Has Scott Devine become insane ?

[Hellzero]

As a regular SBL paying member, I wanted to participate to the Gary Willis masterclass, because there is absolutely nothing on fretless bass on SBL, but the Steve Lawson course that I already followed. 

WTF, I have to pay $147 USD to attempt this masterclass. Scott, are you just kidding me or do I have to pay for your new stylist and your new cap ?

SBL isn't that terrific and for once, there was something very interesting AND different, but I have to pay for it as an official member !?!

Is it the Brexit effect or is Scott already an American citizen just talking too much and making easy money ?

I'm simply shocked and gutted at the same time. 

I've lost money with this SBL thing, so Scott keep it, buy a new cap and goodbye.

 

[fiatcoupe432]

Hey Tony , 

to be honest just contact Gary Willis and have couple of lessons with him ( much much better )

he charges around 70 euro and he is based in Barcellona . 

I never signed up to the sbl as I once was student of Scott and he told me that if I wanted continue to study I had to sign to sbl as he was to busy for one to one lessoni loved having lessons with him but I'm not doing it thought a computer

[PawelG]

@Hellzero I see your point.

However, the way I see it is that doing such a course with Gary Willis, costs money, making a living costs money and that’s what Scott is doing. To have 10h of material for the price of 2 lessons with Gary (without the commute to Barcelona 🙂 ) - a lot of people will benefit from it.

I’m a member at SBL also and it feels like there’s too much stuff. I don’t have enough time to do another course on top of it (I have to look at Basses for sale section 😋)!

[Musicman20]

Personally I don't like the way SBL constantly markets in an aggressive manner.

I never signed up to payments but I signed up by email and decided the emails were annoying me so I unsubscribed.

He is very talented but I wouldn't want him to teach me. 

 

[chris_b]

I expect Gary Willis charges SBL a lot for his services.

[No lust in Jazz]

There are a lot of pro bass players offering one to one lessons - make your own choices, my choice is to block the SBL channel, but I don't begrudge him making a living,

[wateroftyne]

I suspect he's doing more than making a living. Good on him... not my scene, tho.

[TheGreek]

I agree with @Musicman20 's comment about too many emails - I also considered unsubscribing.

As for Scott making a living from SBL, well I have no problem with that....can't begrudge the man a living. I often use the free SBL videos - I find that there are loads of useful videos which I benefit from. TBH if I signed up for the full Monty I don't think I'd make the most of it.

[Hellzero]

I totally agree with the fact he's making a (more than) decent living with SBL and that's a good thing for him, but asking money again when you already are a subscriber is really just making money for making money. Add to that that all, without exception, courses or seminars or whatever are in fact 80% of useless talking, that becomes very very very expensive.

 

[HazBeen]

SBL, firmly on my “ignore” list. 

[Bigwan]

I’m a lifelong member of SBL... but this tactic boils my fosters...

[yorks5stringer]

He's a member on here, maybe someone should bring this thread to his attention and he gets a chance to respond?

[Elfrasho]

He'll have done the numbers and worked out the expected up take. If he could do it within the normal academy, or even release as free material and still make money, I'm sure he would. But, I would suspect if its ten hours of material, th;s been a massive outlay involved

[Pea Turgh]

Ten hours of video is a lot to edit.  Probably cut down from a lot more.  Probably production staff to pay (some young buck getting their first break making the tea etc - deserve to get paid, right?)  What else goes in to these videos?  Renting or buying the space to produce them, etc.  It’s the same argument with music - why pay for it?  Because someone took the time to get good at it, then make it.

Btw, I’m not a subscriber.

 

 

Devils advocate duty for today - check!

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, Hellzero said:

WTF, I have to pay $147 USD to attempt this masterclass. Scott, are you just kidding me or do I have to pay for your new stylist and your new cap ?

Might be worth mentioning it there?

[chris_b]

6 hours ago, PawelG said:

the way I see it is that doing such a course with Gary Willis, costs money, making a living costs money and that’s what Scott is doing. To have 10h of material for the price of 2 lessons with Gary (without the commute to Barcelona 🙂 )

If a lesson with Gary Willis is £70  then $147 for 10 lessons is a bargain.

Personally I don't see what you can learn from Gary Willis that can't be learnt from a dozen other bassists.

[edstraker123]

I've so been tempted to sign up to SBL but don't think I could stand the format of the lessons if its 20 minutes of yabber before you get started, which is the impression I get. Happy to be corrected if it isn't like this.

Scott seems a really likable, entertaining and talented guy but time is precious and I'd just want to get on with studying.

[drTStingray]

Yes I realised he'd gone completely bananas a few weeks ago when I received the You Tube notification for 7 elements of a good bass tone and the eighth unnumbered but asterisked one was NO ACTIVE PREAMPS.

Well how very dare him - I'm quite happy for people to play rudimentary 60s planks with a pick up (a lot of passive basses) but I'm afraid I don't care for it - each to his own but I thought that just smacked of someone with a personal preference which is arguably counter productive - I mean who plays through an amp with only one adjustable tone control or listens to music anywhere without some means of controlling the output via an EQ (except a smart phone)? I just prefer Bernard Edwards or Pino to James Jamerson or Duck Dunn (60s version). It's a personal preference! 

Anyway after I'd concluded he had become barking I've been enjoying his videos once again. I loved the Stingray competition giveaway one where he didn't show even a picture of the giveaway bass but rattled on about some other Ibanez (Gary Willis?) bass which he held throughout the Stingray competition winning selection!!

I also enjoyed the 30 bass quick clips video where he turned all the controls on full (even on active basses)!! That many sounded great was excellent - the Warwick sounded utterly bizarre (when they are known for a full bodied woody, bassy sound). 

As I say, since I've realised I can take it all or at least some of it with a pinch of salt and realise he's barking some of the time I do quite like his stuff. I've actually learned quite a bit from it. 

As for Gary Willis, I'm pretty sure Scott himself took lessons with him (I think he mentions it in one of the videos). Anyway if I was a young impressionable type I might have signed up - I haven't and I'm glad because the anti active bass stuff would have led me to ask for my money back and id have probably have got stressed!! 😕

He must be making a fortune and good luck to him 👍

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by drTStingray

[Hellzero]

He really is earning a fortune. Good for him, he found the trick, but the SBL is becoming less and less attractive with the same guys repeating the same things all the time and especially loosing a lot of useless talking and wowing. He knows Pareto so, he is applying it, the wrong for us, but not for him : 80% of useless information and 20 % of usable information. So sad as he can be really good, but is telling so much crap. The way to set the intonation correctly on a fretless bass is still making me laugh a lot. One thing is sure : he knows nothing about lutherie and the way to set up an instrument. His do's and don't's are also epic.

Sorry, but this $147 USD to pay for a subscribing member is simply money extortion. Especially that there will be 1 hour of real course, maybe 2, no more !

[fiatcoupe432]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

If a lesson with Gary Willis is £70  then $147 for 10 lessons is a bargain.

Personally I don't see what you can learn from Gary Willis that can't be learnt from a dozen other bassists.

Wisdom 

[Bassislife16]

Long time follower of SBL here, I had a chat with Scott over Instagram about him putting his Moolon neck on his Fender CS body and the reasoning why, if he liked it etc. 

 

In my honest opinion, it seemed he had attitude behind his very short replies, sort of “you don’t deserve the time it takes to type this” attitude. “lol”

Maybe it’s just me but all the YouTube stuff etc is all smiles and nicey nicey for the camera but to a small time player like me, he seemed very egotistical and abit up himself.

I never considered joining SBL because it always seemed abit of a con to me, although followed him on Instagram and Youtube, but now I unsubbed etc. 

I mean, sod $147, I wouldn’t pay £20 for 30 minutes of talking and 10 minutes of actual lesson.....plenty of other fantastic teachers around on YouTube and other platforms that teach for free, or there’s also the step above like Janek Gwizdala available for 1-1 Skype lessons etc.

I followed SBL for a good few years, though I too was a victim of the many emails and after a while, got sick of the persistent “GIVE US YOUR MONEY!!”

So thusly, unsubscribed.

[stewblack]

I did join SBL at the same time as taking up lessons with a tutor. The face to face lessons cost me way more but with the incentive of a real person who I am paying waiting at the end of the week I worked much harder. Also the lessons were very much personalised for me and I learned saleable skills which are now getting me work. 

I used a course on SBL to learn a specific skill and I did. It worked just fine. Yes there is interesting background chat from the tutor just like my real life tutor would chat. I never measured it but 80/20 does seem a little unlikely. Simple fact is you can't just teach teach teach you need to allow a student to absorb the lesson as you go along. Learning for me is an holistic experience so, for example, the slap course for beginners included some information about the history of slap bass which I found valuable and informative. 

Having said all that, don't fecking charge me for a course if I'm already a payed up member. Leaves a very bad taste. 

[thebigyin]

I tried the 14 day free trial but unsubscribed after about 7 days, admittedly there's a ton of stuff but the constant emails some repeated became a bit overkill...personally speaking I like the online lessons that you can access but my reason for not going with SBL is it's not personal enough he has too many other guest Bassists so it can be overwhelming and some of the videos on how to change strings, must have basses, get the tone of the pro's blah, blah....I liked the Danny Mo Morris RnB course and Phil Mann's Chord Tone Concepts but there was a lot of guest bassists who I have never heard of which didn't float my boat....I like Joe Hubbard but very expensive and a bit beyond me and been a non-reader I think i'd be wasting my money, but I like his one to one approach...unfortunately I think Scott will implode with his own success but hats off to him for trying but keep it more personal Scott you don't need all the guests and the silly Campus daily routine "who cares what other folks are practising". Also the interview with Bobby Vega when Bobby admits he has no formal musical knowledge he plays what sounds good to him....I agree with that....but Scott sat there agreeing with him basically saying yeah Bobby learning all this theory is Bullxxxx I just thought it bizzare.

Edited March 27, 2019 by thebigyin

[Bigwan]

It would seem a lot of people don't know how to manage their inbox...

[Guest]

The important point here is that you can pay up to be a lifetime member, but this course costs a significant amount on top of that subscription fee. I think this highlights the inevitable business model he has to follow. The target audience is small, and so what do you do to generate more income when most of your target audience has likely already signed up as a yearly or lifetime member?

I imagine the site would be good for someone with the time, dedication (and money) to learn everything there is to be had, but  (as Michael League says in one of the free videos), the real lessons to be had are in going out and playing with musicians that are much better than you, and learning how to develop groove and feel. That said, if I wanted to learn to play fretless bass better, Gary would be someone I’d seek lessons with, because his touch, tone and intonation are impeccable.