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

[Apeneck Sweeney]

I took Joe Hubbard's 2 year course and it was excellent. Some of the areas it covered were already familiar to me but there was always something in each lesson to keep me working through the week. I really needed a disciplined path to follow. One of the good things about Joe's course was getting one lesson each week rather than access to the whole course in one go. This kept me focused. I must admit I felt a little bereft when it came to an end. I bought his Chord Tone Mastery book to keep myself going while waiting for his Advanced Course (coming in the near future.)

I did try another course on another site to fill the gap but found the style a bit grating and the content bit lacking. I stuck with it and picked up a few things but couldn't recommend it.

[Al Krow]

6 hours ago, Apeneck Sweeney said:

I took Joe Hubbard's 2 year course and it was excellent. Some of the areas it covered were already familiar to me but there was always something in each lesson to keep me working through the week. I really needed a disciplined path to follow. One of the good things about Joe's course was getting one lesson each week rather than access to the whole course in one go. This kept me focused. I must admit I felt a little bereft when it came to an end. I bought his Chord Tone Mastery book to keep myself going while waiting for his Advanced Course (coming in the near future.)

I did try another course on another site to fill the gap but found the style a bit grating and the content bit lacking. I stuck with it and picked up a few things but couldn't recommend it.

Thanks for sharing that. What level is Joe's course aimed at and how much was it to take? I presume you got to keep access to previous weeks material so that you could back over older stuff if you wanted to? 

Must admit I do like having the whole of Mark's Talking Bass courses available from the outset so that I can go at my own pace, but I can see the benefit of having the discipline of a weekly course to work towards also! 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Al Krow

[lownote]

Not much to add.  SBL is top value, but much of the content is really advanced, while Scott's own delivery can be the opposite and inane and rambling for some.  Personally I don't mind it.  It's like being in a mate's chat, and I'm used to him after almost 10 years.  Mark Smith at Talking Bass is ridiculous value.  His walking bass course especially kept me busy for months for nothing money. However, he's very bright and his stuff can be very intense leaving you huffing and puffing a bit in his wake. 

[Phil Starr]

 

[Apeneck Sweeney]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks for sharing that. What level is Joe's course aimed at and how much was it to take? I presume you got to keep access to previous weeks material so that you could back over older stuff if you wanted to? 

Must admit I do like having the whole of Mark's Talking Bass courses available from the outset so that I can go at my own pace, but I can see the benefit of having the discipline of a weekly course to work towards also! 

The lessons take the form of a video which is usually somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes and a pdf. I backed up all the pdfs (several times as I’m cautious about hard drives failing). I also printed it all out. You have access to it all while on the course and if you get a week or two behind you don’t need to worry as there are 48 lessons each year. I found that I rarely needed to go back to the video other than during the week of the lesson. The videos are clear and concise, as are the pdfs.

 

The course I took was an intermediate one, The bass mastery Course.

 

https://www.joehubbardbassvideos.com/bassment/

 

He also offers a one year a foundation course but I can’t find the info about it at the moment.

You’ll need to be able to read music notation as there is no Tab. Please note this doesn’t mean you need to be able to sight read. As long as you can work it out slowly you’ll be fine and you’ll also get better and quicker at that as a welcome byproduct.

 

He also offers a package with one off lessons (the lesson lounge). These you can dip in and out of as you want. I had access to both as I was on the Premium package. There’s some good stuff in there but what I needed was a coach and the basement was perfect for me.

 

I’ve now been playing for nearly 40 years and started off trying to get bits of information from friends and also the one bass column in Guitar player each month, eventually getting down to some serious study about 7 years later working through Jerry Coker’s Patterns For Jazz. I’ve since worked through a lot of books but really needed someone to tell me what to do each week. I’m fairly good at self study but felt I needed some help with a focused study plan. I play double bass and bass guitar and felt that my bass guitar playing was getting left behind. The course provided a great way to get my practice organised and there’s plenty of stuff that can be applied to my double playing too.

 

 

I can’t remember the exact amount but I paid around £200 per year but this was after a 50% special offer. It’s worth signing up for email notifications as Joe offers discount to a limited number a few times a year. Every now and then he offers lifetime access to all his courses for somewhere around £600 which, if you can afford it, and importantly, are prepared to work hard is a bargain.

[thebigyin]

16 hours ago, Grangur said:

Another life-time member of SBL here. For those who've seen Scott's YouTube content from the last few years and been turned right off; I'm with you completely. Scott's drivel he keeps spouting in those vids is awful, but when you get into the serious paid-for content from Scott and the other tutors in the "SBL academy" its very different.

Another tutor I've been to for lessons was Rufus Philpot. I had a series of 1-to-1 Skype lessons from him in the USA. I picked up a few points in these, but over all he's too advanced for me to gain much from. He has loads of knowledge but he goes at such a rate I wasn't able to get too much from him, and at £90 for 45mins, he wasn't cheap.

SBL is fantastic value for money and the content is massive. You can also go at your own speed.

Very true Grangur the SBL Academy has some great information I regularly take advantage of the 14 day free trial and download the pdf's that are available in the workbooks, I particularly like the Phil Mann content, I agree about Rufus brilliant and educated bassist but way over my limited skills.

[Woodinblack]

I did the separate paid SBL Accelerator course, and that was very good, some of that stuff has stuck with me. I did also start the Gary Willis course, but that one wasn't for me, so I dropped out and got the refund

[Al Krow]

Just now, Woodinblack said:

I did the separate paid SBL Accelerator course, and that was very good, some of that stuff has stuck with me. I did also start the Gary Willis course, but that one wasn't for me, so I dropped out and got the refund

Can you remember what the cost and number of lessons /course duration were and broadly what it was looking to achieve? 

[RichValentine]

Im currently doing the SBL Technique Accelerator Course. Was about £100 and includes 24 video lessons with workbook and tells you what to practice each week (~20 mins/day at least 5 days a week) to remove some bad habits and improve overall technique/facility on the bass. 

I'm enjoying it and already feel like the practice is paying off. Improved RH finger independence massively! 

Edited March 23, 2020 by RichValentine

[Woodinblack]

24 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Can you remember what the cost and number of lessons /course duration were and broadly what it was looking to achieve? 

Yep, 24 weeks.. oh as above.

Its very slow, but deliberately so, it even has a lesson which is just playing one note and listening to the consistency and sound of that note as you play it etc. Covers pretty well everything

[stewblack]

I so want to recommend the course I'm doing , but it's free right now and Al is very particular about what he will and will not tolerate.

 

Shame though. It's a doozy

[Al Krow]

54 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I so want to recommend the course I'm doing , but it's free right now and Al is very particular about what he will and will not tolerate. Shame though. It's a doozy

 Haha, quite right! Glad that folk are finally reading the memo! 😉

 As @hooky_lowdown said (I suspect not having read the memo 😁) there are a ton of threads dealing with useful free on line courses, which I am sure will welcome your suggestion about your freebie course (assuming it's not already slipped through the net earlier in the thread - lol)...

This 'ere thread is aimed squarely at folk wanting to invest time and coin in structured quality online courses and to get a steer from fellow BC'ers who have taken them and found them worth the investment. 

[stewblack]

I am investing many hours in a course which would usually cost you. And scrolling back it has been mentioned already. It has already began opening doors in my mind about how music works. It's exceptionally good. But right now free ... so move along nothing to see here etc

 

[Al Krow]

17 hours ago, stewblack said:

I am investing many hours in a course which would usually cost you. And scrolling back it has been mentioned already. It has already began opening doors in my mind about how music works. It's exceptionally good. But right now free ... so move along nothing to see here etc

With age comes wisdom Mr Black. And given that his courses are of sufficient quality to warrant being normally paid for, it would be churlish to exclude your and several other folks' recommendation, particularly if he's been big-hearted enough to make them available for free temporarily. 

Although for the sake of balance - worth sharing some separate feedback I've had from a couple of BC'ers on this particular course, particularly in relation to his use of 5 string basses to illustrate his points:

"I found it hard to concentrate on what the guy was saying and kept losing interest. Also the fact that he was doing the classes on a 5 string meant there were gaps in being able to follow him. Not knocking the guy at all, but he isn't in the same league as Mark from Talking Bass when it comes to keeping you interested. Maybe it's just me." 

... I guess it will be interesting, therefore, if any of us decide to go ahead and take paid for courses from Zoltan when they cease to be free. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Al Krow

[dave_bass5]

I love Marks way of teaching. Out off all the Free online tutors ive seen Mark is always the one that gets through to me and i come away feeling ive learnt something. Maybe its just the level I’m at and attention span i have.

Maybe one day ill sign up to his paid courses.....when i have time 😂

[petebassist]

I find DiscoverDoubleBass really great to use, and very affordable. Lots of courses available and the website is really good to use. 

[OzMike]

I've been working through the electric bass jazz lessons by John Patitucci:
https://artistworks.com/jazz-bass-lessons-john-patitucci

This starts from a very basic, practically zero ability level, and has three levels - beginner, intermediate, advanced - each with a number of lessons  I don't play acoustic but the subscription - $105 for 3 months is the plan I'm on - gives you access to the acoustic course also, plus a 4 lesson basic theory lesson. There are videos for each lesson, and PDFs (notation only, no tab) for most lessons, as well as some backing tracks. John is a good teacher, and has relaxed and friendly style. The real bonus is that you can submit several of your own videos, and he'll respond personally, providing feedback on where you should improve. I've been too much of a coward to utilise this option, but for more courageous players this would be worth the $105 all by itself IMO (as I guess he'd charged a mint for personal lessons).

The videos are well filmed and produced. Very information-dense and no b/s, recommended, especially if you are an old-school / jazz-wanna-be.

[stewblack]

20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

With age comes wisdom Mr Black. And given that his courses are of sufficient quality to warrant being normally paid for, it would be churlish to exclude your and several other folks' recommendation, particularly if he's been big-hearted enough to make them available for free temporarily. 

Although for the sake of balance - worth sharing some separate feedback I've had from a couple of BC'ers on this particular course, particularly in relation to his use of 5 string basses to illustrate his points:

"I found it hard to concentrate on what the guy was saying and kept losing interest. Also the fact that he was doing the classes on a 5 string meant there were gaps in being able to follow him. Not knocking the guy at all, but he isn't in the same league as Mark from Talking Bass when it comes to keeping you interested. Maybe it's just me." 

... I guess it will be interesting, therefore, if any of us decide to go ahead and take paid for courses from Zoltan when they cease to be free. 

Horses for courses I guess. nothing wrong with Mark's content but I found the absolute opposite to be true. Zoltan was utterly engaging without the irritating happy chappy constant upbeat delivery of Talking Bass which puts me right off. 

Using a 5er was an excellent idea as his lessons work for 4 and 5 string players. I must have spent four or five hours in his company yesterday. Pure gold. 

[Al Krow]

52 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Horses for courses I guess. nothing wrong with Mark's content but I found the absolute opposite to be true. Zoltan was utterly engaging without the irritating happy chappy constant upbeat delivery of Talking Bass which puts me right off. 

Using a 5er was an excellent idea as his lessons work for 4 and 5 string players. I must have spent four or five hours in his company yesterday. Pure gold. 

Fair! I guess the key point is folk should simply be aware that he is teaching on 5 string bass and assumes you can read music (I'll mention both in the OP summary) - but that's the beauty of us sharing our collective experiences and thoughts.

@OzMike - an excellent mini review of the ArtistWorks Jazz bass course, thank you!

Edited March 25, 2020 by Al Krow

[jassthebass]

Hi

I am in the process of taking Joe Hubbard's 2 year bass mastery course & pretty much agree with everything Apeneck Sweeney has stated above.

I purchased the Lifetime access version which for me has worked out because I've been very busy at work & last last year I broke my hand & had to take a break of sorts !! (lemme tell ya, that sucks !). I fully recommend Joe Hubbard's course.

 

I have also been a member of SBL in the past & that was good at the time but IMO Joe's approach works better for me.

 

Jass

[Al Krow]

Mark at Talking Bass is currently offering 30% off all his courses for one week.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Al Krow

[PatrickJ]

4 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Mark at Talking Bass is currently offering 30% all his courses for one week.

Been thinking of trying his walking bass line course, since I can't buy gear this sounds like a great opportunity.

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Been thinking of trying his walking bass line course, since I can't buy gear this sounds like a great opportunity.

Actually that's the very one I've just signed up for (was meaning to take anyway!), which I look forward to getting onto once I've completed his excellent slap bass course which I am half way through.

[ambient]

A lot of extremely brilliant bassists all over the world are currently sitting at home. Now’s the time to message them via their website or social media, and ask about private lessons via Skype. Much better in my opinion than a one size fits all video lesson.

[Al Krow]

14 minutes ago, ambient said:

A lot of extremely brilliant bassists all over the world are currently sitting at home. Now’s the time to message them via their website or social media, and ask about private lessons via Skype. Much better in my opinion than a one size fits all video lesson.

I get where you're coming from as you are someone who is giving lessons, but it's a question of value for money and the guarantee of consistent high quality from widely recognized and appreciated online tutors e.g. Mark's lessons work out at around £1 a lesson and I can take them in bite sized chunks depending on how quickly I master them and what else I have going on at the time, which is perfect for me. Consequently I've found every one of his lessons better than the (few) £30 / hr in person lessons I've had from a couple of capable tutors.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Al Krow