Listen to your teacher!

[Dr. Cheese]

I have been back taking lessons for a few years, and I have made progress, but my teacher kept telling me I needed to clean up my technique like being strictly finger per fret and consistently using a two finger plucking technique. To be honest, I thought I was consistently using two fingers, but my teacher kept pointing out when I raked. I he stayed on me about it for a while, and I thought I had gotten better. I know he stopped talking about it so much.

My problem is that I love a lot of uptempo sixteenth note grooves, but I never nailed many of them as well as I wanted to. Tuesday, we started working on the old Weather a Report tune, River People. As most of you know, the line itself is pretty simple octaves played a brisk pace, but Jaco genuinely sounds like a sequencer in how consistent and steady his time is. My teacher told me, that I really had to buckle down and hold my self accountable for consistency in my technique. He said play right now at tempo along with me. I was breaking down by the third measure. After two and a half years, I finally got the message, getting better at reading theory is good. But I can't do what I hear in my head until I get my technique together.

Oh well, I guess I have the Guiness World record for the musician who has been a novice the longest!

Here is my teacher on his highest profile gig:

 

[dreamadream99]

teacher kept pointing out when I raked

If, by "raked," you mean letting the finger that played the last note slide down and play the next note on the lower string, this is not bad technique. In fact, it is conservational and efficient. It is actually harder to switch to the other finger on descending adjacent strings.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

If, by "raked," you mean letting the finger that played the last note slide down and play the next note on the lower string, this is not bad technique. In fact, it is conservational and efficient. It is actually harder to switch to the other finger on descending adjacent strings.

I know what you mean. I know Scott from Scott's Bass Lessons has said raking is a key to his speed.

 

[Spin Doctor]

I know what you mean. I know Scott from Scott's Bass Lessons has said raking is a key to his speed.

I saw that lesson where he talked about raking and I tried doing it since I thought it would make life a little easier. He only rakes in certain situations, but when I tried it, it actually slowed me down. I do rake sometimes, but it's a very rare thing and I don't think about it much when it happens.

I've been working on alternating since day one, so I guess there's no point in my unlearning it, lol.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I saw that lesson where he talked about raking and I tried doing it since I thought it would make life a little easier. He only rakes in certain situations, but when I tried it, it actually slowed me down. I do rake sometimes, but it's a very rare thing and I don't think about it much when it happens.

I've been working on alternating since day one, so I guess there's no point in my unlearning it, lol.

The main thing my teacher stresses is being consistent with my technique. I am doing River People super slow to work on consistency.

 

[Spin Doctor]

...My teacher told me, that I really had to buckle down and hold my self accountable for consistency in my technique. He said play right now at tempo along with me. I was breaking down by the third measure.

Are you working with a metronome? Not wanting to start some kind of debate on that, but I've noticed that in some of your vids, your time shifts around quite a bit.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Are you working with a metronome? Not wanting to start some kind of debate on that, but I've noticed that in some of your vids, your time shifts around quite a bit.

You sound like my teacher, and I am using a metronome! Time is a weakness of mine. I can lock in when I am in an ensemble, but I drift on my own. I guess James Genus and Will Lee don't have to worry about me taking away any gigs in NYC!

 

[Spin Doctor]

You sound like my teacher, and I am using a metronome! Time is a weakness of mine. I can lock in when I am in an ensemble, but I drift on my own. I guess James Genus and Will Lee don't have to worry about me taking away any gigs in NYC!

It helps when somebody busts our chops a bit, so we can get it in gear. I remember the day I resolved to really focus on my time. I was playing a gig one day and after the first set, my drummer basically told me my time was sucking. We play jazz, so I don't always have the luxury of leaning on the drummer for the time. A lot of people don't realize that in jazz, the bass is the time keeper in a lot of cases.

Anyway, I was a little salty about what he said, but he was right. And I buckled down and got it together. I thanked him later.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

It helps when somebody busts our chops a bit, so we can get it in gear. I remember the day I resolved to really focus on my time. I was playing a gig one day and after the first set, my drummer basically told me my time was sucking. We play jazz, so I don't always have the luxury of leaning on the drummer for the time. A lot of people don't realize that in jazz, the bass is the time keeper in a lot of cases.

Anyway, I was a little salty about what he said, but he was right. And I buckled down and got it together. I thanked him later.

My teacher is a Jazz guy, and he stresses that often the bass, and not the drums are the time keeper. My great hurdle to overcome is that for years, I was mainly a bedroom bassist. As my teacher said, in the bedroom, playing with records or CD's, if your time is off, there is somebody great on the recording keeping it locked down.