Simple Steps To Walking Bass

(21 customer reviews)

$110.00

Get On Your Feet & Walk That Bass

Walking Bass has never seemed so simple. Sixty four bass lessons to get you on your feet and Walking!

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Description

Simple Steps To Walking Bass

Get On Your Feet & Walk That Bass!

64 lessons, 150 pages of lesson material and over 6 hours of audio practice tracks

Click Here For Full Course Info PDF

‘Love, love, love this course! Simple Steps To Walking Bass has so much content and is brilliant for all levels and abilities. I learned so much and would highly recommend it! Great practice backing tracks as well!!’  Matt Warren – UK

‘Simple Steps To Walking Bass is just that. Mark leads you steadily towards your goal with a carefully constructed course. I’d happily recommend this course to anyone learning how to play bass in a jazz environment’  Neil Birrell – UK

‘Simple Steps To Walking Bass is excellent. The student is taken through the exercises  methodically and everything is explained in great detail. The process works and I am now on the way to playing walking bass lines with a jazz band.’  Paul Jenkins – UK

Check out more reviews of the course in the Reviews tab above!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Simple Steps To Walking Course?

Simple Steps To Walking Bass is a step by step approach to improvising walking bass lines on bass guitar. It is a multimedia course using a combination of video lessons, PDF workbooks and MP3 backing tracks to provide the most comprehensive, step-by-step approach to walking bass available today.

What level of player is the course aimed at?

The course is aimed at any player looking to get started with walking bass lines. Even some advanced players lack the skills or experience needed to walk fluently through chord progressions so the level of the player is all relative to their stylistic experience.

What Will I Learn?

After completing the course you will have the knowledge and ability to improvise a walking line through any chord progression using a variety of chord tones, scales and chromatic devices.

How Long Are The Lessons?

The lesson lengths vary but each level and pack will be many hours in length, providing many weeks, months or even years of practice.

How is the course presented? Do I Download Anything?

The course is hosted on the Talkingbass website so there are no video files to download. The Lesson Material is all available to download from a dedicated Dropbox folder

21 reviews for Simple Steps To Walking Bass

  1. Paul Stoddard (verified owner)

    I have been playing bass for about 30 years, but mostly guitar for the last 20. During the pandemic I started playing more bass again. This course has taught me a lot. I am taking my time with it, and am enjoying it very much. Mark explains things very well.

  2. David Manlow (verified owner)

    As a hobbyist returning to playing after many years I was looking for a course which refreshed and consolidated as well as developing my knowledge, understanding and playing. Working through this this course has certainly helped me to achieve all of this and more. The approach to teaching and learning is spot on and is highly effective. Thanks Mark – any plans for a ‘Further Steps in Walking Bass’ course ?

    • TalkingBass Mark

      This Saturday sees the release of the Walk That Bass book (complete with mini video course and audio tracks). It’s an Ebook featuring 30 walking bass lines, all precomposed for educational study. The perfect supplement to the Simple Steps To Walking course

  3. Barney Kister (verified owner)

    Another great course with just tons of content. I have this marked as complete as I have worked thru the material and watched all the video, but much like many other of Mark’s classes this course leaves you with tons of practice material with literally years of potential drills to work on! Having completed several of Mark’s classes there is a fair amount of material that is from other courses some of which needed repeating to stick in my head and hands more completely and some which I had a good handle. For sure I will go thru this entire course again later this year as I continue my journey developing my musicianship. Mark teaches various lines that can be used in many ways on many songs but he never fails in pulling in how it all fits in to music theory. Taking this course or nearly any of Marks courses you are not only learning to play bass, but you are building solid music theory which will allow for greater communication to those on other instruments. So now on to finishing the next few courses
    thanks Mark for sharing your knowledge!!!!

  4. Emmanuel Renaut (verified owner)

    This was a great course for fret board knowledge and skill, chord and harmony knowledge. As usual Mark’s lessons stick to the subject matter at hand and skill level. I highly recommended this course.

  5. Don Hall (verified owner)

    I know some fundamental music theory and work on learning the fretboard notes every day as a habit. This Walking Bass course provides a great structure to help me play my favorite jazz standards. But I’ve also found it amazingly helpful to play all the pop tunes I love as well. I particularly appreciate the backing tracks at three different speeds for fundamental practice. I have slowed the speed of the lessons to really focus on getting each concept under my fingers and its a pleasure to learn this material at my own speed. I’ve always appreciated Mark’s free lessons on YouTube but they really just scratch the surface of the wisdom available to you through this course. I highly recommend this learning experience.

    Don Hall

  6. David Gill (verified owner)

    With my playing leaning heavily towards Gypsy Manouche, Bossa Nova and Jazz, I knew Simple Steps to Walking Bass would be my next logical step after Bassic Fundamentals. And I was right.
    The course accelerated my fretboard note knowledge, allowing me to walk the entire fretboard, instead of mostly using 1st through 7th fret. Now I have the confidence to walk the fretboard.
    Progress will continue; especially with the songs in Module 3.
    I highly recommend this class to all bass players, not just those wanting to improve their jazz walking.
    Thanks again, Mark, for another outstanding class that will provide a lifetime of learning.

  7. Lucy N (verified owner)

    Really loved this course! its work but if you want to get to know your bass in and out then this is the course for u. You will learn your chord tones, your scales, your modes, your fretboard and of course how to walk that bass. Really well taught and thorough walk through of the topic excellent!

  8. Alain M (verified owner)

    If you do not know what 1-6-2-5 means after that course, there is no hope for you. It was long but it helped me a great deal.

  9. Orlando Boldewijn (verified owner)

    Orlando
    Mark thanks for your detailed approach, it helps me a lot.

  10. Liam Goethals (verified owner)

    Very jazzy!

  11. Elkmar Winter (verified owner)

    After years of playing in hobby Bigbands and Jazz quartets it was eye opening to review the concept of walking bass.
    It gave me a lot of confidence for what I already played and opened up a lot of additional ideas and concepts and also changed perspectives. Hence I am much more aware of what I’m playing and how it fits into playing in a band.
    Mark, many thanks to you for your structured approach. Being an engineer by profession this is exactly how my minds works…

  12. Matt Warren (verified owner)

    Can’t recommend enough. Still about halfway through the course but looking at the upcoming lessons makes me excited for what’s coming. I’ve already found that using the skills taught so far I can jam along to backing tracks on YouTube and actually string lines together. Really enjoying learning the whole process both theoretically and practically. Cheers :D

  13. Benn Haynes (verified owner)

    After the Basic Fundamental course, this was my next course. As expected, Mark does a fantastic job of breaking down a mountain of material into very small pieces. He has a gift of being able to explain the importance of learning each lesson as it relates to prior lessons before moving on.
    As a 79 year old student I realized ( before Mark’s video suggesting the order of courses ) I realized I needed deeper understanding of the wealth of material presented in the WalkingBass Course. I will say that having completed – not mastered – the WalkingBass Course did make it easier to understand the concepts in the Chord Tone Essentials and Scale Essentials Courses.
    If I had it to do over, after the Basic Fundamentals Course, I would next take the Chord Tone Essentials course, followed by the Scale Essentials Course.
    After I complete the Scale Essentials Course, my plan is to retake the WalkingBass Course while also taking the Simple Steps to Sight Reading Course.
    I may need to do this in an Assisted Living Facility while jamming with my fellow senior citizens.
    Maybe Mark will visit and see/listen to what he started.

  14. Glenn Day (verified owner)

    This is an excellent course. Well structured and gives a great understanding of the bass. I have a few other of Marks courses that I have bought which are also excellent but I think I will complete this one first and then return to Chord Tones And Scales. Keep it up Mark.

  15. Petra Stuetzel (verified owner)

    I am very enthusiastic about the way Mark teaches. He moves forward in small steps and explains everything in great detail. It is important to him that his students understand the context and develop a solid foundation.
    I highly recommend this course!

  16. Wolfgang Strehlow (verified owner)

    Others have already said it, and I will repeat it again: A wonderful course, very well structured lessons, with all aspects of the Walking Bass presented in a clear and personable way. (To make it even mor perfect than perfect: I personally would like to have some more other bass playalongs with jazz standards in the practicing material.) – The course effectively gets you in shape and is worth every penny in many ways … Thanks Marc, I am very grateful!

  17. Michael Floyd (verified owner)

    Mark is the teacher I always wanted. I have tried many other online resources to learn the bass, but nothing comes even close to talking bass. The lessons are very well thought out. I have bought several of Mark’s courses and plan on buying them all. There is enough material in one course to last for years of practice. I can’t recommend him enough. I have made huge strides in my bass playing.

  18. Diego Vargas

    Even if you aren´t a jazz aficionado, this course can improve your playing capabilitis and musical knowledege in a masive way. A must to every player that want to be become a pro.

  19. Vince MacRae (verified owner)

    Excellent course and enjoying it greatly. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot there, but as others have said, once you start working through it, you realise there are months if not years worth of practice material if you’re going to work through it properly which I strongly recommend. I’ve found that practising in every key as Mark advises has massively improved my knowledge of the fretboard.

    Even if you’ve only a passing interest in walking bass, being able to identify your options from any given position will improve your bass playing right across the board. I can recommend it without reservation.

  20. Tom C

    I decided to pay for one of Mark’s course just because I felt like I needed to give him some money based purely on the free stuff he has uploaded to youtube. That said, the courses are worth every penny too [more value from this guy].

    Five stars every time, a great teacher, with a great attitude and a great approach. Well done Mark – great business.

  21. Nate Winslow (verified owner)

    This is an amazing course. It is way underpriced given what you get: hours/years of lesson material, well thought out curriculum, and the high quality of Mark’s teaching.

    Conventional wisdom is that you should take this course after taking Chord Tone Essentials. I did not follow that advice because after listening to some of the greats (Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, etc), I very much wanted to learn how to walk… more than anything else. I don’t regret that decision, largely because Mark’s excellent teaching allowed me to get through what is arguably a lot for a beginner to comprehend. He has clearly thought carefully about how to best guide a student through the walking bass journey.

    After getting about half-way through the second module I decided I wanted to dive deeper into some of the theory, so I purchased Chord Tone Essentials, and Scale Essentials. Those are also great courses, and also way underpriced for value you get. The material I learned in Walking Bass allowed me to move relatively quickly through those courses, but I would not say that they overlap. Instead, I would say that they are designed to be complementary.

    After those courses, I went back to the start of Simple Steps to Walking Bass. Revisiting the Walking Bass material, I saw that there is a lot more to this course than meets the eye. I suspect there will be a very fruitful third pass through some of the Walking Bass material as well. I am very happy with how much I have learned, and I strongly recommend talking this course (and the Chord Tones, Scale Essentials courses).

    Nate, beginner/intermediate

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