Janek, my biggest headache on the bass is dealing with string noise. I can't seem to play a song and not get a string doing background vocals. How do you do it? Your playing seems void of that. Can you give me exact instructions so I can copy your technique?
And what year were you in St. Lucia? I'm sure I'll be there for next year's 'fest. I'll sure give you a tour.
Cheers Jan

hi,

well a it's a case of sincronizing your left and right hands, making sure they're working all the time to avoid noise. Some of my playing is done with the side of my right hand across the strings, picking with my thumb and fingers. commonly known as palm-muting. when I'm not using this technique, I make sure that my thumb is resting on the botom string on the right hand, and that the fingers on my left hand, when not fretting a note, are paralel with the frets and are muting the strings that aren't in use.

The best way to get comfortable with this is to start off slow, with basic scales and excercises. making sure there's no noise between notes if that's the sound you're going for. A lot of noise comes from poor basic technique, and people trying to play things too fast without having worked on them slowly first.

And as for St. Lucia!! I was last there in 2003 and played on both the Pigeon island Main stage at the closing of the festival and in a square. I forget the name of the place in the square. I'm working on bringing my group out to the festival in 2007, so keep checking the myspace page for updates and tour schedule.

Easy,

Janek

Thanks Janek,
I got the point. And you mentioned starting bpm 40.. Off I go!
That was Derick Walcott square. Man I played those venues too in the late '90s Jazz Fest. I miss home.
Thanks again for the info.
Jazz

What about some detail on that right-hand technique of yours. It seems complex (or better said, it allows you to run some complex lines). Can you give me an exercise to work on?