Vision Music: The Jazz Bassist

[SBassman]

I took an amazing jazz bass correspondence course about 10 years ago.
I enjoyed it so much, and I learned a ton from it.

I am rediscovering it again and going through the material a second time.
I wanted to mention it here since people so often here are looking for great jazz bass material.

The Jazz Bassist is a correspondence course with Mark Stefani at Vision Music.
http://www.visionmusic.com/jazzbass.html

The lessons have walks, solos, riffs, and the concepts behind it all.
The charts are solid gold - this is not the typical material you find in the books.

Some of the material is from: Miles, Ray Brown, Charlie Parker, Paul Chambers, Oscar Peterson, Ron Carter, Coltrane, Monk, Rufus Reid, and others.

The total course is 24 lessons. Mark, aka "Coach" sends them out twice a month.

I wanted to write and recommend it.
This is really fun, really interesting material that I enjoyed immensely.

 

[SBassman]

Anyone else here take the course?

 

[SBassman]

I was just looking at the course page online. As I said, it's been about 10 years for me, and at the time, we didn't have MP3s. The audio came to me on cassette tapes.

The course page now has some great sounding MP3 samples, so I thought I'd post some:

Bird lick:
http://www.visionmusic.com/audio/birdlickfour.mp3

Billie's Bounce head:
http://www.visionmusic.com/audio/billiesbounce.mp3

Keter Betts Walk:
http://www.visionmusic.com/audio/walkingbass.mp3

Course page:
http://www.visionmusic.com/samples/jazzbassist.html

I have no affiliation with Vision Music.
But, I really got a great deal of joy out of working on these lines, and I'm having a blast revisiting the material a decade later.

 

[SBassman]

Songs I'm working on right now, from the course:

Mister PC
Sugar
Work Song
So What

The charts are off the charts.

 

[SBassman]

I have been corresponding with Mark Stefani while reviewing some of the charts from The Jazz Bassist course.

Today, he sent me a recording of a tune that will be part of an album coming soon.
He plays both the guitar and bass lines. The arrangement really represents the kind of study in the course.

I Love music like this. I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the whole album.
Check it out here:

http://www.visionmusic.com/jukebox/mp3/birdcageblues.mp3

 

[FirewalZ]

I have been corresponding with Mark Stefani while reviewing some of the charts from The Jazz Bassist course.

Today, he sent me a recording of a tune that will be part of an album coming soon.
He plays both the guitar and bass lines. The arrangement really represents the kind of study in the course.

I Love music like this. I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the whole album.
Check it out here:

http://www.visionmusic.com/jukebox/mp3/birdcageblues.mp3

Wanted to ask about the price, the site is not real clear, is it per lesson?
I have always wanted to legitimately play jazz, and this looks like a solid course.

 

[SBassman]

I forgot precisely how you pay. You certainly don't have to pay for the whole year up front. I think it might be monthly.
Write to Mark at VM, and you will get a prompt, friendly reply.

 

[SBassman]

I was wondering if anyone else ever joined the program.

 

[SBassman]

I am working on these gold charts again, so I thought I would bump this thread.

These are the most enjoyable, most musical, most fun to Learn charts I have ever studied.

 

[Minus]

I have been through the course as well. Excellent language based material. Actually its exclusively language based. A gold mine of jazz language.