As bass playing continues to evolve, the more confusion there seems to be about how to develop the ability to actually getting the job done.  Many principles are highly debated- theory vs. functionality; whether to play a 4, 5 or 6-string bass; fretless vs. fretted; electric vs. acoustic; vertical vs. horizontal positions; tablature vs. reading; how to develop the proper technical ability all the way to up to what kind of practice yields the best results.  

The chaos created by this confusion was the primary purpose that I have set out to create this bass guitar online resource.  To inform and educate the discerning student of the bass guitar- the truth seekers whose primary goal are to improve their “real-time” playing ability and enhance their understanding of music (melodic, harmonic and rhythmic) in the shortest amount of time possible. 

I only have one mission:

“To Save You Time!”

While there are many instructional manuals, courses, downloads, videos that have flooded the market, most of these do not succeed in answering the questions that plague the everyday working bassist whose goal is playing live, studio work and teaching others.  The problem lies – however – with many of these new-fangled online courses with marketing taglines such as Bass Secrets, Bass Tips and Bass Tricks; often taught and presented by rookies with no REAL playing experience.  A compounding result is that while they are offering you time saving results, in reality they are merely cutting corners.  This is an all too often universal error in developing a solid foundation.  Another commonality for stagnation is only learning from the vantage point of a “one way” point of view.  It is my aim with this online resource to share with you an exhaustive compendium covering a complete system of the art and science of bass guitar playing that is based on over 30 years of “in the trenches” experience.

The bassists around today trying to learn what is necessary to master his or her craft are not in a much better position than I was the first time I picked up a bass.  As a late starter, I was 18 years old when I first started and was lucky enough to get into a school like the Berklee College of Music without having to audition.  At my first lesson I was working from a double bass book specific to the development of bowing techniques.  With the electric bass struggling for legitimacy, I was left with listening, transcribing and hanging out with all of the best players that I could find.  Of course, Berklee was the conduit of the basic musical foundation, but everything I learned about my instrument was through picking great players brains and then pure trial and error.  It took a lot of effort and a very long time.  However, my life’s ambition was to be the best that I could be, so I learned and digested what I had to in order to express myself on my instrument.

Jaco was a pioneer in legitimising the bass guitar

Although experience is a great teacher, I often wonder how much time I could have saved if there was a complete resource for the bass guitar available for me to refer to.  This site is being set up to solve that particular problem.   Here, you will find everything a person needs to know concerning the 4, 5 & 6-string bass guitars- from basic technique to playing psychology to advanced improvisation and everything else in-between.  Whenever, bass players find themselves facing a situation they have no easy answer for, this site will become a “go to” resource for those very answers, so make sure that you bookmark this site.

You can’t learn to play the bass entirely by an online resource, but then you can’t drive from London to Liverpool by just studying a road map either.  However, taking a look at the map before you leave can help you to avoid taking a wrong turn here and there and ultimately save you loads of time while you are in transit.  Hopefully, the material you will find on the web site will make the journey on the way to improving your bass skills that much faster and easier!

Peace

Joe