*This blog post doesn’t have a French version. Considering I am talking about an English-only resource and an English-only YouTube channel by an English speaker, this in an English-only blog post.
As the only non-musician of the household, I felt some pressure a few years ago, when I saw both my sons performing on stage with their father (not Guillaume). Otis (9) was on the drums, Marcus (14) on the guitar, and their father on the bass. Turned out all three are guitarists but you know, they play around. Plus, as you probably know by now, I own a guitar pedal business, so not being a musician was a very nice way to feed my impostor’s syndrome even more. It was getting fatter every day.
As an adult in their forties, learning to play an instrument can be quite intimidating and it might seem like an impossible business. I have taken piano lessons when I was six, for a few years even, but I was not good because I was not interested so I never practiced. For sure, some concepts were still alive in my brain, such as the notes on the G clef, but I had never been able to figure out the other clef, the F one. Fast forward to a more recent past now, where the F clef, or bass clef, is the only one that matters (for me).
In August of 2023, four years into the pedal building, I held a bass in my hands for the first time, at 41. After trying to manage tabs and not being very convinced, I did what people do these days, I searched for free bass lessons on YouTube. The same people kept showing in my feed, some I didn’t like the approach or accent, some others who tried to make me believe they would make me a virtuoso with their “one single pattern that would make it all”, and there was one I preferred. OK, he was the cutest, but it turned out he was the funniest and the best teacher for extreme beginners like me. Of course, he was plugging his paid program in his videos, why wouldn’t he be? That’s how things work in our era. At some point, out of despair and impatience, I followed the link, just to see how expensive it would be, so I could finally let go, you know. Turned out it was not expensive (enough) and I ended up buying the course Beginner to Badass (B2B).
After completing it the first time (except the slapping), I fell in a deep bass depression, tried platforms, realized I couldn’t really find anything useful for my level that would also be interesting, and ended up emailing Josh to vent about my bass depression. I tend to do just that, email people. I told him how unable I was to find a bass teacher in real life. He replied to my email by informing me he was about to release the remake of the course, and suggested that I do it again. Which I did. Having present-Josh instead of 10-year-younger Josh was great. Better jokes, better teaching, better Josh.
In my daily life, I consider that I get to make a lot of decisions, small and big, maybe too many. When I sit down to practise bass (or yoga or anything else I am obsessing about in the moment), I like to have someone tell me exactly what to do, so I don’t waste my time searching where to start. The B2B program offers exactly that. You don’t have to select which class you’re heading for; you just follow the program, class after class. Period. One lesson, sometimes divided in two manageable videos, followed by workouts, in which you play lines at different speeds. Mostly, the workouts are snippets of songs, sometimes (often) real songs that you already know. The course starts slowly, with the basics of what the heck is a bass, what am I supposed to do with four enormous strings, then you make your way to different rhythms, you start string-crossing and you realize that you’re now able to rock some pretty badass riffs!
When you’re confident enough in yourself, what I am still struggling with (my now real-life bass teacher keeps telling he normally has students that see themselves much more advanced than they are, while I can’t seem to notice how good I am), you have access to 100 song transcriptions that you can learn and play, from easy to difficult.
The lessons speak of a topic, like syncopation, or chugging, or slides, and you get to try to play a section of a song. Then, in the workouts, you dive deeper in the topic, and Josh keeps giving tips on how to rhythm, play, mute, slide, count, depending on the topic and the song. The workouts are super fun, and you can do them repeatedly, without anyone but yourself there to judge you on how long it took you to get it right, whatever “right” means to you. Plus, he is a psychic, because he knows exactly when you’re overdoing something, and he encourages you to move forward instead of digging your own pit, filling it with dirty water and trying to escape. If you have one hour a day, you can either go faster, or practise more; otherwise, half an hour is good enough for the lesson (10-20 minutes) and the workouts (3 x 5 minutes). All duration are approximate and might depend on your expectations towards yourself. Plus, there are backing tracks, with and without bass and tons of ressources when you sign up. Totally worth it.
What I appreciate the most about B2B approach is the format. Even if you’re not that much of a beginner, it’s a great program because you go over the basics, how to pluck, the right vocabulary, how to read a tab, how to understand rhythm, and so much more. Many, many things that people who have been playing for a long time don’t even know. There is a tad of theory, I would have taken a lot more, but it’s a must-have theory base, and you are free to dig on your own if you want more after.
If you’re really motivated and you have time to put, you can complete it in a month. If you’re busier, you can take it slower and just ride the tide and just not follow an agenda nor a schedule, which I did. Once you’ve bought it, you have access for life, and you can do it over, and wonder, “Did I really do this the first time? I don’t remember.” and realize you still have a lot of “beginners” material to learn, even if you consider yourself an expert. I am far from expert, I still consider myself a functioning beginner, but I practice almost everyday for over 30 minutes, and B2B really helped me build a routine and create the habit of regularity.
If you’re struggling with learning bass or you’d like to start, even if you’re a guitarist (or especially if you are one), I highly encourage you to check out the Beginner to Badass program, or at least the Bassbuzz YouTube channel (my all-time favourite music-related channel). The course in under 200 USD, or around 270 CAD if you pay in one payment. This is the cheapest you can have for quality teaching. By the way, I don’t get anything by sharing this with, I am just an honest believer in the approach.
Funny story now. When we attended NAMM in January of 2026, I got to meet Josh in person. I was hoping to, because I knew he was going, but I didn’t really believe it would happen. Being at NAMM in the same exact time as someone else is far from guaranteeing you will meet that person because it is big and busy. However, he came to our booth like he had told me, just showed up and said “Hi, I was looking for you”. Funny enough, I was talking to someone kind of famous (whatever that means) when it happened, and I slightly (totally) disorganized and partly lost my English for a few minutes. Honestly, I didn’t know I had the groupie gene inside myself but because he is such an inspiration for me, and he was the biggest actor in my bass journey, I was VERY excited to meet him. Josh doesn’t just look like a nice guy, he is one. Later that day, after reflecting on my exaggerated reaction, we (Guillaume and I) concluded that I only react to people who have helped me achieving something. I met people that are way more famous (in their followship numbers and social achievements) at NAMM, and I didn’t even feel a tad nervous asking for a picture or just plainly starting a conversation. See a picture of Josh and I (he made himself slightly shorter, to fit the screen I guess).
