Has Scott Devine become insane ?

[HazBeen]

Yep, full moon a coming

[peteb]

Scott lives only a few miles down the road from me. I’ve never met him but everyone who has says that he’s a lovely chap. I would never pay money to join SBL (I don’t suppose that it is really aimed at guys like me) but I have no problem with the way he runs his business (in fact I applaud his enterprise). I do subscribe to his email newsletter / YouTube channel, which is sometimes interesting and sometimes just get closed down after a minute or so.

I do have a couple of issues with SBL though. First, his emails are getting a bit spammy these days: last chance to enrol for this wicked course, definitely the last chance to enrol, I know I said it was the last chance before but now it really it really is definitely the last chance, etc, etc.

Secondly, I’m not sure how useful some of his lessons actually are to the type of guys who subscribe to them. He says all the right things about groove and so on, but everything I’ve seen seems very much geared to playing fusion / jazz, with an emphasis on being able to solo. I mean how many people really need to be able to play like Gary Willis?? I sometimes think that teachers often take this approach as it can be a never-ending journey to keep students on their programme forever, whereas you could teach someone what they need to take away to become a decent bass player who could get regular gigs much quicker. I know he does do other things in SBL, but I saw his introduction to his blues course and, to be honest, it didn’t seem that great.

I’m sure that SBL is a great focus for many of his students to focus on their playing and they get something out of it, but equally I think that many would be better advised to learn from other sources…

Edited March 27, 2019 by peteb

[drTStingray]

2 hours ago, seashell said:

But I'm a bit uncomfortable with this thread. We're talking about another BC member and calling into doubt his sanity and the state of his marriage??? I thought bass players were supposed to be the nice guys? 

Those making the comments probably don't realise that many sole trader limited companies include their wives in it - that way they can claim far more expenditure against tax, such as vehicles - they often pay themselves in company dividends because it's a much lower tax rate than paying a salary - or even capital gains from profits - it's all about financial efficiency. 

Now my take on the taking leave of his senses is he does sometimes say some very silly things and holds some rather erm focussed views. 

He certainly will have alienated most players of active basses.

When you're an educator I believe there is a level of responsibility to be unbiased - otherwise people will think they are being brain washed into believing certain, in some cases rather biased views are the truth. A bit like going to an English literature teacher and being told as Shakespeare invented aherm Shakespeare, got it right first time, all other subsequent literature is wrong or irrelevant. Or going for religious teaching only to be brainwashed by an evangelist (other religions are available for brain washing) into holding extreme views and being encouraged to offload tons of cash. 

The original OP clearly felt he was being asked to pay too much when he already had paid - perfectly reasonable, and perfectly reasonable colloquially to suggest Mr Devine may have taken leave of his senses to ask for such payment (the phrase you must be out of your mind) - he's certainly upset a few people  including me occasionally!! 

I don't think anyone is really questioning his sanity 😏

The marriage comments are utterly bizarre - but this is Basschat 🤔

 

Edited March 27, 2019 by drTStingray

[No. 8 Wire]

9 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

He certainly will have alienated most players of active basses.

Just for the record, he didn't really say active basses are no good, he just said don't get one thinking it will improve your tone or playing, it will just be different.

His overwater sig is active as well.

Unfortunately the way of YouTube is to actively promote these sort of controversial statements when in context they are not controversial at all. Like: don't get a 5 string bass (if you think it will make you play better),  don't get a fretless (unless you put in the time to get proper technique and intonation), etc.  All the most popular channels do this sort of thing, so it clearly works.

[Woodinblack]

I have done the 26 week accelerator course which was an addition on top of my lifetime membership (which I don’t use much), I think it has been well worth the money and I have learned stuff and genuinely believe I have got better from it.

yes, he can go on a bit but that is his style. I met him at the London bass show and he was friendly and pleasant. Good luck to the guy I say.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Woodinblack

[Wolverinebass]

I hasten to say, I don't subscribe. I'm puzzled by the lack of rock/metal stuff. All the content I've seen is jazz or fusion based and is just too polite for me and much too clean. However, my indifference to the genre probably has a lot to do with this viewpoint.

[PawelG]

36 minutes ago, peteb said:

Secondly, I’m not sure how useful some of his lessons actually are to the type of guys who subscribe to them. He says all the right things about groove and so on, but everything I’ve seen seems very much geared to playing fusion / jazz, with an emphasis on being able to solo. I mean how many people really need to be able to play like Gary Willis?? I sometimes think that teachers often take this approach as it can be a never-ending journey to keep students on their programme forever, whereas you could teach someone what they need to take away to become a decent bass player who could get regular gigs much quicker. I know he does do other things in SBL, but I saw his introduction to his blues course and, to be honest, it didn’t seem that great.

You can get what you need to be a great bass player from the free YT lessons. SBL is the way to go if you want to take your bass playing into next level 😉

[thepurpleblob]

I've said it before... I find the American-esque marketing incredibly off-putting and the huge hike on the pay-monthly rate a bit cynical. 

But it would seem plenty of others don't agree with me. Good luck to the guy... I've enjoyed many of his YouTube vids.

And he says "next level" too much 😄

Edited March 27, 2019 by thepurpleblob

[drTStingray]

1 hour ago, No. 8 Wire said:

Just for the record, he didn't really say active basses are no good, he just said don't get one thinking it will improve your tone or playing, it will just be different.

His overwater sig is active as well.

Unfortunately the way of YouTube is to actively promote these sort of controversial statements when in context they are not controversial at all. Like: don't get a 5 string bass (if you think it will make you play better),  don't get a fretless (unless you put in the time to get proper technique and intonation), etc.  All the most popular channels do this sort of thing, so it clearly works.

Yes I know he said that - he may be wrong because some people do get a better Bass tone with an active Bass.

But I was objecting to him saying, in the 7 routes to a good bass tone - asterisked - no active circuits.

He also said he never uses the active circuit on his Overwater and asked that all makers of active basses provide a means for him to bypass the active circuit.

If that little lot is not tantamount to saying active circuits are no good then I don't know what is!! 

Anyway I know they're better because Bernard Edwards got it right first time 😏 😀

I noticed the comments about luthery - I did think the idea you'd get a good sound by turning all the controls up on an active bass would get you a representative sound let alone good one was somewhat misguided -  anyone tried turning all the tone controls on their amp up full? You get full volume (well my Ashdown does!!). 

Instead of demonstrating an ignorance of the dark art of basses made in the 70s on, why not get someone who does and is famous to demonstrate. I remember Jaco explaining why Precision basses were no good for his style - except the necks to stretch his hands (they were already absolutely huge from what I could see)!! 

That said I enjoyed the thirty Bass try out - the Warwick sounded bizarre though - and as I said, now I know to take or leave the ideas I really find it all quite affable and certainly informative from time to time!  👍

The lack of rock music/metal is indeed bewildering - not sure why that is. I've been lambasted on TB for even mentioning the likes of Andy Fraser in the same breath as Kaye/Jamerson - perhaps the sort of people SBL is aimed at aren't keen on rock. 

It could be argued bass players and educators are far too focussed on a narrow group of players and genres (especially studio pop). 

Edited March 27, 2019 by drTStingray

[TheGreek]

Agree that he is a nice guy..

 

[drTStingray]

6 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Agree that he is a nice guy..

 

He's very affable and knowledgeable. Nice hats 😊

Edited March 27, 2019 by drTStingray

[dave_bass5]

On 26/03/2019 at 16:09, Musicman20 said:

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. 

 

Same here. No only does he waffle on for ages, i got loads of emails from him as soon as i signed up to get a ‘free’ PDF. I had to unsubscribe within a couple of days just to stop the emails i had no interest  in. 

I love the titles of his videos, but find he takes so long to get to the point i never reach it. 

Edited March 28, 2019 by dave_bass5

[Hobbayne]

Scott used to be my go to You tuber if I wanted to know anything bass related. Scales, modes etc.

But just recently I have found that there is to much waffle and fancy camera work thats making me feel seasick.

I now subscribe to that Aussie bloke who plays a Spector.

He's a very good teacher.

[Grangur]

70Euro for lessons with Gary Willis is very reasonable.  I was on SBL and one of the other tutors was punting Skype lessons at £89 an hour.

Yet what you also need to ask yourself is, "am I good enough to appreciate the full benefit?"

Taking it to the extreme,  if you're just getting your head round arpeggios and scales, then seeing GW tell you all about playing an A minor over summat else while his fingers fizz their way over the neck will go right over you head. Well, it does mine.

[chris_b]

IMO we should always be trying to learn and improve. If I can just learn 1 small thing from another player then the effort will have been worthwhile.

I've seen a couple of SD suggestions on his Youtube videos that got me thinking and helped my bass playing along. 

IMO he is providing a great resource for bass players. Nothing is perfect so ignore the annoying stuff, it's not important. Do yourself a favour, filter out the good stuff and focus on that!

 

Edit to make sense!

Edited March 27, 2019 by chris_b

[Woodinblack]

14 hours ago, No. 8 Wire said:

I think you may have hit on the reason for the external courses.  Also, the lifetime sub isn't offered anymore, so maybe that just wasn't long term sustainable.

When it was first offered, ie, when it took it out a few years ago, it was a pretty cheap deal, so that probably wouldn't be sustainable.

[Hellzero]

By the way Scott, you can buy my Tune BEB-6, it has 2 preamps, 6 strings, 36 inches scale and have a passive mode. So you could change your mind as much as you can. 

[thebigyin]

Think the bottom line is try the 14 day free trial as I did.....there's tons of stuff on there but wasn't for me, because if I was going to join something like SBL I would prefer just one tutor for example Joe Hubbard, Tony Grey, Arianna Capp ect as they seem one to one....but SBL offers lots of guidance ect but I found it a bit overwhelming and just to much on offer and to many guest seminars ect.

[Burns-bass]

The one issue he will face is that there’s not much musical ground to plough once you’ve tackled the fundamentals. There’s only so much you can do around basic major/minor stuff which is of interest to most people. When you start getting into the more complex stuff the audience becomes more and more niche. 

I like Scott’s focus on set improvement. He’s not trying to sell the dream of becoming a pro session musician, merely giving you the skills to play better.

[Musicman20]

13 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I hasten to say, I don't subscribe. I'm puzzled by the lack of rock/metal stuff. All the content I've seen is jazz or fusion based and is just too polite for me and much too clean. However, my indifference to the genre probably has a lot to do with this viewpoint.

I agree. Whilst I do enjoy some of the more intricate funky stuff, there is a lack of good old rock/metal/alternative. A lot of big players in that world of music are very interesting and have some cool intricate bass lines.

Example - Matt Freeman - Rancid. 

[operative451]

I think he needs a longer strap...

[Guest MoJo]

11 hours ago, Grangur said:

70Euro for lessons with Gary Willis is very reasonable.  I was on SBL and one of the other tutors was punting Skype lessons at £89 an hour.

Yet what you also need to ask yourself is, "am I good enough to appreciate the full benefit?"

Taking it to the extreme,  if you're just getting your head round arpeggios and scales, then seeing GW tell you all about playing an A minor over summat else while his fingers fizz their way over the neck will go right over you head. Well, it does mine.

Mine too.

[ped]

Insane lol. Bit extreme.

[tauzero]

14 hours ago, No. 8 Wire said:

Just for the record, he didn't really say active basses are no good, he just said don't get one thinking it will improve your tone or playing, it will just be different.

His overwater sig is active as well.

Didn't he say that he never plays an active bass in active mode in his diatribe on tone? I may have extrapolated from him saying that he always plays in passive mode.

[Stylon Pilson]

A lot of youtubers make use of clickbait titles and goofy thumbnails. They're attention-grabbing, but invariably the actual video itself is disappointing or not what you expected to see. Nowadays, when I see those sorts of titles or thumbnails, I skip right over them.

In my opinion, it's a question of trust. You can't keep over-promising and under-delivering, and expect me to keep trusting you.

S.P.