn't sure whether the action just has to be higher if you are slapping rather than just using fingers or a pick?

It depends. I know I saw a rig rundown with Flea's tech and he sets his basses up with 3/64's (1.17mm) and almost no relief. Marcus Miller plays with super low action too. 

[APDLondon]

Agree re SBL. Not focused enough and too much spam. I've done Mark's sight-reading course (well,  most of it!) and it's excellent.  From scratch to proper advanced. Also his technique mini course which was super value at £18. Another star to look out for (although free - sorry!) is Luke at Become a Bassist in Aus, whose site is a mess but his video lessons are superb.  He just gets you playing stuff, with a smile. 

I'm desperate for a paid course aimed at bass beginners who already have some basic music knowledge but crap technique.  And a jazzy / soul  / funk / reggae bent rather than all the metal heads (ooops, sorry again!). Any recommendations?

Otherwise, I'd recommend josh at BassBuzz who has a great beginners course for rockers. 

Edited June 28, 2020 by APDLondon

[blamelouis]

Jeff Berlin has 50% off all course at the moment.

I think I’ll pick up the first two and set myself a one year time frame to finally getting reading kick started.

[gekkko]

On 28/03/2020 at 17:16, Al Krow said:

@FDC484950 really good post, thanks.

It's interesting that the personal tuition that you had in your teenage years were the most influential / productive lessons you received. I similarly had regular lessons on classical guitar from 12 through to 17 and I was equally passionate about that instrument as I now am about bass playing.

 

Ha, it was my (female) classical guitar teacher from 11-15 that put me off stringed instruments for 30 plus years. Having failed to recognise - kinda fundamental - I was left handed, then proceeded to carry on humiliating until I walked out one day totally unable to cope with the speed of a piece. In those days that is all there was and you didn't argue - so it must have been pretty terrible.

[Al Krow]

Yup, that was pretty crap on her part I agree!

[Al Krow]

Mark at TB is running a 7th anniversary 30% discount on ALL his courses for one week (started yesterday, so 6 days remaining).

[Chrisbassboy5]

I've tried the SBL trial twice and frankly wasn't impressed.

I feel it's best to drift inbetween Talking Bass, Derec Bennet, Luke from Become a Bassist and Bass Buzz. I also waych SBL but only the free stuff.

I was sick of getting spammed by SBL for free reign across YT now. 

Free is good for me for the moment.... regards, Chris

[fretmeister]

The Jeff Berlin course is currently 50% off until the end of August.

https://www.jeffberlinmusicgroup.com/lessons

 

It's a good way to get into reading and learning the fretboard. It's essentially loads of sightreading exercises that get slowly more difficult.

 

[Al Krow]

Been a few months since I spent any time on Mark at Talking Bass's course, but seem to have a got some fresh motivation with the new year in (and fortunately I've not forgotten everything I picked up before!)

Just spotted he's got a NY sale on in case anyone fancies doing something a bit more structured during Lockdown Mk III.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Al Krow

[stewblack]

On 04/08/2020 at 14:29, fretmeister said:

The Jeff Berlin course is currently 50% off until the end of August.

https://www.jeffberlinmusicgroup.com/lessons

 

It's a good way to get into reading and learning the fretboard. It's essentially loads of sightreading exercises that get slowly more difficult.

 

Agreed. Very good course. 

[sshorepunk]

I’ve never considered doing an online course, but with lockdown I’m thinking I might try one

i keep seeing the Federico Malaman course being advertised, anybody tries this one? 
cheers

Tony

[ToolOfIgnorance]

Been through a rhythm and notation course at Zoltan's Bass Lounge. Really good!! I so often get caught in melodic playing (that's what I call it, some would say random meanderings) that I don't always give rhythm as much focus as it should get. And to be fair, it should get a lot of focus!!!! There's some great "simple" bass lines out there which just capture so much by nailing the rhythm side of things.

https://zoltansbasslounge.com/electric-bass/courses/rhythm-notation-volume-1/

[Saul Panzer]

Coming from a very novice prospective these are the paid courses I've signed up for:

ScottsBassLessons: I tried the free trial and was more impressed than I expected to be, enough so that I signed up for a year.
Once you get past the Youtube click-bait and the aggressive marketing there's loads of great interviews, lessons and the players path thing they started is fairly good if you're fickle and need something specific to work through.
The biggest bonus I've found with them is the amount of downloadable extras that come with all the various lessons/courses. If you're learning something there's often a selection of pdfs and backing tracks to use, great if you're not always by your computer..I stick a lot on my phone so I can play things or browse pieces at work or other places I don't have my desktop.

ArtistWorks Electric Bass with Nathan East: I picked this up because there was a Christmas offer of 50% off and I'm a fan of Nathan East.
In terms of content it's quite limited, a lot of the stuff is 5-10 minutes videos of Nathan going through a particular exercise with minimal if any extra resources to download or view.
It's very much a case of "here's the exercise, watch Nathan give a demo and brief description, now go Google some other resources to help it make sense if you need it".
The real benefit of this course is getting Nathans perspective on some things and having the chance to have him critique and respond to your playing via. videos, if you're a fan of his it could be worth it for that alone.

[TheMaartian]

3 hours ago, Saul Panzer said:

Coming from a very novice prospective these are the paid courses I've signed up for:

ScottsBassLessons: I tried the free trial and was more impressed than I expected to be, enough so that I signed up for a year.
Once you get past the Youtube click-bait and the aggressive marketing there's loads of great interviews, lessons and the players path thing they started is fairly good if you're fickle and need something specific to work through.
The biggest bonus I've found with them is the amount of downloadable extras that come with all the various lessons/courses. If you're learning something there's often a selection of pdfs and backing tracks to use, great if you're not always by your computer..I stick a lot on my phone so I can play things or browse pieces at work or other places I don't have my desktop.

ArtistWorks Electric Bass with Nathan East: I picked this up because there was a Christmas offer of 50% off and I'm a fan of Nathan East.
In terms of content it's quite limited, a lot of the stuff is 5-10 minutes videos of Nathan going through a particular exercise with minimal if any extra resources to download or view.
It's very much a case of "here's the exercise, watch Nathan give a demo and brief description, now go Google some other resources to help it make sense if you need it".
The real benefit of this course is getting Nathans perspective on some things and having the chance to have him critique and respond to your playing via. videos, if you're a fan of his it could be worth it for that alone.

Are his course videos less talky than the free YT videos? He's good, but, sheesh, he can turn a 5 minute lesson into 15 minutes. 

[Al Krow]

15 hours ago, Saul Panzer said:

Coming from a very novice prospective these are the paid courses I've signed up for:

ScottsBassLessons: I tried the free trial and was more impressed than I expected to be, enough so that I signed up for a year.
Once you get past the Youtube click-bait and the aggressive marketing there's loads of great interviews, lessons and the players path thing they started is fairly good if you're fickle and need something specific to work through.
The biggest bonus I've found with them is the amount of downloadable extras that come with all the various lessons/courses. If you're learning something there's often a selection of pdfs and backing tracks to use, great if you're not always by your computer..I stick a lot on my phone so I can play things or browse pieces at work or other places I don't have my desktop.

ArtistWorks Electric Bass with Nathan East: I picked this up because there was a Christmas offer of 50% off and I'm a fan of Nathan East.
In terms of content it's quite limited, a lot of the stuff is 5-10 minutes videos of Nathan going through a particular exercise with minimal if any extra resources to download or view.
It's very much a case of "here's the exercise, watch Nathan give a demo and brief description, now go Google some other resources to help it make sense if you need it".
The real benefit of this course is getting Nathans perspective on some things and having the chance to have him critique and respond to your playing via. videos, if you're a fan of his it could be worth it for that alone.

Nice post, thanks, and be good to hear how you get on. The SBL courses have their admirers and detractors aplenty, but the ArtistWorks are less well known, so it will be particularly useful to get your thoughts on that one. How much did the NE course set you back price-wise?

Edited February 16, 2021 by Al Krow

[Drax]

14 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Nice post, thanks, and be good to hear how you get on. The SBL courses have their admirers and detractors aplenty, but the ArtistWorks are less well known, so it will be particularly useful to get your thoughts on that one. How much did the NE course set you back price-wise?

Know it's been much discussed, but not sure I've ever seen an SBL detractor on here who's actually paid for membership.

[Woodinblack]

13 minutes ago, Drax said:

Know it's been much discussed, but not sure I've ever seen an SBL detractor on here who's actually paid for membership.

I think that would be self selecting wouldn't it. I mean, if you are one of the people who doesn't like Scott, you are not going to pay for membership are you?

[Drax]

16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I think that would be self selecting wouldn't it. I mean, if you are one of the people who doesn't like Scott, you are not going to pay for membership are you?

Ha - I know what you're getting at.. was really just highlighting there are SBL fans who've done SBL courses, vs detractors who don't like his marketing. 

The irony across all of this being the majority of course content in SBL isn't Scott  

[Al Krow]

I've not paid for any of Scott's courses as I've found a tutor I really gel with in the shape of Mark from Talking Bass, but more than happy to keep an open mind and return to SBL when I've worked through the courses I've paid for from Mark.These are: Slap bass (3/4 through the 53 lessons) plus Walking bass and Chords both of which I stumped up for during one of Mark's periodic sales, but am yet to start on. So probably about 2025 at current rates of progress and assuming, of course that I don't end up with RSI from the Slap bass course - lol!

But whether you're a fan of SBL or not, you've gotta admire the guy for not letting issues with his gloved hand get in the way of his passion for bass, and the fact he has subsequently built a £2M P/A turnover business from scratch. The fact that most of his course content is not his tells me that he is providing a lot of income and employment to other musicians and technicians. And he is making bass accessible, interesting and fresh for so many aspiring bass players. 

Must admit I'm more than a little envious of the online resources that are available today. I still remember the painstaking lengths to get songs transcribed using a cassette player as a youth! 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Al Krow