Ace of Bass

This year has been challenging, to say the least. I’ve needed to focus a lot on mental health and generally being a lot more selective about what I do. One of the most restorative practices I’ve found is learning a musical instrument. I’d already been learning piano and classical guitar, but needed a new adventure. I’ve always enjoyed hearing the bass, but had never even touched one. Last year, I was mesmerised by Tamsin Greig playing bass in the TV series Riot Women.

In June, I needed a really big distraction so went to the local music shop and bought a Squier Bronco. In the photo, it looks like a tomato soup colour; in reality, it’s Tahitian Coral - a vibrant pink that can be seen from Dieppe. After mucking about for a few days and playing Another One Bites the Dust really shoddily, I found the Bass Buzz YouTube channel. The first few videos were so brilliant, I immediately enrolled on the Beginner to Badass course. Through the ~90 lessons, Josh Fossgreen takes you from finding your way around the fretboard to playing James Brown riffs (ow!).

There are three routes through the content, depending on how much time and energy you’ve got. I intended to maintain a stately pace and complete it in three months. Once I started, though, it was completely addictive and I finished in just under five weeks. Although I’m not Melissa Auf der Maur, I can happily play along with anything from Nina Simone to Black Sabbath. The course includes a songbook of full accessible bass lines across multiple genres. I’ve supplemented this with the excellent Tomplay app, which allows you to play with a backing band at different levels.

I was mightily impressed with the quality of Josh’s course, both in terms of the technology and the teaching. Having taught bass for a long time, he knows exactly what learners find difficult and anticipates the likely problems. There’s a fiendish lesson right in the middle where he gets you to play the riff from Billie Jean. It sounds like a complete mess at this stage, as your fingers simply won’t move that fast. Just as you’re about to send him a strongly worded email, he explains that this is a benchmark lesson: come back at the end of the course and you’ll find it much easier. “No I won’t!” I huffed. Then I returned to it last week and played it right through without swearing once.

I can’t claim to be a Badass, but I’ve been taught by a true ace of bass. Thank you, Josh. Unfortunately, he doesn’t yet offer any further courses, but I’m trying out a couple of more advanced courses to find a structure I like. Although there are probably thousands of free videos out there, I’d rather have a proper roadmap and also support a creator. I’ve always much preferred self-paced learning, too.

The bass has had a wondrous effect on my wellbeing. Partly it’s the challenge of learning something new. I think it’s also the low frequency. I stumbled across some research that shows that instruments in this range massage the vagus nerve. The patterns are also satisfying. At first, I felt panicky about improvising, but it’s wonderfully liberating. Once you have the key, you can choose which notes you want to play for each chord. There’s freedom and constraints (unless you’re playing jazz). Now I just need to get a tartan suit like Tamsin’s.