best bass guitar clinic ever!

[paradigm_shift]

...So what was the best bass guitar clinic you've ever been to? Who was it? And why was it so good?

[Way Off Bass]

The one where I got to play victor wootens yin yang 4 string

he said i was a good bassist

[GM60466]

Jack Casady at the Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. The best week you'll ever have with your bass. You will learn things about bass playing you never even thought of before.

G

[gweimer]

Billy Sheehan at the old Mars Music in Cincinnati. Not only was he funny as hell, but watching him up close is just amazing. With all that comes out of his bass, it's all done with very minimal movement. He's got a finger dedicated to each string. He talked about having to take a leak off the side of the stage mid-song, and then showed us how he combined the bass and sax parts for "21st Century Schizoid Man" when he was in Talas. He's also easy to approach and talk to.

[Bobbo 77"]

Órale,
It was WOOOOOOTEN! At Electric City music in Kaukanna, WI.
His Bro Regi and drummer J.D. Blair were there also. Clinic, and concert later that evening! Sat in front and was ready to sell my gear.....

[Hoover]

Jeff Berlin at Berklee College of Music in 1980, and then again in 1981. Both times he was informative, insightful, personable, and not the least bit overly-opinionated. Must've been early in his career!

In the first clinic he talked a lot about his gig with the Bruford quartet, about what a luxury it was to be in a band where the bassist essentially has carte blanch...also about how bassists need to be present during the mix or you'll never get well-represented on a recording (he claims that the basic rhythm tracks for Patrick Moraz' i were some of the most smoking grooves he'd ever heard much less played on...but then when he heard the final mix he was like "***? Where's Jeff? Where's Alphonse? Where's the freakin' piano even? Buried under a ton of percussion & synth overdubs." When Bruford mixed Gradually Going Tornado Jeff was in the control room, & it's the only album by that band where the bass is really thumpin'.

The second clinic was even more fascinating: He told a story about how he never knew how to really swing until he started hanging out & playing jazz with Mike Stern. He said "I used to play walking basslines like this..." and he started demonstrating what sounded like a perfectly decent walking line over Autumn Leaves "...but Mike said I needed to make it go like this..." and he keeps playing but something, something completely unidentifiable and subtle on the molecular level changes, and the entire room just lights up because now that walking line feels so freakin' good. I'd give my right nut to learn what it was that Mike told Jeff about swinging.

[JTE]

Jeff Berlin at a local music store (seminar co-sponsored by Dean Guitars, and Dean Z himself was there in all his aged '80s glory). Jeff was funny, much more personable in real life than he comes across in print, and he TAUGHT stuff. It wasn't a chops fest, although he did display some of his formidable skills. He got people out of the audience to play stuff he was demonstrating. He also addressed openly some of the more provactive statements he's made, including the infamous "all fretless players sound like Jaco" bit.

The main thing is his untiring assertion that there are no secrets to playing music, that the knowledge is out there and it takes hard work to acheive success.

jte

[Bassman7PM]

Adam Nitti at Bass Club Chicago. Just watching him warm up was a clinic all its own, what an amazing player and nice guy. He talked a lot about thinking musically and getting out of the rut by using different voicings, soloing, understanding the relationship between scales/modes/chord and really knowing the neck and adding muscle memory. Would love to see hm again.

[Lobster11]

Camp MMW 2008. Not really a "bass clinic," apart from a couple of bass-specific workshops by Chris (and parallel drums and keyboards workshops by Billy and John). Five days of musical bliss with master classes, ensemble exercises, band performances, and three astounding musicians. Oh, and Steven Bernstein. And Marc Ribot. Oh yeah, John Scofield too.

It was great for countless reasons, but I guess tops would be that the whole thing was about music writ large, from composition to improvisation to, um, doing the dishes (really). Everyone came away as a completely transformed musician, whatever instrument they played. Also, the band are all really nice guys, super-smart, hilarious, and, most important, great teachers.

This was the inaugural year for the camp, and everybody including the band was so happy about how it turned out that it looks like it will be an annual event. Start saving your pennies....

[GregDunn]

Hey - someone else who has been to FPR. I agree - Jack was very helpful the weekend I was there.

Due to some confusion when I emailed in my reservation, I thought I signed up for the beginner's class. Imagine my shock when, half way through the first session, he shared some sheet music with us that said "master class". When I caught up with him after the session, Jack wasn't a bit put off. "You'll be fine," he said, and smiled. I didn't feel fine!

But that incident proved to me that he really could reach out to novices and help them. I sure came up to speed fast that weekend! And he kindly offered to set up my Pbass to make it a little easier to play. He even had some kind words for me at the end of the clinic.

Some other friends have also been to the FPR bass clinics and all have good stories about them. Don't know if I'll ever be able to afford to go again, but that was the weekend of a lifetime.

[Eminor3rd]

I'm about to go see the Manring clinic at Bass Club Chicago right now, I'll let you know how it goes

[GregDunn]

Michael is an awesome bassist. We saw him at a small club with Michael Hedges in 1996. What a night...

[Twistad]

It's a tie between Victor Wooten and Janek Gwizdala, both were super cool guys and seemed really into it.

[NickBass81]

The best clinic I've seen until now was the lesson we took with Rocco Prestia and David Garibaldi a few years ago, where they explained some "groove secrets" and how to play some TOP classics...God, what a groove monsters!!
Plus Rocco had a really BIG sound...

[JimK]

Wow...another vote here for Jeff Berlin.
This was in one of our local music stores, circa 1983?
...and one(1) bomb woulda eliminated ALL of my competition in this area.

Anyway, very informative...and his stories were as good as his playing!

[NickBass81]

Damn, I'd like to see a Jeff Berlin clinic when he'll come again in Italy, I see many of you guys reccommend them, plus I super-like the way he plays...I got also his old instructional video, very funny but also full of interesting things....

[DGbass70]

I've been to 3 clinics.....2 guitar clinics and 1 bass clinic.
The bass clinic was with Tony Franklin,he was very informative and very easy going.
Monster sound and a very relaxed atmosphere.