For bassists who can hold it down — but freeze when someone says “you take it”
In the next 6 months, I'll take you from lost in the changes to walking and soloing through any tune.
Even if you've been stuck on the same plateau for years.
Even if you only have 30 minutes a day.
Even if you've never had a real practice routine in your life.
“I sat in at my local jazz club and played the same thing over every chord change — because that's all I knew. There had to be a better way.”
Cole Davis has spent years figuring out how grown adults actually become jazz bassists.
Cole is a working bass player on the New York scene — electric and upright. He went through Juilliard's jazz department, studied with the great Ron Carter for two years, and put in the hours where this music actually gets made: Smalls, the clubs, the gigs nobody films. He shared the stage with the great Macy Gray, was a finalist at the Ron Carter Jazz Bass Competition, and wrote The New Simandl— a hybrid upright method that the great Francois Rabbath signed off on personally, and that Eddie Gomez and Rufus Reid have both endorsed. For the last few years he's been building one thing: the 26-week method that takes an adult bassist who's been stuck for years and turns them into someone who can sit in on any tune.
- Studied with the great Ron Carter for two years at Juilliard
- Finalist at the Ron Carter Jazz Bass Competition
- Shared the stage with the great Macy Gray — a working bassist on the NYC scene
- Wrote The New Simandl — endorsed by Eddie Gomez and Rufus Reid
I faked it for years.
Here's how I got out.
Dear stuck bass player,
I'm going to tell you something that might land funny coming from a guy who studied with the great Ron Carter and gigs around New York.
For a long time, I faked it.
I could hold down a groove. I could read a chart. I could get through a gig without anyone calling the cops. But the second a horn player turned around and pointed at me to take a solo, my stomach dropped — and I'd grab the same handful of notes I always grabbed and pray the chorus ended.
I thought the answer was more— more licks, more scales, more hours in the practice room. It wasn't.
What I eventually figured out — and it took me way longer than it should have — is that I was solving the music the wrong way. One chord at a time. Vertically. I'd see a chord symbol and think “what do I play here”, and then the next bar would arrive and I'd start the panic over. Meanwhile the players I idolized weren't doing that at all. They saw the path through the changes before it got there. They had a map.
That's what MAPS is.
After years of teaching adult bassists — guys who'd been playing thirty and forty years, retired professionals, working pros, weekend warriors — I kept seeing the same three traps. At least one of them is probably you.
You solve the music one chord at a time.
You see a chord symbol, you grab the root, maybe a scale, you survive the bar — and then the next bar shows up and you panic all over again. You're playing the chords. You're not playing the tune. The bassists you admire aren't thinking chord-by-chord. They see the whole path through the changes before it arrives. That's not talent. It's a map you were never handed.
You can walk, but "you take it" stops your heart.
Holding down a groove is one skill. Saying something over the changes is a completely different one — and nobody ever taught you the bridge between them. So when the horn player turns and points at you, you grab the same handful of notes you always grab, you survive 32 bars, and you sit back down. The notes are right. It doesn't sound like you, because you're surviving instead of playing.
You practice, but you don't have a method.
A lick from a YouTube video. A scale from a book. A tune off a chart. None of it connects to the next thing, so after years of work you can play a lot and still feel like you're faking it on the bandstand. It was never that you couldn't learn. You've just never had one path that builds in order, where each week sets up the one after it.
If any of those landed — you're not broken. You just never had a map.
MAPS is built to fix exactly that. Not by piling on more licks. By giving you the two maps every jazz bassist actually uses — the Walking Map and the Solo Map — in the order that makes them stick, with my eyes on your playing every single week.
You bring the 30 minutes a day. I'll bring the method, weekly feedback on the videos you send me, and a small room of fellow players walking the same path — electric and upright.
See you inside.
— Cole
Cole Davis · NYC · 2026
Most stuck bassists are at one of three places
After years of teaching this exact audience, I've found adult players almost always live at one of three places. MAPS is built to meet you at the one you're in — and walk you the rest of the way.
“I lock the time, but my lines just sit on the root.”
You're solid. Drummers like playing with you. But the line never goes anywhere — root, fifth, root, fifth, and pray. You can feel how static it is. The Walking Map (weeks 1–13) is where you stop outlining chords and start building lines that move.
“I can walk a line, but ask me to solo and I freeze.”
You can get through a tune. The walking is honest. But "you take it" still stops your heart, and the same minor-pentatonic shape comes out every time. The Solo Map (weeks 14–26) is the half nobody ever taught you.
“I get through gigs, but it never really sounds like me.”
The mechanics are there. You survive the bandstand. What you're chasing is the gap between what you hear and what comes out — the sound of a player, not a student. MAPS spends the back third closing exactly that gap.
How learning jazz bass changes
when there's a map and someone watching
Going It Alone
- Another half-finished YouTube playlist of bass licks
- Years of playing on and off, never sure you're actually getting better
- Memorizing licks that vanish the second the changes go by
- Nobody watching you play, nobody to tell you what to fix
- Grabbing the same pentatonic shape every time someone says "solo"
- Sunday night, no idea what to actually practice tomorrow
Inside MAPS
- A 26-week method — the Walking Map, then the Solo Map, in order
- Real breakthroughs every few weeks — by design, not by luck
- Lines you build from the changes, not licks you memorize
- Personal feedback from Cole on the videos you submit, every week
- 30 minutes a day — built for people with jobs and families
- A small room of fellow bassists pushing each other forward
The 4 things every working jazz bassist has — in the right order
Form
Everyone on the bandstand turns to the bass player for the form. We build it first — because it's the foundation every walking line and every solo sits on. Lose the form and nothing else matters.
The Walking Map
From 1-3-5-7 — the marble — to lines that move through any tune. Order of notes, intervals, spacing, chromatic approach, guide tones. The half that makes people want to play with you.
The Solo Map
Soloing by subtraction, melodic phrasing, the Charlie Parker vocabulary, finding the path through the changes — so "you take it" becomes the part of the night you wait for instead of dread.
Time & Feel
The pocket that gets you hired again. The thing a chart can't teach and a metronome only starts. We work it the whole way through, on both electric and upright.
What happens after you enroll
Enroll & get instant access
The moment you join you unlock the full 26-week path, the private group, and your first focused move — electric or upright.
Run the move, send a clip
Each session is one focused thing to work on. You run the drill, record a short clip, and send it in — so you're never guessing what to practice, and Cole sees your actual playing.
Live call every two weeks — then a recap you keep
Calls run every other Wednesday, paced for people with jobs, not music students. Cole reviews real playing on the call — then you get a written recap of everything covered that's yours for good. Past students say the recaps alone made the program.
Hear it from the players
who actually took it.
Different ages. Different decades on the instrument. One thing in common.
“I sat in at my local jazz club and played Blue Bossa — the same thing over every chord change, because that's all I knew. I never sat in again, because I knew I didn't do it justice. Now I understand what professional jazz bassists are doing, and I have the tools to do it.”
“I felt outside the music — like I was reading a chart the way you'd read a book, just focusing on the letters without understanding the plot. Now I have practical tools to indwell the music. Cole listens, then understands the exact next step you need to take.”
“Cole has a real knack for pragmatic, actionable methods. I'm finding the notes I'm hearing — consistently, in different positions on the neck.”
“MAPS gave me a new framework — a method for improvising in a very simple, clear way. It shifted my playing in a significant way. I feel more agile and melodic.”
“Cole demystifies complicated topics into easy concepts and shows a clear, actionable path. The walking-line development alone has me playing with more control — and far more effective in a jazz group.”
“He gets to the essence of raising your playing toward a professional level. Listen internally, then map it to the fingerboard — that idea changed how I practice.”
You have three options
Wait.
Close the tab. The bass will still be in the corner six months from now. So will the same handful of notes you grab every time someone says "you take it."
Keep doing what you're doing.
Stack another five YouTube playlists, half-finish another book, transcribe a few more solos you'll never use on a gig. Maybe something clicks. But you've tried that for years. You're here for a reason.
Take the map.
The 26-week MAPS method — Walking Map, then Solo Map, in order. Personal feedback from Cole on the clips you submit. A small room of fellow bassists pushing each other forward. Six months from now you'll sit in on a tune you've never rehearsed — and you'll know exactly how you got there.
I'll take the map →walking, then soloing.
mapped out.
No more wondering what to practice. Each week: one focused move, you send a clip, and you keep a written recap for good. Half the path is walking, half is soloing — the soloing most courses run out of time to ever get to.
You don't have to wait until December
to feel different on the bass.
Pick where you're starting. The map shows what unlocks at every monthly stop — for you.
“I lock the time, but my lines just sit on the root.”
- Month 1 · Stop 1Form & 1-3-5-7 — the marble under every line
- Month 2 · Stop 2Order of notes + intervals — flat lines start to move
- Month 3 · Stop 3Approach notes + guide tones — the changes start to land
- Month 4 · Stop 4Walking a real standard, no chart
- Month 5 · Stop 5Soloing by subtraction — off the root, into a melody
- Month 6 · Stop 6Sit in on a tune you've never rehearsed
This isn't for everyone.
Here's who it's not for.
Saying this out loud so neither of us wastes the other's time.
You've never picked up a bass.
This isn't a beginner method. You should be able to play a major scale, read a basic chart, and hold down a blues before you start. If you're brand new, go build those first — you'll get far more out of this.
You want a magic shortcut.
This is real work — 30 minutes a day, six days a week, for 26 weeks. The shortcut is the order things go in, not skipping the practice.
You won't record yourself and submit clips.
Half the value is me watching your playing every week and telling you exactly what to fix. If that's uncomfortable, good — it's the part that actually works.
You expect to sound like Ron Carter in 26 weeks.
You'll be a different player. Not that player. Anyone who promises that on a six-month timeline is selling you something.
You're more ready than you think.
- You can play a major scale and find your way around the neck
- You can read a chart well enough to follow a tune
- You can show up 30 minutes a day, six days a week
That's it. You're more than ready to join us.
The plateau you've been stuck on isn't because you're not “good enough.”It's because nobody ever handed you the map. That's what the next six months are for.
Pick your instrument, then your plan
$897 for the founding cohort — $600 off the $1,497 going rate. Same method, same price whether you play electric or upright; the track you join just matches your instrument.
Same method, same price — picking your instrument just points the plans below to the right track (electric selected).
$897 over 26 weeks = about $35 per week — less than a single private bass lesson.
After you enroll
- Instant access — log in, see all 26 weeks
- Welcome email within 5 minutes
- Your first week of practice in your inbox within 24 hours
First live call: Wednesday, June 24th
Live group calls run every other Wednesdayfor the full 26 weeks. Replays are posted in the student area for anyone who can't make it live.
Total value · $6,000+
- The full 26-week MAPS method — Walking Map + Solo Map, in order$1,500
- Weekly clips + personal feedback from Cole on your playing$2,600
- Live group calls (every other Wednesday)$1,200
- Private student community (a small founding cohort)$300
- Lifetime access — every lesson, every update, forever$400
- 14-day money-back guarantee — no questions askedPriceless
Try the first 14 days. Risk-free.
Show up to the first live call. Do the first week. Send me your first clip for feedback. If after 14 days you don't feel this is exactly what you needed to get off the plateau — email me at cole@betterbasslessons.com for a complete refund. No forms, no hoops, no questions asked.
$897 buys two very different things.
At his standard NYC private rate, $897 buys you about six one-hour lessons. Six hours total. Then he goes home.
Same dollars. 26 weeks of the method, his weekly feedback on your playing, and a small room of fellow players walking the same path.
Same price. Different transformation.
Compare it to what you'd actually do otherwise
Three options most adult bassists consider. One of them is honest about what it gives you.
- $100/hr × 26 weekly lessons
- Usually the tune you brought, not a method
- Stops the day you stop paying
- 1-on-1 attention
- Endless videos, no path through them
- Zero feedback on your playing
- Zero accountability
- Cheap to start
- The 26-week method, walking to soloing, in order
- Weekly personal feedback from Cole
- Small room of fellow adult bassists
- Lifetime access · 14-day refund
$897 over 26 weeks = about $35 per week — less than a single private bass lesson.
Frequently asked
Who is this for? Am I ready?
Electric or upright?
I'm 60+. Is it too late?
I already have a private teacher. Do I need this?
How much time do I need?
What if I fall behind?
What if I can't make a live call?
Do I have to be into jazz?
How is this different from YouTube?
What if I don't see progress?
When does the next cohort start?
By December 20, 2026,
your playing won't be the same.
This is the founding cohort — electric or upright. Enrollment closes Sunday at 11:59pm ET. When it does, the doors close until the next one — and the price moves to $1,497.
If you can hear it, you can play it. Let's make that true for you in the next six months.
— Cole Davis
NYC · 2026
P.S. This is the founding cohort, and it's kept small on purpose so I actually know your playing. When enrollment closes, the next cohort is months out and the price moves to $1,497. If you've been meaning to finally fix this, this is the cheapest it will ever be.
P.P.S. Got a question before you join? Email me directly at cole@betterbasslessons.com. I answer personally within 24 hours. I want to make sure this is the right fit before you join.