TalkingBass and SBL

Sounds like that link’s update was overlooked by the developer. It happens. Completely bug-proofing a big site can be tough.

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Ok, y’all have talked me into giving TalkingBass a try. :slight_smile:

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Recommend Chord Tones Essentials :slight_smile:

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Cool, Tim. Just be prepared to strap up and strap in.

If you want to ease in from B2B, try Mark’s new Groove Trainer course. If you want to getcha some, go for the Chord Tones Essentials course. The first one’s fun; the second one’s a LOT of valuable, no-nonsense information delivered at a music college level. Good luck.

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We haven’t been the Empire since before my time and I’m north of 50.

It still annoys me, though. As a Brit, he ought to be aware that GBP has tanked against the US$ over recent months and it makes his products unnecessarily expensive. Ok, he’s a business not a charity, I get that, but it’s a point that would give me pause for thought if I was thinking about one of his products.

Wait til the exchange rate reaches £2 to 1US$, see how much of his membership he retains.

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Hi @pauldavidson335d I grew up in Wales and moved to Canada over 15 years ago. Became a Canadian citizen, Canadian wife, dog, house, passport. You know, Canada.

It’s a better national anthem than England, but not as good as the Welsh one.

I live right next to the US border. The last time the Canadian dollar was on par with the US dollar was 2007.

Today’s exchange rate means that the Groove Trainer course I just bought (currently on sale for 25% off) is just $52 USD. So converted to CAD that’s $70. This morning my one Canadian dollar will only get me 75 cents in the US.

I don’t consider that expensive. I’m getting quality online content. There’s about 10 hours of video content. So with all the grooves in there to practice, it’ll realistically take me over 100 hours to get all of that content down to a competent level. So less than a dollar an hour.

An in person bass lesson here is about $50. So for less than the cost of 2 hrs of lessons I get content that’s clear, concise and logical. I can re watch it as many times as I want. I can watch it at any time of the day. I don’t have to drive to someone’s house to learn. The list of why quality online content is good is very long.

Scott’s Bass lessons are priced in USD as are Dan Hawkins. It’s a global market online and like it or lump it the USD is still king.

We pay more in Canada for consumer goods. I look on enviously when my American friends on here talk about the deals they got on Bass equipment. But we have universal free healthcare and as much maple syrup as we can eat. So like everything in life it’s a compromise.

My family and lot’s of friends still live in the UK so I understand the cost of living issues. I do. But I still think that quality online content has value. It takes time, money and resources to produce that content. I think that compared to the cost of actual in person lessons, it’s reasonably priced.

I’ve been playing for nearly 2 years (starting at 49 years old) and last night I jumped into my Bass Buzz B2B course and played a couple of modules (Billie Jean!). For free, because I’ve already bought it and I’ll have it for life.

Cheers

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Hi @Barney , I was born and bred here. I lived in Cape Town for a while back in the mid-90s. I went to Singapore for three months back in 2013 and ended up staying for almost six years. I had to come back to the UK because my wife lost her sense of humour flying out for a week every month just to see me. We eventually moved back home back in 2020.

I’ve been to Canada a few times and I can certainly think of worse places to live. Vancouver is one of my favourite cities in the world.

£ to US$ is 1 - 1.14 at the moment. Not the worst it’s been but bad enough that a trip to the US a few weeks ago made for a horrifically expensive time. You’re right about the US$, it’s king and recognised everywhere; I travel a fair bit on a worldwide basis with work and I never go anywhere without a few US$ in my pocket, particularly developing countries.

Bass lessons here are about £25 to £35 an hour, which isn’t bad but when that’s compared to B2B with lifetime access it puts a whole new perspective on it.

Cost of living is getting silly here and a lot of people are struggling but it’s not a problem for me. Yet. The only thing bothering me on that score right now is the cost of diesel but that comes with the territory of running a car with a big engine (UK big, not North America big).

US$ or not, I’ll still take a look at SBL if I can complete B2B and I think that my progress warrants the jump. By that time though, I’m hoping Josh will have developed an advanced course. At the moment, I’m having trouble keeping the fingers of my right hand perpendicular to the fret board, so advanced courses might never be on the agenda for me.

Cheers!

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I concur! Chord Tones was the second course I took at TalkingBass after Scale Essentials, and I think it provides a great foundation to make all the other courses easier to comprehend. It’s also very beneficial to your overall music comprehension and skill.

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:100:

I did Chord Tones first, too, along with Sight Reading.

I’ve done Scales Essentials since then.

The “Aha!!” moments were plentiful, but those “moments” actually blossomed over time, gradually, as I went from module to module in each course. It was like seeing a NASA photo of Earth from orbit: everything is there, laid out and connected. Kudos to Mark.

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I bought Chord Tones awhile back when TB was running a sale, but haven’t started it yet. This didn’t dissuade me from purchasing Groove Trainer last week to get a discount. Still covered up with Hurricane Ian work, I need to get back to bass.

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Man, I’m sorry to hear the hurricane got you, too. I was hoping you weren’t in the fucker’s path. My heart goes out to all who are suffering its effects.

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Thanks Mike, my family was very fortunate. We live about 10 miles inland from the beach and were spared the flooding. The next town over took the brunt of the storm. I work in IT, and we just spent the last month scrambling trying to get offices put back together and operational again. As I said, we were very fortunate, I know many people that lost everything to flood on the coast.

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@AnotherJosh looks like there’s another one coming your way:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Be safe!

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Since I don’t think I saw anyone mention this, I will just say that while I found that SBL is not my cup of tea, Scott’s Technique Accelerator and the Jazz Accelerator programs are very well done and most videos are really spot on. You pay once and have access for ever. Unfortunately they open enrollment only once a year. I really like them both and my technique improved a ton. Studybass is unbelievably good for a free resource but it is better to do it after B2B and focus on the areas you need to improve. That’s my two cents :slight_smile:

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Personally, I am Mark’s fangirl not gonna lie, lol :sweat_smile:. I just love his academic style and I’m a bit of a “theory nerd”.
Mark reminds me of my uni freshman stats teacher. Zero bullshit, 100% specific. After 15 minutes of revision of the theory of probability, I understood everything that I had not been able to in a few months in high school.
It’s the same with Mark. As a kid I went to music school for 2 years, but the basics of the theory were never properly explained to me. Mark can deliver more in 10 minutes than they were able in my former school in six months.

Scott… I know he has a faithful fan base and valuable materials, but… I really can’t, find his style so annoying. Not for me, which doesn’t mean not for you!

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Try Ebassguitar.com James has a a very good instructional program…Talking Bass meh…SBL a fire hose of advanced topics… I have been working with James…very personalized service and he actually teaches you in baby steps, to up right walking…to running…and it’s $27 / month for access to all his programs…a few times a year he has 90 day challenges…that include sending in videos and conference calls

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Good to hear, @Hann! Talking Bass is great.

Mark’s teaching style and especially his material hit me where I live. Completely remind me of being in music school.

I’m glad SBL is available for those who like it. I’m not a bit surprised that Mark wrote most of SBL’s course material at one time.

It’s great that there are more online learning resources to choose from, rather than fewer.

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Those eyebrows though!!! Sorry, but I tried his lessons and kept focusing on those wooly bear caterpillars that he calls eyebrows. That is one hairy dude

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:disguised_face:

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Nope, it was 2013. The most recent peak of the Canadian dollar vs the US was 2011 when it was around $0.94 CAD to $1 USD

I got my Adobe CC sub in 2012 and it really sucked later when it cost me ~$20 more a month with tax.

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