Without Boring Backing Tracks, Overwhelming Note-For-Note Memorization and Soul-Sucking Music Theory

“You’ve got to check this out. It’ll blow your mind” my friend told me as he thrust this CD towards me.

I glanced down at the cover and realized it was by a very ‘uncool’ artist; one that I wouldn’t want people to know I was listening to…

John Mayer.

The bubblegum pop, ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’ John Mayer. (At least, that’s all I knew of him from the radio at the time…)

“No effing way…John Mayer? THAT guy?!?” I thought.

There was no way I was going to like this… 

Was there?

Sensing my mistrust, my friend quickly blurts out, “Trust me - you’re going to love it!” with all the confidence in the world.

This friend was a great musician and someone I had a deep respect for.

When he talked, I listened.

So with a metric truckload of apprehension, I took the CD from his outstretched arms (it was back in the physical CD days…) and had a look:

“Thanks man…I’ll give it a listen… I guess…”

Days passed and this CD just sat in my room gathering dust. 

But my friend kept asking, “Have you listened to it yet?!?” with overbearing enthusiasm.

Every time, I’d reply with a sheepish, “I haven’t got around to it…”

But my friend kept hassling me about it.

He really loved this album, so there must have been something to it.

So one hot Australian afternoon, I opened my window to let some breeze through, I sat down on my bed, put my headphones on, slipped the 1st of the CDs into my CD player and pressed play.

The first few tracks were kind of exactly what I expected. Very mellow acoustic guitar tracks.

It was a lot less ‘sappy’ than what I thought it might be, but he was legitimately doing it live and playing the songs well, so at least there was that.

And there was a cool arrangement of a Tom Petty song that I was surprisingly into.

“I mean…it’s not terrible” I thought, but was this all my friend was talking about?

But I was NOT prepared for track #6…

As the sounds of the crowd on the recording faded up, I was expecting another soft, tender acoustic song.

But barely audible with my headphones on, I hear someone start counting off…vigorously.

Not the kind of count off that you’d hear at the start of a tender ballad.

This sounded serious.

“Uh 1! 2! 3! 4!”

And all of a sudden there was an explosion of sound.

The soft acoustic guitar was gone…

The tender vocals were gone…

The whimsical lyrics were gone…

In their place, there were these pulsing drums that just sounded HUGE.

The electric guitar tone was biting.

And the bass?!? Oh the BASS!

It was ultra warm and pulsing along with this lilting groove, propelling the song forward in an unimaginably powerful way.

“Holy crap!” I thought… “This is why he told me to listen to this…”

I was transfixed, hearing this song for the first time.

This was definitely NOT the John Mayer I’d heard from Top-40 radio. This was something WAY cooler…

After the intro, the vocals started so simply,

“Every day…Every day I have the blues…”

Then it repeated on the 4-chord.

“Every day…Every day I have the blues…”

Woah - was this actually some kind of 12-bar blues?

Then the whole band went to the 5-chord:

“When you see me worryin' baby, it's you I hate to lose”

Damn…

This song was a straight up 12-bar blues - that thing that I had consciously tried to avoid.

But here I was, absolutely LOVING it and realizing that if this is what blues is like, I had horribly misjudged it.

It was SO much more than what I thought it was!

That blues trio section of that album was a permanent fixture in my CD player at home, in my car - everywhere.

Any time I had to do a road trip, that CD was my #1 pick.

I listened to it obsessively until I could sing every word, every riff, every guitar lick, every bass fill, every drum flourish…

And all I could think was that I wanted more…

So I did a bit of research to figure out who John Mayer’s influences were. How did he end up sounding like THAT?

I found that he was super into blues and blues guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King, so I went to my library (literally) and found all the Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King that I could find.

And I devoured it!

Blues had hooked me so deeply that I could help but find more music that gave me that kind of feeling.

And what I found was the decades of history and hundreds - THOUSANDS - of artists. I looked into who inspired Stevie Ray and B.B. King and found myself listening to artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, and even as far back as Robert Johnson.

It turned out there was this entire world of amazing music that I knew existed, but I had completely neglected.

But the more I learned, the more I discovered just how deep and broad the influence of the blues was.

And the more I listened, the more I came to the realization that so many had made before me:

When you learn how to play blues, everything gets easier

Blues is the “Master Key”...

It’s the foundation…

The source…

It’s at the core of just about every kind of music we play today.

In fact, you can basically find the blues at the root of just about any genre or artist. Check it out:

Even something that seems super far removed - like modern techno - has roots in blues:

Rock, Funk, Jazz, Gospel, R&B; EVERYTHING

Want to play walking bass lines in a jazz band? 

If you know the language of the blues, you can lean on that and play legit walking lines quickly instead of having to start from scratch and fumble your way through.

Want to create original bass lines for a rock band? 

You can absolutely use lines inspired by the blues greats and you KNOW they’re going to sound great since rock and blues are so closely related

Playing gospel music? 

Blues and gospel are so closely related that if you know how to get through the blues, you’re well set up for playing music in your church.

Playing funk? 

Country? 

Hip Hop? 

R&B?

Reggae?

Because blues has such a broad and deep influence, it’s almost like the ‘master key’ that can unlock all these other genres for you. 

That’s IF you know how to use it.

Unfortunately, when it comes to blues, there are 3 roadblocks (or even straight-up myths) that get in the way of bassists learning this ‘master key’ genre.

Roadblock #1 - “If someone says ‘Blues in A’, I only have one or two things I can play…”

This is a classic problem that bassists come up against.

They learn one or two classic blues bass lines - maybe a boogie-woogie line or a box shape.

Then, armed with a line they know will work, they try it at a jam, or a rehearsal with friends.

The great thing? 

It actually works! That bass line idea fits with everything else that’s going on in the song.

The not-so-great things?

When you only have a limited ‘bag of tricks’, you have to recycle the same line over and over and over again.

What happens if the song goes on for a while and you can only play one or two bass line ideas?

Or what if you need to play more than one blues song?

Your only option is to play that same line over and over again.

At some point, someone is going to notice the fact that you’re repeating yourself.

It might start with a bit of side-eye from the drummer (since they’ll probably be listening to you most closely).

A guitarist might start glancing back with a frustrated look on their face.

A singer might look toward you and say something like, “Come on - you don’t have anything else you can play?”

And what if the line you know doesn’t work with the groove of the song?

If you learned a line that sounded great on a slow 12/8 groove, but the song you’re playing is a fast, straight-8ths rock groove, things get dicey.

Either you commit to playing the same idea (even though you know it’s not really working) or you scramble to find something that doesn’t totally suck…

Either way, it’s setting you up for failure and the same judgment from the people you’re playing with.

This is exactly what happened to me when I started trying to play blues. My go-to blues bass line was one I heard on a Jaco Pastorius recording of a song called Fannie Mae.

Sure - it sounded good, but it was just about all I could do.

It wasn’t until much later on when I started truly going down the blues rabbit hole where I learned how to take a single idea (like the Jaco one) and multiply it and make hundreds of bass lines from a single idea.

Roadblock #2 - “But blues is BORING…”

This is another barrier that can stop bassists from even trying to play blues, but it’s understandable.

For a lot of people, the blues they’re exposed to is going down to a local jam session and hearing overzealous guitarists try to play as many notes as possible over a 12-bar blues.

If that is your experience of blues, then of course you’d find it boring!

But consider this:

If you HATE having a conversation with someone because they’re as dull as watching paint dry, do you say:

“Oh my goodness - the English language is so boring…!”

Of course not!

You don’t blame the language itself. You blame the person using the language in a boring way.

It’s the exact same with blues (or any other genre for that matter). 

It may not be the genre that’s boring specifically, but the execution of that genre.

The truth is that while there is some ‘boring’ blues out there, there's also SO much great music. 

In blues, you’ll find stories that are sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking.

You’ll find a huge variety of grooves from the super laid back to the in-your-face, aggressive kind of blues

There’s tons of raw unbridled emotion.

There’s the kind of blues with an infectious energy where you simply can’t help put a smile on your face

Personally, when I was starting out and making music with other people for the first time, I used to dread when someone would call a blues.

“Great…” I would think. “Time for these guitarists to just solo and freak out for ages while I play the one blues line I know…”

What I didn’t know back then was that even if I only knew a single bass line, I could have a true conversation with the guitarists AND everyone else in the band.

I could make it fun, dynamic and interesting.

At the time, I just didn’t know which musical ‘levers’ to pull to take a ‘bad’ song and make it better.

Now, even though it’s just 12 bars and 3 chords (usually) it’s some of the most fun I can have with my bass in my hands. 

Roadblock #3 - “But I can’t hang with THOSE guys…”

A while ago, I asked thousands of bassists if they’d feel comfortable getting up at a blues jam session and playing.

Some of the responses were heartbreaking. One bassist was adamant that he wouldn’t EVER get up to play with others - even though he probably had enough experience and knowledge to.

When I asked why, he said:

“The blues scene where I live is very advanced. I can’t hang with those guys…”

For this bassist, he thinks that everyone else is just WAY beyond his level - which might be true, but it also might not be…

But what happens as a result of this belief?

He doesn’t even try to play… 

And to me, that’s a tragedy.

But what if this bassist did have the confidence that his bass lines were ‘worthy’? 

What if he could ‘hang’ with people who have YEARS more experience than him?

What if he knew exactly what to play when someone started up a blues he had never heard before?

What if you could do these things?

One of the best things about blues is that as a bassist, it’s relatively simple to get started.

And you can do it fast.

You just need to know what to learn, what you can safely ignore, plus the step-by-step order to learn it in.

When you have that kind of competence, the confidence will naturally come with it. 

So much so that you’ll be able to:

Just follow? But what if you can’t just follow someone without knowing the song and practicing it in advance? What if you’ve only ever learned songs from tabs or YouTube tutorials?

You start to get anxious, so you ask, “What key is it in? What are the chords?” 

You’re grasping for any scrap of information that will help you get through the song, but the only response?

“You’ll hear it”

That’s not helpful - at all...

Your heart starts pumping faster and harder. You don’t realize it, but your breathing stops momentarily. Beads of sweat start forming on your forehead. Your palms start getting clammy as the drummer prepares to count off the song.

You know you’re not ready for this, but all of a sudden, you’re being thrown in the deep end.

It’s sink or swim, and you’re about to sink.

• • 'Hang' with musicians who have WAY more experience than you do
  • Play your way through any 'fancy' blues chord changes that musicians throw at you
  • Create blues lines that are worthy of the music you're playing and ave other musicians compliment you about it

So how do you get there?

Why So Many Bassists Struggle To Learn Blues

When bassists go to try and learn blues, these are the methods they usually use:

Method #1 - Going straight to a jam session and learning on the fly

This is basically how I learned to play blues; by actually playing it with other people.

Why it’s good:

• • You learn a ton of stuff really fast (including where you need to improve)
  • It’s great playing with others who have way more experience than you
  • It’s as ‘real-world’ as it gets

Why it’s NOT so good:

In a word:

Intimidation…

Going to a jam session and playing with other people - often complete strangers - is a daunting task. Especially for someone who’s just learning.

It’s high-pressure and high stakes.

If things go wrong, they can really go wrong. Check out this story of a bassist who went to a blues jam and tried to play along with two guitarists:

Experiences like this one can deeply scar beginner bassists and make them feel embarrassed to even show up to a jam session, let alone play.

And if you’re not prepared to go through this kind of trial-by-fire, it can end in an absolute trainwreck, and if it does get derailed, you’re the one that’s held responsible…

The other problem with jam sessions is that for a lot of people, they are few and far between. Maybe one a week - if you’re lucky.

For some, it’s more like once a month, or even less.

So what are you supposed to do in between the jam sessions?

Method #2 - Go heavy into music theory

Why it’s good:

• • You can get a really solid understanding of why you’re playing what you’re playing

Why it’s NOT so good:

For a lot of bassists, getting into music theory can feel overwhelming.

It seems like there’s so much that you need to know:

Hundreds of scales…

Dealing with the ever-confusing modes…

Learning all the key signatures and what they mean…

Chord types and the scales that go with each one…

Even just getting your mind around the notes on the fretboard can leave you spinning…

And this is made even worse when you discover that blues doesn’t follow the standard rules of music theory!

Seriously - it breaks some ‘golden’ music theory rules. 

So not only do you have to learn the rules, you also have to learn where those rules don’t apply.

Also, if you focus solely on the theory side of things, it’s possible that you’ll miss everything else that makes the blues sound like the blues.

If you’re only focused on playing the ‘correct’ Mixolydian scale over the current chord, then you’re not focused on pulling the emotion out of the song, telling a story with your dynamics or laying in the pocket with the drummer. 

Method #3 - Use Bass-less Practice Tracks

Why it’s good:

• • It’s very low-pressure/low stakes
  • You can actually hear what your bass line would sound like against the chords and rhythm

Why it’s NOT so good:

It’s completely removed from the reality of playing with other people, and usually, these tracks aren’t actually songs.

Instead they’re soulless and empty tracks. I’m sure you know the ones:

They can be useful, but they can actually make you a worse bassist if you’re not careful.

How?

Well because these tracks are usually the same thing repeated over and over; no melody, and it doesn’t usually go anywhere.

So what’s the harm in that?

Well playing along with these kinds of tracks over and over again actually trains you to be a passive bassist. 

Because the tracks don’t really go anywhere, it’s the easiest thing in the world to slip into a pattern that you already know and play it exactly the same way for the entirety of your practice session.

It’s not like playing with people at all! 

When people are involved, you don’t know what the dynamics might be, what sneaky chords they might add in, what melody they might sing.

But if you only ever use these kinds of tracks, you’ll get into the bad habit of being passive and kind of boring because you’re not used to playing real songs.

Also, if you’re using tracks like this, it can sometimes be a bit limited. If you’re looking for something specific, you’ll probably be out of luck.

If you wanted to practice a minor 16 bar blues with an extended 2-5-1 turnaround for example, you’re not going to find it.

Method #4 - Learn bass lines from recordings, note-for-note

Why it’s good:

• • You’ll see exactly how other bassists approach the songs
  • Great exercise for your ear (although it’s fine if you find tabs/notation as well)

Why it’s NOT so good:

First of all, learning songs note-for-note is kind of inflexible and robs you of your ability to be spontaneous.

For example, if you learned Duck Dunn’s bass line on The Blues Brothers’ version of Sweet Home Chicago in E, that’s great.

But what if you go to play it with others and they play it in a different key to suit their vocal range?

Or what if the other musicians know a different version of the tune where the groove doesn’t fit with the bass line you know?

You’re out of luck.

You have to either ask to play something else (and annoy the people you’re playing with) or make something up and try to scrape through by the skin of your teeth. 

Secondly, blues is about expressing yourself. 

But if you only ever learned bass lines note-for-note and regurgitated them when you’re playing with others, you’re not really expressing yourself at all. 

You’re merely imitating other bassists (which is great for learning, but not so great for being spontaneous and playing blues with others). 

Learning what and how other bassists play over the blues is a great tool and should definitely be something you practice.

But only doing that sets you up for failure because you can’t be spontaneous and you’re not really creating music; you’re simply reciting it. 

And finally, for a lot of bassists, it feels almost impossible to try and decipher what the bass is even doing. Learning bass lines from recordings is like a separate skill itself; one that doesn’t come naturally to many bassists.

But What Happens When You ARE A Rock Solid Blues Bassist?

Imagine you find yourself out at a venue with some friends, just having a good time, listening to some music. What you don’t realize is that you’ve arrived on blues jam night… 

And when the bandleader asks ‘Any bass players who want to get up and jam?’, a friend says that you should get up to play.

In fact, your friend locks eyes with the bandleader, points directly at you and bellows, “You’ve got a bass player right here!” 

Now that you’ve been called out, what do you do?

Do you freeze up? 

Does your chest tighten in fear? 

Do your palms instantly go clammy?

Do you shoot an angry look at your friend, shake your head, and flatly reject the opportunity to play?

Or…

Does the idea of making music right now actually sound really fun? In fact, it sounds great!

You’re actually getting excited about playing!

So you walk up to the band, introduce yourself and sling the house bass over your shoulder.

“Do you know Brookline Harbor Blues?” the singer asks.

“I don’t think I know that one” you say. 

“It’s just a shuffle thing in G - you’ll hear it”, the guitarist says. 

Having only a single sentence wouldn’t have been nearly enough for the ‘old’ you to jump in and try to play this thing. Your mind would have been swimming with questions. 

Ok, it’s a blues, but is it just a standard 12-bar form?

Is this a ‘regular’ blues or a minor blues?

Do I need to put some fancy turnaround in?

But the new you? 

In fact, you give a confident nod to the whole band and you’re excited to get started, which happens before you even have a chance to think about it. 

The guitarist launches into a hard-hitting slightly overdriven riff.

Your mind begins exploding with ideas of what you could play.

Gone are the days where you only had a single pattern you could use.

You can practically see the possible paths laid out in front of you.

As you sense it’s your turn to start playing, an idea crystalizes in your mind just as the drummer starts building up to the entry.

BAM!

From the very first note you play, you can tell this is something special. You and the drummer fill the entire room with this pulsing groove that everyone feels. 

You see the guitarist start tapping his foot, the singer nods their head to the groove as they start singing.

You even notice people in the audience tear their attention away from their drinks and start really listening to the band.

You start off playing things very safe, but after a minute or so, you start branching out a little.

You set up the 4-chord by putting in a little walk-up. The guitarist notices, turns his head and gives you a solid, “Yeah!”

Then the next time through the form, he catches the walk-up that you’re putting in. You’re actually changing what he is playing, and he’s loving it! 

With your head on a swivel and your ears wide open, you sense something big coming up.

The drummer prepares with a big fill.

The guitarist raises the neck of his guitar to signal, but you already know what’s coming; like you’ve peered into the future. 

Then in perfect unison, you, the drummer and the guitarist put an almighty hit on beat 1 at the top of the form. 

Nobody talked about it beforehand, it wasn’t planned, but because you were paying attention, you knew exactly what was coming before it happened.

The whole band hits on beat 1 of the next bar, then the next…

Finally, there’s a full-bar build-up going into the 4-chord, and both you and the guitarist play the walk up that you’ve collectively agreed on, and it sounds amazing. 

Now, even though you’ve never met these people and never played this song, you’ve made it seem like you’ve been playing together for years.

You glance over at the drummer and he’s practically beaming with glee. 

The singer shoots you an approving look, a very subtle nod of the head and a thumbs up.

You’re nailing this. 

As the song goes on, the dynamics ebb and flow like the tides.

Sometimes things get super loud and intense, other times, it drops back.

And the best part is - you’re right there with everyone, matching their intensity, and most importantly, you’re adapting your bass line on the fly to match what’s happening in the song. 

You’re an active member of this band; you’re actually contributing to the music. Gone are the days where you could only play one pattern in one way for a whole song.

Now, your bass lines match up perfectly with the groove, like they were tailor-made for this specific night; because, in a way, they kind of were. You’re making them up as you go.

As the song reaches the end, you see a hand signal from the singer and you know exactly what it means. 

You repeat the turnaround 3 times, you see the guitarist raise his neck one final time, the whole band hits again, the guitarist plays one final blistering lick, then the whole band plays the ending you already knew was coming.

What an absolute RUSH!

You look around at the people you’re playing with and see nothing but smiling faces.

The drummer leans over to you, arm outstretched for the highly coveted fist-bump.

Then, you get given what is possibly the greatest compliment you can get in a situation like this;

It would be so easy for these musicians to give you a polite, but terse, ‘Thanks’ and then see if there are any other bassists who want to get up and replace you.

But because your playing feels great, everyone else is excited to make more music with you specifically. 

So you do…

Song after song after song get thrown at you, but every time, you have something to pull out of your ‘bag-of-tricks’ which is just perfect for the tune. 

You’re having so much fun that hours go by in the blink of an eye.

And when it’s all said and done, these other musicians are coming to you asking for your contact details so they can play with you again sometime. 

So how can you get to the level where you could go anywhere in the world and play the blues with complete strangers and have them love playing with you?

The Shortcut To Learning Blues

A few months ago, I reached out to a small, dedicated group of students who were hungry to learn all about blues. 

So I taught them everything I knew about playing authentic blues bass. Things like:

• • The essential blues bass harmonic language (and how to modify it so they ALWAYS had something to play that was guaranteed to work regardless of key, groove or tempo)
  • The rhythmic language of blues so anything they played felt like a genuine blues bassist
  • The ‘vernacular’ of the blues so they could go into any jam session in the world and be confident they’d be able to hold their own

They learned an absolute ton and I saw and heard the improvements they made when they’d send me recordings of their playing.

Throughout this whole process, most of the students were practicing using bassless tracks they’d already been using on YouTube or the ones I created for them.

And like I mentioned before, these kinds of practice tracks can be useful, but they have severe limitations. 

The students knew exactly what was coming, the tracks weren’t ‘real’ songs (just tracks specifically made for practicing) and they often weren’t very ‘human’. 

In fact, some of the ones my students were using were 100% computer-generated.

Most of them didn’t even have vocals or even a melody, which made the tracks super artificial and wouldn’t really prepare them for an actual jam session.

I did encourage them to actually go out into the ‘real world’ and use the material I was showing them…

But going to a real jam session with real musicians can be intimidating.

ULTRA intimidating.

So a lot of them just didn’t do it…

But I knew that if they could have that kind of experience playing real songs with real people, they’d learn SO much more than just using soulless tracks. 

After a few weeks of teaching these students though, I had an epiphany.

I thought of a brand new way of doing things.

A new method of giving my students the experience of a jam session without them needing to find a jam session, drive to it, and then sweat bullets playing with other people they’d never met. 

A way that would fully prepare them for any time someone said, ‘Hey - let’s play a blues…’

A new way of practicing that they could do from home, stress-free, and STILL learn as much as if they were playing with other musicians.

And the best part was that this new method relied on real songs that were played by real people - not cold, sterile, computer-generated tracks or rigid, unchanging drum machines.

I called this new method;

These Simulated Jam Sessions give you all the benefits of playing with super experienced musicians, but without any of the stakes or pressure.

You can learn to play with rock-solid drummers and feel what it means to sit in the pocket of a super slow 12/8 blues groove or tear it up on a fast Texas shuffle.

You can learn exactly how to play with super skillful guitarists; when to get out of their way, when to fill between their phrases and when to build the song up together. 

You can hear exactly how seasoned keyboard players will play around with the harmony and when you can do the same. 

And possibly most importantly, you can learn exactly how to support vocalists and the melodies they sing; something a computer-generated track simply can’t do.

Can you imagine how much you would learn if you jammed with serious musicians every day (but without the pressure of being on stage with anyone)?

It also means that instead of going weeks or even months between ‘real’ jam sessions, you can do one every day.

Using these simulated jam sessions, you can:

• • Build up your blues bass ‘bag of tricks’ so you’ll always have something great to play
  • Develop a true blues bass groove so you sound like the real deal when playing with others
  • Learn all the tiny intricacies of the blues that go WAY beyond ‘12 bars and 3 chords’

And unlike a real jam session, if you crash and burn in a simulated jam session, all you have to do is take a mental note of where you went wrong, go back to the start and try again until you nail it.

If you get lost in the middle of a song at a real jam session, nobody is going to stop and ‘educate’ you on where you went wrong.

The other musicians will just plow ahead with or without you.

With a simulated jam session though, you can stop the song in the middle and instantly learn from any mistakes that you make.

Then, just start from the beginning again.

That means that when it does come time for you to play with other people, you’ll have so much experience, and you will have already made a ton of mistakes, which means you won’t make them when you’re playing with other people.

I made a bunch of these Simulated Jam Sessions, sent them out to my students and the feedback I got about them was incredible.

As soon as these students started using these Simulated Jam Sessions, I knew we had something special.

Using Simulated Jam Sessions is THE biggest shortcut to learning blues, and doing it fast. 

You can learn some basic concepts today, practice them in a simulated jam session, and be ready for a real-world jam session tomorrow.

Every minute you spend jamming with others is worth half an hour to an hour's worth of practicing by yourself, and that’s true of these Simulated Jam Sessions as well.

I want to give you all these Simulated Jam Sessions, but not only that - I want to give you everything you need to become a rock-solid blues bassist; so solid that any time someone wants to play a blues, you’re ready and have a whole bag of tricks to pull from.

You can learn all of this in my brand new program.

The 4-week system of ‘Simulated Jam Sessions’ that will unleash a torrent of authentic blues lines, show you how to play them with a rock solid groove, and finally hold your own with more experienced musicians

Rock Solid Blues Bassist is a brand new 4-week online video course designed to get you playing authentic blues bass fast.

You don’t need to take a year, months or even weeks to get started with blues. 

In fact, you’ve just seen it. You can quite literally take a single bass line idea, run it through the ‘Bass Line Transformation Method’ and come up with hundreds of blues bass lines - and we only did that with one idea, but you can do it with so many more!

Then you can use something called a simulated jam session to practice today and be ready for a basic blues jam tomorrow. In fact, that’s exactly what happened with one of my students, Dave:

Here’s Everything You’ll Get When You Join Rock Solid Blues Bassist

When you join Rock Solid Blues Bassist, you’ll get access to a private members’ area, where every week, for 4 weeks, I’ll send you new material designed to help you become a confident, competent, rock solid blues bassist. 

Week by week, using simulated jam sessions, you’ll learn the language of blues bass and you’ll start creating your own bass lines that even the most discerning blues musicians would approve of. 

Here’s a breakdown of what we’ll be covering:

Module 1 - Mastering The Blues Bass Language

To get you started with the blues, you need to know one (or quite a few more) things to play over the blues, and that’s what Module 1 is all about. You’ll start to fill your ‘bag-of-tricks’ with blues language that’s actually worth knowing.

By the end of week 1, you’ll be able to:

• • Use the ‘Blues Bass Transformation’ Method to multiply your bass line ideas and create hundreds of interesting bass line variations (so your playing will never be boring or repetitive)
  • Fill your ‘bag of tricks’ to the brim with every authentic blues bass pattern worth knowing
  • Discover where to use each pattern to sound like a legit blues bassist
  • Use the language of blues in a way that means you’ll never forget it
  • Avoid the one mistake that can make the blues feel overwhelming when you’re starting out

Module 2 - Crafting Your Blues ‘Feel’

It’s not enough to simply play the ‘right’ things. If you’re going to sound authentic, you have to play them authentically, and that’s is what you’ll learn to do in Module 2. 

By the end of week 2, you’ll be able to:

• • Use the ‘Blues Bass Paradox’ to guarantee you’re not left like a deer in headlights at your next blues jam
  • Effortlessly play a huge variety of shuffle grooves by using the ‘Shuffle Spectrum’
  • Break the shackles of some ‘common-sense’ knowledge that holds bassists back from developing a bonafide blues feel and groove
  • Inject your own personality into the ‘turnaround’ of a blues (and multiply your bass lines in the process)
  • Make it look like you know exactly what you’re doing by learning the most common whole-band ‘stop-time’ devices

Module 3 - Absorbing The ‘Fine’ Details Of The Blues

Once you’re playing authentic blues lines and playing them well, you’ve got the ‘big picture’ stuff taken care of. 

The next step is to go deeper and learn the specific details of the blues that let you nail songs you’ve never played with zero rehearsal. 

By the end of week 3, you’ll be able to:

• • Hear your way through any blues progression using the ‘Sixth Sense’ method (even if you’ve never played that blues before and even if it’s not a ‘standard’ progression)
  • Recognize the most common variations of the blues form, and have multiple different ways of confidently playing through each of them
  • Begin and end songs so it sounds like you know precisely what you’re doing (even if you’ve never heard the song before)
  • Play the song-specific ‘back-pocket’ riffs that you NEED to have in your arsenal to be jam-session ready
  • ‘MUST-Know’ blues standards (and even the specific versions of songs that you need to know inside and out so you don’t get caught out)

Module 4 - The ‘Invisible’ Skills Of Blues Bass Titans

If you go through the first 3 Modules of the course, you’ll absolutely be a competent blues bassist, but Module 4 is all about making you into an active participant in the blues. That means you don’t end up a ‘wallpaper’ bassist where guitarists only see you as being there to be their play along track.

Instead, you’ll learn the invisible skills that ensure you’re able meaningfully contribute to any blues song you play. 

By the end of week 4, you’ll be able to:

• • Craft an amazing blues tone without needing to buy boutique basses or vintage amps
  • Discover how to use the ‘invisible’ skill that every great blues bassist uses to elevate the entire band
  • Actually DO at a blues jam (if you’ve never been to one)
  • Extract the lessons from your favorite blues bass lines and use it in just about any other style of music.
  • Be a ‘competent contributor’ to the music and keep things interesting instead just playing the same thing on every song

[Bonus] Four Weeks of Live Q&A Masterclasses

Rock Solid Blues Bassist is a fully self-paced online video course. Every week for the four weeks of the course, you’ll be sent a new module that will show you the crucial pieces of the puzzle when it comes to playing great blues bass

But instead of just leaving you in the cold to do it all for yourself, Rock Solid Blues Bassist includes 4 weekly masterclasses where you, me and all the other students in the course will jump on a live Zoom call.

During these hour-long masterclasses, you can ask questions, we’ll do drills together, plus we can go deeper into the material from the course. 

If you’re struggling to use the ‘Transformation’ method from Module 1, bring your nugget of language to the call and you’ll learn how to make hundreds of bass line variations.

If you’re confused about how to use the walking bass formulas to navigate the blues bass nexus, we can all go through some walking drills and nail them - together.

If you’re not sure how to tell if something is a blues shuffle or not, we can go through a ton of different examples on the live call.

In the past, the students who have attended the live masterclasses always learn faster, get stronger results and just get more out of the material. 

The dates for these masterclasses will be:

• Thursday March 7th 8PM EST
• Thursday March 14th 8PM EST
• Thursday March 21st 8PM EST
• Wednesday March 27th 8PM EST

If you can’t make the masterclasses live though, don’t worry. I’ll be recording all of them for you and sending out the links afterwards.

If you have burning questions that you want to ask, but can’t make the calls live, just send me an email in advance and I can answer it for you right there on the call and you can go through it whenever it suits you. 

NOTE - The ‘core’ of the course are the modules above which you go through on your own schedule and at your own pace.

These masterclasses don’t ‘replace’ actually going through that material - they are simply where you can ask questions after you’ve gone through the modules. 

Even if you can’t make it to a single live class, that’s OK. The full benefits of the course come from going through and applying the material from the 4 modules. 

[Bonus] Injecting Walking Lines Into The Blues

It’s one thing to know the language of blues bass, but every great blues bassist goes beyond the ‘standard’ blues lines.

Willie Dixon, Duck Dunn, Jerry Jemmot - all the great blues bassists obviously know how to masterfully play through a blues. 

But they ALSO know how to weave a walking bass line through the blues.

And if you want to play blues, knowing how play walking lines through the blues is one of the crucial skills that takes your playing to another level.

That’s exactly why I included the walking bass bonus in the course. After going through the Walking Bass Lines material, you’ll be able to:

• • Use the ‘Blues Walking Nexus’ to figure out how to masterfully walk from every chord in the blues to every other chord
  • See that you’re nearly already playing walking lines - you just have to make very slight adjustments to make them feel like walking lines
  • Discover the 3 methods you can use to begin adding walking lines to your blues playing (and why approach #2 is the best one for blues)
  • Masterfully use walking lines to connect all the chords of the blues using 4 separate walking bass techniques

[Bonus] How To Play Without Your Eyes GLUED To Your Fretboard

One of the most important parts of playing blues is having a musical ‘conversation’ with the people you’re playing with.

It’s probably one of the most fun parts as well.

But just like having a ‘regular’ conversation, a lot of the action happens through visual cues, hints and body language. 

And if your eyes are glued to your fretboard, you’re going to miss all those super important, but sometimes subtle cues.

For example, a singer might want the whole band to play some ‘stop-time’, but if you miss the cue, the rest of the band hits on beat 1, and you keep playing through, it’s going to sound messy.

If you’re unlucky, it may even prompt an eye-roll or an icy glare from the people you’re playing with.

It’s the musical equivalent of putting your foot in your mouth - all because you were too focused on your fretboard.

That’s why in this bonus, I show you how to step-by-step wrench your eyes away from your fretboard and make your hands go into ‘autopilot’ mode; where they just do what you want them to.

Then, you're 100% free to watch the drummer for dynamic cues or the keyboardist for extra chords they want to put in, or the singer for cueing the ends of songs. 

After going through this bonus, you’ll be able to:

• • Methodically wrench your eyes away from always looking at your fretboard
  • Intuitively shift your hands to exactly where you need them to go for your bass lines
  • Be confident about letting your hands go on autopilot so you can use your eyes to look for cues from other people when you’re playing

[Bonus] Specifically Curated ‘Simulated Jam Session’ Tracks For Every Day Of The Course

I was blown away when I first sent my original students the Simulated Jam Sessions. The feedback was instant and insistent.

“We want MORE”

That’s why when you join Rock Solid Blues Bassist, you’ll get 28 Simulated Jam Sessions that you can practice with.

That’s one for every day of the course, so you can make it a daily practice.

These are specifically chosen to help you master the concepts that you’ll be working on as you move through the course.

For example, when we start talking about 16-bar blues with an extended first phrase, there are Simulated Jam Session tracks specifically for that. 

Single-chord blues? There are Simulated Jam Sessions for that.

Jazz blues with a 2-5-1 turnaround? There’s a Simulated Jam Session for that.

These allow you to practice the things you're learning in as ‘real-world’ a situation as possible because the Simulated Jam Sessions are made from actual songs played by actual musicians (not static, computer generated backing tracks).

That means you’ll get a chance to ‘jam’ every day you’re working through the course so the next time you’re playing with other people - even with musicians with way more experience than you - you’ll be able to nail it. 

It also means that you’ll be able to learn the language of blues bass - fast.

It’s one thing to ‘learn’ something super useful to play over the blues, but it’s another thing entirely to put it into practice.

With the Simulated Jam Sessions though, you’ll be implementing the things you learn from the very first day of Rock Solid Blues Bassist.

[Bonus] Blues Bass Primer For The Stone Cold Blues Rookie

If you’re a ‘Day-1’ beginner (or close to it), I believe blues is one of the best kinds of music to get started playing. 

Partly because it’s SO important and influential. Also partly because everyone knows it, so you’ll have lots of opportunities to play it with others.

But blues is also great because it’s relatively easy to get started.

However, if you are just starting out, and haven’t even tried to play blues before, then it can be a little challenging - even overwhelming.

There’s this whole language - this ‘jargon’ - that you don’t understand and it seems you’re supposed to ‘just know’ what it all means.

And not only that, but if you do have the opportunity to play with others, you need to be able to find your place on the fretboard lightning fast and be able to play the right notes at the drop of a hat.

No wonder it’s intimidating for some.

However, I want to make sure that blues is approachable for you, even if you’re a stone-cold rookie. In fact, I want you to be excited by the prospect of playing blues, not overwhelmed or intimidated..

That’s why I included the Blues Bass Primer. It cuts through a lot of what makes blues tricky for beginners to wrap their heads around and makes things as simple as possible.

After going through the Blues Bass Primer, you’ll be able to:

• • Clearly see the blues ‘geometry’ so that you can confidently (and quickly) find the notes to any blues in any key
  • Finally understand the inner mechanics and ‘jargon’ that can keep the blues a mystery (and start to use it for yourself)
  • Understand the inner mechanics of the music so you can speak the language of the blues with other musicians
  • Instantly tell the incredibly subtle difference between something that is ‘bluesy’ vs. something that is actually a blues

Have Questions? Here Are The Answers:

“Is this OK for beginners?”

Absolutely - it was designed with beginners (or blues-beginners) specifically in mind.. 

Everything you need to know about playing blues is explained, even if you’re a day-1 beginner.

In fact, I even included the Blues Bass Primer material for those who are at the very start of their bass-playing journey. 

It means you:

• • Won’t be left behind or confused with all the jargon that can be intimidating
  • Can start making music today, even if you’re just starting out
  • Will be able to ‘see’ the geometry of the blues on your own bass and get started quickly

For a lot of bassists, blues is how they get their ‘foot in the door’ playing with other people, so I wanted to make Rock Solid Blues Bassist as accessible as possible so you can do that for yourself - sooner rather than later.

“How much time will it take?”

To get the most out of the course, I recommend you spend at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days per week going through the videos, exercises and Simulated Jam Sessions.

Of course, if you do more, you’ll likely see results faster, but 30 minutes a day is a good starting point to get the most out of the material.

The course is entirely self-paced though, and when you join Rock Solid Blues Bassist, you have lifetime access to the course, plus any future updates for it. This means that if you need some extra time with one of the modules or life gets in the way, that’s totally fine. Just come back to the course whenever you’re ready.

“I’ve been playing blues for a while - will I learn anything new in the course?”

If you’re already a seasoned blues player with a ton of experience - the kind of bassist who can get up with brand new people and nail blues songs you’ve never played before… 

Then this probably isn’t the course for you.

However, if you:

• • Are stuck in a ‘rut’, playing the same old blues lines that you’ve been playing for years
  • Still feel like the ‘weak link’ if somebody calls a blues tune off-the-cuff
  • Don’t really know how to make your blues bass lines feel the way they do on legit blues recordings
  • Feel like you’re more of a backing track than an active contributor to the music

Then the course can absolutely help you - even if you have some experience with blues and understand how to get through a blues at a basic, or even intermediate level.

In fact, one of the students who was in the ‘testing’ cohort for all the blues material had been playing blues for years before joining going through the original class.

Here’s what he said about it:

Not only did Joshua see improvements in his blues playing, but his bandmates did as well.

It’s one thing for you to notice your own improvements, but it’s another thing entirely for other people to notice and comment on them..

And this is coming from a student who had literal years of experience playing blues.

If you’ve reached a plateau with your blues bass playing, then I’m sure that Rock Solid Blues Bassist can help you, even if you’ve been playing blues for years.

“Do I need to know music theory?”

Not at all. 

I made Rock Solid Blues Bassist to be as practical as possible - not based 100% in theory. 

That’s why from day 1 of the course, I get you playing blues, not theorizing about it.

I would much rather you go through some Simulated Jam Sessions, make a bunch of mistakes - and then learn from them - than force you through some dusty old textbook that just leaves you more confused than before.

When theory concepts do come up though, they’re explained in full and in plain English, and most importantly, you’ll learn why it matters and how to use it to play blues. 

Of course, if you DO know your ‘standard’ music theory, that may help you, although blues kind of ‘breaks’ some very fundamental traditional music theory rules. But if you already know those rules, you’ll still get a ton out of the course.

“Do I have to read music?”

No - not a single note.

There are plenty of examples of great blues bass lines in the course, but you don’t have to be able to read music notation to learn from them.

Every bass line, lick or exercise is presented in standard notation, but it’s also presented in tab format as well, so even if you can’t understand a lick of music, you can still learn from the greatest blues bass lines in the world.

60 Day Money Back Guarantee

The goal of Rock Solid Blues Bassist is to give you everything you need to create great blues bass lines at the drop of a hat whether you’re:

• • At a jam session;
  • A rehearsal
  • A full-blown gig
  • A worship service
  • Playing along to backing tracks on YouTube
  • Or just noodling around by yourself at home

After the four weeks of the course, I’m certain you’ll be infinitely more confident in your ability to create music on the spot, with more experienced musicians and be able to pull your weight and actually contribute to the songs you’re playing.

But I also want to give you the best possible chance of learning how to do all these things and that’s why Rock Solid Blues Bassist comes with a rock solid 60-day money back guarantee.

Here’s how it works: 

Try out the course risk-free for 60 days. Watch the videos, do the simulated jam sessions, download the PDFs, do the exercises, come to all the blues bass masterclasses and learn the language of the blues.

60 days covers the entire length of the course twice over, so there’s more than enough time to really sink your teeth into the material and start developing your own voice as a blues bassist.

If you don’t like the course for any reason or you don’t see the results you want, just email the student support team within 60 days of joining and I’ll refund every cent. I believe in the course I’ve created and I want to make sure there’s absolutely no risk for you to join.

However...

The doors to Rock Solid Blues Bassist close on Friday March 1st at 11:59PM EST, so if you want to join, you must do so before the deadline.

Join Rock Solid Blues Bassist