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What I learned from a week at Berklee
- Thread starter DanielleMuscato
- Start date
+100 Just the odds of becoming a "Rock Star" are so slim. Look at the hundreds if not thousands of players out there trying to make it, and few make it a every year. Then of those the ones that last beyond a one or two albums are a handful. Then to still be playing and people listening to you a decade not many, especially bass players.
Now Funk players odds are a little better because Funk/dance music is popular with both males and females so there is more work on the circuit. just look at TV and the old bands that appear mainly R&B, Funk, and Pop. When was the last you saw and old Metal band on TV?
Jazz is a world of its own and old Jazz players hang in there and keep performing and teaching until they transition. Many end up moving to Europe, because there is more work for them there.
And let's not forget to add how the record business is in the toilet and not getting any better. Good points to mention, Steve.
Wow, this is a great thread! Thankyou.
I had a friend who got me onto bass and used to be able to listen to basslines once or twice, then play them! One of my goals is to vastly improve my playing by ear to emulate this skill best I can.
After ten years of self taught playing, I am getting my first bass lesson next week! After reading this thread, it looks like I have a lot of reference material to get me started applying what I learn.
Again, thanks!
I had a friend who got me onto bass and used to be able to listen to basslines once or twice, then play them! One of my goals is to vastly improve my playing by ear to emulate this skill best I can.
After ten years of self taught playing, I am getting my first bass lesson next week! After reading this thread, it looks like I have a lot of reference material to get me started applying what I learn.
Again, thanks!
Dave, you rinformation is excellent! I'm sure we'd all like more pearls of wisdom from your Berklee experience.
Great thread, Dave, thanks.
Looking forward to seeing a further update and more pearls of wisdom.
Walnut
Looking forward to seeing a further update and more pearls of wisdom.
Walnut
- Jun 19, 2004
- 4,782
- 83
- 42
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist, Schroeder Cabinets
Hey folks,
I thought I'd add a little more, then!
Jim Stinnett & Shane Allessio, during a clinic about Paul Chambers' work with Miles Davis, drove home a very important point: Practice is *the* key to being good. It seems so simple, but so many players neglect this. Shane, who is 20, was assisting Jim (Berklee faculty) for this clinic, performing the Paul Chambers examples. The clinic involved performing note-for-note transcriptions of Paul Chambers' solos.
Someone asked Shane how much he practices, and Jim stepped in and said, "Shane, I'm going to rephrase that question a bit. Do you practice more than 2 hours a day?"
Shane said, "Yes."
Jim said, "Do you practice more than 3 hours a day?"
Shane grinned a little and said, "Yup."
Jim asked, "Do you practice more than 5 hours a day?"
Shane said, "Yes, I do."
Then Jim asked, "Shane, how much do you practice?"
And Shane said, "I practice between 7-8 hours a day [on upright]."
The audience was a bit taken aback, but Jim said something I will never forget:
"Folks, we need to stop the clinic here for a second so I can go over something very important with you. What Shane does is not unusual for someone who wants to play at a professional level. This is what it takes to be an expert at something - anything. Practice is how you get better, and how you maintain your level once you're there. If you're not willing to practice several hours every day, you need to seriously consider if music is the right career for you."
Since I've gotten back from Berklee, I've been practicing at least 2 hours a day, although I want to practice more than that. Realizing how important practice is really made a difference to me. I've noticed some great improvements in my playing just in the last two weeks.
Bruce Gertz had some great advice about walking. He first said that walking is the foundation of a LOT of bass lines, and that the ability to walk well is one of the most important (if not the most important) things for a bassist to have.
He also said that walking is one of the easiest things to learn, and that it just takes practice and a little knowledge of theory. Walking is basically a combination of three things:
- Walking up or down scales (scalar approach)
- Walking up or down arpeggios
- Walking chromatically (approach notes)
Another piece of advice was to use chord tones on the 1 & 3. Apparently, you can play whatever you want on the 2 & 4 and it doesn't really matter, as long as you come "home" to a chord tone on the 1st and 3rd downbeats, the brain will fill in the rest. To walk well, you need to know some chord theory, and modes & inversions. Bruce stressed that knowing the modes is as important as knowing scales, and that if you don't know the locations of all the scale degrees up & down the neck in all the modes, that's a good place to start.
Again, though, the overriding piece of advice was to groove and not worry about "getting house" (flashy stuff). The bassist's job is to groove.
I gotta run, but I'll post more soon.
- Dave
I thought I'd add a little more, then!
Jim Stinnett & Shane Allessio, during a clinic about Paul Chambers' work with Miles Davis, drove home a very important point: Practice is *the* key to being good. It seems so simple, but so many players neglect this. Shane, who is 20, was assisting Jim (Berklee faculty) for this clinic, performing the Paul Chambers examples. The clinic involved performing note-for-note transcriptions of Paul Chambers' solos.
Someone asked Shane how much he practices, and Jim stepped in and said, "Shane, I'm going to rephrase that question a bit. Do you practice more than 2 hours a day?"
Shane said, "Yes."
Jim said, "Do you practice more than 3 hours a day?"
Shane grinned a little and said, "Yup."
Jim asked, "Do you practice more than 5 hours a day?"
Shane said, "Yes, I do."
Then Jim asked, "Shane, how much do you practice?"
And Shane said, "I practice between 7-8 hours a day [on upright]."
The audience was a bit taken aback, but Jim said something I will never forget:
"Folks, we need to stop the clinic here for a second so I can go over something very important with you. What Shane does is not unusual for someone who wants to play at a professional level. This is what it takes to be an expert at something - anything. Practice is how you get better, and how you maintain your level once you're there. If you're not willing to practice several hours every day, you need to seriously consider if music is the right career for you."
Since I've gotten back from Berklee, I've been practicing at least 2 hours a day, although I want to practice more than that. Realizing how important practice is really made a difference to me. I've noticed some great improvements in my playing just in the last two weeks.
Bruce Gertz had some great advice about walking. He first said that walking is the foundation of a LOT of bass lines, and that the ability to walk well is one of the most important (if not the most important) things for a bassist to have.
He also said that walking is one of the easiest things to learn, and that it just takes practice and a little knowledge of theory. Walking is basically a combination of three things:
- Walking up or down scales (scalar approach)
- Walking up or down arpeggios
- Walking chromatically (approach notes)
Another piece of advice was to use chord tones on the 1 & 3. Apparently, you can play whatever you want on the 2 & 4 and it doesn't really matter, as long as you come "home" to a chord tone on the 1st and 3rd downbeats, the brain will fill in the rest. To walk well, you need to know some chord theory, and modes & inversions. Bruce stressed that knowing the modes is as important as knowing scales, and that if you don't know the locations of all the scale degrees up & down the neck in all the modes, that's a good place to start.
Again, though, the overriding piece of advice was to groove and not worry about "getting house" (flashy stuff). The bassist's job is to groove.
I gotta run, but I'll post more soon.
- Dave
Thanks for the post. I play in a rock and country cover band. Only been playing again for a year and a half or so. Pretty much everything I play is quarter or eigth notes. That's where my skill level is at and to my ears that what the song needs to help push it along and keep em dancing. But I was just beginning to wonder if it was enough.
- Jun 19, 2004
- 4,782
- 83
- 42
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist, Schroeder Cabinets
Here's a little more:
I asked Ron Mahdi, who plays primarily jazz DB, if studying upright would be useful to an electric player. He said that being proficient at both would make you more valuable as a session player, and that upright players generally gain stamina and speed on electric as a result of the physical difficulties of playing on upright. However, he said, "If you want to play electric, spend your time playing electric." I thought that was interesting.
He also said that the role of the bass, again, is to provide the pulse, and also added that the role of the bass is to outline the chord [in jazz].
Ron said that it's important to take good physical care of your instrument. A bass will sound and play better if you clean it after you play it, keep the fingerboard oiled, the strings clean, etc.
Ron also said something funny that I thought I'd share. He said no matter what happens, the bass needs to keep going. The bass drives the band, and to quote Ron, "When's the last time you saw a bus go in reverse?"... Busses go forward!
He recommended practicing technique in front of a mirror. Your wrists should be straight and loose, and your body relaxed. Your fingers should have a gentle arch, and your fret-hand thumb should be near the edge of the neck, so that your fretting-hand fingers have the best reach (arc) over and across all the strings. This also allows you to spread your fingers further apart with control (dexterity). He said technique is very important, and that maintaining good technique from the very beginning is the best way to play difficult passages later on.
He said that "your sound is like how you dress," in that it's your own, and you shouldn't try to copy someone else, or you won't feel comfortable subconsciously. You should intrinsically "know" your tone, and when you hear it, you'll play better, and sound better to yourself and to everyone else. You shouldn't compromise your tone in any situation, whether recording or performing.
Ron recommended practicing with a metronome and working on making the metronome "groove." If you can swing with a metronome, you've got rhythm.
He also said something funny that I wanted to pass along: When a younger (16 or so) audience member asked him about playing 16th notes [rather than the 1/4 notes he recommended bassist stick with], he said, "When you're older, you'll find that a massage goes a long way."
He said he warms up with scales, arpeggios, and 7th-chord permutations, preferably with a metronome.
I'll add more later!
- Dave
I asked Ron Mahdi, who plays primarily jazz DB, if studying upright would be useful to an electric player. He said that being proficient at both would make you more valuable as a session player, and that upright players generally gain stamina and speed on electric as a result of the physical difficulties of playing on upright. However, he said, "If you want to play electric, spend your time playing electric." I thought that was interesting.
He also said that the role of the bass, again, is to provide the pulse, and also added that the role of the bass is to outline the chord [in jazz].
Ron said that it's important to take good physical care of your instrument. A bass will sound and play better if you clean it after you play it, keep the fingerboard oiled, the strings clean, etc.
Ron also said something funny that I thought I'd share. He said no matter what happens, the bass needs to keep going. The bass drives the band, and to quote Ron, "When's the last time you saw a bus go in reverse?"... Busses go forward!
He recommended practicing technique in front of a mirror. Your wrists should be straight and loose, and your body relaxed. Your fingers should have a gentle arch, and your fret-hand thumb should be near the edge of the neck, so that your fretting-hand fingers have the best reach (arc) over and across all the strings. This also allows you to spread your fingers further apart with control (dexterity). He said technique is very important, and that maintaining good technique from the very beginning is the best way to play difficult passages later on.
He said that "your sound is like how you dress," in that it's your own, and you shouldn't try to copy someone else, or you won't feel comfortable subconsciously. You should intrinsically "know" your tone, and when you hear it, you'll play better, and sound better to yourself and to everyone else. You shouldn't compromise your tone in any situation, whether recording or performing.
Ron recommended practicing with a metronome and working on making the metronome "groove." If you can swing with a metronome, you've got rhythm.
He also said something funny that I wanted to pass along: When a younger (16 or so) audience member asked him about playing 16th notes [rather than the 1/4 notes he recommended bassist stick with], he said, "When you're older, you'll find that a massage goes a long way."
He said he warms up with scales, arpeggios, and 7th-chord permutations, preferably with a metronome.
I'll add more later!
- Dave
I can't keep up with this info but please, keep it coming I'm taking notes!!
And I am conflicted between learning by ear now and ripping artists off
And I am conflicted between learning by ear now and ripping artists off
Great post Dave!! Thanks!
I am a fledging bassist myself of 1 year (after 16 years on keys) and am all about playing 1/4 and 1/8 notes in the rock cover band I'm in and holding down the groove and keeping time!
I always feel 'inadequate' at <insert music store here> when checking out basses or rigs because right now my skill level I only play 1/4 or 1/8 note lines. Meanwhile everyone else is playing chords or slapping or leads on a 6 string, etc.
Feels good to know that the pros emphasize the basics (no pun intended)!
I am a fledging bassist myself of 1 year (after 16 years on keys) and am all about playing 1/4 and 1/8 notes in the rock cover band I'm in and holding down the groove and keeping time!
I always feel 'inadequate' at <insert music store here> when checking out basses or rigs because right now my skill level I only play 1/4 or 1/8 note lines. Meanwhile everyone else is playing chords or slapping or leads on a 6 string, etc.
Feels good to know that the pros emphasize the basics (no pun intended)!
??
You probably meant "Plantation Lullabies" which is her first record, there is no think as a Me'shell self titled album.
Thanks for the info, and I hope you enjoyed your experience @ Berklee.
It is funny, the best two bass teachers I had in my life gave me that exact same advise.
Thanks for a great thread and for sharing all this valuable information.
funny that you mention the basslines deal, i actually attend berklee right now and get all of the advice listed above at least once a week. i am currently working on making lead sheets for a lot (about 6) Sting songs, talk about simplicity from a rock/pop star. it's all about the song, all about the song. i think pino pallidino mentioned that in an interview with bassplayer mag... at least i could see him saying that.
one thing i'm not too sure if it was mentioned but another thing i have learned is that it is important to have an understanding of melody. to do so i've been encouraged to transcribe guitar and horn solos (miles, not necessarily coltrane). this has really pushed my understanding of melody.
my private instructor here, Dave Clark, told me a solo only needs to speak to the people in the room. it's not about the 320 bpm descending triplet line over 3 octaves that people will understand.
one thing i'm not too sure if it was mentioned but another thing i have learned is that it is important to have an understanding of melody. to do so i've been encouraged to transcribe guitar and horn solos (miles, not necessarily coltrane). this has really pushed my understanding of melody.
my private instructor here, Dave Clark, told me a solo only needs to speak to the people in the room. it's not about the 320 bpm descending triplet line over 3 octaves that people will understand.
