Beginner to Badass Reviews? 🎸

[BassFaceDisgrace]

It is official, I have “passed” the course and am now a certified Bass Badass! This course was brilliantly thought out, to be able to start having fun with the instrument from day 1, to growing your skills quicker than you could have hoped for. Josh makes the theory interesting, and teaches it in small easy to handle chunks that at no point felt overwhelming. Until they can download bass skills directly into your brain Matrix style, Josh’s course will remain the best way to build your fundamental bass skills quickly and efficiently.

My biggest concern about paying for online/DVD lessons was that the instructor obviously can’t watch what you are doing and give you feedback on where you need to improve, but Josh manages to do that through the DVD’s anyway! I can’t count the number of times he told me to breathe while I was holding my breath, or to try an alternate method for something right as I was struggling with it. Those little pointers and reminders he gives you throughout the coarse really help re-enforce all the good habits he is trying to instill, and it works.

Going through the final quiz at the end was a very rewarding feeling! Going back to the early lessons, and listening to Josh give reminders about fretting position near the top of the fret, or plucking up rather than out… it really made me appreciate how those things which took up all my focus at first are now natural muscle memory, freeing up the mental space for me focus on my groove and note choice instead.

When I first decided I wanted to learn how to play electric bass, my main goal in mind was simply to be able to turn on a drum track and improvise something that sounded badass over it. Having just finished Josh’s course, I have the basic ability to do that in a way that sounds good and is fun as could be to do! Now I have the rest of my life to get better at that, and thanks to Josh I feel equipped to do so. I didn’t expect to feel so ready to jam with others and be able to easily communicate with other musicians about what is happening in the music, but I can do that now too.

Thank you Josh, for this wonderful course and all the content that you have continued to create and release for us! I love playing my bass, and can’t wait to practice what you have taught me for many many years. This review has gone on long enough… back to practice!

[Vik]

@BassFaceDisgrace

It is official, I have “passed” the course and am now a certified Bass Badass!

Heck yeah! Congrats on graduating B2B - it’s a cool journey for sure! I’m about a 6 month “alum” now, and Josh’s course has opened up a world of things to continue to learn and grow from, so, pretty much agree with all these sentiments and how Josh is a gifted teacher!

[jazmo1999]

Awesome job @BassFaceDisgrace.

[Lanny]

CONGRATS!

[KnuckleHead]

I am so happy I found this course. I came across BassBuzz/Josh on YouTube when I picked up the bass again. I forgot about everything on bass over the years, and started fresh with this course. Within a week, I was comfortable free styling and doing things on bass I didn’t even know about. I can finally do scales and write easy bass lines and melodies. Josh thinks and learns and teaches like I would. The humor and editing are also so on point. Josh is a BassMaster. He’s the Musical Sansei for my Bass Playing Education. I remember the little tricks and tips and I’m starting to incorporate them into my everyday playing. I’m finally comfortable enough to record myself, play in front of someone, and post/jam with friends. I can play without a pic so well, that I can’t play WITH one. It’s so much in one mind. Josh is a genius. Multi-facetious artist.

[joergkutter]

@KnuckleHead

Multi-facetious artist.

So, about that “constructive criticism” (see other thread), @KnuckleHead… uhm, I am sure you meant “multi-faceted” here, right

And, no, don’t worry, I am not the language police, and we don’t issue tickets here, but this just seemed like a classic “Freudian slip” here…

[shockadrew]

I am a retired high school teacher, and I can tell you Josh has nailed the teaching gig! I’m impressed and enjoying every minute.
Shockadrew

[CudaRavage]

Well that was a fast 3 months. I owned a guitar back in the 90s and played tabs I could find online, but this was before YouTube and I never had the money for a teacher. Looking back now I see how a lack of basic theory made self learning impossible and it’s no wonder I gave up. I was afraid of dry learning material that made learning a chore, but after watching Josh’s videos I knew his teaching style would save the day. Here I stand, on the summit of Mt. Badass. My journey has only just begun, but I am playing complete songs, compositions make sense to me in ways I never expected, and I can improvise. It was fun the whole time! Thank you, Josh! You really nailed it with this course and I appreciate benefiting from your years of experience.

[aabarr91]

Totally brilliant course! I truly enjoyed and appreciated every minute of it. I had played bass for a little while before taking the course, so the first four or five modules were quite simple for me to play through - and yet even during this section of the course I picked up a number of small technique nuggets that I had completely missed during the time I was self-taught. As a result, every minute I spent with Josh’s course made me a better bass player.

What a journey it’s been! It took me 22 days to complete the course, and I’m very happy looking back at all I’ve been able to accomplish in that time with Josh’s help. I’ll always be able to look back at the COVID-19 shutdown as a time where I was able to seriously sharpen a skill that is important to me. My plan going forward from here is to work on ear training, learning songs I want to play, and working through the BassBuzz lessons on YouTube.

Josh, I’m excited to work through Part 2 once you’ve finished putting it together - please make sure I’m on the list!!

Thanks,

Adam

EDIT: I forgot that I wanted to say this is the best online course I have ever taken, period.

[T_dub]

In an effort to keep my review mine, and mine alone, I have not read any of the other reviews at the time Of writing this.

Excellent Course.
It was Fun and exciting. The material was fast paced and energetic, yet thourough and filled with all of what you need to be well on your way to a life of bass Ta musicians level. The way the course is structured, you could be a total noob to bass, or music in general, and easily follow along at a pace you can handle, some may go slower then terms, but all can ge thru. That said, if ou have musical experience, even bass experience, you can still start at the very beginning of the course, learn basics you may have skipped in previous lessons / playing experience and still have a good time, never being predicted to death.
In fact the ole course is fun, amusing, interesting and very, very informative. That is the genius of the course, you are fun engaged, and having a laugh, and great time, you often dont even realize you are actually learning, but you are. And because you are excited about the lessons and workouts, I believe you learn more, faster, and retain the information longer.
I state playing approx 2 months before signing up for the B2B course. I bought a Bass to kill time while on disability, a few weeks before the co I’d-19 quarantine. I bought a few books on mastering fretboard, and basic beginnner bass to start off. I played guitar in my youth, but had not played probably 15 years. I was never a guitar student per say. I learned the songs I wanted to play with gage bands, omcovers, some original, but not much else. I wanted to play bass since I ffirst got interested in music as a kid, but ended up on guitar cuz it was easier for me to play what I wanted with who I wanted back then. Now I wanted to approach bass completely differently, partly because I am 48 now, not 20, and am more mature, have patients, and I knew I did not do it right on guitar.
So I started teaching myself, 2 months ago with the beginner books, fretboard exercises, and the major scale. That’s as far as I got in the books when I started searching YT, and found BassBuzz and other programs. I started watching random videos, an ruing put them in a logical order to learn in, and started getting a little lost.
I started another online lesson plan, but the free one. It was really gd at first, but right after arpeggios, it started pig too quickly, and got a Little frustrated. I could have stuck it out, but I would have had to repeat lessons 5-10 times before moving on, mst likely.
I was determined, and probably would not have stopped trying, but I came back to visit BassBuzz more, and lurking in the forum and reading about B2B a bit more. Still a little hesitant to spend the money, I finally said to myself, “self”. Just buy it, it isn’t for you, you get the money back.

I am so happy that I bought B2B. I feel like 20x the player, no, musician that I was when I started the curse (6 days ago). Honestly, all the prep I did for two months, that sat in my head, kind of in a fog, because,e crystal clear by the time I finished the course.

Am I still a beginner. YES.
DO I have a clue. YES
B2B worth it. YES

I am going to redo the lessons on my 5 string.
When there is a follow up course to B2B, I am all in. I still have a lot f way to go, but I know the car I am driving, I know the road I am on, an have a map to get me where I am going. Game on!

I am going to take my daughter thru this course too.

[461]

44 days later, I’m a B2B grad. I’ll start out by saying I enjoyed the entire course. I started out an absolute beginner and now could hold my own in a garage band jam session or just playing along with the radio to entertain myself, not bad for 6 weeks. After completing the coarse I went over the Final self test exam and confirmed what I thought and that is I still needed to work on Speed, especially with the Left (fretting) hand, I’m sure this will come with practice. However, I didn’t realize how much music theory I absorbed until last night. Cruising the interwebs looking at Tabs for some songs to practice, I was thinking oh, this is easy, its mostly roots and fifths, and that’s when it hit me. A couple of weeks ago I had no idea what a root, fifth or scale was, let alone how to apply them to the bass or a song. Throughout the course I was learning proper technique and theory without realizing it, all while having fun playing along to actual songs. I also appreciated that Josh provides some follow-on ideas and practice thoughts for you to continue the musical journey after course completion, doesn’t just leave you hanging. In conclusion I would absolutely recommend this course to any beginner/home taught hack looking to learn the ways of the bass. I have a long way to go to meet my personal bass goals but I feel I have the proper foundation needed to move forward. Also I’ve learned a lot of self restraint, I can’t count the times I wanted to put my foot thru my amp speaker when working on Billie Jean. (Disclaimer: no amps or musical instruments were harmed throughout this course )
One last note, the camera work, visual aids and website throughout all modules were done professionally and helped immensely. Kudos to the camera/video editors and web designer gurus, you guys were spot on. Josh Fossgreen has a knack for teaching, I wish you were around when I was learning geometry…anyway
I’m looking forward to any upcoming advanced lessons along with the entertaining and educational antics from @JoshFossgreen and the whole crew at BassBuzz.

Thanks
Bob

[aminetto]

BEST COURSE EVER!!! I don’t really know how else I can express my gratitude to you, Josh! Now I want MORE!! MORE! MORE!!

[T_dub]

Welcome to the BassBuzz forum @aminetto
Glad you agree with the quality of the course.

[JerryP]

Welcome @aminetto!

[RolandDehli]

Hey Just started yesterday and just started on Mod4, its so cool i just cant stop

[RolandDehli]

Day two, and i just finished Module 6

[loadpony]

I loved this course! Thank you Josh and thank you to the people behind the scenes who made this all possible.

First off- I thought that this was an incredible value. I’ve taken lots of lessons over the years for other instruments and this was a great way to start off on the bass. I’m almost 50 years old and when I started learning music I couldn’t just pause the teacher and rewind something that I didn’t understand. One-on-one lessons can be very expensive and if you feel lost/frustrated, you might abandon the instrument. I don’t want to ‘diss’ that kind of instruction, I just found personal lessons most helpful when I was struggling with advanced concepts where I needed focused correction on technique, etc.

I thought the course was very well laid out in terms of increasing difficulty and it was nice that there were a few challenges in there (Billie Jean fast workout comes to mind) to keep us on our toes.

Can’t wait for volume 2!

One suggestion if it’s possible- I know that there are mp3 files that one can download and practice with, but having something right on the lesson page that can loop indefinitely (not just play one time through and stop) would be very useful. I’m sure there’s a way to loop the mp3s that I downloaded, I just don’t know how.

Thanks again!

PS this was such a great thing to have available during the coronavirus pandemic! If I was going to be stuck at home then I may as well start playing bass!!

[JerryP]

Welcome @loadpony!

[Jamietashi]

@loadpony

I’m sure there’s a way to loop the mp3s that I downloaded, I just don’t know how.

Welcome and well done. I’m sure @howard or @terb would know how or search the forum Jamie

[terb]

@loadpony

I’m sure there’s a way to loop the mp3s that I downloaded, I just don’t know how.

if you use Windows, just open the MP3 with Windows Media Player and activate the loop function (the rounded arrow). could not be easier.