Charles says it all here:
Big Jim is the man.
Big Jim is the man.
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Jim Stinnett
- Thread starter Geepers
- Start date
Like Thomas Edison said, genius is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.
I feel compelled to do my bit to keep Jim’s legacy alive because he’s been such a huge figure in my musical journey. Check out his fantastic playing in the last half of this video. I hope people continue to leave comments on his videos and buy his books to make sure his teachings live on.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WysCguDIXME
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WysCguDIXME
I purchased a couple of his books years ago. I was hoping to get up to one of his weekend instructional gatherings up in NH. Unfortunately I dragged my feet and never got around to it. He was a great teacher!
I read something by a Hungarian violin virtuoso who said “everything is easy or impossible”. It took me a while to figure out what she meant. She meant that the answer to ANY musical problem - even the “impossible” ones - is to simply break it down into smaller and smaller pieces until it’s actually easy - and then gradually ramp things up from there.
This is the essence of Jim’s teaching too (and what Charles Berthoud is talking about in the video above). It takes humility, courage even … the courage to admit to yourself that you need to go right back to “beginner” status at times to “get” something. I notice this very much with drumming. I’ve been playing for a long time and have good limb independence until suddenly I come across what seems like the simplest thing but my brain refuses it and I have to break it WAY down and plod away at it for a while like a complete beginner. Then, once the brain has had a chance to “look” at the problem (that’s how I choose to visualise it) the solution often comes quite quickly (but not always!).
Jim constantly reinforces this exact same message in all his videos. The key is that he delights in the simple just as much as the complex. He is truly a musician’s musician. He just loves MUSIC - every aspect of it - and that is totally infectious. He’s just a great old school teacher IMO in an industry that has become a confusing minefield for the unwary.
If you haven’t spent much time in Jim’s Real Bass Lessons (YouTube) I encourage you to check it out. Where to start? Real Bass Lessons #230 where he teaches a Ray Brown blues bass line. It’s a great line but more important are all the profound things he says in between the actual teaching. I re-watch that particular episode regularly just for the comments. Recommended!
Here it is:
This is the essence of Jim’s teaching too (and what Charles Berthoud is talking about in the video above). It takes humility, courage even … the courage to admit to yourself that you need to go right back to “beginner” status at times to “get” something. I notice this very much with drumming. I’ve been playing for a long time and have good limb independence until suddenly I come across what seems like the simplest thing but my brain refuses it and I have to break it WAY down and plod away at it for a while like a complete beginner. Then, once the brain has had a chance to “look” at the problem (that’s how I choose to visualise it) the solution often comes quite quickly (but not always!).
Jim constantly reinforces this exact same message in all his videos. The key is that he delights in the simple just as much as the complex. He is truly a musician’s musician. He just loves MUSIC - every aspect of it - and that is totally infectious. He’s just a great old school teacher IMO in an industry that has become a confusing minefield for the unwary.
If you haven’t spent much time in Jim’s Real Bass Lessons (YouTube) I encourage you to check it out. Where to start? Real Bass Lessons #230 where he teaches a Ray Brown blues bass line. It’s a great line but more important are all the profound things he says in between the actual teaching. I re-watch that particular episode regularly just for the comments. Recommended!
Here it is:
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Jim was one in a million. Great player, great teacher. But his greatest contribution was teaching how to teach.
RIP Sir.
RIP Sir.
One of my favorite Jim-isms: “Don’t practice improvising, practice the PHRASES you will need when improvising”. And to support this approach he quotes Duke Ellington: “there’s nothing so well rehearsed as an improvised solo!” Jim was able to see through the BS and give students (ie all of us) what actually matters.
Favorite Jim-ism #2: When students asked him how long they should practice, Jim would reply “until you love it.” He talks a lot in his videos about the importance of repetition in order to really own a piece. He would tap his head and say “we’re not talking about getting it in here, we’re talking about getting it in HERE!” (patting his chest). Most people, he said, underestimate just how many hours of repetition that involves. “The amateur practices something until they get it right, the professional practices it until they can’t get it wrong”. So much timeless wisdom scattered throughout his Real Bass Lessons videos.
Favorite Jim-ism #3: “I’ve never really found the need to teach advanced walking. In my experience, once students become really well drilled in the basics - ie roots, thirds, fifths and half-steps - their ears take over and they start improvising themselves.”
Favorite Jim-ism #4: Getting better at music was a pretty straightforward equation for Jim: you find what you can’t do and repeat it over and over until you can. “I was never as talented as others” he says “but I still did OK because I was willing to OUTWORK others. When you play something for people they don’t say ‘Jim, that was good but it took you hundreds of hours’. No, they just say ‘Jim, that was GOOD!’ “
Favorite Jim-ism #5:
“People would sometimes say to me ‘Jim, give us the tab’ and I would say ‘What? Why? You have me playing it in front of you, you can see what I’m doing with your eyes, you can hear what I’m doing with your ears … you can even rewind the video over and over if you want to! Why would you want to see it written down as some marks on a bit of paper?”
This went to the heart of Jim’s message that at the end of the day music is an aural enterprise not an intellectual one. He had a deep understanding of the theory but insisted it never “get in front of the music”.
Love your work Jim!
“People would sometimes say to me ‘Jim, give us the tab’ and I would say ‘What? Why? You have me playing it in front of you, you can see what I’m doing with your eyes, you can hear what I’m doing with your ears … you can even rewind the video over and over if you want to! Why would you want to see it written down as some marks on a bit of paper?”
This went to the heart of Jim’s message that at the end of the day music is an aural enterprise not an intellectual one. He had a deep understanding of the theory but insisted it never “get in front of the music”.
Love your work Jim!
Jim books I’ve bought (and why):
Jazz Transcriptions
Classic bass lines and soloes taken from (or created by Jim in the style of) the greats. I accept Jim’s premise that playing these lines is the best way to “learn the jazz language”.
Sight Readjng Book 9: Jazz Blues Walking
This contains nothing but 1700+ measures of blues walking in different keys. That’s around 140 different ways to walk the blues! Great value in my estimation. And once again it’s “getting the jazz language in”.
Sight Reading Book 11: Rhythm Changes
As for book nine but this time focussing on the Rhythm Changes chord progression. Amazing value to get this much “language” for so little money!
On top of these I’ve also bought Reading Motown Bass (because Jim said “if you only buy one book buy this one … it will improve EVERYTHING about your playing!”) and Etudes: The Missing Link because I love etudes but especially the ones Jim writes. They are so musical as well as technique-enhancing.
All Jim’s books are available here:
SM book store
Jazz Transcriptions
Classic bass lines and soloes taken from (or created by Jim in the style of) the greats. I accept Jim’s premise that playing these lines is the best way to “learn the jazz language”.
Sight Readjng Book 9: Jazz Blues Walking
This contains nothing but 1700+ measures of blues walking in different keys. That’s around 140 different ways to walk the blues! Great value in my estimation. And once again it’s “getting the jazz language in”.
Sight Reading Book 11: Rhythm Changes
As for book nine but this time focussing on the Rhythm Changes chord progression. Amazing value to get this much “language” for so little money!
On top of these I’ve also bought Reading Motown Bass (because Jim said “if you only buy one book buy this one … it will improve EVERYTHING about your playing!”) and Etudes: The Missing Link because I love etudes but especially the ones Jim writes. They are so musical as well as technique-enhancing.
All Jim’s books are available here:
SM book store
Favorite Jim-ism #6:
“Never confuse ‘simple’ bass line with ‘easy’ bass line”.
I used to be guilty of this. Jim showed me that even the simplest lines take lots of reps to get really uniform and really solid. It was never beneath him to do that work. Good enough for Jim, good enough for me.
“Never confuse ‘simple’ bass line with ‘easy’ bass line”.
I used to be guilty of this. Jim showed me that even the simplest lines take lots of reps to get really uniform and really solid. It was never beneath him to do that work. Good enough for Jim, good enough for me.
Favorite Jim-ism #7:
“Sometimes people say ‘Jim, I’m getting bored playing these simple licks over and over’ and I say “well you’re playing the wrong instrument, man … this is what bass players DO!”
“Sometimes people say ‘Jim, I’m getting bored playing these simple licks over and over’ and I say “well you’re playing the wrong instrument, man … this is what bass players DO!”
I love Jim and Real Bass Lessons.
Every time someone here on TB asks about bass courses to buy online, I'm like, no need, and post a link to Real Bass Lessons. And what's weird?
The people asking rarely acknowledge the site or the value, but go on to complain about all the hoops they have to jump through to get the the real material on the flashy courses they buy.
I'm like, man, Jim puts it right there for you.
I've learned so much from his vids.
Every time someone here on TB asks about bass courses to buy online, I'm like, no need, and post a link to Real Bass Lessons. And what's weird?
The people asking rarely acknowledge the site or the value, but go on to complain about all the hoops they have to jump through to get the the real material on the flashy courses they buy.
I'm like, man, Jim puts it right there for you.
I've learned so much from his vids.
So true!! Jim’s videos have actually been life changing for me. He has cleared away the fog enabling me to see very clearly what I should be doing. Thanks for chipping in!
