I don’t know of anything that comes even close to Mark Smiths chord tones course, but would be interested to hear if anyone has found any.
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@alexmorrison14 yeah I looked at the curriculum for the bass fundementals and might do that after B2B reinforce but also a different perspective.
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Now well into my 3rd course with Mark, I can say I would continue to take his courses.
Doing sight reading now, it’s SLOW going, but it is supposed to be.
What I always notice about Mark’s stuff is how well he lays out the learning, the practice, the building on concepts. The flow is great, like Josh.
I also really like he takes an hour every single Saturday and goes live with people to answer questions and chat. I know Ari does stuff like this too and this just makes me think they are TOPS all around.
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Yes Mark and Ari are the best (after finishing B2B).
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It is a great book.
If / when you get to Modes, at the end of the chapter is a GREAT workout that I love doing to this day.
It is calles Lydian to Locrian.
Basically, you the modes, I usually start on G, 10th fret of the A string.
You play the Lydian scale acending and decending, then you change one note to play the Major scale, ascending and decending, then you change one note at a time as you work thru all 7 modes.
Lydian
Ionian (Major)
Mixolydian
Dorian
Aeolian (minor)
Phrygian
Locrian
The trick and focus is to change one note at a time and go thru them all.
I also will do them all (must be in that order) and go up and back down
Often I will keep going and after playing the 7th mode, Locrian, I will begin going back to Lydian, just reverse order.
But then other times
I will go
UP Lydian
DOWN Ionian
Up Mixolydian
Down Dorian
Etc…
Most of the time I play with the 2nd finger position, which is starting with your middle finger (2nd finger) on the root note, pinky on the major 2nd
Index up one string on the major 3rd, etc…
That is the shape you most likely learned to play a major scale in.
You can also do it from the 1st finger position, starting with your index finger, the way you probably learned to play the Minor scale.
Just note, you want to play ALL scales in either the 2nd finger position or 1st finger position.
I have not tried it starting from the 4th finger yet, and had not really thought of doing so until just now.
So I will give it a try shortly.
I also practice it on a single string.
For anybody that does not know or does not do it already, practicing any scale on a single string is hugely beneficial IMO, and really helps you getting used to moving up and down the neck, and the key it the transfer.
Play the first 2 notes, or 3 notes (it is easier to visualize the scales on one string from their 3 string standard shapes, for me it is at least, so if I play a major scale on 1 string, i usually start playing the first 2 notes, then transfer and play 3 notes and transfer and then play the last 3 notes, then come back down the string (up the neck towards the headstock)
To transfer, as soon as you pluck the first note, LOOK at the fret you will be playing the 3rd note on (4th note if you are playing 3 notes with your fret hand to start the scale, like I would if playing the minor scale on one string) And as soon as you are finished plucking the 2nd note, transfer your hand quickly so your first finger (index) is on the fret you are looking at, then proceed to play the next three notes. As soon as you pluck that 3rd note, look at the fret your index finger will transfer to after you play the 5th note, and when done with the 5th note, move your hand so your index finger lands on that fret, and play the last 3 notes.
If you are going back down the neck (back up towards the first fret), once you play the 8th note, look back at the fret your 4th finger (pinky)is going to land on again, and again, move it there as soon as you are finished playing the last note (would be the 10th note played, 11th of you played the octave note twice), and do the same til you are done with the scale.
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Not a course, but I found that taking private lessons at this point in my bass playing was crucial for my development as a player.
After B2B, and swimming with sharks, looking for that next thing on the internet, I arrived back at TalkingBass, and was struggling to decide weather to take that course or not.
I had many conversations with @JoshFossgreen, trying to figure out what was the best thing for me to do. I had decided to get the best advice, I would need to get it from a person who I know is a killer bass player, and an awesome fun teacher, BUT, for them to really recommend anything, they would need to know more about me, and my skills (or lack there of) and my goals and desires, otherwise, any recommendation is only half merited at best (thru no fault of the instructor, just they can’t know for sure with out knowing you).
So, I started off with a single lesson with Josh.
I got so much out of that first hour. All confusion pretty much vanished. I was able to chart a path for my future courses and development, and I no longer felt like a small fish amongst huge sharks.
Just that fact alone was well worth one hour lesson, but there were so many other observations that Josh made, and he was able to talk to me about things I never really considered. He gave me tips to get good on timing, plucking, fretting, all sorts of things that you are taught in any course online, but after that lesson, you don’t have much to measure yourself by, so when an instructor gets involved, you learn of your bad habits, and things that are trumping you up, that you don’t really even know are trumping you up, but without knowing, you would never think to correct or work on things, and in the end, they all have 100% effect on your playing skills, and progression in your learning.
Of course, I took more lessons from Josh, and did about 2 lessons a month on average, until I ended up in the hospital and couldn’t continue staying on his class schedule.
I would love to go back, but its not an option for me, due to financial reasons, but if my situation changes, I would go back to taking those lessons in a heartbeat.
And I started these lessons pretty soon after B2B, and I think it was the perfect time. Even if I just took that one class, its way better then not. Also, as I took Mark’s courses, while working with Josh, it was pretty evident I was progressing along pretty quickly, due to having both online courses and private teaching / coaching running congruent.
If it is even an option for you , I would consider trying to take a 1 hour lesson, or even 2 - 3 - 5 - whatever you can. You don’t have to take them forever, or even take them super often, once or twice a month is good if you are dedicated and committed to putting in the time, in between lessons.
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It’s been almost a year since I bought my first bass, and it’s been almost ten months since I started the B2B course. Took me a little longer than I expected, but today, I finished the course. I feel happy and a little sad at the same time, but mostly, I am very proud of this achievement. I don’t consider myself a true Badass just yet, but I’m working my way through the checklist, and I will tick that box as well. After that, who knows? Maybe I’ll give the Super Badass list a try. I’ll definitely be revisiting the scales modules, and the chord progression lessons, and I’ll continue playing my bass. Many thanks to @JoshFossgreen and everyone here in the forum for making this possible.
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Congrats @Mike_NL . Being a little sad when you finish B2B is typical. Fortunately, we’re all still here together as a pseudo family.
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Congratulations Mike!
Josh put out this video quite a while back. I’ve been using it as a guide for what I need to work on next. I am, admittedly, not making great headway on it but I’m still having fun.
Are You an Intermediate Bass Player? (Here’s How to Know)
One of the things I thought was interesting was how much of this is in the Beginner to BadAss course. Granted, a lot of it is deciding on what you want to focus on and then finding the drive to keep pushing forward with it. Something I’ve struggled to do without the gentle guidance of Josh spoon feeding it to me.
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Congratulations @Mike_NL
I still find myself wandering aimlessly in the post B2B void at times . The people on the forums do make it a lot easier
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Try the 50s100c, dont worry about recording, just learn the tunes.
I have found it in itself is a great learning tool.
And of course…Mark Smith courses…
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Well done 
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@Mike_NL Congratulations. I finished back in March so it took me 10 months and that was fine for me. Now I’m on the Mark Smith courses which seems to be a popular route.
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Started April 2021, graduated July 2021, Loved the course, Josh is a great teacher. I am hoping to see my courses from him. I really enjoyed the Music Theory, I know, it is not for everyone. But I felt like I could actually read Bass sheet music, not very fast, but if I took the time and used the skills Josh taught I could do it. It is something I never knew I wanted to do till I was doing it. Thank you, I will be going through the course again using more of the backing tracks this time. Great course, best money I have spent on learning in a long time.
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