I just deleted 5 myself. LOL
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I have a filter just for SBL. The thing is… I can’t let go. I like to stay informed of what’s going on
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Oh yeah, I see what they are about if the header shows something that is not the standard emial to join.
His new course with Gary Willis looks great, I just worry that I would not be advanced enough to even start it.
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Yeah, I get that same barrage of emails from him. I just delete them (unless the topic looks interesting).
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The thing is, he doesn’t give the option to purchase an individual course like Mark Smith does. With Scott, you either pay for his SBL membership and get ALL the stuff you don’t want, or you don’t.
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That’s not quite so, it’s even a subject that is discussed on their forums (or was) where some people feel cheated.
You have the SBL price “that gives you access to everything! join now! see you in the shed” but that’s not so. For instance, this master class is $197. Those practice accelerators and stuff like that are also on the side.
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Oh okay, I stand corrected… but don’t you still HAVE to be a paid member to even purchase those extra courses?
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But for the regular courses (and there are excellent ones! imo they more than justify a month’s subscription) you’re right!
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What is his monthly subscription price, isn’t it line $29.99, with the option to buy one year, or lifetime?
I could see lifetime being good if you got the extras included, or at least at a heavily discounted rate, like for 25% of the regular cost.
Take for instance the new Master Class. it looks AMAZING, but for $197. Now if I already paid many hundreds for a lifetime (this is assuming there is a lifetime option, for some reason I thought there was), then I would feel cheated to have to pay another $197 for the Master Class, but if I only had to pay $49, I would consider it.
However, I still must ask what pre requisite must you have to benefit from the “Master” class. I assume you have to be at least hi intermediate to advanced, if not high advanced.
Plus, if he is offering personal time with Gary Willis and himself, it would not be something that you OWN for life, because at some point, both of them will retire.
I am just thinking out loud here, I probably could just go look, but all the pop ups on the site get annoying too.
I did hear that the “Fretboard Accelerator” is kind of misleading at best, and it is really a quick course on scales and arpeggios. but again, this is twhat I read or was told by somebody that would not have done it had they known what it was.
I don’t think it is wrong to want a little transparency from the site as far as what things you would be paying for, or at least offer a free trial for that module, or a money back guarantee.
TB100%H, the money back guarantee was the straw that broke the camels back for me to shell out that kind of money for an online course. If Bass Buzz did not offer that, I may have ended up elsewhere, or not anywhere.
And I could not be more appreciative of that, because it was the best thing I ever could have done.
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Here is the program (in case you missed it in your inbox 
) - I would definitely say it is NOT for most of us here, meaning that we probably wouldn’t get as much out of it as someone a little more advanced (but, as @howard would say, YMMV 
) - I mean some of these topics are relevant, of course, and they are evergreens for aspiring bass players, but I doubt that we could follow the more advanced approaches likely to be taught by Gary Willis here:
Week 1 (Mon, Sep 28)
- An Interview with the Master - Gary Willis (1hr 6 mins)
- Systems for Mastering Your Fingerboard (46mins)
- Performance : Everything’s Cool
- Live Seminar with Gary Willis (Date & Time TBD)
Week 2 (Mon, Oct 5)
- Bass Soloing Deep Dive (1hr 15mins)
- Performance: Have You Met Miss Jones
Week 3 (Mon, Oct 12)
- Pentatonic Applications and Substitutions (34mins)
- Giant Steps Workshop… for the Brave! (21mins)
Week 4 (Mon, Oct 19)
- The Ultimate Plucking Hand Technique (1hr 18mins)
- Performance: Ancient Promise
- Live Seminar with Gary Willis (Date & Time TBD)
Week 5 (Mon, Oct 26)
- Structuring Your Practice Time (1 hr)
- Performance: Norwegian Wood
Week 6 (Mon, Nov 2)
- Part 1: Gary’s Gear Theories and Tips - basses, amps and more (1 hr)
- Part 2: Gary’s Bass Set-Up Tips and Tricks (25 mins)
Week 7 (Mon, Nov 9)
- Playing and Interaction within the Rhythm Section (37 mins)
- Performance: Bowlegged
- Live Seminar with Gary Willis (Date & Time TBD)
Week 8 (Mon, Nov 16)
- Bass Line and Groove Construction within the Rhythm Section (44mins)
- Performance: Groove a Day 297
- Program Wrap Up with Gary and Scott
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Ahh, so it’s that kind of class.
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Make your own Gary Willis fretless from aged Trondheim spruce 
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I’m in no way saying is not worth it, just to be clear. I understand you and agree with most of what you said.
On the other hand, it’s the way it’s communicated that leads people to think they were misled. For “lifetime access to the bass academia” they think they will have access to all the content produced by SBL. How does SBL go around it? By not publishing the content directly inside SBL but with spin off sites (not sure about this masterclass, but pretty sure - from what I read - about fretboard and practice accelerators)
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With yours truly Wary Willy
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Neither am I.
I am mainly questioning if it is worth it to me.
And again, I was wondering about the Master Class, and now that I know it is a TIMED class, and not a module to purchase, I know it is not worth it for me.
I am glad to see that it had transparency, that is a big plus for the site.
anyway, I like Scott as I said many times, but his value is not there for me, at this time in my life. Maybe someday It will, i am not ruling that out. I appreciate everybody’s posts this morning.
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There is lifetime access to the master class so it works out the same as a talking bass module except that you get access to the full class over x weeks rather than everything immediately . It isn’t for me as I’m still starting out on my bass journey but there is no time restriction on access…
I do think the main SBL subscription is worthy of consideration. I signed up after B2B and the players path has been very structured and increasingly challenging. There are also lots of other courses and sessions covered and I particularly liked (and learnt loads from) an Ariane Cap course she did within SBL. There is also very little woffle within the SBL courses compared to the free you tube videos where you can skip the first 5 minutes.
The marketing is a pain but you can turn it off.
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What I think Toby meant was that it has a time limit to subscribe (until the 27th of September)
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Those classes do, but later on after the excitement dies down, they quietly open up enrollment again. I asked when they would reopen the practice accelerator and they said next year.
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Everything on SBL, including all those Master Classes, fretboard accelerator or whatever… can be obtained on TalkingBass for a lot less money. Plus Mark Smith is a much better teacher than Scott Devine IMHO.
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I like Mark and Talking Bass too. I was not aware of some of those things being available, but I really like Mark’s teaching as well.
Not to say I don’t like Scott, but for my level he is less effective.
I wonder how Marcelo is for a teacher. I bet, from his videos, he is pretty good, but the structure for his courses and offerings doesn’t really work for me.
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