Resources for Learning the Bass Guitar
Below are several links to Bass Guitar courses that we’ve found to be credible.
Learning to Play Bass Guitar Options
There are many musicians which want to learn to play bass guitar. Although we take the time to teach the theory, which will apply to all instruments, many need more specific instruction on technique and methods to fully appreciate the complexity of playing the bass.
Also, some bass players have asked about increasing their awareness of playing bass within a band.
Currently I’m reviewing several courses and will add information about what I find. So far their are several offerings, but some of the places are non responsive so I’m holding off on even putting them up as options until I can find out more.
Below are some quick summaries of the courses and materials I’ve looked at so far. The only caution is that you need to insure that you learn music theory such as offered with our music theory course as part of your education.
Many of these play bass guitar lessons are simple geared to getting you some basic tips and techniques to get you going. Tips and tricks of the bass are great for playing around and amplifying your knowledge of playing, but there is no substitute for knowing the principals of music for which to take these tips and apply them.
The offers listed below are different approaches and you can visit them to see if they apply to your situation.
Teach Me Bass Guitar by Roy Vogt
Top: Recommended Program: Roy Vogt offers a comprehensive bass guitar course on DVD called Teach Me Bass Guitar.
It does not come cheap, and based on what is offered, you can tell he’s put a lot of effort into putting a great course together.
The website is being updated and it’s going to be easier to understand what Ray offers. Roy has really chosen to focus on teaching bass guitar and not on empty promises. The program is designed for beginners as well as those that have been playing for awhile.
Here’s a few items that are included.
- 8 DVDs with video play-a-longs.
- More than 16 hours of instruction and covers the basic theory through the advanced Basslessons
- Play along tracks to hone your new skills
- 120 page PDF book to print accompaning lesson material as you progress.
For the video play-a-longs that accompany the lessons, Roy has written original music – especially created to showcase the bass – which he performs with a band comprised of some of Nashville’s premiere studio musicians. Really cool is the ability to play songs at slow or normal speed, and you can decide to do it without the bass for your own practice.
The downloadable book for Teach Me Bass Guitar is fully illustrated, using color illustrations, photos, and graphic examples of the principles in the DVD lessons. It contains easy-to-understand notation and charts for the examples presented in the videos. There is also an added benefit that when the book is updated, you’ll always have the latest edition at your fingertips. There’s no charge for community members, where you sign up for on going information.
Teach Me Bass Guitar Course Subjects
When I looked over the 24 subjects covered I found that you start out with exactly what we teach here, but only in a high level. If you truly want to the principles down you still need to work thorough the music theory course. However, you will learn enough to get you started down the right road here.
The course covers double and triple stop chords (fancy way of saying playing more than one note on the bass). Of course there is also technique on slap, thumbing and popping. I like the fact that he works on the typical styles of music like blues, country, funk, rock and my favorite, jazz. He also has a category of Bass for World Music, traditional music or folk music of a culture region.
Roy does cover some of the skills needed to play with other musicians and in a band. Do take note of this. I can tell you that it is not always easy to work with others, but the bass player is key to setting the foundation of the music flow.
Roy’s folks are finally catching on about believing in value, and provide a 30 day guarantee to try out the course and learn the value of what you are pay for.
As a finally thought, Roy is renowned for his skills, the beginner will get a huge amount of instruction and even the seasoned
players will get some value from this package of his knowledge of the bass.
You can get a few more details at: Teach Me Bass Guitar, but if your seriously considering how to play bass guitar, I’d go take a quick look and go purchase the package, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
JamPlay’s Bass Guitar
JamPlay has a unique way of teaching through their subscription based video training. In their new for 2013 lessons they have set up a three phased approach to learning bass guitar with beginner lessons, genre lessons, and song lessons.
For anyone looking for that personal video touch this program is well worth considering. Check it out today to see if it works for your needs. Bass Guitar the JamPlay Way.