It All Starts With The Hands!

Great Technique For A Great Tone

Yes, I’m Ready To Get Started!

Master The Mechanics Of Your Playing

14 Lesson Mini Course Covering All Aspects Of Bass Technique

“Developing a strong technical foundation will make for a much smoother ride on your road to musical success”

“Technique is not just a means to ‘playing fast’. Technique deals with our overall physical approach to playing the instrument”

“When we start out on bass guitar it can be tough to know if we’re playing with good technique, especially if we have no teacher. You might find your hands seem too small or certain fingers are too weak or your playing just seems sloppy or unclean”

“Technique Essentials will provide you with a strong fundamental approach to playing the bass and allow you the freedom to follow any practice path you desire”

Mark J Smith (Creator of Talkingbass)

Don’t Take My Word For It….

What I was after was a good foundation on which to build technique. Your material would be a fantastic deal at double the cost and a down right under priced steal at the posted price.

Mark Mahoney – USA

My goal was to tighten up my technique. My playing has been turbo charged after taking the course. The courses are especially valuable to me because of the way they are structured — I can pin-point the technique that I’m trying to improve from within the lesson and really get it sorted out

Matthew Ogilvie – Western Canada

Streaming Video Lessons

Over 3 hours of video spread over 14 lessons. All video streamed from Talkingbass.net. So no need for downloads and no wasting your precious hard drive space on gigabytes of video files!

Lesson Workbook

23 pages of lesson material containing exercises and info for every lesson. Download the PDF to your computer or open directly from your web browser.

Track Your Progress

Progress tracking saved to your talkingbass account. Never lose your place again!

Lesson Rundown

Take A Look At The Road Map

Lesson 1 - The Fretting Hand

Let’s begin with a look at the fretting hand: How we grip the neck, pivot the thumb, make large stretches and more.

Lesson 2 - Finger Assignment

In this lesson we look at different ways of assigning the fingers to the frets. One finger per fret is a common method for holding the hand but it’s not always the best solution for every bass line.

Lesson 3 - Avoiding Typewriter Fingers

In this lesson we look to clean up the fretting hand by focusing on how we hold the notes in succession along the same string.

Lesson 4 - Note Control

In this lesson we look to gain complete control of our note duration. by focusing on longer notes and avoiding detached notes caused by deficiencies in our technique.

Lesson 5 - The Moveable Anchor

Now let’s move onto our picking hand. We’ll look at our hand position, thumb anchoring and cleanliness of technique through muting. We’ll also look at how best to move across the strings while retaining good technique.

Lesson 6 - Alternate Picking

In this lesson we focus on a strict alternate picking style between the fingers and purposely pressure ourselves into shifting strings in unusual ways.

Lesson 7 - Home Position

Home Position is a name I’ve given to a common method for holding the fretting hand that will help with all aspects of muting, ghost notes and other techniques.

Lesson 8 - Joint Barring

In this lesson we look at the surprisingly common technique of joint barring in the fretting hand. This is a very efficient way of moving across strings without the need for the ‘hop’ of the fingertip.

Lesson 9 - Raking

Raking is a great way of crossing strings in a fluid, effortless manner. Many players will instinctively rake in general playing without thinking. In this lesson we aim to purposefully focus on our raking so we can switch between alternate picking and raking as we please.

Lesson 10 - Hammer Ons & Pull Offs

In this lesson we look at legato technique through hammer ons and pull offs. These techniques are very common in all areas of bass playing and it pays to work on the required finger strength and dexterity as well as a clean, well muted technique.

Lesson 11 - Slides

Sliding may seem like a very simple technique but there are many problems that can occur as you try to make long, accurate slides up and down the fretboard. In this lesson we iron out all of these issues.

Lesson 12- Ghost Notes

In this lesson we look at the infamous problem of ghost notes and look at how we can use our home position to best play them from any finger.

Lesson 13 - Harmonics

Harmonics can be tricky when starting out on bass but they are an invaluable addition to your technical arsenal. Here we look at the basics of creating a harmonic and how they can be applied.

Lesson 14 - An Introduction To Slap Bass

In this final lesson let’s look at the basics of the slap bass style. We’ll look at how to create a good slap chime with the thumb and work on some simple grooves.

Bonus Extra

Access To The Talkingbass Facebook Study Group

Hundreds Of Other Like-Minded Talkingbass Students Sharing That Same Journey

Access the collective knowledge and experience of a thriving bass community

Form valuable friendships and network with other bass learners

Exclusive Weekly Live Streams. Ask Mark a question on any course topic and receive personal course support

Share success stories and post your personal practice routines

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Technique Essentials Course?

Technique Essentials is a mini course (taken from the Bassic Fundamentals second module) designed to address all the fundamental aspects of both right and left hand technique. Many players neglect certain areas of their technical development in the first few years of playing. This course will iron out any issues you might be having.

What level of player is the course aimed at?

The course is aimed at any player from beginner to intermediate level although even advanced players might benefit from certain aspects of the course. It’s always good to go back over the fundamentals.

How Long Are The Lessons?

The lesson length’s vary but the complete course is over 3 hours in length.

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 is a lesson material zip file for each module containing a Course Workbook and any relevant practice tracks.

How Do I Purchase The Course?

Simply click on the Enroll Now button below. From that page you will be able to pay for the course via Paypal or Debit/Credit card.

Transform The Way You Play Today!

$24.99

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