Bass Guitar Lessons By Correspondence

After I accept you as a student and determine your current playing level, I will plan a course of study which will help you achieve your bass guitar playing goals. Approximately every two weeks, I will post new lesson material for you to study on a lessons page specifically designed for you on this web site. This lesson material will be comprised of several text-based and notated examples (in standard notation and tablature when relevant). Each lesson will be also accompanied by an MP3 clip in which I will instruct you on how to practice the notated lesson material. Various MP3 play-alongs and video demonstrations will be utilized when applicable.

Through years of extensive experience with students around the world, I have concluded that we should try to maintain a new lesson every two weeks in order to obtain the optimal results with these lessons. This two-week time frame will allow you enough time to thoroughly assimilate the lesson material, and at the same time, this span of time will constantly push your ability as a practicing musician. As you progress through the lesson material, you can send all your lesson-related questions to me via e-mail or you can take advantage of scheduling a live, one-on-one chat session with me in between lessons (2 lessons and 2 live chat sessions per month).

Bass lessons by correspondence are sold in blocks of 5 for $80. We will continue this process until you feel you have reached your goals or until I feel I can no longer be of help to you after a certain level of development. If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied with my lessons, I will gladly refund you the remaining unused lesson fees, no questions asked. However, if you will stick with these lessons, I personally guarantee that you will not only see your skills as bassist improve but your overall musicianship as well.

To begin lessons, I need the following:

1. Fill out and submit the Bass Lessons By Correspondence Enrollment Form. The information that you provide by completing and submitting this short form will assist in assembling a program that will be specifically designed to meet your particular needs and achieve your goals.

2. (Optional) A cassette tape or cd delivered to me via standard mail or MP3 file sent by way of e-mail consisting of 5-10 minutes of you playing material that best represents your present skill level. If you choose to send me your recording by e-mail, please be sure that its total file size doesn't exceed 5 MB. All materials submitted to me are for placement purposes within my program only and will remain strictly confidential.

After I receive these materials, I will determine if I can be of any help to you. If I believe I can be of assistance in helping you achieve your musical goals, I will accept you as a student and then notify you via e-mail of your status. Then, all you will need to do is send me a check or money order for 5 lessons in the amount of $80 United States dollars made payable to:

Cliff Engel
P.O. Box 874
Hays, KS 67601
United States

OR

You can purchase lessons right here using PayPal!

Simply click on the PayPal icon below and follow the instructions. You will need to set up a PayPal account if you don't already have one. With over 100 million members worldwide, PayPal is one of the largest and most trusted methods to send money online. There are currently over 42,000 web sites that accept PayPal, and it takes less than 5 minutes to set up an account. By utilizing this PayPal option, you can save both time and money. PayPal is especially useful if you are not located within the United States which would force us to deal with sending international mail and currency exchange rates.

If you'd prefer to not send money in the form of a check or money order through the standard mail or use PayPal, two other options that you can utilize for transferring money are Western Union and MoneyGram. Both of these companies have local offices here in Hays so it is very easy for me to go pickup funds from their locations. They are global leaders in world-wide money transfers, and I've found these methods to be especially useful if you are needing to send money internationally.

Please contact me before purchasing lessons by filling out and submitting the Bass Lessons By Correspondence Enrollment Form so I can establish your name, e-mail address, musical background information, and the goals you'd like to achieve with my lessons. As soon as I have accepted you as a student and you have purchased lessons, I will need just a few days to put together a program that is specifically designed to meet your needs and goals. I will then post your first lesson on a web page created specifically for you on this web site and e-mail you the address at which you can view and download the material at your convenience.

If you have any further questions regarding these lessons, please e-mail me at: instituteofbass@yahoo.com.

Please note that these lessons are intended for highly motivated students who are serious about learning the art of contemporary bass playing and the history behind the bass tradition. We will move through the lesson material very thoroughly and at a solid pace.

Thanks again for your continued interest in my Bass Lessons by Correspondence program. I look forward to hearing from you and getting started with our lessons soon!