Description
Talkingbass Starter Pack
Everything You Need To Begin Your Bass Journey
Over 12 Hours Of Lessons To Take You From Absolute Beginner To Fully Fledged Bass Player
Click Here For Full Course Details
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Talkingbass Starter Pack?
The Talkingbass Starter Pack combines the Beginner’s Course and the Bassic Fundamentals Course into one discounted purchase. This is the perfect solution for the beginning bass player looking to get serious about the instrument right from the start!
What are the Starter Pack Courses?
- The Beginner’s Course is a progressive, eight lesson, step-by-step guide to getting starting on the bass guitar.
- The Bassic Fundamentals Course is designed to provide a complete core foundation of bass guitar skills and musical knowledge. The course is split into four modules, each one covering a different general topic and set of goals.
What level of player is the course aimed at?
The Starter Pack is aimed at absolute beginners to the bass guitar but provides material all the way up to intermediate level.
What Will I Learn?
In the Beginners Course you will learn all the basic skills required to get started on the road to becoming a well-rounded bass player. You’ll learn how to hold the bass, tune the bass, learn the notes on the fretboard, fingerpicking techniques, plectrum technique and you’ll also receive important tips on what and how to practice as you develop your skills.
The Bassic Fundamentals course continues on from the Beginner’s Course. The 48 lessons are split into 4 distinct modules and each module addresses a different range of topics that are listed in the lesson rundown below. However as a brief overview, after finishing the course you will have acquired the following skills and knowledge:
- A solid bass technique in both hands. This covers both fingerpicking and other styles such as slapping.
- An understanding of how to create basslines and lock in with a drummer
- The ability to tune, re-string and setup the relief, action and intonation of a bass guitar.
- An understanding of the basics of music theory and how it can be applied to the bass.
- A greater familiarity of the notes all over the fretboard
- An introduction to sight reading music and reading chord charts
- A detailed understanding of bass tone and effects pedals
- A set of essential tips on playing in a band and learning songs
- A solid and comprehensive approach to practice using the R.A.I.S.E concept
How Long Are The Lessons?Â
The lesson length’s vary but both courses come to a combined total of almost 16 hours.
How is the course presented? Do I Download Anything?Â
The course is hosted on the Talkingbass website so there are no video files to download. There is a lesson material zip file for each module containing a Course Workbook and any relevant practice tracks.
David T. (verified owner) –
I am a complete novice and began the starter pack about a month ago. It’s a comprehensive course and I find Mark an interesting teacher who pitches the material just right. I love the fact that each lesson includes a video meaning it’s possible not only to pause whenever I need to but also to play at 0.75 or even half speed and listen again to any bits I find more challenging. Having small hands means a 4 fret stretch is a real challenge but Mark explains techniques which can help. I would highly recommend the starter pack to anyone looking to begin the bass journey.
Chris G. (verified owner) –
True beginner or self-taught players, this is the best all around introduction you can follow, even from the simplest or basic lesson, you can learn useful tips.
Anthony R. (verified owner) –
You can see my individual course reviews under each respective course in the store. This is a review based upon the combined value of this bundled course offering. Thank you to Talkingbass for creating this course bundle, it brings real value to starting bassists and intermediate players alike. Thank you for the insight to create these bundles as they really do bring excellent value. Even more so if you can catch a sale, but all in all a great deal!
William M. (verified owner) –
A solid start for any beginner or players back from a hiatus.
Bryan W. (verified owner) –
This pack is the perfect way to start your bass journey! I played bass years ago but haven’t touched one for years so I was on the fence between just starting with Bassic Fundamentals but I’m glad I bought the set. Mark is a gifted instructor. If you are wondering about the video format it really feels like a series of private one on one lessons from a master. The course really is that good.
Charles J. (verified owner) –
In the early Bassic Fundamental lessons Mark refers to a workbook and a link to songs. However, I do not see either of these. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place? Otherwise, I am enjoying the course very much! I played bass in a “garage band” the last couple of years in high school but then did not start playing again until now, at age 72! Having fun!
Tom G. (verified owner) –
Loving the full course, in between this and the Cyborg bassist my skills refresh is getting a good workout, love the courses and love the site :)
Barney K. (verified owner) –
I imagine that most folks that run across Mark’s Talkingbass.com courses have already spent some time playing or pulling various you tube videos to find some insight into playing the bass. This two for one package might get passed by many. I include myself amongst those who looked beyond to more advanced study. I can only relate this mistake to high school math. There is a reason that why the objective is to someday practice quantum physics, if you did not get thru algebra 1, 2, and 3, plus trigonometry and a handful of other advanced math course, you would be completely lost. This basics package provides a lot good solid content to build foundations from which to grow your musical vocabulary. Mark does lay out an educational play. So while it is tempting to pass up the basics to get to the fun stuff, the fund stuff will be more fun if you have the fundaments mastered first!
Fredrick (Fred) V. (verified owner) –
This course has everything you need to get started and learn everything about your Bass. Thanks Mark for sharing your knowledge and love for the Bass.
Anonymous –
great!!
Gary F. (verified owner) –
Excellent course. I recently returned to playing bass after a few years break and wanted to start taking some courses. I decided to go with TalkingBass and, even though I’m not a beginner (I’ve been playing for decades), I’ve not had much formal training so I thought I’d begin with the Starter Pack to make sure I had a good foundation and wasn’t missing any of the basic. The course is well organised, very comprehensive and Mark explains everything clearly. Highly recommended and great value. Perfect for beginners.
Michael B. (verified owner) –
Enjoying this product that Mark Smith has created. His detailed information and promotions to learn bass and play is exceptional and inspiring. I am continuing to be motivated by Mark’s quality teaching. Practice, Practice, Practice! Thank you Mark!
fabio p. –
Perfect package for beginners. Lesson style works very well for me. Mark’s teaching is detailed, clear and simple to learn. Five stars!
Walter S. (verified owner) –
I’m in my mid 50s and have always wanted to play the bass. My only musical training was YEARS ago in elementary school. As I was hunting around the internet figuring out how to get started, I kept getting drawn into Mark’s videos on YouTube. Unlike a lot of other online classes where at some point they make a big jump and leave you behind, Mark’s videos never did. This bundle was instrumental (see what I did there? :D) in getting started. First off, the savings of the bundle was a no-brainer. The Beginner Bass Guitar class was a perfect starting point, this is the nut, this is the bridge, this is how you change a string, this is how you hold the bass. All things I needed to know but may not have asked. The Bassic Fundamentals class is perfect for actually getting started on playing the bass from step zero. By the time I got through the first few lessons, I was hooked.
If you are just starting out this bundle is very much worth it. Mark is easily approachable and everyone on this site is eager to help out us newbies. I cannot stress how valuable this bundle was to getting started.
Matthias H. (verified owner) –
Hi, I am living in Germany and I am playing a lot of instruments, originally coming from the piano with 10 years of having a weekly teacher and daily practice. I started to play bass 6 years ago and at that time, I could play a little bit guitar. I started out learning bass with Rocksmith and Youtube and played a lot for 1-2 years. Then, I also started some other instruments (like saxophone and flute) and in case of flute I got a teacher again, because I knew a girl from school 20 years ago who studied flute and is a teacher right now. While having lessons with her, I realized that learning a new instrument this way (even when you already know music and play some instruments) is a lot faster then learning by yourself and I progressed really fast. I want to make this year a bass learning year and learn some things that I never really touched (slapping/tapping) and I wanted a full straight forward slapping course, so I checked the internet. I always liked Mark on Youtube so I thought, lets give it a try and buy the complete slapping course. While adding this course to the cart, I also thought, lets take this beginning stuff, too, because maybe I missed something or trained something in a wrong way. Of course I went through this beginning course very fast (one month or so), but I really learned something that was new to me and improved my technique, like joint-barring with the pinky finger (I never did this). One of the most benefits to me was learning the notes on the fretboard, in case of guitar and bass I always learned patterns or played with tabs and I always thought that I will never “see” the notes on the fretboard in my remaining life. This course changed this a lot! Before this course, I had to think about where for example the “g” is all over the fretboard and now it’s really easy and doesn’t take much time, so if you would ask me now to play all the “c” notes on the fretboard, I really can do it without thinking to much. At first, I was sceptical just learning the natural notes, but if you would ask me now to play all the “c#” notes, it’s the same :). Right now, I have finished the Slap course 1 and I am now in the middle of course 2, but my progress is very slow now, because the stuff there is already really challenging to me. I almost never write reviews but I can recommend these courses as they are all really straight forward, it is just the task of the player to stop a video several times an train a lot, sometimes I need 2-3 hours for a 10-20 minute video, so there is really a lot of content if you use it correctly. When I start to train, I take 20-30 minutes to do all the exercises from the videos that I watched in my previous session again as a warmup. For a complete beginner buying this course I have to add that just doing this course may be too boring, so my recommendation for a beginner is to buy this course and split the learning time, so that there is also always time to play along with songs (for example with Tabs, a program like Rocksmith, or even better, with notes).
Have fun :)
Bill M. (verified owner) –
I decided to learn bass 2 years ago when I retired. The Starter pack was essential to getting off to a solid start and I’ve moved on to Walking Bass, Scales and Chord Tone Essentials since then. One of the best things about Mark’s courses is that you can go at your own pace. Mark’s teaching is detailed, clear and insightful. The whole website is amazing and provides a fantastic amount of material for reference.
Brian J. (verified owner) –
This is a great package for beginners. You cannot go wrong purchasing this pack. Marks teaching style really works well for me. I have advanced nicely in my playing is a short amount of time. Will be purchasing the next course(s) soon.
Diego V. –
Good pack to save money if you are a beginer, because one time you complete de first course (a very short one), you will be want to purchase the basic fundamentals one.