Bass
Right Hand Position on Bass
Right hand position is crucial when playing upright bass because the sound will vary with how you pluck the strings. The Italian word for plucking the string is pizzicato, and there are several ways you can do it. In this bass lesson from his Jazz Bass School, John Patitucci breaks down 4 basic pizzicato techniques that will give you a lot to work with for a variety of musical settings.
Double Bass Lessons: Supporting the Soloist
In this sample video from Missy Raines' online double bass lessons, she shows what a bass player can do to embellish what the other musicians are playing.
Whether it's the vocalist singing a melody or another instrument playing the lead, there are lots of different options you can do to create a dynamic within the song. Your role as the bass player is to be a team player, so you should think about things you can play that will make the lead voice sound good.
Playing bass is often a selfless experience, it's not about you! This is a big pill to swallow for some bassists, but it's a really important lesson to learn. Read More
Jazz Bass Lesson: Playing with Expression
Let your bass sing like Pavarotti, Stevie Wonder or Aretha Franklin. Expressiveness in your playing is what adds texture to a performance and separates good double bass playing from great playing.
What do you want to say when you play the bass? What story are you telling?
Techniques like sliding, variable vibrato, and hammer-ons make your playing more emotional for the listener. They make an important connection and bring the song to life. Just like a great vocal does.
Here are a few techniques from the video above that will make your bass playing more expressive.
Missy Raines Bass Lesson: Double Slap
Fans of the double bass love to hear the slap of the strings against the wood. In this sample bass lesson from the School of Bass with Missy Raines, Missy breaks down how to do a double slap.
The double slap is very similar to the single slap, which Missy also teaches in her double bass lessons. Read More
John Patitucci Bass Musicians Magazine Interview Part 2
Rick Suchow of Bass Musicians Magazine has published Part 2 of his interview with John Patitucci (click here for Part 1). John talks about playing bass with Wayne Shorter, starting off playing electric bass, recording projects, and more. Click on the image to read the whole interview and stay tuned for Part 3 coming next month!
Read More
Missy Raines Talks Music and Bass Lessons in New Interview
Missy Raines is interviewed by Jon Liebman in this new interview on For Bass Players Only. She talks about her early exposures to music and learning bass, her thoughts on other female bassists, teaching online bass lessons with ArtistWorks, and much more.
"I didn’t teach myself, really. I learned from those around me. I learned by listening and I picked up as much as I could. I did not study formally, though; I just played. I was a teenager and I just played all the time. I played with records and I played with other people. I would go to bluegrass festivals and spend hours and hours jamming with other musicians, mostly people my own age, so it was just that." - Missy Raines
Click here to read to read the full interview!
John Patitucci Interviewed About Online Bass Lessons
John Patitucci is on the cover of the new Bass Musician Magazine! In this in depth interview, Rick Suchow asks John about his online bass lessons and how it all came about, as well as his background teaching bass and where his passion comes from.
As the article states in the introduction, jazz bass is becoming more and more popular - and with that has come more and jazz bass teachers. As Rick Suchow writes, "When it comes to jazz bass, few are more known, more inspiring and more worthy than John Patitucci."
Indeed, which is why we're so honored to have him teaching bass lessons online at ArtistWorks. Because just as the article states: "If you have the opportunity to study jazz with John Patitucci, why in the world would you ever want or need to go elsewhere?"
This is just Part 1 of a two part interview with John, so click here to read the first installment courtesy of Bass Musican Magazine!
John Patitucci is on the cover of the new Bass Musician Magazine! In this in depth interview, Rick Suchow asks John about his online bass lessons and how it all came about, as well as his background teaching bass and where his passion comes from.
As the article states in the introduction, jazz bass is becoming more and more popular - and with that has come more and jazz bass teachers. As Rick Suchow writes, "When it comes to jazz bass, few are more known, more inspiring and more worthy than John Patitucci."
Indeed, which is why we're so honored to have him teaching bass lessons online at ArtistWorks. Because just as the article states: "If you have the opportunity to study jazz with John Patitucci, why in the world would you ever want or need to go elsewhere?"
This is just Part 1 of a two part interview with John, so click here to read the first installment courtesy of Bass Musican Magazine!
John Patitucci Talks Music and Bass Lessons
There's a great in-depth interview with John Patitucci on All About Jazz. He's asked about his definition of jazz, acoustic vs. electric bass, as well as working with musicians like Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, and McCoy Tyner. John also talks about how he became involved doing online bass lessons with ArtistWorks, and how it compares to his prior experience teaching bass.
"I thought that it was very interesting to have a situation where people could study with you from anywhere in the world, in a way that was more complete and just so well thought out: the idea about creating a community with the knowledge of bass and creating not only a little academy where they can study bass with someone that they wanted to study with, who also had a particular view point, but also the students would get to know each other, too, and share the experiences and what they learned from it, and benefit from each other's questions. I have been teaching all my life, but not like this. This is a different concept because of the way that it is set up, being able to send a [video] to me, and I am able to film the response as well; all the answers are posted on the site, together with the questions, and anybody who belongs to the site can look at them any time." - John Patitucci
Read the full interview on All About Jazz
There's a great in-depth interview with John Patitucci on All About Jazz. He's asked about his definition of jazz, acoustic vs. electric bass, as well as working with musicians like Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, and McCoy Tyner. John also talks about how he became involved doing online bass lessons with ArtistWorks, and how it compares to his prior experience teaching bass.
"I thought that it was very interesting to have a situation where people could study with you from anywhere in the world, in a way that was more complete and just so well thought out: the idea about creating a community with the knowledge of bass and creating not only a little academy where they can study bass with someone that they wanted to study with, who also had a particular view point, but also the students would get to know each other, too, and share the experiences and what they learned from it, and benefit from each other's questions. I have been teaching all my life, but not like this. This is a different concept because of the way that it is set up, being able to send a [video] to me, and I am able to film the response as well; all the answers are posted on the site, together with the questions, and anybody who belongs to the site can look at them any time." - John Patitucci
Read the full interview on All About Jazz
Beginner Guide to Jazz Bass Mastery with John Patitucci
Practicing music at home is nice but things really become fun when you play music and jam with others. Jazz bass teacher and Grammy award-winner John Patitucci sits down at the ArtistWorks studios to talk with jazz drummer Brian Blade (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones) and pianist Jon Cowherd (Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter) about what they look for in a jazz bass player.
Lee Sklar Vouches for Nathan’s Bass Lessons
Lee Sklar stopped by our booth at Bass Player Live to say some nice words about Nathan's "reform school" (aka bass lessons).
Read More