Description
The Cyborg Bassist Volume 1: Scale Mastery For Bass Guitar
96 Etudes For Humans & Robots! (EBOOK and Accompanying Mini Course)
Important: This is an Ebook download. NOT a hard copy book.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Cyborg Bassist series of ebooks?
The Cyborg Bassist series provides a wide variety of etudes for the electric bass player that cover the entire bass fretboard. Many types of musical content are covered from scales to arpeggios to intervals and more.
By running these etudes in a drill-like manner you will develop many areas of your playing including your technique and fretboard knowledge while working on your overall harmony knowledge from a practical perspective.
What is The Cyborg Bassist Volume 1: Scale Mastery?
This is the first book in the Cyborg Bassist series. You will work on major scale etudes that run through multiple octaves in every key. Each key provides a different set of hurdles because of the positional, horizontal approach to playing over the entire fretboard. Many bass players learn a scale ‘pattern’ in one octave and move through keys very quickly. In this book you will be practicing a single key for a prolonged period and learning to play multiple melodic sequences, in that key, over the entire fretboard.
Is the book an Ebook or a hard copy?
The book is downloaded as an ebook PDF. This can be read on your computer, tablet, phone or printed. We will be looking to publish the book as a hard copy through Amazon at some point in the near future.
Can I see one of the exercises?
Sure. Click Here To See Etude #48. This is a melodic sequence working through A Major in two octaves.
Are there any video lessons?
Yes, you will have access to 8 video lessons in your My Courses page. The video lessons form a mini course teaching you how to approach the book from a practice perspective. Position shifting, technique and the exercise types are all covered in depth.
What level of player is the book aimed at?
The course is aimed at players of any level but I recommend at least a few months to a year of bass playing experience as a minimum. The exercises are not too difficult when learned in the correct way but they still require a basic grounding in bass technique.
What will I learn?
After completing the book and the course you will have a much better understanding of the major scale over entire instrument. You will have improved your position shifting to a high level and have the technical facility to move fluidly around the fretboard.
How long is the book and the lessons?
The book is 100 pages in length and the accompanying course contains 45 minutes of video content
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. There are three sources for downloading the book. The book will be sent to your email as a PDF and you will also be able to download it as a PDF and Zip file from the course home page and your account page.
Are there any time limits on downloading the ebook or taking the video course?
No. You can take as long as want. There are no time limits
Do I Have Lifetime Access?
Yes, you have lifetime access to the ebook and course material.
Ian Fishwick (verified owner) –
Really good progression course, do as Mark explains and complete each piece comfortably before moving on,
Fernando Eastman (verified owner) –
Is there a better way to get to know the fretboard? I randomly pick a key and then go for it. The concept of completing the course seems a bit alien to me since in a sense one can never really complete playing in all these keys. Wonderful course! (Ban the tab though hahaha)
Job de Ruiter (verified owner) –
Practicing these patterns not only helps you learn your fretboard
, identifying different notes, and understanding how various scales sound.
I have also already bought Volume 2.
Graham –
I was a bit wary about buying a book rather a video based course but I shouldn’t have worried. The etudes are an excellent way to get to know the fretboard better and to practice cleaner \ smoother \ quicker shifts around the fretboard. Highly recommended.
Matt Ekhaml (verified owner) –
I love everything about this! I recently returned to bass after a long absence, and the fretboard work in this course is helping me past the “baby giraffe trying to walk” stage. Even though I’m taking my time on this course, I’d still recommend it to anyone!
Diego Vargas (verified owner) –
A small, but effective course to achieve greater fluency along the fingerboard. The practice of these exercises helps enormously to perform position jumps in a dynamic way. By performing the exercises in different keys, we learn at the same time to move outside our comfort zone. Excellent as all Talking Bass material.
PS: I have detected some errors in the tabs, but nothing that we cannot correct with our ears or basic knowledge of the scale.
This and any of the courses are worth what they cost, unfortunately the financial situation in Argentina makes them a bit expensive, but they are really worth it.
keith palmer (verified owner) –
Guys & Girls this is an “Absolute Must” if you want to improve your Bass Playing/Knowledge.
Mark has given me some light bulb moments with this notation.
I am now playing across the frets instead of up & down which is FANTABULOUS.
I Highly Recommend!
YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!
Im not even thou I got it before the SALE lol
alessandro mondelli (verified owner) –
I’m currently working on it and I must say after a while you start to move with a lot more confidence up and down the fretboard. I wish I could have these brilliant resorces when I first pick up the bass few decades ago. Thanks Mark because your courses are super useful for my bass playing and for my english as well.
Dave Dixon (verified owner) –
As always another great course from Mark. Every course I sign up for takes me further in my playing, increasing both my musical knowledge and confidence. This course is no different. Thanks Mark
Bill McCall (verified owner) –
This is the book I was looking for! The book is comprehensive and once you start you will be using it for a long time. The exercises will get you all over the fret board in no time at all and are very pleasant to listen to. It’s become a regular part of my daily practice routine and has made me a much more well rounded player.
Florian Schell (verified owner) –
As much as I love playing bass I never had much time for it (been playing for three years now). Knowing my way around the fretboard was always on my list of things to master. I know fairly well where the individual notes are (thanks to some youtube videos and the exercises presented there by Mark ;-)) but could never really connect it to the scales outside the well known box shapes and how one is able to smoothly move horizontally. I just finished going through the last exercise of the first key and I already feel way more confident and start to see the patterns all over the fret board.
Although I still have a lot of stuff to go through I already highly recommend this book!