About Better Bass Lessons

Cole Davis is a jazz bassist in New York City. He was born there, started on the upright bass at 14 and went to LaGuardia High School. He holds an Artist Diploma from Juilliard.

Along the way he won the Ron Carter Bass Competition at 20 and studied with Ron Carter. At Juilliard he also studied with Gerald Cannon, whose bass he'd bought at 17, and with Ben Wolfe. Yamaha named him a 2018 Yamaha Young Performing Artist, the first upright bassist on its list of winners.

In New York he plays jazz clubs and private events. He plays gigs with singer and pianist Peter Cincotti. He has also taught at a public school in Harlem.

Better Bass Lessons is built around how the music actually gets played on the bandstand.

Every course is built around one mechanism, one way the music works on bass, and sequenced so the lessons stack. You're not browsing topics. You're working through a method, and when you finish it you play differently.

Most courses pair the video lessons with PDF reference material, backing tracks and put-it-to-practice demos. They assume you're an adult who already plays: no twelve-week beginner ramp and no padding.