Five Strings No More, No Less

2006-08-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

So, uuhhhh yea, its been a while since my last blog. Been busy.
Kai has me learning his home grown slap technique that he says is derived from Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, Bootsy and Victor Wooten. It involves first knowing where the major and minor pentatonic scales are in all 12 keys all over the neck. THEN we can move to actual slap technique. Ascending it is PLUCK, thumb, hammer, pluck. For the pentatonic in E, the notes are (there are 9 of them) E>F#>G#>B>C#>E>F#>G#>B. So that's, root, second, third, fifth, sixth, octave, ninth, tenth (third), twelfth (fifth). It is the same notes going down, but a different series of right hand movements. I think its, Pluck, Pull Off, Hammer, Thumb, then repeat the Pull Off, Hammer, Thumb. Not sure about this one, I will have to check my notes. Just a little bit of this technique will go a long way to big funkyness. It's exciting to be learning something new again, something that I never really got into in the past. So many folks slap and pick on bass that I never really thought it would be necessary to learn it but the opposite has been true. It has little to do with shredding and technique, rather it's a vehicle for developing the musical voice on the instrument of choice. Just like knowing more words (and how to use them) an musician or artist can express more of what they are feeling. More brushes, more choices. Ah, but therein lies the difficult part, when and where to use the musical brushes. The more they are used the less they are needed. That's deep brah...

2006-06-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

Friday June 2nd
It's official. We are now called Left Coasting. As per PatB's email:

"Alright, I've got it.

Left Coasting

I don't give a f if there are lots of "Left Coast" references on myspace, or elsewhere out there. This deviation has multiple meanings, and a google and myspace search reveals that it isn't taken. You don't have to be on acid to get it, and when you look at it, you don't think "jamband" right away, although it fits.

-it hints on the Michigan/California connection. Some of us were born out east, some out here, but we're all "Left Coasting" now

-our music is often "coasting" somewhere (hence, implied movement) and we like to "leave" it that way

-we play a song, and when the structure/theme is done, we don't stop. It's "Left Coasting."

-we all are "Left Coasting" with by living out here (hence, a geographic theme that could be shared with any audience on the "left coast.")

-both words have two distinct meanings

-i don't think we'd have to explain it to people, it's easy to understand

With all that being said, I still prefer the Wifebeaters. I'm still down with:

Fog St./Street Fog

I'm personally against the acid trip names, or anything that lumps us in with every other jamband out there.

I think it's a huge waste of time to use a quarter of our practice time working on this. The music needs more work than anything else, and we can do this name exchange all day while were not at practice with our instruments plugged in and ready to go.

You all sounded great last night, and I hope we can move forward with more original music soon. I love the songs and the progress we've made, and I want to keep that ball rolling."

Yup I agree with you Pat, less musing more music. Left Coasting

Oh and BTW, Andrew is sounding astounding on tenor!

Saturday and Sunday 6/3, 6/4
As far as practicing, yesterday I sat with the bass unplugged, tapping the foot, trying to hit the 5-8 subdivisions. They are coming along nicely. Also just worked on the fingerings for the 5ths, no metronome
Saturday I was just playing arpeggios of different sizes to lock in with certain rhythm's at 60 bpm. 3 notes, 3 beats, 4 notes, 4 beats, 5 notes, 5 beats and so on. 5 notes/beats is cool because it hits up to the 11 (hehe) root, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and down again, 5 beats each in one key but hitting all modes in that key.

2006-05-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday May 24
Agave Practice. Getting closer to nailing down a name, finally. Also getting closer to finishing up the demo.
Played Red Eyed Loon at a much faster tempo with the click track. Sounds great when we are tight.
Before rehearsal, I got to practice a new thing Kai showed me called "Saying Hello to the rhythm's." It's similar to "Saying Hello to the Notes" which just means playing every note on the bass from lowest to highest string by string. The new thing goes like this: set the metronome to 60 (super fukin' slow) and start with straight rhythm's, play notes on the one's then doubles, triples, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's, 8's like the bass marathon but without the improv, just play the rhythm's moving thru the keys preferably in fourths. After playing through all the subdivisions, go back and SWING the doubles, triples and quad's. I was able to do all of the rhythyms fairly solid, straight 7's and 8's were tough as were swing 3's and 4's. Still cannot play the swing 4's. Going to have to try and slow down even more.
Tuesday May 23
Lesson with Kai. See above. Thankfully, I could practice the interval study and add some triads in all 12 keys before the lesson.
Monday May 22
BCP practice cancelled. Only one rehearsal between gigs (almost 6 weeks apart) no problem! Not sure how much longer we can keep this going with Brian being away at work so often.

2006-05-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a while...
Yea well no big deal.
Been practicing the interval study but the fives have been throwing me every time. Need to slow down and find the most comfortable fingerings again.
The study is much more fun with the drum loops on Garageband. But I did however have to use the metronome set to 70 bpm for the subdivisions of 4. It still takes about 30 minutes to go through all 12 keys and all intervals and I like that it has become so efficient. After the interval study I have been following up with root third fifth octave arpeggios in all 12 keys with the drum machine or metronome. It kind of offers a full circle sort of study. Any trouble spots within either method get more attention AFTER I complete each cycle. I.E. if I am struggling with Db major 3rds or Db major 6ths, I wait until I am done with all the intervals in 12 keys before I go back and run through the trouble spots. Same process applies to the arpeggio study. That way I can focus on completion of the study and afterward focus solely on trouble spots. It seems to be working as there are fewer problem areas now than before.
I would like to point out that even though I have become quite comfortable playing the intervals and can hit them in time while subdividing the beat, they are not yet coming out in my all to infrequent solos. I think this is because I have spent so much more time, especially in the beginning of my bass study (now in its 15th year) playing nothing but scales. Time to let them go and focus on apreggios and intervals.
Tuesday May 16
Met with Mike Henry, singer/songwriter/guitar player. He is a great person and a big talent. I dug his songs and look forward to forming a band with him and the right drummer.
Thursday May 11
Agave practice, still no band name and no demo. Sigh...
This time though, we had Andrew Ferren on sax, and what a great player he has become! He hit it out of the park. Solo's were sick, he either knew or learned the tunes quickly, has really interesting, cool sounding effects and a great attitude. I hope we can keep him.
Wednesday May 3 to Monday May 8
NOLA JAZZFEST
What a time. Music, heat, food, friends, more music. So much to do and so little time. When I go to NOLA I feel like a Muslim in Mecca or a Jew in Jerusalem. All are there to participate and show their love of music, asking for little in return, other than that the bands DELIVER. And do they ever. I think the fest brings out the best in the artists musically, as they feel there are fewer limitations and constraints on what they do and when. For example guest appearances abound, more so than any regular weekend of music or festival that I have attended. A musical orgy if you will. Upon returning -- with a hangover -- besides having a bit of a headache I feel inspired. Little else other than the HSMF does this to me or, more accurately, I do this to myself by letting it happen. Just like everything else in life I control how I feel and no one else. By putting myself in a place where people come to hear great funky music all day and night is like nothing else, I feel I can connect with more people in that my vast knowledge of music history, theory, and its interconnectivity is far more well received than on normal days.

2006-04-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday April 16
Had a jam session with Laramie, Wendi and Randall. The project is called Holy Hedonist House Party I was refered by Kai and had a blast. Easy, old timey, gospel-rock with lots of "guitar keys" A, G and E por ejemplo. They were really nice folks, feeding me smoothies and sammy's and I really liked the original songs they had to offer. Randall the drummer is great. Solid time, cool ideas, big ears and he can sing! I think they want me to come back as they had a lot of nice things to say about me and my playing. Cool. We shall see. I am trying to get more gigs for Agave and BCP, but nothing is going to happen until those bands have good demos. The good news is we are very close with both bands.

Saturday April 15
BCP Gig. The gig went well considering we had not rehearsed for a week. Props to Jesse and Brian. Jesse and I both got to solo more often and I REALLY dug that and am excited about the prospect of more soloing in the future. Jesse's soloing was mad fun! Pushing, and pulling the beat with smooth polyrhythms and creative ideas. Brian's voice sounded especially good that night and his solo's are always interesting and creative. My solo's were pretty good too ;)
I did get to practice that day, 40 minutes at 60 bpm on the interval study and about 20 minutes of triads in all keys moving up in 4ths. I find that if I practice the day of the gig (and everyday for that matter) that I am far more comfy, loose and relaxed on stage. One thing to point out is that I had NO STAGE FRIGHT at all. A big shift for me when in the past I was almost paralyzed with fear and it took a lot of energy just to remember what I was supposed to do. Don't get me wrong, I did make mistakes but, my pants did not fall down and even better, my head did not explode. Good thing too. Once a BCP demo is set and I can inundate Myspace with clips, photos and video, things will pick up. We did get a few friends out and the usual crowd of inebriated locals. Some who requested songs as we were playing! Well more later.

Friday April 14
Hung out with Paul most of the day, playing basses shopping for laptops and shooting the breeze. That night I saw Umphrey's McGee at the Fillmore in SF. Great band, great show, great songs but the sound sucked! Both guitars and all vocals were fine, almost no keys except for solos, and almost NO BASS AT ALL. The bass drum, over powered the bass guitar both sets. It was annoying to say the least. I really wanted to hear Ryan's Lakland/GK/Eden rig and even though I was 30 feet from his set up, I couldn't hear a damn thing as the bass drum was the loudest instrument onstage. I was bummed to say the least.

Thursday April 13
Agave Practice. We need to change the name, it was invented by a guy we booted from the band a YEAR ago. We have been kicking around some more names recently:

Second Street (2nd Street)
Vintage
Mountain Madman
Mindspeak
Ultra
Faithful
Weird
Humongous
Permanent Toast
Flux Mgr
Worked By the Rain
Grampa's Medicine
Universal Mind
PS Allstars
Interweb
2nd sonic
The New Deal

I kind of like, Second Street, Universal Mind, Worked By The Rain....

2006-04-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday April 12
Haven't posted in a while. Had no time after work to practice. Went to Paul's on our way to see the John Scofield Quartet, with Bill Stewart, Dennis Irwin and Eddie Henderson. Saw both sets for the price of one. Needless to say it was sick... So instead of hammering away on my instrument, I got to see 4 masters of jazz tear it up on stage, I only remember one cover song, Louis Armstrong's "Do You Know What It Means (to Miss New Orleans)". All of it was like attending a masterclass in modern jazz. Keep your head up, improvise from the heart and groove as hard as possible. The number of notes matters less than the feeling put forth behind each phrase. Theme and variation and more variation, and most importantly, HAVE FUN.
Tuesday April 11
40 minutes with the interval study, subdivision of 2's at 96 bpm in all twelve keys and triads over 2 octaves in all twelve keys no metronome. All told, about 75 minutes of practice. I hope to get it up to 120 minutes soon. Tonight I doubt if I will have 2 hours as we have Agave Practice but I think I can squeeze in 40 minutes.
Friday I will likely have BCP practice for the Saturday gig but still might be able to whittle some time to warm up.
I don't remember what I have been up to since my last post, but I know I have been sticking to the interval study and playing only triads over 2 octaves, it's kept my chops at a decent level but I really want to step it up. Maybe I should leave my job and go to music school, that should keep me busy.
More later.

2006-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 31st
Had the day off, thanks Senior Chavez!
Spent the day practicing, I think I did 6's this time and some work out of the new book, Reading Rhythms.
Making good progress on both, kept the metronome on the slow side, 50 - 60bpm as it's a challenge to cram in 6 beats between clicks. In the Bass Marathons, we do the same but with 7 and 8 beats! It requires total relaxation and a very slow metronome. The folks who study Indian music, tend to use this method as it promotes and trains the player to explore freedom inside the beat. The music tells it all, listen to Zakir Hussain or Ali Akbar Kahn for better examples. I do not claim to be their progeny but it has helped my time greatly and it's a great challenge to keep good time when there is such a slow click.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
SICK AS A DOG. It started a few hours after eating a pizza dinner Friday night. I knew there was something wrong with me by 2am when I started vomiting profusely. It did not stop until mid morning. By that time there was nothing left in me and I felt like hell. Sweats, chills, body aches, cramps, dehydration and TOTAL exhaustion as I could not sleep from the unbearable abdominal cramps. Needless to say playing the bass was not available to me at that time, I could hardly sit up or walk without feeling like shitty, let alone play music. Sad but true. Basically all I could to was sip Pedialyte and water and try to nap or watch movies. Saturday and Sunday were a wash. Monday I was feeling better but still tired, and a bit woozy. Today is a bit better for me.
I plan on practicing with BCP tonight. We need to go over a few songs that we want on the demo. Jog in Jeans, Kissing the Boo Boo, 5B4Funk, Loser, Fearless, If I Could, Fast Enough for You, and the new song are all possibilities. Gonna try and put in a hour of practice before I go, this always helps me warm up and get in the groove.

2006-03-30T14:15:00.000-08:00

Wednesday March 29
Interval study continues. Last night was the subdivisions of 4. It's taking less time to complete this session as I am so much more familiar with the fingerings. The metronome helps a lot too as it inspires me to be as fluid as possible. Although as the subdivisions increase, I still need to slow the metronome down to about 63 bpm. With the 2's and 3's I can still hit it at higher tempi; up to 132 bpm.
I got a new book called Reading Rhythms (??) from MIT Press. It's tough but fair. I could get through the first page and found it easier at 94, 115, and 120 bmp but much harder at 44 and 49 bpm. This book should help my reading problem a ton. More later

Tuesday March 28
Interval study, again?
Well yea it's the new black, in bass playing anyway. 3's were the call of the day, and was able to keep it solid (mostly) at 116 bpm. Have also been integrating a new arpeggio study that makes it easy to go up and down the scale with each arp. As it turns out, the 7th of each chord is a whole step above or below the next chord. NEaTo! Also, according to Carol Kaye bassists should stick to the root, 3rd, 5th and octacve for most chord/scales. She says to add the 6th for major and that playing scales uses up most of the players options. Ya see, bassists don't play chords very often, especially when playing with chordal instruments or horn sections. Keeping simple by using mostly chord tones offers more flavor and anticipation for the listener. I tend to agree but there are plenty of opportunities to solo using scales, probably to many. In a jazz harmonic progression, most chord tones are very close to the next chord tones root or other chord tones. For example the first 4 chords in Sonny Rollins "Oleo" are:
Bb7 -> Gmin7 -> C7 -> F7
Where the 3rd of Bb7 is the 5th of Gmin7,
The 3rd of Gmin7 is the 7th of C7,
The 3rd of C7 is a half step below the root of F7
and the 3rd of F7 is a half step below the root of Bb7 which is the next chord in the progression. This information is important to both lead (horns, piano, voice, guitar etc) and comping instruments (bass, piano, guitar, sections etc) because the melody and harmony is outlined and what notes make up these parts? CHORD TONES!
By sticking to the roots 3rd's 5th's and octaves of a chord, jazz not only becomes slightly easier to play. How does this fit with the interval study. ANY interval pattern can be used over any chord tone of any chord, as long as it resolves on a chord tone or root.

Saturday and Sunday March 22, 23
Spent Sunday jamming with Paul. We played Oleo, Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Sirhaborn, Wave, I Remember Clifford, Naima and maybe some others. We sound pretty good together, and Paul kicks my ass sometimes, when I fuck up. YEA!
Saturday I had the day to myself so I practiced a bunch. Interval studies, reading, jamming etc.

2006-03-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

March 23 Thursday
Agave Practice
Even when we are off, we still sound ok. The work ethic is there and the sound is THERE. It's a matter of closely listening to each other and being in the moment. I would like to gig soon, and I know we could but... in due time.
I did not have time to do the interval study so maybe tonight I will before BCP practice. Time to hit the 6's!
Carol Kaye's reading method is starting to work and I have barely been using it for a week. The combination of marking and focusing on the downbeats as well as singing the rhythms helps immensely.

Check out these sick Lakland X-Rays! I play a Lakland so naturally, they appeal to me and my geeky leanings.

2006-03-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

Tuesday March 21
Interval study in subdivisions of 3. Somehow it only took me 50 minutes to complete even though I slowed the metronome down about half way through. I started at 162 bpm with one note per beat, then after about 4 intervals I reduced it to 76 bpm, but played the first note on the downbeat and the rest in the space between. I thought I might have missed something but I didn't. So I went back over certain intervals at slower tempo, (64 bpm) to really nail the patterns.

I feel like I am relearning the bass but with almost 15 years of playing and knowledge the learning curve is not so steep. My confidence is increasing, as is my ability to be more expressive and creative. In BCP, we have been crafting a new song and I feel like my increasing abilities and confidence have fostered my creative input to the song. It will only get easier to compose with time. Composing is something I have wanted to do for a long time, but did not know where to begin. Collaborative composition seems like a good way to start. Look at Rodgers and Hart, Kern and Fields, Fagen and Becker, George and Ira Gershwin, Phish, and countless other collaborative composers. Their methods seem to work...

Monday March 20
Over the weekend I decided to increase the amount of time and the content of my practice sessions. I have more than enough material to work with but it can become overwhelming when trying to decide what to practice and then sticking with the chosen material. It might be called "vertical practicing" where a concept of music making is held for an extended period of time delving into the depths of the concept and all of its nooks and crannies. For example. Practicing ONE scale type or ONE arpeggio in all 12 keys using several rhythmic subdivisions.

I figured out that Kai's interval study consists of 720 patterns. 12 intervals, 12 keys and 5 rhythmic subdivisions. Each subdivision takes about an hour to complete so if the patterns start on a Monday with subdivisions of 2, it will start again on the following sixth Monday. I started on Monday March 20th and it will cycle itself on Monday April 24th, the sixth week.

Although this is good, reading music is what will really propel me upwards. I can read a little bit, but it's slow, and tedious. Chord charts are good, but its not the same as being able to read the melody. In the past I would loop certain parts over and over until I could get the notes and the rhythms correct, but that does not work on a gig and barely works while practicing at home. I needed a method; enter Carol Kaye, studio bass musician extrodinare. She has a practical, and easy to use method of learning to read in real situations. Her career is based on studio work for record companies, TV and film studios spanning an almost 50 year range, so reading for bass was an essential tool for her success. It works, after just a few days of using her book and DVD I already have improved my reading skills by a lot. For beginner readers it's all about breaking the music up in two parts, rhythm and melody (duh!). First beat out the rhythm then play the melody out of time, then mash the two together. Kind of like reading English only more fun. Thank you Carol!

March 18 and 19 Saturday and Sunday

Both days were spent in intense study, Saturday on the intervals with a subdivision of 2 to get an idea of how long it would take to play through 12 intervals in 12 keys. I found it takes about an hour with any problems included, although this will probably decrease in time. I also spent time just free playing on my sunny afternoon porch. Sooooo nice. Sunday, was spent figuring out how to ascend in one type of arpeggio and descend in another (minor up, major down, and vise versa). The goal is to be able to cleanly play through the cycle of fourths as soooo much of Jazz is based on the cycle. This will help my walking bass lines and soloing. I also played along with Jobim's "Wave" as I have a recording of Jim Hall playing this tune solo, live in concert with Ella Fitzgerald (no Ella on this track). Also looked into 'Witch Hunt" by Wayne Shorter an interesting tune, that conjures images of a crazed mob calling for the hunt of a supposedly deranged woman. Jesse wants to arrange this song for BCP and I am all for it, but Brian will need some time with this one as his reading is not to good and he probably has not heard it before. More to come.

Josh and Kai, High Sierra 2004

2006-03-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesday March 14
Tried to nail the 11/8 rhythm by breaking it down into smaller groupings. During the commercials (I sometimes practice in front of the TV) I tapped out two distinct patterns that add up to 11. Three 3's and a 2, or two 4's and a 3. They each have their own flavor and feel, and the next step is to come up with a cool bass line and see if the guys can hang with the eleven feel. Two songs come to mind "Y2K by Dapp Theory and "The Eleven" by Grateful Dead. I think there is some Mahavishnu or McLaughlin stuff that has parts in 11 as well.
I was checking out a bassist named Tony Grey who started playing at the age of 19 and is about 30 years old now. I was inspired by his story, the fact that at the age of 19 while in Her Majesties Royal Military Service (British for ARMY) he suffered a broken back from an auto injury. During his long recovery, his stepdad brought him a bass and told him that playing it would make him feel better. Check out this interview here.

I started when I was 20 and am 35 now but do not have a jazz fusion master for an uncle nor did I attend a prestigious music school in Boston but still have the same dedication as Mr Grey. He has a 4 hour DAILY practice schedule broken up into 8 half hour lessons that he somehow manages to do even while on tour. MAN! What discipline! I was so inspired that I now want to come up with a 4 hour bass lesson plan to propel my playing into the stratosphere! Just 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours after work should do it....hahahaha. I can barely get up to leave the house to get to work on time let alone get up to play the bass. Maybe if I start with just a half hour in the morning and 2 hours at night. Even when I have tons of stuff to do I know I can (and do) find time to practice, even for a half an hour.

A great way to get started is to "Say Hello" to the bass. Play all the notes one at a time on each string (open strings included) and fret. For example, open B string, B on 12th fret (B String), E string 7th fret and 19th fret, A string 2nd fret and 14th fret, D String 9th fret and 21st fret, G string 4th fret and 16th fret (whew). Now repeat for remaining 12 keys.
I wonder how long it would take to play the interval study head to toe? All the intervals in all 12 keys and all subdivided rhythyms (2,3,4,6 and 12)? Five rhythms, 12 intervals, 12 keys....

Monday March 13
Bass lesson with Kai. I recorded part of the lesson on my digital camera so I can refer back to the cool stuff we do. This time Kai played student and I played teacher. His question was: Can the bass marathon rhythm pattern be used with the interval study and if so, how? I immediately said yes and we sort of worked it out together. We set the marathon patter to 40 bpm on the drum machine and broke it down as follows. Starting with the Major 7ths (good thing I have been 'sheding that one ^_^) and playing one note per beat, then Minor 7ths 2 notes per beat and so on. I started to flail when we reached 7's and 8's. He started to flail on 11's which made me feel a bit better. We both have challenges to overcome in our playing and know that our goals can be met with patience and time. Cool.

Sunday March 12
Jam with Paul. We played some more tricky stuff out of the Real Book. Drop the needle or pick a random song, if you will. We sound great together and have a blast learning the songs as we go. Neato

2006-03-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Thursday March 9
Agave Practice. Played the usual stuff but felt and sounded unusually sloppy and slow. The Bose PAS1 we have been using is the elephant in the room, its like a high end stereo with the amplification power of a guitar amp and a pa all in one. Requiring little to give a lot, it projects itself easily in the band room but I however still find it hard to hear over the drums. Drums being an acoustic instrument, are set up to be loud by design, in order to be heard over loud amps, but enter the Bose PAS1 and the paradigm shifts greatly. If we all had one I think everything would sound as the manufacturer intends, clean and uncompromised. I ended up moving closer to the unit and closer the other guys as well. The clarity of the vocals is unprecedented, all the good and bad are crystal clear.
Musically I think we are at a crossroads. With the departure of Dave and the arrival of Pat we have completely reformatted our sound for the better. Having a player with the authentic sounding Wurlitzer, Rhodes, organ etc. and a voice that doesn't sound like a howling cat, makes a positive difference. It seems that we can now focus on the music more than ever in that we are not distracted by the bad playing and worse vocals of our dearly departed former keyboard player. I really don't like dissing other musicians, especially those who are good at heart and genuinely motivated to play and participate but criticism is fair game for all if directed in a fair and (mostly) objective manner. The other stuff, like flaking and being wholly unapologetic about its affect on the rest of us is another matter. No one should have to endure such a lack of consideration and professionalism, there are to many responsible, talented players in the Bay Area to warrant the amount of tolerance we had for that behavior.
Now that a new guy is in the mix we all play differently, in that we are focusing more on the music (or at least that is what we should be doing). Beyond the normal growing pains of having a new member in a band that has been playing for several years now, I think this will work out well over all. In my ears/eyes, it's simply a matter of Pat learning the material (which he already knows the majority of) and bringing songs, original or otherwise, to the table.
He sounded great and I hope we can keep him on board. A few gigs and some recordings will help entice all of us to grow and do more.
Wednesday March 8
Major 7th's again? Yup. I learned to play the western harmonic stuff so well that anything else requires a relearn of how I finger the notes. The interval method makes more sense musically because all scales, arpeggios, patterns, grooves, rhythm's beats, and chords are based on intervals. 2 of these and 3 of those makes this particular scale, and so on. I think all students of music should learn their intervals first, then the fundamentals of harmony, no matter where they are from. I know from the public school music teachers I know and have known, that music is taught from a melodic, song based approach at first. The student learns the bare basics of their instrument, how to play the notes on the page then is given simple songs to learn based on these mechanics. A nice approach if you want the student to be a musical mynah bird with little artistic development. I agree that the study and practice of music will enrich the life of anyone disciplined enough to stick with it, but then why do so many students quit? Boredom is one reason. They are not able to relate to the music and really hate practicing are other reasons. I understand why music educators use this method, in jazz one of the best ways to learn to improvise is to know the melody of the tune and use it as a launching pad for exploration. Playing simple songs is the best way to get a student up and playing but why is the failure rate so high? Why do so many students give up, like I did in the 4th grade. Perhaps conventional wisdom is that students would not benefit from my approach because its to theorectical. In fact smaller groups and a stronger mix of ensemble playing and theory would encourage a music student to stick with the program and maybe derive some joy from music making. Right now, with the current approach, it seems that most students see it as yet another academic obligation and parents see music study as a frivolous pursuit. All I can do is continue with Kai's lessons and try to learn them as best I can.

2006-03-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

Tuesday March 7
Been running through the major 7th intervals for 5 string electric bass. Finding the paths/patterns took a while as did getting used to the fingerings. Spent an hour on that and about a half hour on free playing with the radio. I felt free to find the roots and harmonic path of each song, some I knew and some I did not. Mistakes were irrelevant as I had no responsibility to keep the form or hit the roots. I could play anything I wanted but tried to hear and respond to whatever was on the radio (KCSM 91.1 FM).
Earlier in the day, I called and had to fire Agave's keyboard player. After 3 maybe 4 years it just wasn't working out. He said he was surprised by the news even though we laid out for him in our last band meeting all of our grievances. These included, flaking on rehearsal/recording/editing/mixing and coping an attitude when we asked him why he was late, that he should call if he is going to be late or has to cancel. Also, his sound and playing style just did not seem to be improving, there always seemed to be a struggle to get him to sound a certain way. I explained to him that we are working with a guy who has the sound we are looking for and that it would not be fair to anyone to ask him to relearn the keyboard and buy new gear (which he did last year). I clearly remember he and Mike struggling in the studio to make the keys sound a certain way. Dave almost walked out when a quasi compromise was reached. It was like pulling teeth, the job got done but it was painful and generally not fun.
The new guy has a great sound and a great attitude, so far so good.
Monday March 6
Spent about an hour learning to play Joe Henderson's Inner Urge, a modern, modal style jazz composition utilizing phrases and intervals not used very often when this song was recorded. I am not sure who influenced Joe back when he wrote this tune in the mid 1960's but I can only guess that, Stockhausen, Monk, and maybe Stravinsky were an influence. Maybe I will do some more research on that tune. The way Joe recorded it was at a fast tempo with the bass playing unison on the first 12 bars then walking the rest of the head, I however, like the B Sharp Quartet's funky hiphop version from their eponymous self titled 1993 release.
Sunday March 5
Short but sweet jam session with Paul. We played Inner Urge, Nothing Personal, 500 Miles High and Autumn Leaves. SWEET. We have a good rapport and I hope to play some gigs with him soon, maybe just duets. Next time I would like to revisit I Remember Clifford and maybe Django or a Wayne Shorter tune. Quality.
Friday March 3 and Saturday March 4
Did not touch the bass on either of these days. Shouldn't feel bad, but I did so I am practicing extra hard this week. Want to make significant gains in 2006. Reading, soloing improv and especially groove and keeping the form solid.

2006-03-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

March 2nd Thursday.
Agave practice. Wow what a difference a new keyboard player makes. This is what I wrote to the guys about Pat.

I really dug playing with Pat. Here's why:
- Even though he showed up a bit late, we played 13 songs with some
extended jams by 10:30pm. A new record.
- His phrasing and harmonic sense fit nicely with my bass lines,
Brandon's fills, and Mikes guitar and voice parts.
- Big ears. He listened and responded well to our improvised phrases.
- He can sing in tune and kind of harmonize with Mike.
- Solos were good though not over the top. A bit reserved at first but
thoughtful, and tasteful all around.
- Good attitude and a fast learner. Although he might have struggled
a with the Chicken "lick" (hehehe), he got the notes right but needed a
bit of help with the articulation. Not bad for NEVER having heard the
song before. With a recording and a chart, he will nail that one.
- He nailed Mike's originals and added cool new sounds to both.
- Great keyboard sounds, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, synth, piano etc.
- He already knows "75% of the tunes on the board"
- A beer was spilled and he caught it before it became a mess :)
- Youthful exuberance; I know we could use some...

I would like to bring him back for another jam next week.

Songs played (in no particular order):
Rebel Rose
Red Eyed Loon
Cissy Strut
Hey Pocky Way
Rain
Willin
The Weight
Loser
So What
Little Sunflower
Mr Charlie
The Chicken

2006-03-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

Thursday March 2nd
Did not practice last night, went to dinner and a movie with Giselle.
Wednesday March 1st
Jam was cancelled due to guitar player injury. Practiced Pat Metheny's "Song For Bilbao" a great uptempo Brazilian tune. The chart I used was from Lucas Pickfords website and was far more accurate than the Real Book version. Not a tricky tune but fun to play. Grooving, modal harmonies for the A and B sections modulating between a Csus9 and a GbMaj7#11 chord. Although they are a tritone a way (the Devil's interval ;) they share many of the same notes and actually resolve well.

Also worked on Wes Montgomery's "Four On Six" a super fast jazz burner that has been covered by everybody. On iTunes I found original recordings, Latin and Surf versions. All unique and valid although I prefer the original and the Latin tinged John Abercrombie versions.

Joe Henderson's "Inner Urge" was also on the table. I have an original Blue Note recording with Joe and possibly Elvin Jones (RIP) that goes for 11 min 33 sec. and also have a funky/hiphop version by the B Sharp Jazz Quartet. Both are cool but I would prefer the grooving version and I think this new trio I am going to play with (we still have not jammed yet) is into that idea. I have to say that Joe was full of great ideas for solos and in fact took another solo before the head out and after the bass and piano finished their turns.

Monday Feb 28th
Busy night. BCP rehearsal, short but sweet. We worked for an hour and a half and busted out a new tune from scratch. All 3 of us were able to equally contribute and with great enthusiasm I might add. I am thinking of calling it "The Gamut" as it contains several of Brian's melodic ideas, Jesse's rhythmic punches and my basslines all in a variety of rhythmic flavors. Very exciting to be composing and in fact I have several ideas that will work nicely for other original tunes. More to come.

After BCP was a lesson with Kai. 2 lessons in as many days, cool. We continued to work on spontaneous composition and I felt more confident and thus solid. I came up with two different chord progressions while he added the chord qualities to those progressions. A melody was added to the second of the two that worked well. Simple but cool. The crux of the lesson was to write a melody in the first chorus and then solo on the second then pass it on. We went back and forth like that for a while then added the second section with the melody. It took me a while to play the melody he wrote correctly, it involved playing the first note on the first 16th after beat 2. A few moments of finding the notes and looping the line and I got it right, YAY!

2006-02-27T10:26:00.000-08:00

Bass Log Sunday Feb 26th
Worked on the Maj 7th intervals for 5 string bass for about an hour. Not so easy, even with the chart Kai gave me. I made some headway and will soon be able to play it in all twelve keys. Unsure why its difficult to play in other keys besides E, but it is and will overcome that hurdle soon.
Saturday the 25th
Bass Marathon!
It was only Kai and myself with the drum machine for about 2 hours. The concept was to compose some chord changes with the pre-programmed beats, trade solos, then after a short while, add to or change the original structure. He said we could interrupt the song in the middle if a new idea came to mind. I had trouble keeping it together so Kai wrote out what we had come up with on the white board. That helped us both keep it together and easily change the form at will. After a time I was able to solo nicely (according to Kai) and keep the form on bass. He helped by reminding me to play a simple bass line over the form and to keep going back to it after my solos.
These are things I knew already but realized that I have trained myself to lean on the groove and the melody for the form and my bass lines. Bassists are supposed to support the melody and harmony in music, it's what we live for, but to go beyond that into the world of improvisational composition and soloing (they are deeply intertwined BTW) much more is required. What I found works for me is that I must first stick to the groove with simple bass lines then slightly modify the bass lines to outline the changes. When its my turn to solo, it helps to start with simple improv ideas and move to more complex stuff later. In this case there was no melody, a 2 bar (8 beat cycle) drum pattern and a set of chord changes. Good stuff indeed. Can use this with any band but will probably keep it short and simple at first, no more than 8 bars with a medium tempo groove.
Friday the 24th
Home sick with a touch of the flu and a head cold. *sniff*
Sat in bed with my bass and played whole tone scales using a new pattern for the ascending part of the scale. Have to remember to augment (hehe) these scales with different starting points and modification of patterns. Like use some alternate patterns like 1, 3, 2 or 2, 3, 1 or 2, 1, 3 etc. There is always something new to learn and master. Nothing is final in music study.
Thursday the 23rd
No band practice, keyboard player cancelled, the drummer and bass player were sick and the guitar players car was in the shop. Keyboard sub's car was also in the shop. Maybe next time. Might work on some very old Pink Floyd songs, pre Dark Side of the Moon.

2006-02-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-02-15T10:57:00.000-08:00

Bass log, Feb 14 Tuesday
Valentine's Day. Did not touch the bass today, instead, I spent the evening cooking, eating and chilling with Giselle. Wednesday is my lesson with Kai and plan on sharing my results with him regarding my free play and practice regimen. What I have found is that free play can lead to unique discoveries on your instrument. New friends are made on the fretboard and I gladly welcome them into my home. After an hour of free play I start to see what I am capable of in improvisation; and my limitations. Finding the balance between focused disciplined practice and free play practice is not easy, I want to find a fun, middle ground between the two. In free play its easy to get lost and unfocused and in pre-set disciplined practice one can loose or forget the creative spirit that makes music a joy. Practicing creativity is just as much of a discipline as running scales and arpeggios with the metronome if not more so. It takes focus and dedication to discover, and follow through on an original idea and I can see now why artists spend so much time with their craft. It's a labor of love.

2006-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

Bass Blog Monday Feb 13.
Spent my time relearning the bluegrass version of Pink Floyd's In The Flesh? ("So ya, thought ya, might like to go to the show, to feel the warm confusion that space cadet glow...") It takes me longer to learn a song by ear than by reading a chart. Why? Well it requires going over certain sections that are unclear to me when listening. Looping each part is the best way to learn an unclear section as repetition is a good way to get the part under your fingers. But it makes sense to check your work as it would suck to loop and learn something the wrong way. I also went over Another Brick in the Wall parts I and II, Fearless and Tangled Hangars (Kimock). Just enough time to get the other stuff in by the time Zell got home. All in preparation for the BCP gig this Saturday at the Blackthorne in SF. YAY!
Saturday the 11th, no time to practice, slept in, had breakfast, drove to Sherry, Weege and Alena's for a little celebration. Alena is one month old and so cute. Came home and crashed, we ate and drank a fair amount. Good stuff.

2006-02-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

Bass Log Feb 9, Thursday
Great rehearsal with BCP last night! So much more telepathy happening than ever before. We are excited for the 18th. Even though some songs were rough and had never been played before, we still had fun, and went a bit long, to 12:30am! Needless to say I am tired and ready to go home for a nap. Songs covered:

Fast Enough For You
If I Could I Would
Bathtub Gin
Footprints
Franklin's Tower
Lovelight
Coles Law
Tangled Hangers
Kissin the Boo Boo
5B4Funk
Young Lust
China Cat
Loser
Another Brick in the Wall pt 1

2006-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

Bass Log Feb 8th Wednesday,
Tried to learn the changes to John Scofield's "I'll Catch You" which starts with a funky upright bass line by Christian McBride then moves to a walking bass line over some changes that I can't quite figure out. I got the form down but the changes are eluding me as of late. More work needed on that one. The rest of the night we watched the Grammy's. Some good, mostly bad. Yuck.

2006-02-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

Bass Log Feb 7, Tuesday
More metronome studies. 120 bpm, playing an Ab melodic minor scale starting on the 7th (G) below the root up to the 5th (Eb) on the G string. Trying to swing with a metronome clicking in your ear is not easy. So I set it to 60 bpm on beats 2 and 4. There, that's better. Swing!
I then set it to 40 bpm and had it click on the 2 of every measure. Its harder than it sounds as I naturally want to make the click the one. More tomorrow.

2006-02-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Bass Log, Feb 6th Monday.
Had a great practice session Monday night. Using Jonathan Dimond's Bass Riyaz as a guide, I did a metronome study that I think will help me tighten up and play more freely. He first advises setting the metronome to click on each down beat (1, 2, 3, 4) at about 120 bpm then to half the time and set the click to beats 2 and 4 then switch to beats 1 and 3. Next, set the click once per measure on the one, then every other measure. This requires setting the metronome to its lowest setting, 40 bpm. For an even further challenge, set the metronome to subsequent beats (2, 3, 4) every measure then every other measure. This should develop a really solid internal rhythm that allows the player to rely only on himself and not the drummer; something I find myself doing from time to time. To unravel the shifting downbeat exercise outlined above, keep the click very slow, less than 60 bpm, and play one note per beat, gradually increasing the number of notes. Kai has a variation on this method that he shared with me when I first started studying with him 3 years ago (!). Set the click to a very slow speed, again less than 60 bpm, pick a scale that I can play without thinking like Ionian or Dorian, play one note per beat ascending and descending with the click. Then increase the number of notes played between beats up to 8 notes per click! Its harder than it sounds but with practice most players of any level can accomplish this goal.

2006-02-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday Feb 4 2006,
Bass Marathon! This time it was Kai, Dave Olson from Spindrift.cc and Ian of Ian fame. Ian's got an air freshener and a cocktail monkey dangling from the headstock of his custom 6 string (tuned low A to high Bb!!!). Sooper cool. Dave plays a Modulus Quantum 5 with a pick and sometimes with 2 fingers. Both have great tone and are cool doods. Most bass players are cool people if I don't say so myself : - )
I really dug this marathon, 3 bassists and drums are cool. Forces us to think like a bass, chord and melody player under changing conditions. Kai guided us through some new concepts that allowed us to focus on group listening and interaction which even the best players can learn from. After 4 hours with short breaks I still felt like jamming but had to go and take care of business. A good sign that the creative juices were flowing, and they were.
One technique we used was something Phish (*sniff*) used to do back in the day. One musician starts a groove/pattern, and moving in clockwise motion, the others try to lock in with what he is playing. In the process of trying to find their parts, the groove originator listens carefully to the entire band and when he feels the time is right, will yell out "Hey!". Fishman calls it the "Insane Midget Factory" (with absolutely no offense or malice toward little people, in fact Fishman is quite short himself). I have heard it called "Finding Your Own Hey" in an interview with Trey in Guitar Player magazine published last year. The ultimate goal is that the groove is so happening that all the musicians say "Hey!" at the same time. It seems to develop listening skills beyond the self.
Some other techniques were to listen to dynamics and follow along with loud and soft passages as well as triple threat endings. The leader would play a lick and then repeat it twice to indicate the end of a jam. Better listen up!
Another was to come up with a little bass pattern over 2 or more chords while the others played chords, or improvised.
We also tried to make phrases over 2 bar, 1 bar and half bar (a whole bar in 2/4 time) on demand which I had trouble with. I kept wanting to make multibar phrases, although not a bad thing. All of this while Kai played drums and critiqued our work. Always a great challenge and a blast.

2006-02-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

Bass log Thus Feb 2nd
Did not play free for a half hour on Thursday as I had band practice with Agave Grin. My fretless work has been paying off as it sounded really good with few intonation mistakes. The music is pretty simple so I payed extra attention to intonation but worried very little about not hitting the notes dead on. If it did happen to go off by a little bit, I just adjusted the notes. Those guys sing out of tune anyway so it kind of helped them harmonize a little bit. Although we are sounding a little bit better, its a long hard road with many frustrations and troubles. About half way through our session, I became angry at the keys player for some oh so usual crap that he pulls more and more often. Instead of going off verbally, I forced myself to channel that energy to the bass and eventually I felt better. The shit works!
Friday I was supposed to rehearse with BCP and we were going to have Liz the singer hang with us but rehearsal got moved to Sunday. More on that later.
Today I am heading to Kai's studio for a mini bass marathon, 4 hours with 6 bassists. Should be fun. More on that later too.

2006-02-02T12:04:00.000-08:00

Bass Log Wed Feb 1st 2006.
Last night I practiced for a very short period of time, barely 30 minutes. I was able to make it quality time however. Minor 6th's need more work, as the physical demands of performing the interval as perscribed are a bit difficult at first. The end result is a hip, modern sound and certainly worth the effort. I ended up focusing on the parts of the interval pattern that were coming off clumsily and made some headway so I am happier. Soon the two worlds of Western Harmony and our interval study will come together as one to form something magical, I hope. One thing that helps achive that is to think about and execute as many intervals as possible within a diatonic major or minor scale. There are more than one would think, quite eye opening really.

2006-02-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

Bass log, star date January 31st 2006.
Last night I jammed with Paul on Benny Golson's "I Remember Clifford" and John Lewis' "Django" Both very pretty and somewhat angular ballads. Not your typical I love you, you are the best girl (or guy) type ballad. They are dedications to great musicians namely, Clifford Brown and Django Rheinhardt, respectively.
After that I played freely in front of the TV, not the best way to go but a good way to force myself to focus on playing while disregarding the crudely constructed mumbo jumbo TV nonsense. Afterward I felt nice and relaxed although I need to pay attention to my posture so my back does not hurt. Hopefully all of this will fulfill the requirements of my homework :)

Bass log, star date January 30th 2006
Earlier in the day I did a study of what David Baker calls Coltrane's "Countdown Changes". "Countdown" is a tune by John Coltrane based on the Miles Davis song "Tune Up". Originally consisting of some simple ii-V-I changes in major keys Coltrane uses those chord changes as a launching point for his new (circa early 1960's) harmonic method for saxophone and small jazz ensemble. Coltrane was known for coming up with somewhat radical and challenging chord substitutions for songs or standard chord changes. "Countdown Changes" is based on the ubiquitous ii-V-I turnaround but offers a new method of traveling over the same path. Basically the tune consists of four, 4 bar sections and in these sections are mixed standard and non standard intervals that outline a chord progression outside of the diatonic system. The intervals are: half-step, Perfect 4th, minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, minor 3rd, Perfect 4th. For example bars 4 thru 8 go like this: Dmin7, Eb7, Ab7, B7, E7, G7, Cmaj7 ///.
In my free play I tried to come up with little patterns to meander thru these changes and made some astounding discoveries, like the roots and 3rds of each chord in sequence are physically close to each other on the 5 string electric bass. I have found that free play for just 30 minutes leads to discovering, as Kai puts it new "friends". If a C Maj scale is an old friend, then "Countdown Changes" are exciting new friends who get along very well with the old. How about that...

2006-01-30T16:10:00.000-08:00

During last nights rehearsal, there was a moment where I had the opportunity to solo a bit. An unplanned endeavor to say the least but still an interesting journey. Although unplanned is not necessarily true either. I have been playing bass for 15 years and have practiced my ass off and studied a great deal with many master musicians so I guess nothing I do is unplanned. Anyway, I think it happend when brian was having technical difficulties or he was simply in a semi-quiet period of improvisation, so I took the reigns without thinking and boom, there it was. I have had to overcome my fear of playing in front of others, then my fear of soloing in time, in front of others. Now I can just jump in and not worry so much about impressing anyone including myself. Seems like I have come a long way. The music just needed to be spoken and it was. The only subjective thought I can put on that very brief period was YEA FUN! Other than that it just sorta happened.

2006-01-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

Didn't do a half hour of free playing yesterday, but I did have a great 3 hour rehearsal with Jesse and Brian. Our band is called BCP.
Songs played:
By Steve Kimock:
Kissin' the Boo Boo
5B4Funk
Cole's Law
Tangled Hangers

By Phish:
Waste
If I Could I Would
Fast Enough For You

By Garcia/Grateful Dead:
Loser
Deal

By BCP:
Bradley

These are great songs with jazz harmonies, funk or latin feel and a blast to play. Seems that we are starting to gel more as a band and are focusing on intermusician communication. If I hear Brian play a lickon guitar, I almost automatically respond to it in some way. I also throw phrases on the bass that are outside the beat to inspire Jesse to respond to me on the drums. Its coming together nicely. Need to add Liz on vocals to really hit those harmonies. I have to say that Brian and Jesse sing well together even though they haven't worked out any formal harmonies. With the addition of a skilled singer the 3 of them could really storm the castle...

2006-01-28T17:38:00.000-08:00

Saturday 1.28
30 minutes on the fretless again, this time focusing on fifths and trying to get the intonation right. Its fun to find it in the moment, so I had fun and felt slightly more agile afterwards. 60 bpm and shifting rythymic emphasis gave it a challenging twist. More later...

2006-01-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

Kai asked me to keep a log on my bass homework "play free bass for 30 minutes and use the interval patterns we have been studying". Ok, so here it goes.
Thursday 1.26 Played for 30 minutes with metronome at 60 bpm. Started patterns on and off beat, played the fretless and really focused on intonation. Felt good about the whole thing, nice to know that only a half hour is required. I have to say I felt a bit rushed as it was time to go out soon after my bass meditation. At the same time I came into a relaxed state during and after playing. Cool