Real-Time Fretboard

This is really amazing. As Roy plays a riff on the bass, you see the actual notes, together with their sequence and letter values, displayed - real-time - on a graphical on-screen fretboard.

You won't believe how much easier this makes the learning process!

Miss something? No problem, just press the "Loop It" button, and the sequence will repeat as many times as you like. This way, you can practice right along with Roy until you've got the phrase "under your fingers."

NOTE: Do the neighbors and your family a favor and plug in the headphones -- unless, of course, you plan to drive them insane.

How We Did It

Technology is an amazing thing, and we used buckets-full in the production of Teach Me Bass Guitar; computers, hardware, software, sharewire, cameras, video processors, printers, audio equipment ... you get the idea.

So, you think putting the notes on the onscreen fretboard as Roy played them would be a piece of cake. I mean, come on ... we've put men on the moon, for pity sakes. How hard could it be?

Try impossible. Think not? Isn’t there some sort of MIDI program or device you could use to create this functionality you might ask? Unfortunately not, at least not at the time.

But we were determined to provide this valuable learning tool for our students.

So, what did we do?

We hired a thousand monkeys, strapped them to computers, and ...

Well, not really. What we did was place every single note by hand. Every stinking note! Believe me, it was the most tedious, boring, soul-sapping, nerve-eating, boring, meticulous, heart-crushing, tedious, boring ...
Well ... nothing's too good for our students! Enjoy!