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Online Bass Lessons - The Protege ProgramHave You Been Taking Bass Lessons And Feeling That You're Just Not Getting Anywhere? This happened to me too, back in the day when I was taking lessons. At the time I had a full time job and couldn't attend somewhere like Berklee or BIT. So all of my lessons were with private teachers - and whilst all my teachers had a different approach, none of them had a system. And because there was no teaching system my progress was random. And invariably I found that making random progress was frustrating. And when I began teaching myself 18 months ago I outlined the kind of program that I would have liked to have been available to me all those years ago. And that outline has grown into a system of online bass lessons I call the Protege Program (if you're interested, google Protege and you'll find out a lot about how I approach being a teacher). Introducing My Protege Program - A Systematic Song Based Approach To Learning The Bass That You Can Take In The Comfort Of Your Own Home Or Even On The Beach!
For some reason just about every private bass teacher you go to wants to teach you how to play scales. And arpeggios. And variations of those scales and arpeggios. In two octaves. And different postions. And yada yada yada. And that's just lazy teaching in my opinion. Sure you have to know about scales and how to use them - but when you're starting out what you need to know is how to hold the bass, how to fret a note, how to pluck the note so it sounds, and then apply that knowledge to a tune you like to play along with. And that approach - and its logical developments - is how my course is built up. The course starts with basic right hand technique, which is then applied to a real world song (With or Without You by U2). Each succeeding lesson builds upon this approach - there is further technique work which is then immediately applied to a real world song. Whatever theory is needed to back up the technique and its real world application is also taught. The Lesson Plan is structured over 50 lessons - as you progress through the lessons here are some of the areas you'll work on:
And the best way to truly learn something is to immediately apply it in a real world context - and that's done in the form of the songs that form the spine of the lessons. And learning songs also gives a sense of achievement that learning scales or arpeggios won't. Oh, and it's fun! If you check out the 50 Songs Page you'll get an idea of the progression of songs through the course - although please note that this list was originally published in March 2008 and has been updated subsequently (but the current master list is confidential - which is why it's not published on the website). So How Do These Online Bass Lessons Work? The way the lessons work is simple. Each time you take a new lesson you are directed to a password protected page on the Online Bass Lessons website. There you can download all the materials relevant to that lesson. One of the PDFs will be an action plan/assignment and will tell you what you need to achieve with that particular lesson. When you feel you have completed the lesson you film the assignment and post it for me to watch. Either I will then critique it and move you onto the next lesson. Occaisonally I'll ask you to work on something specific for a few days and re-film it for further critique before we move onto the next lesson. What Form Does Your Critique Take? Critiques are usually done by email. Sometimes for technique issues I will film a further short video to fully illustrate a point I'm trying to make. And sometimes these short videos get used for different students who have similar technique issues. What Do You Get With Each Lesson? Each Lesson is split down into constituent parts. The song (or songs - see below for different options) featured in each lesson has two videos - a playalong so you can see how it sounds played in context, and a detailed 'how to' lesson showing how to play the song. Additionally each lesson has a theory video and a technique video. Here's an example of a 'how to' lesson: though please note that the actual video quality has been degraded by the compression process that YouTube uses!
All of the basslines are notated out in Standard Notation and Bass Tab in the accompanying PDFs. Plus there are PDFs for the Theory and Technique Videos, an Action Plan and an assignment. And if you choose the Premium package there's also a mini bonus video on a topic related to the bass guitar (and yes, they can be a bit random!). Who Are These Lessons For? These lessons are for firstly for bass players who want a system that will help them improve their ability on the bass guitar. They are suitable for complete beginners, or for bassists who've played a bit and just don't seem to be getting any better. And can't figure out why. The only requirements are that you own a bass, are prepared to practice as regularly as possible, can pay by PayPal (though you can use a credit card), and you have the ability to film yourself playing and post it to the Internet, and obviously that you have a semi decent Internet connection (some of the video files are 30 mins/300 mb). At some stage in the future I will implement a system to 'fast track' intermediate level players into the later stages of the program - but that's a way off yet. Complete Details Of The Protege Program Format: The videos are in MP4 format - so they'll play in the majority of media players. My recommendation is that you play them in either Quicktime or iTunes - both programs are available on Mac and PCs. The PDF files can be read (and printed out) in whatever PDF Reader you use - if you don't have one Adobe have a free downloadable reader available. Delivery: The information is delivered via the Internet. Each lesson has its own password protected page with links to all the files you will need for each lesson. Payment Methods: All payments are via PayPal. If you don't have a PayPal account they are extremely easy to set up and use - or you can pay securely by credit card. Currency: All payments are in US Dollars. Paypal will convert the USD amourt to your own currency when you get your credit card statement. In some cases, depending on where you're from, you may be able to see the conversion rate in your own currency before you pay (this feature is not available for all currencies though). Compatibility: Is The information used for each lesson is compabible for both Macs and PCs. If you have any issues, don't hesitate to email me and I'll help you sort them out.
Guarantee: Is there a guarantee? Yes there is. If after two lessons you find that this course is not what you expected, or is not working for you for any reason I will issue you a prompt refund. All you have to do is email me and let me know. Support: If something in a lesson is unclear all you need to do is email me. I'll get back to you with answers and help as soon as possible.
The $1,000,000 QUESTION: HOW MUCH DOES EACH LESSON COST? Ok here are the details - what's included and what each lesson costs. Note there are two options - The Standard Bass Lessons or Premium Bass Lessons.
How To Sign Up Use the contact form to send me an email. Tell me a little about yourself, how long you've been playing, what you'd like to achieve with the bass guitar, wherabouts you live, etc etc. I'll reply within 12 hours. Or you could email me directly - paul(at)how-to-play-bass.com. Important: Reasons Why You Shouldn't Delay 1) Space is limited. Once all the spaces are filled then I won't take on any new Proteges for the immediate future. Once that happens there will be a waiting list and IF someone drops out of the program then that space will be offerered to the first person on the waiting list. 2) There's no risk. Take the first two lessons. If you find that this program is not for you - for whatever reasons - simply email me and I'll immediately refund the cost of those first two lessons. And yes I'll ask you some questions about why my course was not for you - but not until after you've been refunded. If You've Still Got Any Questions? If you've still got questions then use the Contact Form and let me know. I'll reply as soon as I can - usually within 12 hours. Oh, and you could also check out the Teaching Articles - which you'll find indexed on the Articles Page.
Paul Wolfe, London
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