Description
The Creative Bassist
A Roadmap For Creative Playing From Bass Lines To Solos
Click Here For Full Course Guide PDF!
Learn to write and improvise on bass guitar with this HUGE comprehensive course
The Creative Bassist takes you on a 100 lesson journey through all areas of creativity on bass guitar from simple bass line creation and jamming through to solo improvisation. This course is perfect for all bass players looking to develop a musical vocabulary on the instrument, write their own bass lines, improvise/jam riffs or cool fills in a band or solo musically and expressively through chord changes.
All this while playing freely over the whole fretboard!
Check out the video below for more details:
What The Students Are Saying…
‘This is the only course of its kind I have come across that addresses rhythm from the outset ‘ Ian Thom – Philippines
‘Perhaps the only course you’ll ever need after developing fundamental technique on bass’. Mike Popplewell – USA
‘I see more and more the bigger picture of making bass lines’ Marcel Bommele – Netherlands
Check out more reviews of the course in the Reviews below!
The Course You All Asked For!
Here are some of the most often asked questions by bass players. Sound familiar?
🎵 “How do I create interesting bass lines and riffs like my heroes?”
🎵 “How do I jam confidently with other musicians and know what to play?”
🎵 “How can I add fills that sound musical instead of random?”
🎵 “How do I play expressive melodies on bass?”
🎵 “Can I really learn to improvise solos on bass?”
The Creative Bassist is the only complete online course designed to answer these questions and unlock your creative voice on the bass.
What Is The Creative Bassist?
The Creative Bassist is a structured, step-by-step course that teaches you how to:
✅ Build bass lines, riffs, and fills that work in any style
✅ Jam and contribute creatively in a band setting
✅ Play melodies on bass with expression and confidence
✅ Learn solo improvisation with a clear, progressive approach
✅ Develop your musical ear and vocabulary while staying practical and groove-focused
What You Will Learn:
Module 1 – Creative Fundamentals
- How to build awesome grooves from a rhythm and harmony foundation
- Learn the basics of jamming and bass line creation on the fly
- How to develop a personal tone and touch
- The importance of musical vocabulary
Module 2 – The Music Foundation
- How to use intervals, chord tones and scales to outline the harmony
- Unlock the fretboard by moving through positions
- How keys work
- How to use chord scales and modes in our bass lines, riffs and fills
Module 3 – Riffs, Fills, and Pentatonics
- How to create interesting, catchy riffs
- Swing feel and triplet rhythms
- How to play blues bass lines
- Get started with Walking Bass
- How to use pentatonic scales in your playing
Module 4: Deeper Into The Bass
- Creative practice with restriction (scale, chord tone, chromatic) to unlock the fretboard
- Advanced fill concepts including intervallic fills, modal intervals, pentatonic positions
- Using anacrusis, anticipation and odd time for advanced rhythmic feels
- Scalar and arpeggio sequencing to enhance your lines and solos
Module 5: Melodic Bass
- Why bassists struggle with melody—and how to fix it
- Fretting options, register, and tonal personality for melodic playing
- Expressive techniques: vibrato, slides, bends, and legato phrasing
- Dynamic expression and melodic embellishment for musical lines
Module 6: An Introduction to Solo Improvisation
- Building a solo vocabulary through transcription and analysis
- Phrasing, repetition, and motif development in your solos
- Chord tone soloing, seventh chord application, and melodic runs
- Soloing through changes, using chromatic phrases, and melodic devices in progression
- Pentatonic improvisation and blues soloing on bass
Why This Course?
Most bass courses teach what to play, but The Creative Bassist shows you how to create. You will gain:
✅ Creative Freedom – Know what to play in any situation by developing a deep music vocabulary
✅ Musical Confidence – Jam, solo, and contribute creatively in any setting.
✅ Practical Application – Learn how to apply theory to real-world playing.
✅ Musical Expression – Move beyond mere notes and into deeper expression of your musical vocabulary.
What’s Included:
🎥 100 HD Video Lessons
🎵 Downloadable Practice Tracks
📄 PDF Exercises (over 350 pages)
📝 Assignments to Keep You Moving Forward
💬 Access to Community for Feedback and Support
Ready To Become A Creative Bassist?
Don’t just play bass. Express yourself. Create. Improvise.
👉 Entrol Now and become a Creative Bassist.
Sample Lesson
This is a lesson from Module 3 of Volume 1 in which we look at how we can make use of slash chords and inversions in a song for a suspended or extended chord feel (inversions and slash chords are covered at length in the preceding lessons)
Virgil Saraceni (verified owner) –
I have just started this course but it has solved my biggest problem-time and groove. I’m not an expert yet but am moving forward
And incredibly happy to have been helped over this hurdle
I am also enrolled in the Simple steps to sight reading course. Once again Mark has made this a simple and understandable learning journey
I have tried the rest-but just go with the best! You are in the right site to master the bass!!
Ian Thom (verified owner) –
I am just starting this course, but Mark has already put his finger on my biggest failing – rhythm. I can play all my scales, pentatonics, triads and inversions, etc, and even a few basic chords, and am fairly fluent across the fretboard. But I just can’t seem to turn those skills into actual music. This is the only course of its kind I have come across that addresses rhythm from the outset and is the first time I have come across the grid. I tend to get lost in complex notation and/or tab and can never really replicate the “feel” of the piece, especially if it features lots of rests of different duration. The grid concept has clarified this greatly for me and I have even transcribed some of Mark’s “25 Grooves” onto grids, which makes them easier for me to count off in the absence of a click track (although I am still, and will probably forever remain, clueless when it comes to understanding the bonkers time signatures in some of my favourite ’70s prog).
And as usual, Mark’s excellent stripped-back presentational style with plain blue or grey backgrounds and no distractions or gimmicks makes it easier for me to concentrate on what he is trying to teach me. I am looking forward to working through the rest of this course. Well worth the money – thanks Mark.
Mike Popplewell (verified owner) –
Perhaps the only course you’ll ever need after developing fundamental technique on bass. Covers theory, rhythm, chord tones, progressions, melodic ideas, ear training–all beginner friendly while helping you shape your sound. Mark’s lessons have always been fantastic but this may be his magnum opus.
Vernice Forrester –
Impressive
Benn Haynes –
My perspective regarding this oourse my differ from many who take it. I have taken – but not mastered – several of Mark’s courses. All have been excellent and my favorites are Chord Tone Essentials and Scale Essentials, followed by Simple Steps to Walking Bass.
I consider the Creative Bassist Course a Master Class in how to apply what was so well taught in the above courses. For me the information Mark gives in this Creative Bass course makes sense and is more understandable because of the knowledge gained from these earlier courses.
I am only on Lesson 6 in this Creative Bass Course but I am highly pleased. This is the first course where I have downloaded and printed the course materials and downloaded the backup tracts. I look forward to the months and years ahead as I slowly plod through it. Great job Mark!
marbom (verified owner) –
Excellent course! Mark is my favourite YouTube bass teacher, and I am very glad that I bought this course. I am halfway in Volume 1 of this course and I see more and more the bigger picture of making bass lines. I used to play in bands in my younger years, and I was always more interested in composing than in performing on stage. I always used to make my own bass lines, but they were not always very good or interesting. This course will surely help me in being more creative in making my own bass lines. And also in composing overall. Thank you very much, Mark!
I think that after this course I will start the reading course, because reading music still doesn’t go fluently yet. But I have high hopes that after that course I will also be confident and fluent in reading music.
Anthony Moreno –
Looks awesome and very powerful with tons of material to learn and practice.