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Would you spend $2000 to learn to play jazz online?

#161
If you find a great music teacher in your area, and they $40 per one hour lesson, that equals $2080 for 1 full year. Even if you miss a few lessons, that's still approaching $2k. What if you take lessons for two or three years? It adds up to much more than two grand. I'd say SBL's deal is quite good, considering all you get. So, yes if I had the inkling I'd pay that money for that service.
 
#165
there is nothing they can teach you there that can't be found for free online or in low cost books. and you gotta ask yourself if this is the group of people the will really excel at creating a jazz course. personally, SBL will never get a cent from me.

If you do want to pay for some online courses, check out Open Studio. Or even better get with a local teacher.
 
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#169
tb-player said:
I am a lifetime member of Scott's Bass Lessons. I signed up years ago, at a greatly discounted price, when whey were doing a quick cash grab. These days I don't go on the site that much. But this evening I was poking around to see if there was anything new there.

Turns out, there is something new... the SBL Jazz Lab. I didn't read the whole thing because the ad is a ridiculously long, click-bait style essay designed to give just enough info to keep you reading. I just fast-forwarded to the end.

It's basically a combination of different styles of instruction...
  • SBL Mesh Framework Curriculum
  • Flexible Video Lessons
  • Weekly 1:1 Video Feedback
  • Live A-List Masterclasses
  • Weekly Live Group Workshops
  • Excel at 3 Jazz Standards

They go on to say that this level of coaching would cost $5200 at Berklee. But they're marking it down from $5200 to a mere $2000.

I choked.

So I went back and read more and I'm just not seeing it. Am I missing something? For $2k I could do a good amount of private lessons with some pretty decent teachers. Or maybe that's what this is and I just don't see it?

Did anyone here see this and sign up?

View attachment 5447638
Click to expand...
Ya know they did the Jazz Accelerator for $149 that's a bit easier to swallow.
upload_2024-5-14_18-53-21.png
 
#170
Apparently there are 250 spots for students with 67 spots left. It looks like they basically go through 3 tunes as the curricula. That includes 68 lessons. It also has personalized feedback sessions, live master classes and live group coaching sessions.

For each tune:

1) Accompaniment & Building Bass Lines

2) Theory & Harmonic Analysis

3) Melodic Interpretation & Chord Studies

4) Soloing & Improvisation

This seems like a lot of $ for learning 3 tunes even if it is "in depth" learning. I really think they are jumping the shark. I think $500-800 might have been reasonable but I guess they already have nearly 200 people that have signed up.

I like Scott and Ian. I think they have good chemistry together. I took their Slap course and found it pretty good.

The Jazz Lab just seems over the top to me. I hope people get their money's worth out of it.
 
#171
As I understand the demographics of TalkBass, quite a few of the active members skew toward the older phase of life. SBL appears to be aimed at a younger demographic, which LOVES learning via impersonal videos. I've seen reports that younger people shy away from personal interaction, such as preferring texts vs. phone calls. SBL appears to be aiming right at that demographic. Maybe they'll pay up? The unschooled often don't know what they don't know....
 
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#176
Smooth_bass88 said:
If you find a great music teacher in your area, and they $40 per one hour lesson, that equals $2080 for 1 full year. Even if you miss a few lessons, that's still approaching $2k. What if you take lessons for two or three years? It adds up to much more than two grand. I'd say SBL's deal is quite good, considering all you get. So, yes if I had the inkling I'd pay that money for that service.
Click to expand...

I doubt I'd get what I got out of my first lesson with my new upright teacher this afternoon. That $60 was worth every penny and then some. Being in the room to see up close and hear up close makes all the difference, to me at least. Plus he's a great hang.
 
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#177
Last year I took some lessons from a good local upright player. I was seeking a certain thing, and I got it.

My next upright bass lessons will be with… a jazz pianist. I have enough grounding to play charts, to sight read (slowly) unfamiliar material, to improvise decent lines, etc and not embarrass myself. What I want now is to know what a pianist would expect from me to a) support the ensemble, b) not step on anything, and yet c) still be interesting.

As an example of my quest: I know I rarely play repeat notes while walking. Yet I hear the greats NOT be shy about repeating a note! So I would ask to play a couple particular tunes, do what I do now, and then ask where he/she would think a repeated note would work better than what I'm playing. Then I'd go practice that concept for a couple weeks. Then take another lesson, play through that concept, and if satisfactory move on to my next question.
 
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#178
coyote1 said:
Last year I took some lessons from a good local upright player. I was seeking a certain thing, and I got it.

My next upright bass lessons will be with… a jazz pianist. I have enough grounding to play charts, to sight read (slowly) unfamiliar material, to improvise decent lines, etc and not embarrass myself. What I want now is to know what a pianist would expect from me to a) support the ensemble, b) not step on anything, and yet c) still be interesting.

As an example of my quest: I know I rarely play repeat notes while walking. Yet I hear the greats NOT be shy about repeating a note! So I would ask to play a couple particular tunes, do what I do now, and then ask where he/she would think a repeated note would work better than what I'm playing. Then I'd go practice that concept for a couple weeks. Then take another lesson, play through that concept, and if satisfactory move on to my next question.
Click to expand...

Dig this. I'm nowhere near that level, but I can absolutely see the utility of it.
 
#179
I suspect that this tuition grab will backfire. I considered joining SBL last year when it was around $200 annually.
Comparing themselves to Berklee is shocking.
And I used to drive cabs with Berklee grads...a conservatory education is no guarantee of income.
 
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#180
What an interesting marketing question. Who is this for?

Working pro players are not likely to either need this specific service or have that kind of cash laying around to invest in it. If you are already doing it for a living you know much better ways to learn material or take lessons.

Younger beginner musicians are unlikely to be ready for a deep dive into jazz and aren't going to put down that kind of cash.

The older hobbiest/Boomer market seems like the target audience but is "Absorb a ton of online material on jazz" really what that market is hungry for? Seems like a very odd match.

I wonder if this is the result of a lot of careful market/demographics research or if they just threw it at the wall to see how many suckers are willing to open their wallets.
 
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