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Which online lesson site is most "structured" for beginners?

Polk Salad

Polk Salad

Passenger, Ship of Fools
Sep 18, 2007
1,322
1,510
#1
A co-worker has a daughter who wants to learn electric bass. In person lessons are not an option for the family, so he asked me (lol) about advice on learning online via a self study method.

While browsing the curriculum of some of the popular beginners lesson sites, I was very surprised as to HOW MANY different beginner lessons were offered. What I found interesting though, was that these sites didn't really make it clear as to which beginner lesson to start with?

That had me wondering - since many people love very detailed and structured instructions (start with step 1, when complete, move to step 2), in your experience, which of these sites have the clearest, best, or most structured lesson plan for early learners to follow?

I guess another way to ask this is which online site is best at KEEPING BEGINNERS FOCUSED on getting through the basics. It seems like a lot of the courses are very broadly reaching right away, vs building a strong foundation that students will stick with and work through.

This of course is all subjective and there are no wrong answers.

I've snooped around SBL, Talking Bass, Bassbuzz, and some of the TrueFire stuff. I have no experience with any of them, I've simply browsed their offerings.

Cheers!
 
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#5
PockySteve said:
Fender Play is excellent for beginners. Great instructors and the lessons progress in a logical, orderly sequence. The content also keeps beginners engaged by having them learn and play well known basslines throughout.
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From what I’ve seen of it, (my daughter uses the guitar side) this is good advice. For a great sequenced program that goes further, I recommend Roy Vogt’s Teach Me Bass Guitar Program.
 
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#7
I've tried a mix of BassBuzz, Talking Bass and SBL and my thoughts would be:

1. BassBuzz is a great way to get started. It gets you playing quickly and introduces solid technique and basic theory around the songs \ riffs. Watch the freebie videos on You Tube and you'll get a feel for how Josh delivers material. For me it was a great start. Josh \ the material are very engaging and should help keep focus and enthusiasm.

2. Mark at Talking Bass takes a much more academic approach. It is drier; dare I say a duller approach but the courses I did next (Chord Tone Essentials and Scale Essentials) were in depth and very well delivered. Again; what you see of Mark on his free videos is what you get with the courses. He is very professional but I don't know if I'd recommend his courses for "fun and engaging" content.

3. I did dabble with an SBL subscription but I found the number of courses and lack of structure really confusing. And as a beginner it was overwhelming and somehow managed to be less than the sum of its parts. On the plus side; there are some great tutors there who do most of the courses e.g. Damian Erskine, Philip Mann, Arianne Cap and I have since done a couple of the accelerator courses and they have been excellent.

But we are all different. Any of the above (plus others) will offer 30 day money back \ trials on either a subscription or course so I'd always suggest to try them out for yourself and see which fits you way of learning.

Good Luck!
 
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#8
Got to add the book "Bass Guitar for Dummies". Dummies gave me patterns that I still use. Once you know the chord being used dummies will point you to a bass line pattern that can be used over (with) that chord.

For example, 4/4 time
C = R-R-R-R
C-5 = R on the first beat and the 5 on the third beat.
Cm = R-b3-5-b7
Cmaj7 = R-3-5-7
Cm7b5 = R-b3-b5-b7
That's enough for now.

OK -- Identify the chord then play the notes of that chord that fit with in this specific song and fall within your skill level. Root on one will play a bunch of bass.
 
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#12
Bass said:
StudyBass has not yet been mentioned
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I think StudyBass is a great resource but it is very dry. I guess it depends on the age and motivation of the co-workers daughter. I just don't think it is that engaging or fun in a similar way to the courses by Mark (Talking Bass) which are excellent but very academic. I don't know that many youngsters who would engage with StudyBass or reading a book although "daughter" could potentially be 40 years old or more and they may be having in person lessons and not just rely on online lessons. In which case I'd change my answer.

The great thing about BassBuzz is that it got me playing with solid technique at the start and the theory came along in later modules. And there is a lot covered for free without even paying out for the course. It will certainly be easy enough to get a feel for all of these resources just by looking at what they put out for free. And the paid ones all offer some form of guarantee should they not like it.
 
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#14
Polk Salad said:
The daughter in question is a teenager who due to some unfortunate life events has some social anxiety issues - this is why the fully online path was being considered.

I appreciate the info and suggestions so far and so does the family.
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From what I understood from your posts, go with Fender Play.

If she really digs into it, then maybe try one of the others.
 
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#15
Bass Buzz with Josh Fossgreen is the absolute best for the absolute newb. He is engaging, funny and focuses on technique that will get the beginner winning small victories while playing that make them keep coming back for more. And it is cheap. Also, he has hundreds of lessons free online to look up. I got the most bang for the buck with Josh and now consider him a mentor. He will personally answer questions within the bass buzz forum and also by way of private message if needed.
 
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#17
I recommend Mark's Talking Bass. Check out the free lessons to get a feel.

When I bought my first bass 3.5 years ago, I had no experience playing bass or any stringed instruments. The music theory knowledge I had was minimal from playing Blues Harmonica.

I checked out the online courses and purchased both of Mark's courses: Basic and Fundamental courses.

I was able to develop good technique and also learned basic music theory that is applicable to playing bass.
 
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#18
Malcolm35 said:
Got to add the book "Bass Guitar for Dummies". Dummies gave me patterns that I still use. Once you know the chord being used dummies will point you to a bass line pattern that can be used over (with) that chord.

For example, 4/4 time
C = R-R-R-R
C-5 = R on the first beat and the 5 on the third beat.
Cm = R-b3-5-b7
Cmaj7 = R-3-5-7
Cm7b5 = R-b3-b5-b7
That's enough for now.

OK -- Identify the chord then play the notes of that chord that fit with in this specific song and fall within your skill level. Root on one will play a bunch of bass.
Click to expand...

I started with that book, too. It's a great intro
 
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#19
TalkingBass, for me. Many good sites out there, but a few things stand-out for me at TalkingBass:
  • I really like the way Mark Smith plays bass.
  • There is a lot of free material at TalkingBass. GOOD free material.
  • In both the free and paid material, Mark gets to the point. Not a lot of "fluff" stories that are so common.
  • Mark is able to break things down into easily digestible steps.
I have looked into lot of other sources (most of the popular ones). They all have their merits, but I am totally sold on TalkingBass.

Me? In my 60s, a "techie" by nature, started music on clarinet in grade-school. Played bass off/on over the years for fun, garage-bands/parties as a teen, folk-groups at Church in later years.

I am currently working on new styles as a beginner (rock, palm-muted pick on flats was always my thing), but am now working seriously on slap, double-thumb, chords/stops, tap, and other things completely new to me.

TalkingBass, for me.

P.S. For an absolute beginner, BassBuzz seems great as noted above.
 
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#20
I had a sub to Truefire for a few months, have also worked thru videos from SBL and Talking Bass. My wife is beginning to get serious about playing and picked up Josh Fossgreen's CD set Beginner to Badass (Bass Buzz). I've watched her working thru it and am convinced it is the very best beginner system available. Very structured, lots of play-along to keep up interest, each module builds on the previous. I'm borrowing the slap module, myself. Just an excellent course.
 
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