Filling the post B2B VOID!?!?

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Mark at Talkingbass is great. He doesn’t beat around the bush, and all his content is very focuesd.
Scott Devine on the other hand, that is a TED talk and a half IME, but he wanders from subject matter so frequently, that much of that time is not really focused on subject matter.
FWIW, I think Scott is super cool, and he is a great player (As is Mark from Talkingbass), and he would be great guy to grab a lunch with and hear all his stories, but for his lessons sake, I would prefer if he kept on track.
Also, I don’t find him to be highly beneficial for beginner to low intermediate players, but the more advanced you get, then I think he would be a better instructor.
Nobody works with beginners (and all levels) like Josh, but I find that Mark comes second, and then there are some other options, not a well known, like Dan Bass Lessons, BassEducation with Damien Erskine (I love this place, and Damien is great, and it is UBER affordable, Damien, like Josh, will answer your e-mails personally, and have conversations with you) that I would probably consider, at my current level, before SBL. That said, I may do a 14 day free trial right now, just to get entered into his give aways.

Also, I did do his FREE lesson map, that used to be on his site
(I don’t see it anymore, it is ONLY paid for content now), and this is where I found him to not be great for beginners (i was just starting at the time), where the first 8-9 lessons were just fine, I was hanging in there, then in lesson 10, he went from teaching basic math (addition and subtraction) straight to Trigonometry, and I was like, Wha, Wha, Wha, WTF???

Another great thing about Mark at Talkingbass, lots of FREE lessons mapped out, PLUS, the Scales course, you get the first 5 or 10 lessons of the actual course free to try (probably why I ended up doing the Scales course before the Chord Tones, now that I think about it.)

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I’m very interested in picking up courses by Mark. I like him a lot but I can’t follow him sometimes and it’s not his fault, I can’t keep my head concentrated for long.
Did you see the finger exercise lick in A minor he posted recently? Top notch to be free!!!

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I did not, unless you are referring to the Pinky exercise that starts on A on D string? Yeah, thats in A minor, so I guess I have.
Great exercise, I practice it almost daily.
His courses are not hard to follow.
Most lessons are under 10 min, with long ones going just past 20 min, but he breaks it up in to really good chunks, and only a couple 20 min lessons out of between 45 and up to 60 or more lessons per course.

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@NocturnalPulse I chose Josh because he is the most ADHD-friendly teacher I’ve run across. He holds your interest, and gives you just enough structure. Since I’ve finished the course, I’m back in drift-along mode. Good on you for thinking ahead–a rare event for most ADHD brains. I’m gonna follow this thread to see what I can learn.

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46

B2B grads into improv might like Yonit Spiegelman’s new series where she uses BassBuddy to come up with grooves:

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I’ve heard great things about Ariane Cap’s book from this forum so I’ll probably ask for a copy from my family when my birthday rolls around. Once I finish (I’m in Module 15), I am gonna head back to lessons I could not get beyond the slow speed for (I am looking at you Billie Jean) and then focus on learning some full songs that I personally enjoy.

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Perfect plan.
Also check out all the free videos Mark Smith has at Talkingbass.com. There is a ton of good free stuff.

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d76cec77d559cbcc004d069122e6210e9a7fccff1f36414fc376bf29e1b7a152.0
It’s talkingbass.net

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.com.net.org.biz

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Will do! Thanks for the recommendation.

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I agree totally about Josh, I was spending years and months trying to find “the one”. Thinking ahead is indeed a rare event, even for me, but it stems from the insecurity that if I don’t know what to next I will maybe give up - again - . And i’d hate that because playing bass is life for me and I don’t want to miss out again!
x

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This. Private lessons are the ideal if you can find a good teacher who has a teaching style that fits your learning style. However they are VERY expensive.

I always recommend to check if there’s a college or university in your area with a music program. If so, students often teach lessons at more affordable prices. They’re usually quite knowledgeable (especially if you’re at beginner-intermediate level), and they’re almost always very passionate about music and the music ed majors are also wanting to practice their teaching skills. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yonit is awesome! I still have a couple of her videos on technique I revisit on the regular.

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Another vote for talkingbass. I’m currently working through sight reading, chord tones, and technique builder. There’s literally years worth of coursework here if you want to spend the $.

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