Beginner to Badass

Lessons Overview

Beginner to Badass is 30 hours of complete beginner lessons. This includes 107 lessons and 86 songs (with backing tracks), with each lesson and song focusing on a specific element of beginner bass playing. Here’s some of what you’ll learn:

How to Tune Your Bass The quick and easy way.

12-Note Music System Understanding the 12-note music system. (We won’t force music theory down your throat. The basics of music theory are simple, when explained properly, and will open up a world of musical possibilities for you.)

Exploring The Neck We’ll show you some effective ways to navigate around your instrument, playing all the way up the neck without frustration.

Pluck like the pros Alternating plucking technique with the moveable anchor for a tight tone.

Right-Hand Technique How to get a good plucking tone and develop a strong right-hand technique.

Epic bass slidesssssssss Because they sound cool.

Left-Hand Technique Master clean left-hand technique for speed, accuracy and tone.

Speed for Beginners Develop speed and dexterity step by step.

Finger Roll The “finger roll” trick for better fingering.

Strap Height The ideal strap height for easier playing.

Foundational gear basics Understanding your bass. Sounds boring but essential.

Amplifier tricks A primer on EQ for getting a killer sound. Getting a fat sound might just be a matter of knowing how to tweak the knobs on your bass. This will be easy for you to learn but will make a massive difference.

Understanding rhythm All the rhythm basics you need, including whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests.

Syncopation Syncopation will help you learn everything from Bach to blues.

Chugging A bassist’s secret weapon for easy rockage.

The Beat Ruler Count and comprehend rhythms effortlessly with the Beat Ruler.

How to read tablature Tabs are the easiest way to read music. They’re sort of like cheating. Once you know how to read tabs, you’ll be able to go on the Internet and find the songs that you’re dying to learn to play — for free!

String crossing and jumping Navigating the bass with more ease step by step.

Music reading made easy Straightforward explanations of fundamentals like bars, bar lines, the bass clef, dots, ties, 1st and 2nd endings, repeats.

Common time signatures Including 4/4, 12/8, 3/4, and 6/8. Being able to play different kinds of grooves/feels will make you a more versatile player.

Funky eighth notes Even if funk is not your thing, this will help build your bass foundation.

Notes on the Neck You’re going to learn tricks to memorize all the notes on the neck, so you’ll know what you’re doing and you won’t feel lost anymore. The tricks you will learn for memorizing all the notes on the fretboard will make it 100 times easier than having to memorize each note individually.

Shuffle feel And the difference between straight and swing eighth notes, essential for playing blues with soul and feeling.

Two-beat feel Play like a country pro.

12-bar blues One of the most versatile progressions you’ll learn.

Intro to scales: The scales you need to get started— including the chromatic scale.

Blues scale One of the easiest ways you can sound like a badass is to learn the blues scale. You won’t believe how much mojo you’ll get from six simple notes.

Major scale and minor scale Using them to express different emotions.

Minor pentatonic scale One of the most useful and versatile scales you’ll ever learn, and the basis of a ton of awesome riffs in rock, blues, funk, and more.

Major pentatonic scale Another versatile scale that gives you sounds from sexy Motown grooves to smooth walking bass lines.

Musical intervals Knowing how the distances between notes are named helps you understand how music is put together, and communicate more easily with other musicians.

Bass Line Creation Creating bass lines that turn heads.

Improvisation Expressing yourself spontaneously through music. When you know how to improvise, you don’t need to memorize everything note by note. You can play by ear and create your own original music.

Creating Bass Lines With The Major Scale

Register Changes Using register changes for dramatic effect.

Plucking zones Get the right tone for the job/adjust your tone for the occasion.

Chromatic neighbor tones Make interesting note choices without having to think about it.

Ultimate groove workout Develop rock-solid timing and get a groove other people can rely on.

How to use root notes Learning how to use root notes is one of the simplest skills that will help you jam and improvise.

Arpeggios And Triads These will help you improvise and create bass lines.

Chords Primer They’re not just for 6-string guitar. Learning chords will add new dimensions to your playing.

Chord progressions How to fit into a chord progression when you’re jamming with a band.

Nashville numbers Sometimes bass players struggle for decade before they find out that all the crazy complex music theory can be reduced to a simple 8-number system.

Diatonic Chord Progressions Making sense of thousands of songs with one fell swoop.

Dynamics Using attention to volume and tools like crescendos and decrescendos  … You wouldn’t want to talk at the same volume all the time. Same goes for bass. When you learn dynamics, you’ll better be able to express emotions with music, to really get people to listen.

Walking Bass Lines Essential for every good bassist.

Muting A technique to give your playing punch and clarity.

Triplets How to feel triplets and develop killer chops.

Advanced Basslines Using roots, fifths, and octaves to create awesome bass lines easily.

Single-Pluck Octaves For some serious funk.

Double-Pluck Octaves For double the funk.

Basic-slap bass technique Learn to slap the right way (there are plenty of wrong ways).

Pop technique Combine with slap technique to create an impressive sound.

Key Signatures Demystified Playing in different keys and understanding key signatures and how they’ll help you grow as a bassist.

Key Signature Mastery A simple method for identifying and playing in different song keys. This is so easy, and it will help you so much if you want to know what to do in any playing situation.

Cranking Up Right-Hand Speed Because you don’t want to play just slow ballads all your life 🙂

Badass Two-Hand Coordination Builder Get your hand in sync with deadly accuracy.

Pick Technique Get even more fresh sounds and styles out of your bass.

Ear Training And Transcribing A musician’s secret weapons.

Vampin’ Vampin’ with the drummer and jumping into a guitar vamp; how to sync up with a drummer or fit in with a drummer in a jam setting, and how make up bass lines that fit with the drum beats.

Articulation How note length and other factors can make your playing more authentic.

Jamming Like a Pro How to jam effectively with other musicians.

Practicing Made Unboring Creating a practice routine you can actually follow.

Advanced Slap Double-thumb, double-pop, left-hand “drumming.”

Tapping Van Halen style.

Harmonics Bass guitars make badass noises, but they can also do pretty too.