Pimp Your Bassline

Have you ever been asked to come up with a bassline on the spot? And do you have a hard time coming up with different basslines over the same drum beat? Most likely the problem is too much focus on the notes. Although, we should be fine playing nothing but the root note, we often think of notes first when it comes to parameters of a bassline. 

The Secret Sauce

The truth is, the notes are really just a tenth of our arsenal. We have nine other parameters at our disposal to create a fitting bassline to any drum groove or complete song. The notes should be the last thing we think about. The root note always works. I'm sure you know the saying "Don't change the winning team". 

In my "Pimp Your Bassline" tutorial I challenge you to come up with a bassline focusing on everything else besides the notes you play. You will learn about the nine under appreciated elements of music and how to use them consciously. So you can come up with capturing basslines for days without ever playing more than one note.

Three Is The Magic Number

The 3 finger technique is quite well known in around metal bassists. It's the easiest way to play the "Gallop". If you don't know what the gallop is, you need to listen to more "Iron Maiden". Jokes aside though, the 3 finger technique can be used to play fast without having your arm fall off.

The Secret Sauce

Learning how to play anything with three fingers is not an easy task. Most of us are used to playing with two fingers that adding a third finger will send us to a dark place, where all our automated movements won't work anymore. That's why it's important to go at it in little steps. To make this process go as smooth as can be I want to share my 3 step approach to how to get started with "The 3 Finger Technique". By the end of this episode I also let you in on a concept that Rhonda Smith shared with me.

In this video you'll learn:

- How to get started with your 3rd finger
- why polyrhythms are important for playing with three fingers
- Rhonda Smith's unconventional 3 finger concept

Why do you even care?

Is playing jazz chords on bass really that necessary? The truth is that understanding the mechanics of building chords and voice leading helps you in many ways to be a better bass player. Particularly if you like to jam, improvise or compose your own basslines. Being able to play jazz chords on bass is like having a cheat sheet for melodic ideas and finding musical connection points from one chord to another. It doesn’t matter if you want to improve your solos, bass fills or basslines. All three will benefit from the fretboard knowledge and harmonic understanding that you gain by figuring out this chords on bass thing.

The Secret Sauce

As always, I give you a couple of exercises that can help you every step of the way. You can start out with just learning the chord shapes and exploring the sounds you can create or you can start by playing guide lines to understand the concept of voice leading.

But the magic happens when you bring the two together. This is where the “What The Fuck” experience (yes, this is a scientific term used in neuroscience) turns into an “Aha” moment. You start seeing maps of possible routes to take as well as all the available target notes. 

One thing that you can immediately take advantage of is creating your own backing tracks. I found this to be priceless when I’m teaching. Whatever comes to mind, I can record it and have the student play over it. Not to say that I don’ use it for myself. I agree with Victor Wooten that you should practice in a musical way. So even when I’m practicing scales or arpeggios, I always create a backing track that I can jam to and make the exercise sound like music.

Ever feel stuck with your playing?

Did you ever have that feeling where you know something isn't quite right with what you are playing, but you can't seem to pin point the problem?

Or do you ever run out of ideas of what to play when improvising a solo?

Or did you ever compose a song and somehow it sounded like something was still missing?

The Secret Sauce

In "The Infinite Inspiration Hack" I share with you Victor Wooten's concept of the 10 elements of music. It's his way of breaking down music into small manageable chunks, so you can work on each of them one by one. A side effect is, that you will never run out of ideas. It's almost like a cheat sheet for playing music that satisfies you and the audience.
For the first few years I always carried a list with the 10 elements around with me. whenever I felt stuck, I knew I only had to go through the list once and the answer would be obvious. 

In fact, this concept helped me so much that all of my lessons are based around it. I teach students of all ages from 3 - 70 and up. I coach music teachers around the world (USA, Canada, Germany, Greece, Lebanon, etc.). Using the 10 elements as a guide has made this job a piece of cake. If you play music, you got to check this concept out. If you teach music, you will love this video.

The Bass Fill Struggle

Have you ever been practicing bass fills, only to realize that what you practiced might have worked on that one song, but surely doesn't on the next one? Or maybe you've been shedding away on this cool basslick you saw on Youtube. But when you wanted to use it on stage, it just didn't sound right and killed the vibe of the song

The Secret Sauce

I'm not a big fan of learning licks and patterns. They are useful when you need inspiration or work on your technique. But music is, for the most part, too organic to just through in licks left and right without ruining the song. In other words, if we want to play in the vibe of the song, we need to be able to react to what and how everyone around us is playing. It's like a conversation. It gets boring if every word is scripted, but if you keep jumping from one topic to the next without any reason, it becomes really hard to follow you. So the secret is knowing the limits of your freedom and acting within them. Or consciously ignoring them. But that's just for special occasions

In "Bass Fill Hacks #1" I show you three approaches that will work in almost any musical context. The key is working with what is already there. Using the vocabulary of the song to come up with new ideas. 

Want to level up your proficiency across the fretboard

Have you ever been in the situation that you got handed a lead sheet and were expected to just make up a bass part? All you have are the chord symbols. Of course, you can always get away with Chuck Rainey's method of just playing root and fifth. This way you avoid playing minor thirds where there should be major thirds and so on. 

But wouldn't it be cool to jam a bassline that does not only serve the song, but instead enhances it by reinforcing the harmonic movements? How would you feel, if you could do all of that in just one position (5 frets)?

The Secret Sauce

The truth is, it's easier than you might think. In "The Triad Hack Series" I show you three shapes for each triad, so you can play it wherever on the fretboard you put your hand.

It will help you to integrate fills into your playing more fluent, open your eyes to harmonic movements and voice leading, free you from the typical bass player habit of having to find/play the root note first, help you to smoothly connect chords and a whole lot more. If you put some time and focus into this subject, your playing will take a big leap forwards.

The Bass Solo Struggle

We all know the jokes about how everyone starts talking or goes to the bar, when the bassist takes a solo. And sadly, for the most part these accusations are justified. The bass is not an easy instrument to play solos. On one hand its low register makes it hard to play melodies that sit on top of the harmonies.

Did you know that our ear understands rhythm better when played by lower pitched instruments and notes/pitches (aka melodies and chords) are easier identified when played in a higher register?

That's why a lot of bass solos just sound like low end rumble without any note definition. To some degree this might be discouraging. The truth is, it's actually an advantage. Because, it means that my Top 10 Bass Solo Hacks will make it easy for you to stand out as a bassist that knows how to play a capturing solo that makes the audience go wild.

The Secret Sauce

In "THE TOP 10 BASS SOLO HACKS" I give you ten different approaches to playing bass solos that won't start the first rows in your audience to chat, but instead have them drop their jaws and listen in awe. Take your time to master them one by one. Implementing one of these hacks at a proficient level can already change your solo from boring to exciting. Using them all together will make your guitarist jealous

The Diminished Triad Struggle 

When I first got into jazz, there was one type of chord always threw me off. The diminished or half-diminished chord. It frustrated me that I each time it showed up I use the same old pattern. As an improvising jazz musician, that is not something you aim for.

If I had had the diminished triad hack back then, it would have spared me a lot of stress, coming up with new patterns on the go.

The Secret Sauce

In this video I’m going to show you how to easily remember the three most important shapes of the diminished triad to improve your improvisation and bassline building skills.

I'm also giving you a couple of reasons why you should check out the diminished triad even if you don't play jazz!