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Online Lessons besides Scott's

joenoone

joenoone

Mar 21, 2009
387
206
Clermont, FL
#1
So for any mid-level bassists, who has found any online courses that are worth paying for? I keep hearing people mentioning Scott's Bass Lessons, but watching him on YouTube he takes a good 10-15 minutes of rambling before he even starts teaching on some videos. I'm looking for something faster and more concentrated. I work 40+ hrs/wk so I don't have tons of hours a day to practice but need to focus on improving.
 
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#2
I got a nice coupon that led me to pull the trigger on a True-Fire membership. It has 3 times more guitar stuff than it has bass stuff, but the bass stuff that's there is really good. It's kinda perfect for me right now. Being self-taught, I consider my early bass instruction to be pretty questionable. There are many foundational holes in my musicianship...

I started at the beginning ("this is a bass, can you say bass?"...) and have committed to doing each and every exercise to the level of being extremely comfortable with the material before advancing. It's going pretty fast. At some point the lesson material will reach a point where the fast lane will slow down. The thing I like about the True-Fire setup is that each lesson is non-nonsense and short. Also most lessons have a Guitar Pro (.gpx) file with them. Super big help in getting the material digested efficiently.

One thing about SBL that I would say is worth a second look is the "accelerator" programs. They are separate from the full blow "membership" and are not offered all the time, but do open from time to time. Yea, there is rambling, but for me, it was worth it. I'm a 30+year veteran player, and have close to, but better than mediocre skills. The Practice Accelerator is good. The Technique Accelerator is good+. I have finished both and feel that my playing as improved a bunch because of these two courses. I hear you on the 40+ hours per week. I have 4 kids, volunteer for the Scouting Program, and play for my Church. I have to be pretty strategic about my practice time.
 
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#4
If nothing else, SBL has a 2-week free trial. Jump on that and check out some of the courses that interest you. There might be a bit of rambling/noodling, but no where near as much in his YT vids. If it's not for you, cancel before the end of the free trial and you are not out a dime and you have the peace of mind knowing what's inside SBL. Where an SBL membership gives you access to a library of courses, there are also sites like Gregs Bass Shed, SBL, TalkingBass, eBassGuitar, etc. that sell individual courses. It all really depends on what direction you are wanting to go.

Myself, I am an SBL member and I have purchased 3 of the courses offered at TalkingBass. Course material from both are quite comprehensive. They worked very well for me. If you have any questions re: either of those two offerings, let me know and I'd be glad to answer them.

Good luck in your search . . .

*Edited for grammar
 
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#5
Scott doesn't really do any teaching of new courses on the SBL paid for subscription site and the newer lessons (last couple of years) are generally of very high quality delivered by the likes of Ian Allison, John Patitucci, Charles Berthoud, Ariane Cap, James Herrara, Phil Mann, Rufus Philpot, Gary Willis etc. Scott has done a lot of the older lessons and his style does creep in although much less than on the freebie You Tube videos.

As a beginner, the SBL site can be overwhelming. As you are more experienced I'd definitely suggest taking out a trial subscription as there will be a lot there albeit it isn't very well structured and finding what you are looking for can take some effort. You'll get a lot of spam but it is straight forward to cancel if it isn't for you (and perhaps set up a throw away email address!).

If you prefer to avoid subscription models \ prefer to buy courses outright then Talking Bass is very high quality. I'm not sure it will be as advanced as the more advanced SBL lessons but Mark does offer a money back guarantee on his courses. Scott does also offer stand-alone accelerator courses (as another post further up mentioned). There is (IMO) a lot of the Scott woffle in there amongst the nuggets. You'll sit through a 40 minute lesson to get 10 minutes worth of material. I did find the Technique accelerator execellent but setup a OneNote so that I could skip directly to the material that was of interest to me.
 
#8
Lorin Cohen said:
What are you hoping to work on/develop in your playing? Styles you play?

I think starting there will help guide where to look for instruction.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that. Generally I play rock or country, eventually I'd like to learn jazz. I know the basics of music theory (standard chords, can read sheet music [slowly]) and am looking to improve speed/ease-of-playing and knowledge.
 
#10
Cool!

Glad to hear you'd like to get into some jazz studies at some point, as doing so will help you with playing all styles.

In general, I'm not a huge fan of all the membership sites out there. I think they can lead to overwhelm, and given that you have limited time, my sense is a program with a more focused, even limited scope might be best.

I'm more into Mentorship as opposed to membership. Having access to a dedicated mentor teacher who can provide clear, stepwise solutions and personalized support will, in my view, yield greater results and focus your time more.

I'd seek that out if possible!
 
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#11
FatStringer52 said:
If nothing else, SBL has a 2-week free trial. Jump on that and check out some of the courses that interest you.
Click to expand...

+1 on this. The YouTube videos are really not relevant to the main instructional content on SBL. Also, most of the "introductory rambling" in the major SBL lessons are actually separated into a distinct introductory video, which you can just skip if you want.
 
#12
joenoone said:
So for any mid-level bassists, who has found any online courses that are worth paying for? I keep hearing people mentioning Scott's Bass Lessons, but watching him on YouTube he takes a good 10-15 minutes of rambling before he even starts teaching on some videos. I'm looking for something faster and more concentrated. I work 40+ hrs/wk so I don't have tons of hours a day to practice but need to focus on improving.
Click to expand...
Yousician. It's like guitar-hero but with real instruments. I got through all the material pretty quickly, but I've been playing almost 20 years. Some of the top level stuff is still hella difficult. Levels 1-12 (I think), with complete guides, videos and exercises. Listen to you play in real time and provides a score. It's a really good tool. Different options for subscription or one time payment. I got a lot out of it, highly recommended.

Edit: Oh, and if you buy 1 module (bass), you get access to all the others too. I've started learning piano aswell :D
 
#13
I'm a lifetime SBL member, but I totally understand what you mean by some of the extraneous YouTube content he features. I think the problem is more about YouTube's monetization model, video length requirements, etc. that drive so many on YouTube to drag things out. That said, the lessons on the SBL website and the accelerator programs he offers are some of the best stuff I've come across.

As a general rule, I skip the first 1/3rd of YouTube videos to get to the meat, but I would definitely encourage you to check out the two-week SBL trial rather than judging him entirely by what's on YouTube, which is mostly intended to promote the full lessons on the SBL website.
 
#16
DuluthDank said:
The best online resource for Jazz is probably Joe Hubbard's 2 year bass course. It could even be a decent supplement to a teacher as well. But it's better to have a teacher if possible.
Click to expand...

If you go the Joe Hubbard approach (and he is highly regarded) then consider waiting until the sales come along. He has had 60% off his lifetime courses a few times a year which make them much more affordable. Follow him on Facebook for notification of when the next offer comes up.
 
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#17
joenoone said:
So for any mid-level bassists, who has found any online courses that are worth paying for? I keep hearing people mentioning Scott's Bass Lessons, but watching him on YouTube he takes a good 10-15 minutes of rambling before he even starts teaching on some videos. I'm looking for something faster and more concentrated. I work 40+ hrs/wk so I don't have tons of hours a day to practice but need to focus on improving.
Click to expand...

okay,

i have years of experience and have literally taught thousands of music students at this point, between my day job and private lessons. As well as 3 degrees in music education.

there are obviously a lot of factors that go into what makes a good teacher. but if i had to pick one it would be differentiation.

meeting a student exactly where they are, and bringing them exactly one notch higher. knowing in a real accurate sense where the student is and what "one notch higher" looks like really does take a lot to become good at.

the problem with online lessons is that this can only happen coincidentally.

I've had several bass students come to me, somewhat proudly proclaiming that they used scotts bass lessons for x amount of time. I've always been interested to see where it got them... and it's never been (in my experience!) anywhere productive at all.

no discredit to the wonderful players and teachers over there, i bet lots of people benefit from them existing.

but i guess what i'm getting at is that online lesson programs are like buying a suit off the rack. they size it to give as many people as possible something thats "close enough," rather than fitting something to you and your exact needs. especially since covid, nearly all teachers offer online lessons. some higher profile people than you may think!

find a good teacher and just take online lessons if you can - i know that can be expensive, and there can be difficulty finding the right person. if that's absolutely not possible, i think you'd have just as much luck learning from all the free youtube stuff than paying for SBL.

no hate towards SBL, other than the time I heard they made it super hard to cancel the subscription, I have no feelings positive or negative towards it as a whole. The above observations are just analyzing it from an educators perspective. you may very well be the guy who yanks the suit off the rack and it, to everyones amazement, needs zero alterations and was "made for you."
 
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