Apologies for the thread necromancy, however, a week and a half ago I restarted the course; I’m currently on module 3 lesson 1.
I know this was talked about up above, but… @JoshFossgreen it hadn’t clicked that you’d updated (so far) the entire course! Very well done, I really like that you opted to do it on your Squier Jazz… not only does it have fret dots, but it reinforces the whole “you don’t need a million-dollar boutique bass to start playing bass”. And the orange highlighting when you indicate frets or fingers is a really nice touch.
Josh has stated previously that he got his Cirrus for not a lot of bread at all, so no “million-dollar boutique bass”-required messaging was ever implied or intended.
Sure, but if you’re a brand-new bassist taking the course looking at that rad Cirrus with its big pickups and no fret markers, and then you look at your Squier, it’s an easy assumption to make.
Plus, I’m pretty sure that I recall Josh saying a few times that he wished he done it with a Squier specifically for the fret markers and the fact that it’d be very close to what a lot of brand-new bassists would have.
Josh might not have bought his for alot, but Cirrus’ go for $800+ now which also isn’t a lot but for someone buying their first or second bass probably is. Playing something as common as a Squire really drills home that idea that the bass does not make the player imo.
Personally I never picked up on either bass (started just prior to the new version then switched) when I started the course. It was just a bass guitar to me. I’d guess most pure beginners, as in zero music experience, don’t notice either. Of course I started on an Amazon purchased Donner so what do I know
I think the lack of fret markers on his bass was probably my biggest grumble about the course as I found it very difficult to see where he was fretting.
The cirrus isn’t cheap by any means, and Josh has said many times that he prefers the Squier for lessons so that it emphasizes entry level basses are all you need.
I know that well. I’ve read Josh say that very thing in several posts. That is not my point.
I was addressing the assumption that somehow, by playing his Cirrus in B2B 1.0 videos, it somehow implied that a “million-dollar bass” was required to play bass. I disagreed with that conclusion leap and commented accordingly. End of story
The fact is that Josh’s Cirrus was his fave bass before and during production of B2B 1.0, so he used it to record instructional videos. Makes sense to me.
Subsequent to that, he created several videos to help newbies choose their first bass/gear.
And subsequent to THAT, he started using a Squier in his YT videos, to illustrate that a beginner bass can do anything necessary to learn and play bass.
Dude, it wasn’t an assumption. It was just a phrase I used in a post paraphrasing what has been said elsewhere. It was just hyperbole, man… ironic overstatement.
Well. I guess it must be 100% literal and true because it’s what I wrote. Because in the four years I’ve been posting here in all the threads that you and I have interacted on, I’ve never used sarcasm or hyperbole or said anything tongue-in-cheek, ever. And this course really needed a defender to jump up and call me out on doing so for the first time, by indicating that a “million-dollar bass” is NOT actually required to take the course.
Dude, I was just trying to compliment Josh on the course changes.
Fair enough. Posts are sometimes prone to misinterpretation that live verbal conversations mitigate through speakers’ speech inflections and, of course, participants being able to see the other person’s facial expressions.
Emojis help communicate post intent, but they can be vague even at that.
Ok - external, disinterested observer here. Tim: you didn’t do anything wrong here but maybe got a little torqued at Mike. Mike: you had a reasonable point but kind of latched on and beat it to death. Both of you: let’s assume best intent from each other here until someone proves they don’t have it, okay?
Currently running back through the course, mostly to see what’s been changed/improved/etc. Totally worth the time to do it, lots of little added tips and tidbits that were not included (to my memory) the first time around, even in the workout videos. Thanks for all the improvements @JoshFossgreen, the new course is awesome so far.
@JoshFossgreen was “Don’t Chain my Heart” from Toto in the original version of the course? I don’t recall it (module 10, lesson 6). Also don’t recall you covering triplet 1/4 notes last time around (but maybe it was in Seven Nation Army?)? At any rate, thanks for turning me on to this awesome song, I really love it, and its a very cool bass line. Especially am enjoying the live @ Paris recording of it on YouTube, with good ole Gandolf (Lee Sklar) playing bass… pure awesomeness.
Oh! Just noticed the full song tab is in the extras, thanks! (noticed changed the fretting on it? Why, out of curiousity?)
@JoshFossgreen Is there a way for us who purchased the original DVD’s to upgrade to the new sessions? I recently restarted the online classes and thought, “Wow, I am really doing much better this time!” and then I began to notice how nice the revision has been for learning. Or perhaps us earlier purchasers have something that’s soon to be rare and collectable and should be satisfied with such.
Yeah I swapped Seven Nation Army for the Toto song, it’s a better example of 1/4 note triplets. Seven Nation Army is very “vibe-y” and non-quantized, and the rhythm is actually sorta off grid and inbetween two things.
The fretting in the song pack should be the same actually, fixing that now, good catch!
@K_Miller There are no updated DVDs, we stopped selling those some years ago, but every B2B student ever automatically has access to the new (digital) version of the course.
Funny thing, I had a few basses already before starting but really fell in love with the Jazz tone during the course and had to get one myself. “It’s existential, yet so accessible! ”(Elf)
