Tech Salad Sandwich: Slap the Bass with ArtistWorks Online Courses

By harmonleon April 19, 2012 4:03 pm Posted in Tech harmonleon g+ page

Did you attend this year’s SF Music Tech Summit? The event brought together visionaries in the music/tech space – not to mention a great open bar party sponsored by Bit Torrent, which was held at Yoshi’s Jazz Club.

This writer’s mind was blown at all the innovative gadgetry/apps that are being developed for that, which is, music.

Cool musical tech stuff indeed: I wish I could evolve two more opposable thumbs so I could give one particular attendee a whopping four thumbs up. ArtistWorks is the leading online music education platform that uses Video Exchange technology to power over fourteen online music schools.

ArtistWorks is something I could firmly sink my bow rosin into. For years, I took conventional music lesson – taught by a live him; inside a music room. Nothing wrong with that, except I play standup bass – the largest instrument known to humanity. Lugging that puppy around wa a major pain. Also, I had a big problem with slotting my weekly class into my rough-and-tumble schedule. I’ve been regretting not jumping back into music lessons – but as a mover-and-a-shaker I just don’t have the time. ArtistWorks allows me to master the walking bass from the comforts of the Internet – on my own schedule. The online school setup includes instructions for every instruments ranging from drums to DJ scratching (instructed by DJ Qbert).

I signed up for the online School of Bass with Missy Raines – the most decorated bass player in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association. (She 7 Bass Player of the Year awards to her street-creds.) Jumping right into the Intermediate section, I dug the multi-angle instructional lessons (you need more than a straight-on view to figure outbass fingering) that enabled me to learn such bass niceties as basic slapping and walking lines. Missy also provided hand warm ups to avoid such occupational hazards as tendonitis, while I learned to create fatter tones with two fingers – rather than the tip of my fingers.

A true interactive musical learning experience for a mere $20 a month. Students can even post practice videos online and get feedback from both teacher and fellow student. Advice/tips are also posted in ArtistWorks’ discussion forums.

ArtistWorks has over 32,000 music lesson videos across their sites. They will also be launching another 20 online music schools this year; including the School of Percussion with Luis Conte (percussionist with Madonna, Santana, The Eagles).