What now?

I finished the course last week and now I feel like I’ve lost a friend.
With the course I was totally motivated to play everyday because I had structure, but now I feel lost.
How have others that have finished handled it and what have you done regarding practice?
I’m learning a few songs but that’s not what I want to spend the rest of my bass days doing.
I’ve meet a couple of rough heads from here and done some phone cats and a zoom chat which is great but until lockdown is over we can’t meet.
So in the meantime?

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Rough heads? :joy:
My head is usually silky smooth thank you :face_with_monocle:

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I’m yet to run my hands over your nut so I’ll reserve final judgment until then I can only call it as I see it.:stuck_out_tongue:

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@JoshFossgreen’s books are a nice addition to the curriculum! You can find them here: All My Books Bundle (Best Value) - Josh Fossgreen

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My advice would be to get a recording setup going and start laying down tracks. There’s a little learning curve but it is a great motivator to play. Especially when you botch a recording and obsessively rerecord it until it’s perfect. Not that I would ever do that.

OK I lied I do that every time :slight_smile:

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:scream::joy::joy::joy::joy:

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Take more courses. TalkingBass has tons of great advanced courses for people who have graduated B2B. I never stop learning and developing.

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And eventually you’ll learn about auto punch-in and subsidize the obsessive recording by 75%

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I don’t practice… Actually I HATE practicing anything… Guess that’s why I never had the desire to become a doctor or lawyer - all they do is “Practice”:joy::joy:.

I started recording covers. For me, it keeps me motivated and involved. I always try to find songs that have different techniques of bass play so that I can learn something new when learning a new song. Sometimes I may not even like the song, but learn it anyway in order to master a new technique.

Then there are other things to do as others have mentioned here… books, additional courses, hell, some have even joined bands to play in but with the restrictions you’re faced with due to Covid, that’s pretty much out of the question…

What I also like do is record bass line tracks to some of my friends acoustic guitar tracks. He sends me his recordings and I dump the file into GarageBand and lay a bass line to them. Just another way to stay involved with the instrument…

I guess it’s pretty much whatever draws your interest, but take my word @rory, there IS life after the B2B course BRO (mate):joy:!

Keep on Thumpin’!
Lanny

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I followed @PamPurrs lead and am taking classes at talkingbass (scales essentials, chords, and sight reading). I’m also going to be taking classes through Berklee College of Musics online certificate program starting next month.

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That’s awesome @Sully

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Best part is I am using my post 9/11 GI Bill, so the price is right :wink:

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same here. well, almost : when I choose a song for a cover, it’s rarely for a technical aspect. but nevertheless there is (almost) always something to learn, and covers are a perfect sandbox for trying and testing various things. it can be about bass tone, recording technique, ear training, transcription, mix/production, playing technique (even if the song is not chosen for this) … and it kinda replaces “praticing” by “playing”, making the all thing way more fun. and also way closer to what is really playing an instrument, in the context of actually making music and not only working on a technical skill.

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@JoshFossgreen any chance we get an intermediate course? This is by far the best beginner course I‘Ve found!

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There’s been lots of talk about him creating an advanced course, but we haven’t heard anything from @JoshFossgreen regarding plans to release one.

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Hah! Yeah, if I were doing whole songs then for sure. I’m talking about obsessing over riffs :slight_smile:

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Congratulations and My Condolences. :thinking: :wink:
Yeah, join the club, you certainly are not the first, and won’t be the last to get to the top of the mountain and jump off into the bottomless pit of oblivion.
But, relax, don’t fret (yes, do fret, please continue to fret), not to worry, not to worry, there is a cure. And for the most part. the answers have been answered already, but I can back it up and say, the advice is sound.

After a couple weeks after wallowing around aimlessly thru every YouTube video, Website, App there is, I did end up with a solution however, and I got the advice from the good people here on the Bass Buzz forum, and @JoshFossgreen himself. I will continue to comment and give you one last option at the end.

Yes, these are great, not only to continue learning, but great as reference material for years to come. lots of great exercises and practice suggestions along with the lessons, laid out in a great order to learn the material in.

Yes yes yes, I followed @PamPurrs suggestion (and she told me when the All Access pass was open for enrollment, and I got enrolled) I have been doing more study here, and it has helped immensely. It is not Josh, but Mark does a great job too, and I hear that Mark and Josh were old Cruise Ship buddies years ago although I can not confirm or deny.

I am almost done with the Scales Essentials course, and will do the Cord Tones next. This Scales course, along with Josh’s books have been great for me and my progress.

I did too, and it was one of the best things I have done to continue on my BASS path.

The other thing I have done to continue on the path, @Rory, is to take private lessons. This is actually the best decision I made hands down.
I don’t take multiple classes a week, or even one a week, I started at every other week, and sometimes, when schedule dictates, I go 3 or 4 weeks between, but every time I take a lesson, I get so very much out of it. It helps to measure progress, and hi lights the areas that need more work and the areas that are improved enough so that I can move forward to more challenging things.
You know how you have all these thoughts and questions running around your head? “Whats next”. “what is the right thing to do” “what is the wrong thing to do”. Video? Book? Apps? How much of what? How little of what?
am I doing this wrong? am I doing this right? is there another way to do this? is there a better way to do this? etc…
A great instructor will be able to figure this out for you, based on you and your goals, and create the right scenario for you to continue to improve and learn, based on where you want to be later in your bass life.

Lessons have been paramount. I have been luck enough to take lessons directly from our own teach, @JoshFossgreen. but I am sure you can find somebody that can do in person, or online lessons via Zoom, so if you are still a little aimless and questioning where to go and what to do in a week or two, you may want to consider this. This was the best thing I could have ever done. Plus, I do my lessons Via Zoom, and I don’t really know if in person lessons would be much better or not, but these are very good, so don’t get discouraged by online lessons if that is the best option you can find.
Or try Josh, maybe your schedule will align and you can take lessons from the Master himself. :wink:

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In addition to all the other good advice in this thread, learning songs is a great idea! Applying what you learned in B2B to full songs seems like a perfect next step to me. And there’s that 50 Songs Pack sitting in your Course Extras just waiting to get munched on!

Someday…

Not quite, we’ve both worked on ships but not together (no ship needs two bass players :stuck_out_tongue: ). We’ve just corresponded online here and there over the years, I was working on my last ship (2014) when Mark first reached out to say hi. Seems like a really nice guy though, would love to grab a pint someday when it’s possible, and I don’t even like beer!

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The good news is, Mark is moving his family to the States. He’s talking about possibly Florida or Texas, so at least you wouldn’t have to fly to the UK to have a pint with him.

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I second (third?) what Pam said, talkingbass courses are really good. Start with either the chord tones or scales but get both. Then, whatever interests you.

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