Bass Blog Feb 20th Monday 2006
Had a cool one hour jam with Paul, no Real Book this time, we traded grooves and solos on a Nugboy original as well as a few grooves I brought to the table. Can't remember the name of his song but it was cool. Went home and practiced my intervals in front of the TV, a good way to force focus; let the TV do and say what it will, I am practicing! Got up to the major 6 intervals in all 12 keys then got tired and put the bass down. Still have not mastered the minor and major 7ths but am close, I can feel it. Next lesson will go over how to merge the interval study with major and minor harmonies. It's almost there, just need to think of where and how many of the 12 intervals can be found in any scale or arpreggio. Then the cool part, resolve interval patterns to chord tones in a given chord. We did some of this already but need more guidance and practice.
Going back in time, Sunday, did not touch the bass, just moved my gear out of the car and into the garage from the previous nights gig.
Saturday Feb 18 2006. Gig at the Blackthorne with BCP. Freaking awesome. Jesse and Brian kick a whole lot of ass. First set was a bit shaky, but second set was way more focused and happening. I always get a bit of anxiety before a gig, like I forgot to do something or my pants are gonna fall down or my head is gonna explode but that almost never happens ;) Just need to play out more often and the anxiety will morph into excitement. The Kenny Werner book has been immensely helpful and I have so much less anxiety now than ever before.
Not nearly as many people show up as the Agave Gig but not bad for the following reasons:
- It was our first gig
- The rain and cold were keeping folks at home
- The holiday weekend drove folks out of town
- There was popular Irish band playing somewhere else. We are not an Irish band but this is a very Irish bar.
I did get about 9 or 10 folks from my email list to come out and know that we will have more in the future.

Songs played in no particular order:
In the Flesh?
Another Brick in the Wall Pt I
Another Brick in the Wall Pt III
Young Lust
China Cat
Kissin' the Boo Boo
Cole's Law
Tongue n' Groove
Dear Prudence
If I Could I Would
Bathtub Gin
Cissy Strut
Hey Pocky Way
Footprints
Fast Enough For You
Jogg in Jeans
Women Are Smarter
Loser
Deal
Some of these songs we had never played before as a group but have in other ensembles. Hadn't played Hey Pocky in over a month and had never played Women Are Smarter until that day. Not hard at all but still teetering on the edge of disaster. Ahhhh bands.

Friday Feb 17 2006, my birthday. I turned 35. :|
Had a nice rehearsal for the Blackthorne with Brian sans Jesse. We worked out a few glitches in the music so it was productive but wish we could have come together as a band on both Friday and Saturday. Certain parts would have been much smoother. No biggie, that's just the way it goes.
I seem to be developing a process for learning music with and without sheet music. That process involves basically forcing myself to memorize a song in fewer, larger chunks. First listen to the track and/or read the sheet music a bunch of times, verbalize what I am missing then, toss the sheet music and play along with the track. It's nothing new but it works. The key is to visualize the music in my head on the fretboard as well as the chord structure, it helps route the neural pathways to long term memory. Repetition is key as is working slowly at first. I wonder though, how fast I could potentially learn a song without hearing it or seeing a chart. It would depend on its difficulty and I would not attempt certain songs without proper preparation first, but I bet the same method would work in a time sensitive situation. I learned Paul's simple chord progression very quickly using this method, of course he is a music teacher and can show just about any willing participant a piece rather quickly but still...
More later.