Phil_T Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 I'm currently doing the Talking Bass sight reading course and it's very comprehensive with loads of material to work through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 8 minutes ago, Phil_T said: I'm currently doing the Talking Bass sight reading course and it's very comprehensive with loads of material to work through. Are you finding it's making a big difference? I've certainly felt that to be the case with his Slap bass course I'm working through - which my bandmates are likely to rue 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_T Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 27 minutes ago, Al Krow said: Are you finding it's making a big difference? I've certainly felt that to be the case with his Slap bass course I'm working through - which my bandmates are likely to rue 😁 It's effective if you put in the time, for sure. I'm not totally new to reading music but I effectively started from zero about three months ago and I can now sight read simple pieces in 4 different keys with subdivisions down to 8th notes including rests and accidentals. So, I'm no prodigy but I'm making steady progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 2 hours ago, Phil_T said: It's effective if you put in the time, for sure. I'm not totally new to reading music but I effectively started from zero about three months ago and I can now sight read simple pieces in 4 different keys with subdivisions down to 8th notes including rests and accidentals. So, I'm no prodigy but I'm making steady progress. For useful exercise in reading, I found this to be worth a visit ... Alfred Kalfass 'Soul Essentials'... It's not (and not intended to be...) a tutorial, but a series of 500 riffs and patterns, all very playable, for practicing one's skills. Good value, I found. I found it through his ( @alfred...) announcement on this very Forum. Worth a look..? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Phil_T said: It's effective if you put in the time, for sure. I'm not totally new to reading music but I effectively started from zero about three months ago and I can now sight read simple pieces in 4 different keys with subdivisions down to 8th notes including rests and accidentals. So, I'm no prodigy but I'm making steady progress. Checked out his course material which looks good! Although I read music my familiarity is just on treble clef, given that I originally learned on classical guitar; so this could be just the ticket to get me up to speed on low end stuff! I'll wait for another of his "sales" before hitting the credit card though...and in the meantime I've ordered that Alfred Kalfass book Dad has recommended to keep me out of mischief. It can add to my long list of bass books bought with good intentions and gathering dust 😁 Edited February 16, 2021 by Al Krow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Panzer Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 7 hours 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? I just checked the ArtistWorks receipt..I paid $140 (£100) for 12 months, it's normally $279 (£200) so half price with a Christmas offer they were doing. I can see how Scott would rub people the wrong way, tbh he's been a relatively minor part of my SBL experience. I've gotten more from the SBL forums, various stuff from other teachers, interviews with players like Tim Lefebvre, Billy Sheehan and Henrik Linder and so on. I assumed it would be a lot of Scott doing his Youtube thing but there was more than enough other content to warrant the price for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Al Krow said: ... It can add to my long list of bass books bought with good intentions and gathering dust 😁 Please advise once you've had a 'hands-on' look; I think your curiosity will be piqued enough to at least try a few out. I have quite a stack of methods (for all sorts of instruments...), but found the 'Alfred' book interesting enough to give it a go, and I'm a drummer..! Maybe check back here with your view on it..? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 (edited) 👍 👍 @alfred arrived safely this morning - looking forward to working through the patterns. Slightly disappointed by the picture of an Eich cabinet at the rear with the Sadwosky 5er obscured behind it - surely it should be the other way around with the Sad in front? 😁 More seriously: is there a sound file somewhere online with what the exercises should sound like? You also mention in your forward that practice with harmony instrument and drummer would be beneficial - agreed; if there was a backing track with these on for each exercise it would feel like a complete course resource and I suspect would allow you to charge additionally for these features. Just a thought. Edited February 19, 2021 by Al Krow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfred Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 On 16/02/2021 at 20:13, Al Krow said: 👍 👍 @alfred arrived safely this morning - looking forward to working through the patterns. Slightly disappointed by the picture of an Eich cabinet at the rear with the Sadwosky 5er obscured behind it - surely it should be the other way around with the Sad in front? 😁 More seriously: is there a sound file somewhere online with what the exercises should sound like? You also mention in your forward that practice with harmony instrument and drummer would be beneficial - agreed; if there was a backing track with these on for each exercise it would feel like a complete course resource and I suspect would allow you to charge additionally for these features. Just a thought. Thank you for your comment, Al Krow! It's always great to get some direct response to my book. I decided to not add backing tracks here. The intension was only to add chords so that everyone has to really work on the patterns using a piano, loop-station and/or drum machine - or even better play them together with living musicians 🙂. Like the studio players in the 60s. For me this is part of the fun somehow. But I totally agree that with backing tracks the more difficult patterns are easier to handle. So right now I am working on the backing tracks for a second book, coming out this year. And if we all get more Covid-holiday than needed in 2021 maybe there's even time to add some tracks for "Soul Essentials". I'll let you know in the forum! Viele Grüße Alfred 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 31 minutes ago, alfred said: Thank you for your comment, Al Krow! It's always great to get some direct response to my book. I decided to not add backing tracks here. The intension was only to add chords so that everyone has to really work on the patterns using a piano, loop-station and/or drum machine - or even better play them together with living musicians 🙂. Like the studio players in the 60s. For me this is part of the fun somehow. But I totally agree that with backing tracks the more difficult patterns are easier to handle. So right now I am working on the backing tracks for a second book, coming out this year. And if we all get more Covid-holiday than needed in 2021 maybe there's even time to add some tracks for "Soul Essentials". I'll let you know in the forum! Viele Grüße Alfred Thanks Alfred - and good luck with your writing and teaching! One final suggestion from me (again please do with as you feel appropriate or just ignore!) Have a think about putting the 500 exercises in order of difficulty and by also key signature starting with C. As someone who is new to reading bass clef, finding that the first exercise was in the key of B major with 5# was a little scary 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 41 minutes ago, Al Krow said: Thanks Alfred - and good luck with your writing and teaching! One final suggestion from me (again please do with as you feel appropriate or just ignore!) Have a think about putting the 500 exercises in order of difficulty and by also key signature starting with C. As someone who is new to reading bass clef, finding that the first exercise was in the key of B major with 5# was a little scary 😁 As a True Beginner; that was the first thing I did : list all the 'C' licks, then the 'one flat/sharp' licks and so on. It's good, I think, to have 'em all mixed up, as one may turn the pages and get fresh stuff to read, but an index at the back (or front; whatever...) listing all the 'C's, all the 'C#'s, all the 'D's... etc wouldn't cost much, and would be helpful for those 'dipping their toe' into the book for the first (or second...) time. Just a thought. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfred Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 16 hours ago, Al Krow said: Thanks Alfred - and good luck with your writing and teaching! One final suggestion from me (again please do with as you feel appropriate or just ignore!) Have a think about putting the 500 exercises in order of difficulty and by also key signature starting with C. As someone who is new to reading bass clef, finding that the first exercise was in the key of B major with 5# was a little scary 😁 Thank you Al & Douglas, I thought about getting the patterns sorted by key and difficulty level but then again I thought: How did I work with my own bass books? I always started at the beginning, then jumped to the "funky" patterns, a little back and forth, never listened to the CD until I bought my next book. I did some research and it turned out most of my students and colleagues "worked" the same way. So I decided to do a book based on intuition rather than didactics. So that from beginner to pro everyone can just open the book on any page and start playing. I like to do so especially with my beginner students, they are totally scared when they open the book but when I pick an easy pattern they realize it's not difficult at all and then often they want to know more about notation and rhythm and never miss their TAB again 🙂. I also wrote down some thoughts about it on my website: https://en.alfredkallfass.de/buch My next book will be very sorted with a little more difficult patterns, starting easy, then getting more and more tricky towards the middle and then ending easy again. More like a real sight-reading workout for the hard workers 🙂 It's good to get some direct reaction, please feel free to suggest and criticise and if you find some mistakes in any book please let me know! Viele Grüße Alfred 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 (edited) Just giving this thread a little plug and to find out how everyone's been doing over lockdown with their courses? We had our second band rehearsal last night since starting up again, and I managed to work in a couple of brief slap riffs into two of our set numbers to an appreciative reception from bandmates. It was actually much less intrusive / sat better in the mix than I'd been fretting about beforehand. So all that time on Mark's course (which I'll have to 'fess I've not yet fully completed!) felt like it was already paying dividends. Edited July 7, 2021 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zbd1960 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Glad thread got revived as it was a useful read. People shouldn't be too scared of key signatures - I agree that for a novice it's a bit of a fright having to deal with A#s and things.In the British choral and orchestral tradition, you get stuff thrown at you in almost any key and you 'get on with it'. It may seem a bit fierce, but helps remove the fear factor. I played cello in (for me) very odd gig a few years ago in Birmingham's Symphony Hall. It was a programme of 1990s/00s dance music - a very alien genre for me (and my colleagues in the orchestra). It was scored as two continuous 1 hour sets - keys constantly changing, but nearly everything was in Db, Gb, B, or F#, with only the odd section in more manageable keys. That was hard going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveXFR Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 I tried Scott's bass lessons and got really bored really quickly. There's loads and loads of lessons and lots of pieces to play as exercises but there's no variety in the style of music. There's also a LOT of boring chat in the videos Scott presents himself. If you want a good drinking game watch any of his videos about bands and bassists and take a shot every time he says "holding down the low end". You'll be in hospital within 15 minutes. I found Mark at Talking Bass much better. More variety, straight to the point without waffling about his day, nice clear instruction and good presentation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfred Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 On 19/02/2021 at 20:06, alfred said: Thank you for your comment, Al Krow! It's always great to get some direct response to my book. I decided to not add backing tracks here. The intension was only to add chords so that everyone has to really work on the patterns using a piano, loop-station and/or drum machine - or even better play them together with living musicians 🙂. Like the studio players in the 60s. For me this is part of the fun somehow. But I totally agree that with backing tracks the more difficult patterns are easier to handle. So right now I am working on the backing tracks for a second book, coming out this year. And if we all get more Covid-holiday than needed in 2021 maybe there's even time to add some tracks for "Soul Essentials". I'll let you know in the forum! Viele Grüße Alfred Dear bass aficionados, my popular book "Soul Essentials" now comes with 140 bonus audio & video backing tracks. Available here: https://en.alfredkallfass.de/buch or at Thomann https://www.thomann.de/gb/alfred_kallfass_soul_essentials_bass.htm Read more (german): https://www.bonedo.de/artikel/einzelansicht/buchtipp-soul-essentials-von-alfred-kallfass.html Herzliche Grüße Alfred 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 1 hour ago, alfred said: Dear bass aficionados, my popular book "Soul Essentials" now comes with 140 bonus audio & video backing tracks. Available here: https://en.alfredkallfass.de/buch or at Thomann https://www.thomann.de/gb/alfred_kallfass_soul_essentials_bass.htm Read more (german): https://www.bonedo.de/artikel/einzelansicht/buchtipp-soul-essentials-von-alfred-kallfass.html Herzliche Grüße Alfred Brilliant Alfred, that's going to make a huge difference to getting into the 500 exercises in your book! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 6, 2022 Author Share Posted October 6, 2022 Dan Hawkins Bass Lessons - YouTube Came across this fella recently. Excellent. Strictly not a paid a course as such - he asks for contributions, but I love the clarity of his approach and he's big into 16th note patterns which seem to underpin some of the bass greats' styles! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 20 minutes ago, Al Krow said: Dan Hawkins Bass Lessons - YouTube Came across this fella recently. Excellent. Strictly not a paid a course as such - he asks for contributions, but I love the clarity of his approach and he's big into 16th note patterns which seem to underpin some of the bass greats' styles! I use his lessons sometimes, he’s very good on theory if you’re interested in that, I’m working through this one at the moment for something different to what I normally play 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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