If you want to take your bass playing to the next level, you need to look beyond the free online lessons to find the right course to help you grow as a bass player. For the best learning experience I recommend to look at paid subscriptions. Here are some of the better online courses for every skill level and budget.
Is a paid subscription worth it?
If you have the budget and the time, nothing will beat a real teacher that gives you one-on-one lessons in person or via video chat. But not all of us have the luxury to shell out the cost for that. Paying for an online subscription may be a great alternative option if you have limited time, cannot travel or want to learn in your own pace. I have tried many different online courses over the past years, here are some of my top picks:
1. Scotts Bass Lessons
SBL or Scotts Bass Lessons is by far the biggest online bass education platform there currently is online. Founded by Scott Devine many years ago, the platform has grown into the biggest online educator with many different bass tutors and a wide curriculum of bass education. They offer many free lessons on YouTube, but the main content is only available as a paid subscription.
Is a paid subscription to SBL worth it? I have personally used SBL for a couple or years as a premium subscriber and must say the quality of the material is very good. The teachers and lessons are top notch and there is a lot of content for beginners, intermediate players and even professionals. The only downside is that their online email marketing can be quite aggressive, so be prepared to get hammered with emails when you sign up for a free trial. Even when you are a paid subscriber there will be lots of emails to try to get you to buy extended courses. Still, SBL is highly recommended if you really want to increase your skills.
2. Bassbuzz
BassBuzz is a much more humble operation than SBL, run by Josh Fossgreen. It offers a lot of good content and step by step lessons. Josh also offers many free online lessons and tutorials on YouTube to get started. So is BassBuzz any good? Yes, absolutely. The “Beginner to Badass” course he offers is a great course for beginner to intermediate bass players covering all the basics needed to become a confident bass player that can join a band or play sessions. Josh has a quirky sense of humor that some like and some don’t, but there is no denying he is a very good teacher and it is clear he has spent a lot of time developing a good product. I can highly recommend it. For beginning bass players I would even prefer his course over SBL.
3. TalkingBass
TalkingBass.net is a web community for learning bass founded by Mark J. Smith. Mark is an excellent teacher that explains all the techniques and theory in a very detailed way. He has many courses on his website and also offers many free online bass lessons on YouTube, where he breaks down many popular bass lines and concepts into the tiniest detail.
