Online Bass Tuition - Any good?

[Zegie]

I would be grateful if any one has any feedback on the various
online Bass tuition packages that are featured on the internet.

Any experiences - good bad or indifferent would be most useful to hear.

I have to admit as a relative newbie I find distinguishing them a bit confusing.

Thanks.

[MalcolmAmos]

I found http://www.studybass.com/ to be well written and progresses in a logical order. Start on page one and speed read till you need to slow down and start studying. Well worth your time and the cost is right, it's free.

[Dmanlamius]

I try my hardest to teach people at my site. I've had excellent feedback through the process.

I start from beginners up to intermediate.

Everyone is individual, and it's important people are comfortable with their teachers (even online). I may not be right for you, but there are loads of great teachers out there to help you out!

Hope you find what you're looking for.

My site: http://www.Dmanlamius.com

[BluesWalker]

I went through the Vision Jazx Bass by-mail course and used the materials on-line (www.visionmusic.com). Mark Stefani sends out a lesson every two weeks, a CD with him explaining and playing the material and printed material, primarily music, for you to play and learn. His approach is very practical. He wants to teach you various lines to play over jazz changes with am emphasis on the variety of Jazz Blues and Jazz Standards. He covers walking lines, solos and ii-V progressions. It is very effective in helping one build up a playing vocabulary. Theoretical content is very low, you need to know theory and where to go to expand your understanding as you go through the lessons (if you want to understand). The Vision Music site also has some good resources, including a lot of examples of walking lines over a long, long list of jazz standards (and some blues tunes) that can be played over and over through your stereo speakers. He also sells some material to augument his lessons and the site contains theoretical info.

[BluesWalker]

Originally Posted by Dmanlamius

I try my hardest to teach people at my site. I've had excellent feedback through the process.

I start from beginners up to intermediate.

Everyone is individual, and it's important people are comfortable with their teachers (even online). I may not be right for you, but there are loads of great teachers out there to help you out!

Hope you find what you're looking for.

My site: http://www.Dmanlamius.com

Nice site!!!

[Dmanlamius]

Cheers, Blues!

[jodyacoustic]

another good freebie is activebass.com

[gidbass]

I am taking lessons from http://www.workshoplive.com.

Good Luck!

[jodyacoustic]

this is a great site for chord theory http://www.thelibster.com/bass/ activebass.com also has a track builder you can experiment with these ideas on..keep you busy for a while

[paul_wolfe]

Hey Zegie

Which site(s)/programs get recommended to you depends on what you are trying to achieve.

For example if you have played a bit and want to work on a specific technique eg tap or slap, you could try Adam Nitti's site:

http://www.musicdojo.com/

If you are more interested in say learning walking basslines I know Cliff Engel offers various coursees....

http://www.cliffengel.com/bass_lessons/online/

If you are a relative newbie and want to get up to speed I have my own course of interactive online bass lessons - aimed at beginners - you'll find more details here:

http://www.how-to-play-bass.com/onli...s-lessons.html

Hope one of those suggestions points you in the right direction.


Happy holidays.



Paul

[Chris K]

However useful and well-written those packages may be, for relative beginners a teacher is a must to monitor basic technique. Later on, packages, books, video's, depending on what you would like to achieve, just as Paul says.

[Zegie]

Thanks Paul, Chris Jodi, Dman et al. You have inspired me to consider and quantify my goals. What I don’t yet know is how realistic or achievable they may (or may not) be:

- I wish to become competent on the bass for my own pleasure and occasional gigs and jam sessions with friends. Therefore I need to learn how to jam along in various keys and play an acceptable bass line on the spur of the moment given just the chords.

- The genres I wish to play is essentially RnB, Pop, Soul and Motown.

- I wish to be able to read melody and bass lines on the stave and understand note durations, rests and registers.

- I wish to understand key signatures and be able to play along in any key.

- I wish to understand chords, how they work and what notes I may play (and not play) to fit in with common chords and chord progressions.

What I don’t want is for some one to teach me the ‘customary’ bass line to individual pop songs (I can do that myself in an evening on You Tube). Neither do I want a teacher that will have nothing to do with the study of music as I believe the essentials of music theory are all part of the musical journey.

To complicate matters, I have been told that I have a distinctive naivety in my approach to bass that I have been advised to nurture and cultivate.

The reason I am setting all this down is that there must be hundreds of others just like me.

[paul_wolfe]

Zegie

Firstly all of your goals are realistic and achievable (IMO) irrespective of your ability level - but I'll qualify that by saying you'll need to put in a certain number of hours of learning and practice to achieve those goals. (How many hours that is DOES depend on your current ability level).

There's no magic bullet that will get you there without putting the work in. I blogged about this on my Deliberate Practice blog:

http://www.deliberatepracticeblog.com/?p=64

Any competent teacher should be able to help with the theory aspects of what you want to learn (Ie sight reading, key signatures, understanding chords and chord progressions and what notes you can use).

From there applying that information to the genre you want is not a giant leap either - studying the great bassists of this genre and understanding what they are playing will get you a looonnnnngggg way down this particular road (eg Jamerson, Duck Dunn, Chuck Rainey, Jerry Jemmott).

Hope that helps.

[Zegie]

Great advice and guidance- I have seen the websites and most are very impressive. Thank you all so much.

I do like the down to earth approach and ‘telling it like it is’ of some of the sites. And Paul hits the nail on the head - the main reason I need at teacher is to provide a sort of organised framework by which I can progress – very childish I know but IMHO it works (see my post re language teaching):

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...t=#post8416301

I (possibly like many others) am naturally unstructured in my approach to learning and that is why most people need (but don’t have) achievable and measurable goals, regular reviews and frequent encouragement – encouragement either by achievement, praise or acknowledgement.

However as a beginner to bass I am finding it difficult to identify THE site. All have good and not so good points. I have found most of the ingredients (I seek) online but haven’t found the perfect (for me) method. (Come on all your entrepreneurs! lol).

Furthermore, I quickly realised that (again for me) having the computer on whilst practicing was just too much of a distraction.

My philosophy (and its hard, like VERY HARD) is just practice, NOW!! Don’t put it off. Don’t wait for the new book. Don’t turn on the computer. Don’t find excuses not to do it! Sure there are times when YouTube and online sites have their uses, but as in all learning situations procrastination is the enemy of learning. And the partner of procrastination is distraction.

What I have done for the time being is to prepare an excel chart for my daily practice schedule with 10 minute slots allocated to various tasks (for want of a better word). This provides me with both a programme and a record which I am hoping will allow me to measure my progress and therefore provide me with the ‘encouragement’ I spoke about earlier.

And yes Jamerson is (at the moment) the only bassist I am trying to emulate – (hey there is enough there both in quantity and variety to keep me going for a good long while).

Thanks to this forum and these posts I have be able to centre on and quantify my goals as a beginner. There are some great online websites and resourses that you all have introduced me to. Thanks again.

If they were all thrown up in the air - could what’s left result in an ideal online Bass tuition site for beginners?

I happen to think it just might - but what do I know? – I only realised yesterday that A is always next to E!

Cheers guys.

[Dmanlamius]

Yup, that's they key ('scuse the pun), Zegie! Practice. It really is that simple...

There is a wealth of info out there, and it's easy to be bogged down by it all. Pick what you feel most comfortable with.

I would also suggest seeking out a "real" teacher. Just like Chris mentioned...

Maybe all us online teachers should get together, and make a "Super site!"

[Zegie]

Dman,

You might have something there. I really like your approach and cool looking website. Paul also has lots to offer but in a different way. I also found studybass.com really useful and is great for dipping in and out of.

Perhaps that is the answer – dips in and outs. It is tempting to design an online site from the bottom up but as has been pointed out everyone is different. A site capable of providing a ‘Start wherever you feel comfy with’ approach does have its attractions (for me). The question remains though how can it be commercially viable and earn enough to make regular support of the site worthwhile? Many sites start of with good intentions but when the money doesn’t flow the owners soon get disillusioned and they fall into decay – even though their idea was great.

What IMHO is the most difficult thing for (some/most?) educators (in any subject – not just bass) to grasp is:
1. What the beginner wants to accomplish. (The encouragement I spoke about is important here).
2. How he/she feels about putting in the hours. The ‘learn bass painlessly and easily and simply’ advocates are unhelpful at best and misleading at worst.
3. The student’s expectations and an honest answer to just how realistic they are.
4. The student’s keenness, dedication and staying power.
And perhaps more importantly-
5. Just how quickly beginners’ requirements change and develop.

For example just last week I was struggling with a Jamerson riff – But I worked and worked at it and now I cant see what the problem was. What I am saying is, even a few days later I have pretty well forgotten how difficult I found it. And I have to say that more than once I very nearly put the bass down and resolved to forget the riff altogether!! If I feel like that – how much more difficult can it be for a teacher? – some might say it’s impossible for anyone else to comprehend (understand.. maybe) the student’s sentiments, motivation and feelings.

I believe the teachers main role is what I refer to as encouragement, but I am sure other newbies will have their own thoughts and ideas - they might be worth harvesting.

So yes a super site has got to be worth at least an airing – but may I humbly suggest you involve the beginners as well as the experts, they have so much to offer – but their contribution will be gone tomorrow – if you get my drift.

Z.

[sedgwick1489]

++1 on Cliff Engel. I took 25 lessons from him about 5yrs ago and still constantly re-visit the material. Amazing bang for the buck and Cliff is spot on with being organized and responsive to questions / feedback. Highly recommended - Cliff is a great teacher and very nice guy.

[Zegie]

Good information.

Cliff Engel's approach looks really interesting. Particulary like his approach to reading music and theory, whereas some of the other online tutors don't seem to atach so much importance to this vital (IMO) ingredient.

Was unable to find out what he charges though - any idea?

Z.

[sedgwick1489]

Originally Posted by Zegie

Good information.

Cliff Engel's approach looks really interesting. Particulary like his approach to reading music and theory, whereas some of the other online tutors don't seem to atach so much importance to this vital (IMO) ingredient.

Was unable to find out what he charges though - any idea?

Z.

I don't know what he charges now, but when I took lessons from Cliff several years ago they were very affordable. I'd give him an e-mail.