Challenge And Offer Expire At Midnight, Pacific Time, Monday 30th January

The Funk Soul Disco 30 Day Challenge

30 Days Of Laser Focused Fingerstyle Funk Bass - The SELF STUDY Version

So What Is A 30 Day Challenge?

Whether you've been following me for a few days or a few years one thing you may not know is that I'm a total geek about topics like deliberate practice and the neuroscience of learning and how to be a better teacher.

One of the things I've studied is the psychology behind "challenges" and how they can help to promote learning.

Here's how they work:

  • focus on a specific piece of skill in the discipline that you are learning
  • challenge yourself to practicing that skill for a relatively short period of time (days and weeks rather than months or years) - in this case 30 days
  • commit to practicing that skill each day for achievable practice sessions of 30 to 60 minutes for each of the 30 days of the challenge

There is plenty of neuroscience to back up that this approach works...but I took it for a test drive myself to see if it did - and that was with a bass related skill and a non-bass related skill.

And I was so impressed with the results that I've combined the "30 Day Challenge" approach  with my 80-20 Bass Library for teaching bass players ever since!

 

The Specific Bass Skill I Chose To Work On For This Challenge

One of the things I discovered in my research into deliberate practice is that acquiring skill at anything (and the bass is no different) is like creating a self building staircase.  In order to successfully get to an advanced level you first have to progress through the foundational levels.

And in working with some beta students I discovered that there were big holes in their basic understanding of the devices that can be considered foundational in bass playing.

So this 30 Challenge will look at the foundational devices and rhythms from funk/soul/disco.

 

Here's The "Plan" for The Funk/Soul/Disco 30 Day Challenge

Here's what we're going to cover in the 30 Days (spread over six weeks of 5 days) - please note that for the self study version ALL THE CONTENT is waiting for you in the members area :

  • Week 1 - James Brown/Early Funk style devices, 16th note rhythms,
  • Week 2 -  More James Brown/Early Funk style devices, 16th note rhythms
  • Week 3 - Jerry Jemmott style devices
  • Week 4 -  Taking From Funky Disco - Verdine White and Bernard Edward devices and rhythms
  • Week 5 - Rocco Prestia style devices and rhythms - interestingly his playing is relatively simple from a device perspective, but complex rhythmically
  • Week 6 - Advanced Ideas - although there is some advanced stuff in the preceding 5 weeks of the Challenge, we're going to look at some sophisticated ideas in the final week

And Some Of The Things You'll Learn in The 30 Day Funk/Soul/Disco 30 Day Challenge:

  • common devices found in the playing of all funk/soul/disco bassists
  • common rhythms used by funk/soul/disco bassists
  • how to connect basic devices together to make lines
  • the deliberate composition process so that you can create lines at will (see Leela's Composition at the end of this page)
  • the concept of modifying devices - apply this and you can create more sophisticated lines built off more basic lines
  • how to take a device and practice it in all 12 keys for technical mastery and fluency
  • how to use deliberate composition to create lines that are beyond your current playing level
  • and more..

 

How Does The 30 Day Challenge Work?

The Funk/Soul/Disco 30 Day Challenge  is now self study

...originally this was a live course with six training weeks of 5 lesson days each.  So 30 Days.  For the self study version ALL of the content is live and waiting for you in the members area for you to go through at your pace and as your schedule allows.

Every day a new lesson will go live in The Challenge...

In the original format lessons were published over a period of 6 weeks - for the self study option all of the lessons are already published and in the members area.

Each daily lesson...

...will take approximately 30 minutes to read, watch the musical examples (every musical example is filmed) and absorb.

Putting The Daily Lessons Into Practice...

As well as downloadable backing tracks in MP3 format that you can use to practice with, each lesson also includes a one page Action Plan that you can use to guide you into practically transferring the teaching in each lesson to your bass.  (The backing tracks are at different tempos so you can pick a tempo that's suitable to your ability level.)

So How Much Is The Investment In The 30 Day Challenge?

I wanted to make this challenge totally affordable - for the 30 Day Challenge itself  I decided to make the investment required...

Just $297

To put that in context...if you booked a Skype lesson with someone like Ed Friedland or Janek Gwizdala you're looking at an investment (I believe) of $150 to $300 a lesson (and I don't think Janek gives lessons anymore...and maybe Ed doesn't either). Each of the lessons in the 30 day challenge covers more ground than a single lesson with most teachers. Even if you valued each lesson at just $50 a lesson (and most teachers that charge $50 a lesson are either undervaluying themselves or not great teachers)  that's still a value of $1500!

Plus you can access and go over specific lessons as many times as you want.

 

So On It's Own That Represents A 5X Investment...

 

 

But If You Enroll Today...Here's What You're Going To Get

Need More Information Before You Make Your Decision?

Bonus 1 - Deliberate Practice For Bass Version 1.0 (value $47)

In 2010 I wrote a 300 plus page book about applying Deliberate Practice for bass which used to sell for $77.  Now I no longer sell this book because my understanding of deliberate practice has outgrown what I originally wrote about - but the information isn't outdated in any way and is still 100% relevant.  One day I'll write Version 2.0 which will layer in the understandings I've gained in the last 8 or 9 years that go beyond this...but this is still a great place to start learning about what should be a foundational level topic but that: (a) no-one really teaches and (b) no-one who does mention it seems to properly understand

Bonus 2 - Say It Sing Play It Reports (value $47)

This was originally a unit in my 8020 Bass course (now part of the secret 8020 Bass Club.) Say It SIng It Play It is a technique that combines ear training with understanding bass lines pioneered by the very great Jerry Jemmott. The first PDF goes through Jerry's original ideas and my take on them....the second PDF take this concept and applies it to Devices.

 

Bonus 3 - THREE FUNK BAND IN A BOX STYLES (value $60)

This is a future bonus....only one of the styles has been (half) created so far. Basically, you can take these styles, load them to a chord progression, hit GENERATE AND PLAY and Band In A Box will write you a bass line that you can then edit/improve and use for grooves, bass lines, practice exercises and more. The three styles I'll create are a Rocco Prestia Style, a Pino Palladino funk rock style and another one that I've not yet decided upon!!!

Bonus 4 - Funk/Soul/Disco Isolated Bass Lines (value $30) 

There are various "isolated bass lines" available if you know where to look for them.. If you don't know where to find them - or don't want to risk downloading from strange websites in the darker regions of the Web - then I've taken a bunch of these and screen captured them so you can listen to the isolated bass lines.  (Sometimes I captured bass and vocals).  These are really interesting to listen to and often inspirational!

Bonus 5 -  Funk Soul Disco Bass Lines (value $47)

Once you start learning and internalizing devices not only are they the best way to start creating your own bass lines, but that knowledge also feeds in to learning existing tunes. I love it when I get an email from a student that says: "I heard a tune on the stereo today and I KNEW what devices the bass player was using!"  The last bonus for FSD 30 Day Challenge is a collection of 24 song tutorials in the funk soul disco genre.  These tutorials are VIDEO only - but they are filmed at performance tempo and slowed down tempo - so once you KNOW the sound of the primary devices of funk soul disco you'll be able to start hearing those devices in these songs!

The Secret Sauce - Deliberate Composition

The secret sauce in the 30 Day Challenge is a process called 'deliberate composition."  To demonstrate I've taken a composition from a fellow student.

Below is a 12 bar blues progression with a funk rock bassline composed by one of my students - Rick from Alaska. Rick's goal with the composition was to see how complex and sophisticated a bass line he could create when freed from 'the tyranny of tempo.'

Here's the composition in notation and tab and you can see and hear it being played in the video below:

 

The main difference between funk and funk-rock are the other instruments! Guitars/keyboards etc tend to play very differently in funk-rock than in funk. For the bass, the devices and rhythms are pretty similar across both genres.

The point is though, that this is a powerful illustration of what you can do with deliberate composition - and providing you follow the instructions set out in the Challenge literally ANYONE can create bass lines like this!

Daily Lesson Format

Here's how each lesson is presented:

  • Text + Notation/Tab + Video

    Each of the daily lessons has its own unique web page in the 30 Day Challenge.  Lessons consist of test, musical examples and videos of the musical examples.

  • Downloadable PDF

    Each of the daily lessons is also available in PDF that you can download.  (At the end of the Challenge there will be a Complete PDF of the entire challenge available to download).

  • MP3 Backing Tracks

    Over the course of the 30 Day Challenge there will be a number of practice tracks that you can download, load to your MP3 player of choice and use in your practice space to implement the Action Plan available in each lesson.

  • All Musical Examples Filmed

    All of the musical examples in each of the lessons are filmed (at two tempo levels – a ‘performance tempo’ level with a band style practice track and a slowed down temp with a metronomic track with block chords) and the videos are embedded adjacent to the appropriate notation on the lesson page.

Don't Take My Word For How Well This Works...

I mentioned that I've run 30 Day Challenge before. Here's some screen shot answers after I asked a couple of questions in the accountability grou:

#1 How are you finding the Challenge Format?

#2 Would you recomend this (or other) 30 Day Challenge to other bass players?

Here are some of the answers for you to check out:

10 Day  100% Money Back Guarantee:  I know that you'll find the unique tutorial combination of video, notation/tab, deliberate composition and backing tracks in the Funk/Soul/Disco 30 Day Challenge will help you l .  I want you to be just as confident with your purchase though, so there's a guarantee period.  If for whatever reason you're not satisfied within 10 days of joining the challenge all you have to do is drop me an email and let me know.  I'll refund your purchase ASAP with no hassles and no hoops to jump through, and we can part as friends.

Guarantee 2 - "End Of Challenge/ Made No Progress"100% Money Back  Guarantee

If at the end of the Challenge you did everything that was asked but made no progress in your playing or understanding of how great bass lines are created then all you need to do is drop me an email to let me know and enclose all the deliberate composition exercises - completed by you -  from the Challenge and I'll refund your enrollment fee with the same lack of drama as described above.

Enrollment Instructions:

  1. Hit the bit yellow JOIN NOW button below.  That will take you to the offical enrollment page on my 80-20 Site.
  2. If you've never enrolled on a course there before then set up an account using your best email address and a password (so you can access the Challenge information and receive the Challenge emails) and then proceed and do your Paypal Thang.  (You can also enroll using credit card).
  3. Dive into the pre-training lessons and then get started with Day 1 - all these lessons (plus bonuses) are waiting for you in the members area!

 

 

When you go to a gig, a jam or a rehearsal  no-one will care whether you can play  diminished scale licks or machine gun triplets or non-muddy chords. Instead they'll ONLY care  about you filling your role as a bass player.  If part of that role requires you to play authentic funk/soul/disco style bass lines (whether someone else's or your own)....taking this 30 Day Challenge will take you a long way (if not all the way) down the road of nailing that requirement.

 

Paul Wolfe/how-to-play-bass.com

P.S. In case you're one of those people like me who likes to skip to the end...here's the deal:

When you join the Funk/Soul/Disco 30 Day Challenge you're going to get access to a unique 30 Day Challenge that will enable you to confidently play  funk/soul/disco style bass lines!  Plus there's several hundred dollars of bonuses....so you've got value for money BEFORE you even open the lessons for the first training day!

  • Q.Do I Have Access To The Lessons For Just The 30 Days Of The Challenge?

    A.No….you will get  unlimited access to the Lessons.

     

  • Q.What Level Of Theory Do I Need To Have?

    A.Required theory level is pretty basic – you need to know what root notes and thirds and fifths and sixths and so on are.  And how to find them in specific keys or chord centres.