I’m writing this as I’m about to go away on holiday, but having just finished a teaching session where I touched on the idea of using a piece of music (in this case Stevie Wonder’s ‘Do I Do’) as a long-term study piece (in this case as a way of building yourself technically) I thought this was a concept worth me expanding upon in an article for you all.

Study pieces are generally used for intensive work in a specific area of music or for specific personal reasons. These reasons are wide ranging; they can be used to push your technical limits on your instrument, to improve your skill at navigating through difficult harmony, to improve your aural and analytical skills or it could be a seminal piece of repertoire that you want to tick off on your checklist (something I very much recommend having) among others. The key point with study pieces is that they are somewhat beyond your current level of musical ability, these are not musical works that you’ll be able to nail down in a week or two.

The value in working on study pieces over an extended period is a multi-layered cake, and I’ll go through the main points and benefits here for you!

Technical proficiency

This is perhaps the most obvious one. Pieces like the Bach Cello Suites (sheet music available at IMSLP.org!), Jaco’s Donna Lee or Teen Town or more recently Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick or perhaps Vulfpeck’s Dean Town are all used by players looking to work on their technical prowess and push themselves beyond what they’re currently capable of. One of the benefits of doing this is that your regular selection of repertoire will begin to seem that much easier to navigate, and your ‘B’ game (when you’re not at your absolute best) will also elevate as your ‘A’ game improves. One point of caution with this is not treating these pieces as pure technical drills. Having the raw technique to play them along with a click is one thing, having the skill and technique to make music out of them is another thing entirely. This means having the technical capacity to make musical choices even with hard music, so once you can get through the piece from a purely technical standpoint…then the musical work begins! Don’t neglect that!

Harmonic proficiency

Improving your harmonic awareness and your skill at fretboard navigation are ALWAYS worthy goals to have. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be blasting your way through Giant Steps. That’s certainly something of a harmonic benchmark, but it could be that you’re just at the point of being able to navigate a basic ii-V-I progression, in which case you might want to be considering working through something like All The Things You Are or Autumn Leaves. If we move away from the world of Jazz, you might want to consider tunes like Steve Wonder’s ‘My Cherie Amour’ or perhaps doing a harmonic analysis of some of the other, more complex, Motown tunes! The key thing with harmonic work is to start with your basics and more specifically, to be examining them from all angles! You’re good with root position triads around All The Things You Are? Now try those same triads in first and second inversion, then try all the inversions with different permutations, before you move to any other harmonic devices. Always see if there is another angle to explore with a given piece of harmonic information before you decide to move on!!

Seminal Repertoire

All genres of music have their pieces of seminal/essential repertoire, in other words those pieces/tunes that you should know and have in your locker if you want to understand the music. Within Jazz for example, you need to have Rhythm Changes down, you need to have Autumn Leaves, Footprints, So What, All The Things You Are, All Blues and various other essential standards down. Within Progressive Rock you’ll want to be aiming to have Money (Pink Floyd), Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas), Tom Sawyer (Rush), Roundabout (Yes) in the locker. If you’re into Motown that means tunes like My Girl, I Want You Back, Higher And Higher, Heatwave, Heard It Through The Grapevine…every genre has its staples! If you’re serious about wanting to dive into a particular area, I absolutely recommend making yourself a checklist of those tunes you want to have down and starting to work through it. As above, you want to make sure you’re covering all the angles with these. Sound, phrasing, note lengths, note placements, articulation, these are all aspects of the music that you should be paying really close attention to in order to understand the music (and the bass playing!) at a deeper level. The notes are one thing, how they are played is a very different thing. Take your time with this, endeavour to fully understand what it is that makes the music great and fully explore what you can get out of the music before you tick the box and move on.

Breaking Through Plateaus

Improving your skill level is never a linear process (much though we might wish otherwise!), we will often hit little plateaus where we feel a little stuck and that we’re not getting any better. Programming a study piece into your practice routine is an excellent way to break through these, because they take you down a deep rabbit hole that will really push you musically, which (as with work in the gym) will often break through a particular ceiling that is frustrating you. They also add some variety into your routine which often gives the brain chance to fully process the information you’ve been trying to take in from elsewhere in your practice.

Aural And Analytical Skills

Doing an in-depth analysis on a piece of music you love is a fantastic way to not only improve your skill but also to better understand yourself in a musical sense. We all have our own likes and dislikes within music, but we don’t always take the time to understand why that might be, and this is something which can not only help you understand yourself but also fast track you to developing more of your own ideas. Harmonic analysis is the obvious candidate here but rhythmic analysis (particularly of bass lines) is also a rich seam of inspiration you can tap into! Different rhythmic concepts produce different results within the music, which you can then transfer into your own lines so analysing music where the music is very different rhythmically to what you are used to can provide a real catalyst for fresh ideas of your own! Having and maintaining that curiosity is perhaps a topic for a separate article but always be guided and fueled by that feeling of ‘that’s cool, I have no idea what is going on but I want to find out!’.

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Teaching Yourself Patience

Patience is something I find most of us need to work on a little. In today’s world there is more (of everything) available to us almost immediately than at any time in history. You want food? You can get it delivered to your door almost any time of the day or night. You want to know a fact? You have the power of the internet right there on your smart phone. Music is, however, one of the things in our lives where there is no shortcut. You must have the patience and tenacity to do the work and working on study pieces is an excellent way of teaching yourself to be patient, because the only way you will achieve anything with them is through patience, practice and tenacity. It’s been found that people that go to the gym are more patient because they come to realise that results there only come with patience, sweat and trusting the process. The exact same thing applies here. Through working on large scale works like the Cello suites, or something that is well beyond your technical level of facility and pushing yourself to be better than you currently are, you’ll not only appreciate the process and feel a real sense of achievement when you get there, you’ll also have a more patient approach to things, something which, as a parent, is absolutely invaluable.

Hopefully you’ve gotten some ideas from this article for some potential study pieces of your own, I honestly feel they are an incredibly valuable area of practice to spend time on. If you’re going down this route do let me know in the comments what you’re going to be working on! Me personally? I’m recording this in a couple of months, so once i’m home from Portugal/Spain, this will be spending a LOT of time on the workbench!

Maintaining focus, staying motivated and avoiding burnout…these are a few things I get asked about by students and while there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this, something that I find almost always works for me is reconnecting with some of the music that inspired me as a played when I was younger, because reconnecting with that almost always gives me a charge and re-stokes the motivational fire to get better!

This is something I’ve fallen back on recently myself (I get tired and semi-burned out as easily as the next person) and as it happens, the band I’ve been reconnecting with is Dream Theater. John Myung (as some of you might already know) was one of my key musical influences in my formative years as a bass players and was (along with Anthony Jackson and John Patitucci), one of my key motivations in switching to a 6-string bass as my primary instrument.

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I’ve been preparing the song ‘Scarred’ (from the Awake record) for a recording session where I’m also going to be filming a whole stack of new lessons for you all, and as part of my prep to record a complete take of that tune I’ve been getting myself back into the DT headspace and musical mindset, somewhere I’ve not really been for quite some time. I mentioned this to a good friend of mine while we were rehearsing for an upcoming classical project, and he hipped me to the fact that all the original demo tracks from the Falling Into Infinity record had now been released. The only one of those I was familiar with was Raise The Knife (which they played on the Score live DVD) and there were other tracks on there I’d never heard before in any form, as well as totally different arrangements of songs that made it onto the record, as well as the demo version of Metropolis Pt.2 that I never thought I’d see on an official DT release (thank you Inside Out!).

In listening to these old songs, I was really taken back to what it was that I love about Dream Theater’s music from that era, when they were a genuine progressive band as opposed to the metal band that writes long songs that they have now become. That’s not throwing shade at them per se, it’s more that their music and writing has morphed and gone to a place that I don’t care to follow, which is fine. Bands and the music change as much as people change! The music they wrote between 1986 and 2002 occupies a very special place in my heart, and listening to these demos took me right back to the headspace of discovering it for the first time (which in a way, I was doing all over again!). The music has texture, melody, some monster chops, unison and counterpoint ideas, harmonic interest, space for all the instruments and some of John Myung’s very best and most creative bass work allied to production that gives the sense of the music existing ‘in a space’ as opposed to having John Petrucci’s guitar cabinets an inch from the side of my head the way DT records are recorded and mixed these days. There is also a real sense of fresh ideas and artistic vision and wanting to go on a musical journey rather than endlessly working a given idea. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes of listening time!

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Reconnecting with all this over the space of several days really helped to chase away the musical fatigue that I’ve been feeling over the last week or so. Preparing to record 4 tunes and almost 20 lessons has been a lot, but some musical reconnection really helped to blow out the cobwebs and recharge the musical batteries. Practice is less taxing, ideas come to me more easily and things generally feel less ‘stale’, so if this is resonating with you, I would absolutely recommend throwing on some of the records that first inspired you to play music and sitting for an hour or so and just taking the music in again.

This might feel a little counter intuitive (as I mentioned in the Listen First. Practice Second) article, but as with the gym sometimes the work we do away from the instrument is as important as the work we do with it. It’s incredibly easy to get completely submerged in the stuff you are working on (as I have absolutely been the last couple of days) but it’s absolutely crucial that you occasionally come up for air and keep in touch with the musical roots and keep them fresh and healthy.

Hope you’re all keeping well, staying inspired and as always leave your thoughts and comments below! :)

Hope you’re all well! In this article I want to talk about how important listening is to us as musicians, and the importance of listening as part of the learning process.

When we talk about improving as musicians our thoughts often turn immediately to practice: time spent with the instrument, 10000hrs, getting more vocabulary under the fingers…but we sometimes forget and/or neglect the listening part of the process and in many ways that listening is as important as having the instrument in your hands when it comes to making progress.

Listening is what made us love music in the first place!

It might sound like an incredibly obvious place to begin, but it’s important to sometimes touch base with what made us want to play in the first place…the love of the music! I sometimes see students asking about maintaining motivation and how do you keep motivated to practice and my honest answer is staying in regular touch with music that inspires me, music that piques my curiosity and makes me want to pick up the bass and play!

I would imagine that most of you will have a commute to work, commute to do the weekly shop, have things to get done around the house…these are all excellent times to actively check in with the music that inspires you, whatever that may be! Actively work to keep that music in your daily life and your motivation to grab the bass when you have the time will most likely tick up!

Listening = Learning

Listening is how we take in and make sense of musical information in way that we can actually action when we come to play. We can see the information on a piece of paper, and we can understand it in theoretical terms but if we want to be able to use it on command, we need to know how these concepts all interact sonically.

Take the modes for example. You can understand what Lydian is in a theoretical sense, but have you heard what Lydian sounds like in context? Likewise with Dorian, have you listened to music that is built around Dorian? Both of those modes represent very different sonic characters. It’s one thing to know what they look like on paper, another to know what they sound like when they are interacting with harmony.

Likewise with rhythmic ideas. It’s one thing to understand what a 3:2 clave looks like on paper, have you listened for the clave within latin music? Or some of the polyrhythmic ideas you find within modern progressive metal? You might know what they look like notated, do you know them when you hear them?

You want to learn language? You HAVE to listen to it

Music and language are often compared and while there are definite differences that have been written about elsewhere, immersion in language is considered one of the most effective ways to learn it, because you are exposed to the sounds, the rhythms and the phrasing of that particular language.

The exact same thing is true within music and I feel this is something we sometimes lose sight of in our quest to learn and improve. We’re very concerned with the technicalities, but if we are not hearing them in context, how can we possibly use them effectively?

The long and short of it is, if you’re looking to get good at playing salsa, you need to surround yourself with salsa music. You want to master progressive rock? How much progressive rock are you actually listening to? I’ve had several quite surprising conversations with musicians recently where they are busy learning to play a particular style of music but they are spending no time at all actually listening to it! I see this particularly within jazz, people want to learn to play walking bass but are not listening to the great masters of it, the likes of Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Scott LaFaro, Jimmy Garrison, Ron Carter. Which brings me to something I feel quite strongly about…

Are you playing the music you actually enjoy?

This might sound like a daft question, but when I’ve asked people if they listen to the music they are working on I’m surprised at how often musicians answer negative. Now, I agree that some music does make for excellent academic study (Jazz being a good case in point) but if you’re really not into jazz and want to learn more about harmony…why not go and transcribe some Stevie Wonder? My Cherie Amour for example is a fantastic study piece if you want to learn more about harmony, my point being that there is jazz-adjacent music you can work on if jazz really isn’t your thing…and if you’re really not wanting to play it and are going to resent every minute you have to spend studying it? You’re going to wind up in an unhealthy place absolutely dreading the time you spend with the instrument. Find music that will give you that academic study you want, but that will also enable you to enjoy the learning/playing process at the same time! You don’t want to listen to, play or work on the music? Find something else. You’ll find that your practice becomes that much more fun and enjoyable when you do!!

Hopefully some of this is resonating with you and inspires you to listen to more of the music that you love! Above all, listening to music is fun…something that we sometimes lose sight of in our quest to learn. It never hurts to remember that :)

On that note, here are a couple of things that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying listening to recently!

Alive - Meshuggah

The Meshuggah gig I went to in 2014 remains one of the loudest and certainly the most aggressive shows i’ve ever been to, it was a physical experience as much as anything else! The Alive album captures their music spectacularly well in a live setting and is often my go-to when the world (and my inability to change it decisively) becomes a little much. I’ve also (thanks to mr Anthony Muthurajah) become very interested in the rhythmic quality of their music. I’ve linked to New Millenium Cyanide Christ because this is my go-to track on this record.

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Convergence - Bjorn Meyer

At the polar opposite end of the aggression spectrum is Bjorn Meyer’s new solo record, Convergence. Bjorn is my current favourite bass player and the way he manipulates rhythm, melody, harmony and texture is mesmerising to me, something i’m actively trying to develop myself. And the sounds he produces from his bass?….the quality of the recorded bass sound is stunning and further confirms ECMs commitment to recording excellence. It’s possible i’ve already found my ‘Record Of 2026’. Gravity was the first single released but I heartily recommend the entire record (available now via ECM!)

Ghost In The Machine (The Police)

This was sparked by my current interest in overhauling and developing my rhythmic awareness. Sting is one of the most interesting bass players rhythmically in the world of mainstream music and this particular record is a real education in how you can use rhythm to create awesome bass parts!

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas period, ate the good food, drank the good drink and made merry! I had a week away with the extended family in Poland (hence my recent solo performance was in a totally different ambience, I WISH that fire was in our house…) and took a couple of days to recharge the batteries. Next up, 2026...

Which brings me to something you see everywhere at this time of year…new year’s resolutions, transformations, New Year – New You…all of that, and I’m sure that some of you are very familiar with intending on the new year being ‘the’ year where you crush everything…sound familiar?

What then often tends to happen is that you stay with it for a little while and then fall off the train (been there and done that). Why? Because instead of making an incremental change to our habits, we’ve gone for the seismic shift and are trying to change things wholesale. These changes are too much too quickly and you aren’t giving yourself the opportunity to bake them into your routine in a way that makes them permanent as opposed to a temporary shift.

As such, something I would encourage you all to do is think of 2026 as evolution rather than revolution. Think of it as tweaking what you are already doing rather than altering it wholesale. I’m going to expand on this within the context of music but it’s equally applicable to fitness, eating habits, hobbies…actually, any change you want to make within your life!

Within music, there are all sorts of things you can do to move the dial with your progress, but before you look at what you want to do differently I would invite you to consider the following first…

What went well in 2025? What did you learn that you’re pleased about? What did you accomplish that you’re proud of? What changed within your playing that moved you forward?

Get those positives on the board before you look at any alteration, because this way you have it clear in your head what has been a success and can be further reinforced! Then you can start looking at what you might look to shift and evolve.

Practice

A lot of musicians I speak to talk about practicing more, and yes, ultimately there is no substitute for time spent with the instrument…but something you can also consider is making your practice more efficient. When you sit down with the instrument, do you have it clear in your mind what needs work within your playing? Do you have any notes/tempos/roadblocks from your last session written down? If not, make that an evolution of your practice routine so that you’re maximising the productivity of the time you have before you start looking at trying to allocate more time (because god knows we lead busy lives). Extract everything you can from the time you are already spending with the instrument!

If you do want to dedicate more time, I reiterate evolution rather than revolution. Build slowly over time rather than trying to make a seismic shift, so aim to practice perhaps an additional 10mins per practice day as a starting point and see how that goes for 60-90 days and if you’re successful, then re-evaluate and build from there! Keep in mind that quality, focused practice beats sheer quantity.

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Motivation vs Discipline

Motivation is often misunderstood because people feel that it’s a state of mind that you need for improvement. What we’re actually talking about most of the time is discipline, showing up when things don’t go exactly according to plan and getting the work done, because if we really do want to get better, we have to show up and do the thing when we are not necessarily in the mood. A quote from a favourite powerlifting coach of mine always come back to me – “The distance between good and great is how hard you are prepared to push when the going gets tough, when you’re sore and don’t feel like doing the work”. I’m not saying that you must practice through a migraine or anything like that, but don’t shy away from the work. Which leads me to motivation! There are many things you can do to keep your motivation, including getting out and seeing some great live music, discovering new music (be that here with me or elsewhere) and checking back into the records that motivated you to play in first place! Which brings me neatly to…

Listening more

We (understandably) get very absorbed with the idea of practice and learning but honestly…one of the things I’m personally going to be looking to do is spending a little time each day (starting with 10mins) actively listening to some music, and by that I mean on my own, in my studio with no other distractions. No phone, no bass, no notifications…just me and the music. I did this recently with Bjorn Meyers new single ‘Gravity’ from his upcoming solo record Convergence (ECM) and sitting there absorbing the music reconnected me with everything I love about Bjorn’s playing and writing. Sound, melody, time, mood…it was an immersive experience and one I’m very keen to have more of throughout 2026. Listening is also one of the most important things to be doing if you are looking to significantly change your playing in the new year. You want to work on your jazz chops? You need to listen to a LOT of jazz. You want to get some fills together? You need to be listening out for those new ideas you want to emulate. You’re not feeling particularly motivated? Get out the records that made you want to play bass in the first place, turn off your phone and computer and reconnect with them. The listening is as important as the playing and is something we should all be striving to do more of! I look forward to sharing my discoveries with you throughout 2026!

For now, thank you again to all of you that have subscribed and come on this journey with me. I appreciate you all very, very much!

Here’s to 2026! Do let me know what your personal goals and ambitions are in the comments below.

Ben

2025…it’s been quite the year. Some of it has been good, some of it has been much less than good, but there is an awful lot for me to be grateful for and a LOT for me to take away and think about going into 2026.

One of the biggest positives is this: my Substack! And upfront I’d like to say a very sincere thank you to each one of you that come along and subscribed, it means a great deal to me and inspires me to keep improving: to transcribe more, to write more and to create better lessons for you. I appreciate you all very much!

Another huge positive was the start of my weekly live group class, and I’d like to say another big thank you to any of you that took part in any of the teaching blocks throughout the year. Whether you came for a single block or you’ve been an ever present, your contributions to the group were seen and very much appreciated! I’ve lots of plans for topics, themes and bass lines for us to dive into in 2026 and I’ll be spending a significant part of the Christmas period working on those.

Generally speaking, 2025 has been a richly musical year for me. While I haven’t gigged as much as I have in previous years, I’ve practiced more, I’ve listened more and I’ve discovered more in this calendar year than in any year since I graduated in 2012. I’m also finding myself in a position where I feel that I have a solid idea for what some original instrumental music of my own might look and sound like, and a key target for me in 2026 is going to be to write, record and release some music of my own. I’ve got various musicians in mind for the project and I’ll be spending some of the downtime between now and new year working on little sketches, going through voice notes and little clips I’ve recorded on my computer to start filtering out ideas that I feel are strong enough that they could be developed into something more….I’m sure I’ll be documenting some of this process for you in due course!

In general, I’m feeling that I want to get far more involved in playing live music again next year. I have an exciting project in the pipeline with a good friend from university that would see us record and play some classical works in solo, duo and trio formats which would give me an excuse to work up some new classical pieces I’ve had on my ‘to-do’ list for some time now and actually play them in concert rather than just as video projects! This will demand a new level of fluidity and familiarity with the repertoire but it’s a challenge I’m very much looking forward to.

I’d like to leave you with some of my favourite records from 2025, they haven’t necessarily been released this year (though some have!) but they have been real sources of enjoyment, inspiration and calm in what has been an at times turbulent period

Holon (Nik Bartsch’s RONIN)

Nik Bartsch wasn’t a new discovery, I was introduced to him by my good friend Rob Thorpe when he invited me to a gig at Band On The Wall in Manchester but I’ve loved his music ever since that show. The Holon record (featuring one of my great influences, Bjorn Meyer, on bass) has been a real standout and Nik’s compositional style, built around repeating motifs and subtle harmonic and rhythmic variations so different to the traditional ‘Jazz standards’ you often hear has been really, really refreshing and will probably have an influence on my own music when it comes to fruition.

Favourite track – Modul 42

Other Things (Plini)

I had to include at least one Plini record in this list, he’s an artist that I’ve come to absolutely love because, to me, his work represents everything that I love about instrumental progressive music: Melody, harmony, dynamism, texture and (yes…), some real complexity. His music takes you on a journey, it tells stories, it isn’t just a showcase for his (eyewatering) facility on the guitar. This short record was one I discovered a little later and have listened to a LOT (my playthrough of the title track coming soon!)

Favourite track – Other Things

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Northern Star (Gabrielle Aplin)

I’ve been a fan of Gabrielle’s since I first heard the English Rain record back in 2012 (which will always occupy a spot in my list of favourite albums). This EP Northern Star goes back in many ways to that acoustic sound I love rather than the more produced pop sound of her recent work, and I adore hearing her voice with acoustic guitar. A real pool of calm in the more turbulent parts of the year

Favourite track – Magnolia

Flirting With Disaster (Pezhed)

Erica has been a friend of mine for several years now and I’ve been simultaneously astonished and inspired by her musical output! This was my favourite release of hers from 2025…I’d try and describe her music to you but I think it’s honestly best if you just go and listen and make up your own mind.

Favourite track – Heightened Levels Of Stress

That’s my 2025! Let me know about any highlights from your year in the comments!!

This article is both a heads up about Bandcamp Friday, which will be taking place this coming Friday (December 5^th 2025) and a little explainer as to why (I think) it’s so important for us to be financially supporting smaller independent artists.

Bandcamp Friday is where musical artists that have their work posted on the Bandcamp platform receive 100% of the revenue (minus processing frees), so Bandcamp are waiving their share. This became a thing during the pandemic as a measure to help artists that had lost income due to cancelled tours/gigs/sessions etc. and has continued ever since. As such, it is a perfect time for you to make purchases from your favourite artists and have them receive more money (continue reading to see what I’ve got in my own basket for this Friday!) which in turn will not only help them with their day-to-day expenses but also…to create more great art.

Why are events like this important? Initiatives like Bandcamp Friday, that put money in the pockets of artists and creators rather than in the pockets of entities such as Spotify are what is going to enable smaller creators to continue to do what they do. A lot of the interesting things that are going on within the arts are now happening away from the mainstream and the most effective way to help the artists in this category is to buy their music, get their merch and buy their gig tickets. In other words, make that meaningful financial contribution to what they are doing artistically. As Steve Lawson pointed out in a post he shared on his IG story recently, buying $50 worth of music/merch will make no difference whatsoever to the major labels but it will make a very significant contribution to the independent artist’s costs for the next week/month. The cost of living is not getting any cheaper, touring is not getting any easier and you should never underestimate just how much difference you can make to an artist’s life with your purchases!

The rise of AI generated music only increases the importance of us actually investing in real music. While one hopes that the industry won’t descend into a black pit of AI generated mediocrity (I have my doubts…), one of the most immediate and impactful ways for us to combat that is to invest in the real musicians, the ones that are putting in the hours, the ones that are invested in their craft, the ones that are making great art and presenting it to us out there, on stage in the real world.

The times where ‘Like, Comment, Subscribe’ would get people traction and make a difference feel like they are very much over. So…If we want great art, if we want something other than an endless algorithmic cycle of AI slop, if we want the great musicians out there to continue to do what they are doing…it’s time for us, the fans, to front up and to contribute.

Soapbox over, here’s what’s currently in my basket for Bandcamp Friday!!

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Simple. Vol.1 (Jonathan Maron/Kenny Allen)

Jonathan Maron is playing bass. Enough said…no really, Jonathan is one of my favourite players and an absolute gem of a human being to boot. For those of you that haven’t checked him out I absolutely recommend you do so, he will be included in an upcoming series of player profiles I’m working on! This is the first release from his new collaboration with singer/songwriter Kenny Allen and I’m looking forward to more music from them!!

Live From The Couch (Bjorn Meyer)

Bjorn is one of my chief current influences, specifically when it comes to unaccompanied solo bass (a concept for which I’m really trying to nail down for myself at present). His sound, vocabulary and ability to tell stories with the instrument is just amazing.

Neither You Nor I (Garden Of Silence)

As with Jonathan, anything that Bjorn is playing on I’m going to want to check out. I was aware of this project but hadn’t realised that it had come to fruition. This record has its origins in the artistic vision of the late harpist and composer Asita Hamidi, whose vision Bjorn has continued and brought to life as artistic director with an extraordinary nine piece ensemble…Rather than try and attach a genre/description to this, I would urge you to go and discover it for yourself.

Ego (David Maxim Micic)

The cool thing about Bandcamp is that you can make lots of amazing discoveries there without having a bullshit algorithm pushing stuff at you. This is a very recent one that I found via Plini whose music (for those that don’t know me well) I absolutely adore. Through looking at related/comparable artists I found some names that were brand new to me, including David’s and I proceeded down the rabbit hole! Completely different style of player to Plini but no less interesting with some wonderful soundscape design! If you’re into the world of modern progressive music I very much recommend this release!

Flirting With Disaster (Pezhed)

I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Erica several times (including the record Watch This Space). Not only that she was one of the very first people to support me with getting BassWithBen off the ground and it’s long past time I reciprocated. Her compositional output it absolutely mind bending, and this record in particular has been a recent standout for me! She is also one of those rare people that can be a genuine one-man-band and has the audacity to sound exactly like herself in doing so ;)

That’s everything for now, though I’m sure something else may ‘accidentally’ end up in the basket before Friday ;)

Remember folks. Support independent artists. Support those whose work you love and admire. It matters.

This is the first of what will be a monthly series highlighting some of my favourite musical resources I’ve been using recently!

Shedspace

If you’re looking for an app/site to properly organise your practice and keep all your online practice resources in one place, I absolutely recommend checking out ShedSpace! I’ve recently swapped from using my notes app on macbook to using Shedspace to keep track of all my practice items as well as notes on how the vaious parts of my practice routine are progressing!

It includes a built-in metronome, practice timer, the ability to create practice plans/items and a personal library of resources you can add to! Very much recommended regardless of what instrument you play!!

https://shedspaceapp.com/

The Improvisors Path (Damian Erskine)

This book is an old favourite and one I’ve started to work on seriously again now that the site is up and running! Damian Erksine is one of my favourite bass players – incredible vocabulary, funky as hell and groove for DAYs – but also one of my favourite educators, especially on the topic of improvisation because unlike most improvisation methods, it doesn’t approach it from a purely jazz perspective, something I really appreciate and have affinity with as I enjoy improvising but do not consider myself a jazz player. In this book Damian begins with the Major Scale, then looks at the modes (major and melodic/harmonic minor), chords, rhythm, improvisation and much more! Absolutely recommended if improvisation interests you but the jazz methods have always spooked you somewhat!

https://damianerskine.com/bookstore/the-improvisors-path-book#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20study%20of,changes%2C%20fretboard%20awareness%20and%20more.

For those of you not familiar with his playing here’s a little clip of Damian playing some really tasty fretless lines with Gino Vanelli

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The SBL Groove Trainer

While I do mentor for SBL, the Groove Trainer is one of my favourite practice/teaching resources and one I use on what is more or less a daily basis. Building grooves using the drum loops especially has become a regular part of my own practice routine as part of an overall drive to write more music going into 2026!!

https://scottsbasslessons.com/groove-trainer

Feel free to share some of your own current musical resources in the comments below!!

Tags: music, learning, lessons, bass

I made a very conscious commitment at the start of the year - daily practice on the instrument, even if it was only 20 minutes. Have I managed every single day? No, but I’ve come quite close, and the result is a noticeable jump in my own fluidity across the bass neck. Another factor is making a commitment to maintain some basic harmony exercises within my routine, the result being that moving through chord changes has become noticeably smoother!

Consistency in our practice mirrors consistency in our daily lives. You work on any given thing on a daily basis with focus and intention, you will get better at it, especially if the work itself is focused and targeted on the things that will address weak points.

As I’ve already mentioned, there are several specific little exercises that I’ve steadily been working through throughout the year…

Let’s talk about the harmonic exercise first. I cannot remember exactly when/where I was first introduced to this exercise, but I note it in my practice diary as the ‘endless ii-V’, because it works round the cycle of 5ths in alternating minor 7 and dominant 7 chords. As such we start on Cm7 then move to F7, Bbm7 – Eb7, Abm7 – Db7 and so forth, until we end up back at Cm7 and then the cycle repeats (the pattern therefore being ii-V, ii-V, ii-V…). Initially you can work the exercise around the bass neck using a basic arpeggio shape for each chord that you know and can use immediately, but as you become more familiar you can start to experiment with how you can lay each arpeggio out on the bass neck and also how you shift around the bass neck (something that has really started to properly open up).

Initially I worked this using the basic 1-3-5-7 arpeggio (root position), but you can keep things interesting by systematically working through all the different permutations (1-3-5-7, 3-1-5-7, 5-1-3-7, 7-1-3-5 and so forth). The more permutations you work through and the longer you work on each, the more complete your understanding of each arpeggio, how it falls on the fingerboard and how you can navigate around the bass neck will become! You can then begin to mix the permutations up (e.g 1-3-5-7 on the minor 7, then 3-1-5-7 on the Dominant)…there really is no end point to this sort of work!! Literally 10 minutes of work per day on this exercise over an 8 month period will produce a real increase in harmonic fluidity!

I’m planning on filming a full tutorial on this exercise in the next couple of weeks which will make it live a little better for you all!

The exercise I’m using to stay ‘gig fit’ on what has been a quieter year for me when it comes to playing live is to program complete sets of between 60 and 90 minutes and play through them non-stop, standing up to get as close as I can to the experience being on a gig while still being in my home studio (this is essential if, like me, you practice seated all the time). I’ve been trying to do this at least twice a week since May when I played a gig and just didn’t feel as sharp as I should have done (despite working through the set lists) and it really helped me feel better going into the other gigs I did over the summer, the songs felt sharper and more natural and I needed to use my iPad a lot less than usual.

Here are a couple of example setlists I used, I personally use AnyTune to run through my sets but, much as I dislike Spotify, this is how I can make them available in the public domain.

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Set 1 is a list of Indie/Rock songs I play regularly with different bands. It’s in a very rough order to represent where things might fall in a set but it hasn’t been meticulously crafted as such!

Set 2 is a list of Soul/Pop/Motown tunes I’ve gotten called to play over the summer. Something I’ve also done with this set specifically is work on it using both my P bass and my Fodera, because I’ve needed to play these tunes using both these basses recently and as such I’ve needed get much more comfortable with playing them on the P, as it’s a very, very different bass to play.

I’ve also been programming in the actual sets bands have sent me and have done exactly the same thing. I’ve also been doing this very late at night because one of the by-products of becoming a father and my little one starting school is that I now wake up and go to bed significantly earlier than I used to, and if it’s going to be a late gig it can be useful to know if that is going to have an adverse affect that you can prepare for. These things all combined have really added to my overall feeling of consistent performance and feeling of ease when playing tunes and navigating the bass neck!

Hopefully some of you find this useful, feel free to drop your thoughts into the comments below!

Very few players have come along and completely changed the game on their instrument and there is no doubt that the father of the modern 6 string bass falls into that category, not just in the two additional strings he cajoled Carl Thompson into integrating into the electric bass but also his note choices, his phrasing, the delivery, note placement and an incredible time-feel all allied to an almost unique vocabulary on the electric bass that underpins so many incredible, timeless bass lines.

He also fully integrated the pick, fingers and thumb into his playing, along with envisaging the 6 string as a total instrument (rather than a 4 string with a couple of extra strings) and when you add in a sound that could support mountain ranges, you have a truly special player that massively expanded the expressive possibilities of the instrument. The first time I heard Anthony’s huge, piano-like sound, my musical world changed forever. I was fortunate enough to see Anthony play twice (both with Hiromi) and I left both gigs utterly speechless at what I’d heard and I’ve yet to hear bass playing that comes close.

For me (though I imagine he might take issue with the title), he was the greatest electric bass player ever. He was a singular voice with an unwavering commitment to artistry, to excellence, to have every note speak volumes no matter how big or small the note happened to be and to always be in service to the wider musical picture. His work (as with Jamerson) has a truly timeless quality to it, and his extensive discography will be inspiring musicians for generations to come. Whether it’s his classic picked line on The O’Jays “For The Love Of Money”, his longtime collaboration with Dominican pianist Michel Camilo (Triangulo and Rendevous are favourites of mine), the indelible mark he left on Chaka Khan’s first 3 records or his work with Hiromi’s Trio Project, Anthony has left a permanent marker for all of us within the bass world.

Below you will find some of my favourite Anthony Jackson moments, both live videos and studio recordings. I’ve also put together a playlist that covers a pretty wide range of the music he played (though I’m sure I’ve missed some great tracks), and I hope that this will give those of you less familiar with his a work a look at what I feel made him so, so special. I’m planning on doing deep dives into some of Anthony’s work, but that is for another time.

For now though you can check out a free transcription I just posted of Move Me No Mountain, from Chaka Khan’s Naughty Album.

May you Rest In Peace Anthony. Thank so much for the music, for the inspiration…for everything. You’re the greatest Maestro

Much love.

Ben

Hiromi Uehara – Delusion

Al Di Meola – Crusin

Michel Petrucciani – So What

Michel Camilo – Not Yet

Akiko Yano – Water Ways Flow Backward Again

Michel Camilo – From Within (Calle 54)

Spotify AJ Playlist -

Motivation - A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way. An internal state that directs goal-orientated behaviour.

Motivation is an extremely complex thing to unpick, and everyone’s motivations for practicing are different. Motivation can come from listening to particular music/players, it can come from enjoyment and curiosity, sometimes even from a desire to finally break through a particular plateau within your playing and various other places besides. The key thing to remember with motivation is that it is a largely temporary state of being. Motivations wane over time; sometimes they fade entirely, sometimes they change and perhaps morph into something else. We can often go into something really motivated and driven to succeed, but once the true scale of the task/challenge becomes apparent, the motivation will dwindle and the ‘I can’t do that’ or ‘that’s too tough’ mindset will kick in. This is why (I feel) motivation is something that A) can’t really be taught and B ) is something that you need to both find within yourself and continuously refresh over time. This could be through listening to the players that inspire you, keeping a written list of your primary goals as a player (and keeping it easily visible!), going to see some great live music on a regular basis and so on and so forth...

The real key once you are motivated though is ...

Discipline - To train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way

Discipline is the real key to maintaining your consistent improvement once you are motivated, because the one of the differences between ‘good’ and ‘great’ is maintaining your focus and path even when the motivation to do so is absent. The greatest athletes are the ones that show up and get the work done on the track/in the pool/in the gym even when they would rather be somewhere else, and it’s exactly the same situation with us as musicians. There are days where you won’t be particularly motivated to pick up the bass and put the work in, but those are the days where not only is it important to show up, but also the days where you will feel the best about having shown up and done the work!

Some key strategies for maintaining discipline are as follows ...

A Practice Log

For me a practice log is a key component of maintaining discipline and focus. Through your log you can not only keep track of what you are working on, you can easily see how you are progressing, whether or not anything has been neglected recently and what your overall work level is looking like. Remember, the loftier the goal, the greater the time input required to reach it, and your practice log will give you a very honest look at what your input is looking like over time.

Building A Proper Practice Routine

Routine and discipline go hand in hand, and the better your level of organisation when approaching your practice, the easier it will be to maintain your level of consistency and discipline because your workflow will be that much better! For the full details on building a practice routine, take a look at my previous article

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Time

Habits take time to internalise. There are various articles out there that talk about how long a habit can take to ingrain, but whatever level you are shooting for as a bass player, you are going to need time to formalise your new practice habits. The overall accepted average seems to be between 60 and 90 days (2-3 months) but other studies have put the figure at much longer than that, depending on what the habit is that you are trying to form so don’t think that you’re done and dusted after 90 days. Check in with yourself on a regular basis, look at your practice log and make an honest assessment at the end of each month as to how you feel you are doing and whether you feel you are putting in the time you need to.

Build Yourself Up!!

However motivated you are, don’t try to make huge sudden jumps with your practice, whether it be the amount of time you are spending each day, big tempo jumps etc. Suddenly making huge step changes is an excellent way to set yourself up for failure because they will be far harder to maintain. If you’ve been practicing for an hour per day, don’t suddenly say “new year, new me. 3 hrs a day is the target!”. That’s a 200% increase you are shooting for and the chances are you will miss your target within the first 10 days, never mind the first 60. Start by adding an extra 30 minutes per day (which is a healthy 50% increase on your previous average!) and aim to maintain that for 60-90 days. Once you’ve hit that, then think about adding in an additional 30 minutes and see how you do over the next 60-90 days. Take small incremental steps, not huge immediate increases, and simply aim to do a little bit more &/or better each day than you did yesterday.

Patience

More than anything else, always remember to be patient with yourself and with the process. We’re not running a race here and as Scott often says, you need to be in the mindset of playing the long game, not shooting for short term gains. Be patient with yourself, accept that some goals need a lot of time and work to achieve and focus on doing the work each day.

Above all remember to have fun with what you are doing!!

As always if you have any thoughts or comments, please leave them below!!

Let’s start with the Do’s

Over-prepare

In a musical sense, this is one of the things most likely to get you called back for a gig, either as a sideman or as a complete band.

If you’re working as a sideman and you think you’ve got it, then prepare a little more. Spend some extra time listening to the music you will be playing, double check that your setlist is in the correct order, make sure that everything is in the correct key if you are using charts, that you know what the arrangements are and what the starts and endings are going to be (those are the two things that often get neglected and they are the thing that your audience will actually notice, are the band starting and ending tunes together). If you’re not using charts, run the sets multiple times cold (no prior practice on that day) to make sure you really have everything down, and practice the sets at the time of day you’re actually going to be playing! You’re a morning person but you have to play a set at midnight? Your mental sharpness will be reduced, and you need to account for that.

For a whole band, make sure you are comprehensively rehearsed and know exactly what is happening in every song you are playing. The slicker your presentation and performance, the more likely you will be to get repeat gigs! If you are using tech (such as lights or tracks) make sure you have had multiple tech rehearsals with EVERYTHING you will be using and make sure you know how to troubleshoot things if they go wrong. Know all the gear you will be using inside and out, keep a full written list of what you need with you and make any extra notes necessary so that you have all your ducks in a row ahead of time. For example, if you’re using IEMs, make physical notes about who is using which monitor channel, what they need in their ears and at what levels. If you’re using tracks and a click, try and test it with different PA systems so you know what you need to be sending to the FOH engineer so that you have complete confidence that your tech will always work the way you want it to. Having notes can do a LOT to prevent confusion and uncertainty at the venue, especially if you’re on a multi-band gig and have limited time to get set up.

Scheduling

In short, do not be late. To quote Janek Gwizdala, “the latest you should be is on time”, be that for the lobby call, load in or soundcheck. As Nick mentioned in his seminar, being late is one sure-fire way to really annoy everybody else on the gig, and that includes the band leader, sound engineer, tour manager (if you’re touring) and everyone else that showed up when they were supposed to. It’s disrespectful, it disrupts the schedule for the day (especially if you have flights/buses/trains to catch) and for the bandleader/tour manager it adds a lot of extra unnecessary stress. If you’re driving to the gig, build in extra time to account for any stops/traffic you might hit, and if you have to take public transport do yourself a favour and take an earlier bus or train. In other words, play things safe and don’t leave them to the last minute; you will reduce your own stress levels and those of your bandmates! Make sure you have your load in and soundcheck times clear at least a couple of days before, and if necessary, set alarms on your phone to make sure you leave in plenty of time because your arrival is when you are going to make your first impression.

Courtesy

Courtesy and politeness go a very long way, and in today’s world they are something people really remember. You have a FOH/monitor engineer? Get their names as soon as you start soundcheck and remember them (write them down or save them on a note in your phone if need be). They are the key to your music being well presented so treat them with respect! You’re the bandleader on a wedding gig? Make sure you have the event organiser’s name and the names of the couple. These may sound like basic things, but they make communication a great deal easier, it shows them that you care, and it can prevent some really embarrassing gaffes (especially if you are on the mic ... announcing the wrong names for the couple for their first dance is extremely embarrassing).

This also goes for the rest of the band you’re working with. In an ideal situation you will all get along swimmingly but sometimes you will need to be in proximity with musicians that just grate on your nerves. This isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault per se, I’m sure there are people whose nerves I grate on, but if you can at least keep things civil and courteous whenever you need to be around each other, the happier everyone will be (no one likes being in a band with endless drama), doubly so if you are on tour and need to be on buses/trains/planes together for significant travel time.

Get Your Information Straight In Advance!

I cannot emphasise this point strongly enough. Make sure you have all the necessary information you need well in advance of the gig, and this goes for anyone freelancing or any of you that are playing in bands. Make sure you have the venue address, that you know what the parking situation is going to be when you get there, a full list of what gear you will need to bring (if in doubt double check with the venue/MD/Promoter), what the pay is (if applicable) and if yes whether or not it is a flat fee or if you are charging for expenses on top of that, what the dress code is going to be, whether or not you have a green room and what sort of food and drink rider you are going to have. For the sake of covering yourself (doubly so if it involves money), make sure you have this information IN WRITING, DO NOT RELY ON VOICE NOTES OR PHONE CONVERSATIONS. As Nick pointed out, there are individuals out there that will be more than happy to exploit you, so make sure you have done your homework and have your expectations straight before you get there. You turn up and there are no drum shells waiting? If you have it in writing that there are supposed to be shells there and the drummer was only supposed to bring breakables, that is then the venue/promoter’s issue to solve.

Now let’s look at some don’ts ...

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Winging It

The other side of being over prepared musically is not preparing enough. There is no quicker way to having a disastrous gig and, if you’re a freelancer, being blacklisted and never called again (stories like that also do the rounds in musical circles, so you can do your reputation a great deal of harm). A little confidence in your own abilities is always a good thing but not preparing properly is not only a really bad look for you personally, it’s also hugely disrespectful to the musicians who have put the work in and learned the tunes properly. Don’t be ‘that guy’ in the green room asking - “what are the changes to this one again?”.

Bringing your issues with you

This is one of the biggest things that puts people off working with someone again, when they constantly bring their day-to-day issues with them to the gig. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you can be in a tough situation in your private life but letting that bleed into the green room or onto the bandstand isn’t a good idea. If your bandmates are your best friends then sure, you might want to discuss it with them, but otherwise it can be uncomfortable for everyone else when someone is unloading their issues in the green room right before you go on stage. This can take some mental discipline, but if possible, leave your issues in the car when you arrive at the gig and get yourself into the gig mindset. In many ways gigging can act as a tension release valve if you can really get into the music, so think of it as something positive you can be doing with your time!!

Badmouthing The Gig

The long and short of this? If you don’t want to be on the gig (for whatever reason), don’t take it. You’ve taken the gig? Don’t sit in the green room complaining about it to the rest of the band, YOU made the choice to be there (this ties in with getting the info in advance). There are many bass players/bands out there that will be more than happy to be where you are and out playing, and if you’re sitting there badmouthing the gig (whether it be the repertoire, the pay, the client, the conditions), remember the phrase ‘walls have ears’. MD’s won’t rehire people that are constantly whinging, it gives them a people-management headache they don’t want, and it will eventually grate on the rest of the band. Ditto for gig promoters. They want people that are going to be team players, not people/bands that are going to cause trouble. If the conditions on the gig mirror what you signed up for, don’t complain. If they don’t then have a private conversation with the person that hired you and have them get things sorted.

Socially

The hang is a complex issue and is one I will admit I sometimes misjudge. There are topics that I really enjoy talking about and before you know it, I’ve turned into a wind-up toy monkey that doesn’t know when to stop talking. It’s something I’m actively working on improving though, and this is one of those things where reading social cues is important (like I said, I’m working on it!). If you’re new to the band or there are some people you’ve never worked with before, don’t do things like lead in with your list of playing/recording credits or, as Nick mentioned, immediately try to aggressively network for more playing opportunities. There may be a time and a place for that if the gig goes well and they are obviously interested in working with you again but don’t turn into your own hype machine; let your preparedness and your playing do the bulk of the talking.

Don’t Be A Doormat

This ties directly in with not being exploited. Don’t allow yourself to be pressured into situations that you are uncomfortable with. When you are first coming through, sometimes you will be taking gigs that are less than ideal (no pay/no food etc.) but once you are starting to build a good reputation and establish yourself, you need to decide what your standards are on gigs. This could mean certain venues that you do/don’t want to play at, a certain minimum rate of pay, certain promoters you do/don’t want to work with, what your minimum gig conditions are and most importantly the players you want to work with, but have your red lines/convictions sorted out in your head and stick to them because this will make you a much happier musician in the long run. For me that often involves the distances I’m being asked to drive; anything above 3hrs and I ask to be put up overnight. This is because as I’ve gotten older (not that I’m old, I’m 35 ) I don’t recover as well from red-eyeing home and getting in at 4-5am. Another is factor is now that I’m a father, getting home and having little to no rest and then getting snappy with my daughter when I get woken up at 8am is completely unfair on her. As such, if I’m getting in any later than 3am the people I’m working with need to put me up in a Travelodge overnight so I can get some sleep after the gig and then head home first thing in the morning. My process is that I lay this out very clearly in writing for anyone wanting me to do those gigs, in unambiguous but polite terms. If they are fine with it then I ask them to set up the reservation for me in advance and forward the booking details via email so I know I’m covered, if not then I tell them politely but firmly that they will need to find someone else.

Now let’s talk about the red flags to look out for ...

Lack of Communication

This is one of the biggest and most common red flags for me when it comes to not taking gigs, people not communicating, because I like to have everything absolutely clear in my mind so I know what I’m getting myself into when I take a gig. This can involve total radio silence from the people organising, or it could mean little things like being vague on the conditions, the setlists, the rate of pay, whether expenses are included, load in times, what gear you need, the list is a long one. How I approach this is that if I’ve been booked well in advance, I want the details at least 3 weeks out from the gig so I can get my day (and my family’s day) arranged around what I need to do for the gig. If people are unresponsive within 3 emails and a phone call, I pull out of the gig and recommend a dep, because I’m not prepared to show up and be humiliated and/or be scrambling around to try to cover and make things happen. If I’m being asked to gig within 2 weeks, I want all the details then and there. I’m cool with things like arrival times being TBC because sometimes the event organiser is finalising details and sometimes load ins might need to be moved to happen at specific times, but things like the venue address (so I can gauge driving time/distance), the pay, dress code, equipment list, food/drink rider, the gig finishing time and who else is going to be on the gig are all details I need immediately so I can make an informed choice. If that information isn’t forthcoming, I don’t take it.

If you’re part of a band, all of the above still applies. If the promoter/organiser/pub landlord doesn’t have their stuff together and isn’t communicating promptly and clearly, think very seriously about whether or not you want to take the gig .... which leads me on to my next red flag ...

Do a little digging!!

Check up on who is running the gig, who the promoter is, what sort of rep they/the venue have, how well they run things and how they look after the bands on the roster!! Some people have a great reputation and look after/stand up for the musicians’ interests, some will shamelessly exploit you, some are well intentioned but couldn’t organise a drinking competition in a brewery. The more gigs you get under your belt and the more people you meet, the more you will get to know the good people from the chancers but try and do a little digging ahead of confirming you want to take the gig. This also goes for any touring you are being asked to do. I’ve not toured on anything like the same scale or level as Nick (my touring has all been in Europe), but there are basic indicators you can look for such as is the guy organising things really on top of getting you flight information, visa details (if required), making sure your personal documents are up to date (passport/driving license/medical certificates! - (remember Sput Searight not being able to record with Snarky Puppy because his documents weren’t in order?), any medicals you might need to have done, any medication YOU might need, any other paperwork that you might need (such as medical/travel/instrument insurance!), shuttles to/from the airport, where are you going to be staying, how are you travelling from gig to gig ... if you go on a tour, no matter how big or small, these are the details that matter so you don’t end up in either another city or a foreign country with nothing organised for you or in a really precarious situation at immigration if you get asked questions about the tour!

This also goes for freelancers. When you’re first coming through, you can’t be choosy about who you play with but as you work your way up the ladder, ask around about people/outfits you’re being asked to play with. Some are incredibly professional and a real joy to work with, but others can be an absolute nightmare, including drug problems, alcohol problems, personal problems, money problems ... the list goes on, but if you’re part of a large circle of musicians you can sometimes avoid horrendous situations by asking some of the people who might know something before you commit and find yourself right in the middle of them.

Hopefully this article resonates with some of you, and for those of you looking to get out there and gig it can perhaps help you with that process and give you some ideas of what to look for and what things to avoid!

As always if any of you have any questions, thoughts or comments please drop them below! For those of you starting out on the gig journey I wish you the very best of luck!!

In short, I always take my own food and drink with me to my gigs. Why? Because I’ve done enough gigs where the band isn’t properly looked after by the client/venue and playing 3-4 sets on nothing but bar snacks or sandwiches you’ve been able to dash out and buy isn’t an experience I recommend for any of you. I should say that sometimes you can be very well looked after on gigs, however sometimes the band is an afterthought and personally I’m much happier removing that as a variable and having control over that aspect of the day. Nothing worse than playing while hangry.

Let’s start with hydration, one of the most important (and often overlooked) elements on the gig because if you get dehydrated, you’re not going to be able to play well. Something that I always make sure I have in the car with me is at least one full bottle of mineral water, which stays next to my rig throughout the evening for consumption on stage (I like some sparkling water when I’m off stage or in the green room). I’m not sure about the rest of the world, but the water quality here in the UK can sometimes be a little variable so having a 2 litre bottle of water that tastes good is a useful thing, especially if you’re playing on a really hot stage (under lights for example) or if the venue in general is really warm. If you’re the sort of player that sweats a lot on stage (I’m lucky in this because I don’t sweat much unless the stage is baking hot), I also recommend keeping some sort of electrolyte mix (tablets or powder are fine) in your car or gig bag so that you add it to your water and get those electrolytes back that you’ll be losing continuously throughout the gig.

When it comes to my food, I always prep it on the day of the gig and pack it in an insulated thermos so it’s nice and fresh. It might not be hot by the time I come to eat but even lukewarm is better than something stone cold, especially now we’re getting towards wintertime! The thermos is big enough for two small meals, so I fill it up and then split it/consume it in two halves through the night. I do this because if I eat too much in one sitting so that I feel overfull, I then feel sluggish and lethargic for a good hour or so, which isn’t ideal when you have to go back on stage and be energetic.

I try to plan ahead so that my meal pack has a balanced composition, so it will have a protein (usually beef or chicken), some vegetables (usually some mixture of broccoli, carrots, bell peppers and onions) and some slower acting carbohydrates (usually brown or basmati rice) in a rough 30/30/40 split. This sort of meal/nutrient split works well for me personally, it tastes good, is fresh and it helps me maintain my energy levels whilst giving me a lot of the nutrients I need. I have tried some other diet methods (such as Keto) and I haven’t enjoyed the way my body has responded to them. This is something where knowing your own body and how it responds to different foods (or lack of them) is extremely important

In addition to this, if you’re going to go down the meal prep route (it may sound like I’m stating the obvious here) but make sure it’s something you are actually going to enjoy eating. Eating healthy is one thing but forcing yourself to eat food you’re really not into isn’t something I recommend all that much. There are tons of recipe books out there that can help give you ideas for this, whatever your preferences may be!

This sort of self-knowledge is also the reason I try and avoid really sugary snacks on the gig, so I can avoid sugar highs and crashes midway through the evening, as well as avoiding general caloric over-consumption (I do have a weakness for sweets). I do keep a box of protein bars in my car, so I have snacks available if I get a little peckish and I sometimes pack either a fresh apple or some simple dried fruit (my wife makes this for me) if I think that I’ll need a gentle energy boost or it’s a long gig.

A thermos of coffee is something I like to take with me too, not because I’m opposed to buying out or anything like that, more because I love my coffee and I’m a little choosy about my blend...sue me (plug: for UK folks that are into their coffee, Bean Coffee Roasters in Liverpool! Ethiopia Chelichele and Rwanda Kinini are both winners!). I do try and not go crazy with my caffeine intake because this is something I struggled with a few years back and as with the sugary stuff, I don’t like crashing on gigs, especially if I have a long drive home so I tend to sip it over a longer period.

https://www.beancoffee.co.uk/

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One thing that often comes up in these sorts of posts/discussions is alcohol and the question of drinking on the gig (whether you should or not, and if yes, how much). Alcohol and its consumption is a sensitive topic for a lot of people so I’m not going to touch whether you should drink on gigs or not. I used to and I don’t anymore, entirely for personal reasons. It’s a very personal choice to make and only you can know to what extent it affects you and how adverse those effects are on your ability to play. There is a great article here on No Treble written by Damian Erskine that examines the effects of alcohol on the body without getting judgmental about it, something I would recommend looking at if you haven’t already!

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2017/04/12/drinking-on-the-gig/

Something I’d like to make clear is that quantifying a lot of this (such as examining what different foods do to me) only came about after the nutrition modules in the PT course I took caused me to take a closer look at my dietary habits and food choices. For further full disclosure I fell off the wagon big time last year with my food choices as a whole (being self employed and a parent to a precocious toddler can be stressful and stress eating is something I have been prone to) but I’ve now managed to get my act together and have gotten my overall diet back to place where I’m happy without massively restricting what I eat. That’s a whole other conversation but I wanted to highlight that I’m as human as the next person when it comes to my diet, I’m certainly not a super-clean eater. If you want to take a closer look at your own food choices and what your actual intake is like, tracking your food using an app is a good way to begin (my fitness pal is a good one, and things like the Apple Watch and Fitbit have a function to track your food). Honesty is key here, you must track everything you put into your body, not just your main meals, otherwise all you’re doing is kidding yourself.

It’s also worth pointing out that most of my gigs are professional situations so while I always enjoy playing live, there is often very much an element of the workplace there that wouldn’t necessarily be if the gig was purely for the pleasure of playing (although I always want to be as sharp as possible on my gigs!).

If any of you have any comments or questions, as always please post them below!

“There Is No Elevator To Success, You Have To Take The Stairs”

This article is a pretty comprehensive look at a question that I’ve gotten on a regular basis, at SBL and through my own students: how do I build and maintain a regular practice routine?

Right from the top it should be said that the answers you arrive at when considering what I’m about to lay out are always incredibly personal, there are almost no right or wrong answers. Your goals are your own and all those goals are equally valid no matter how big or small they are. Your personal circumstances will also very much affect how you build a practice routine, alongside where in your list of priorities your bass practice falls. Consider these areas and look yourself in the mirror with honesty, because the more realistic and honest you are with yourself, the better your results will be.

With all that said, let’s dive into this!

Consistency

If we zoom out for a moment and look at the successful people in any field, whether that be music, sports, business etc., routine and consistency with what they are doing is the common factor. When things become a habit, you don’t need to think about them as much because they are just part of your daily routine and if you can ingrain your practice within your daily routine you will need to think much less about it; it just becomes a part of your day.

Now, that isn’t to say we all need to become the next Nathan East, Jay Cutler, Nafi Thiam or Steve Jobs, but we can apply the ideas they used in their success on a smaller scale. One way of doing this is earmarking a specific time each day to get some practice done, when you know you aren’t going to have any interruptions or distractions. This could be first thing in the morning or perhaps last thing at night depending on your nature and your schedule, but where possible make it a time when you aren’t going to be mentally fatigued so you can maximise your productivity.

With my daughter now going to school and my better half often working in early mornings, my practice routine is usually split into two specific chunks, one in the morning right after I drop her off at school, and another in the late evening when the little one is asleep. If I can get some extra work done outside of those, great, but these two blocks are generally predictable during the week and thus can be maintained consistently.

Each of your personal circumstances will vary but if you examine your schedules, blocking off 20-30 minutes on a consistent basis is usually possible. It may take a little shuffling around and you might need to wake up a little earlier, but if you want to make it happen you can do it.

Time

This brings me on to the second crucial aspect, your time and how much you are able/prepared to commit. How much time you are going to devote to your practice is (again) very personal and will be dependent on your professional life, your personal life and where music falls in your list of priorities.

That being said, how much time you can commit on a consistent basis will tie directly into your ambitions and goals as a bass player and how realistic they are. The loftier the goals you have, the greater the required daily time commitment.

However, this is not to say that you can’t become a really good player while having more limited time to practice! The keys are consistency and maximising the use (and split) of your daily time, and you can get a lot done in between 20 and 60 minutes if your time is well managed. Nailing down 20 minutes per day will do you more good in the long run than practicing once a week for 2 hours, because that daily stimulation and work for the brain to do will produce continual incremental improvements that a single 2hr block with 6 days away from the instrument simply cannot match.

If you are somewhat limited with your time, one of the most crucial things you can do is be organised and know before you sit down with the bass what you are going to be working on. This ties into the next section (keeping track), but if you are fishing around for things to practice when you sit down, you are wasting time. Have your time organised, your practice split already sorted, and you will get a solid 20-30mins of work done rather than 5 mins of fishing around and maybe 15 mins of real work done. This also means having any necessary materials already organised and close to hand so that you aren’t spending practice time searching for them.

If you are new to building a practice routine, make sure you begin with a time commitment that you know beyond doubt that you can keep to and maintain. If you find that you can build in more time in the future, great, but initially you want to be realistic and shoot for something you know you can hit (this helps with positive reinforcement!).

Keep Track Of What You Are Working On!

Two things I firmly advocate for maximising your productivity are keeping a daily practice log and knowing what you are going to work on before you even sit down to pick up the bass. A practice log enables you to keep track of your progress, it eliminates needing to remember details like what tempo you finished an exercise at last time you worked on it, and it also gives you a space to keep your general thoughts on how a given practice session went.

It also means you can quickly check back and see where you left off the day before, so you have a starting point and don’t need to fish around for things at the start of your practice block. Make notes! Keep track of tempos, styles, any issues you had, anything that felt good, anything that didn’t feel good, any new things that have cropped up that you might want to investigate and work on later.

When it comes to wider reflections on your practice routine, you always want to be looking at things from a much longer view. In this respect practice is very much like a workout routine, you won’t see results from a one-week cycle from a training block designed to last 6-8 weeks so don’t go looking for the immediate gains because that isn’t how training and practice work.

If you’ve set out a practice routine, give it at least 8-10 weeks to run before you look at seriously changing things! A little tweak here and there isn’t an issue, but making wholesale changes in the search for the ‘rapid gain’ isn’t helpful and more often than not will be counter-productive and you’ll end up having to do things all over again.

Take your time and do the thing properly the first time round.

What Kind Of Musician Do You Want To Become?

- What Are Your Ultimate Goals As A Bass Player?

- What Things Need Fixing Within Your Playing?

- What Things Can You Not Do/Do You Not Understand That You Would Like To?

Figuring out who you want to become as a bass player is the most important aspect of your practice because this is going to directly drive what you work on within your playing. If you don’t have a clear idea of what sort of musician/bass player you want to be, how can you know what to practice?

There are no wrong answers here and no goal is greater than another! The goal of someone trying to build up a repertoire, work on their rhythm and develop some solidity to their feel in order to play in a bar on a weekend is every bit as valid as someone trying to become the next fusion monster able to blow over changes.

Whatever your goal, write it down in a place that is visible to you daily (I’m an advocate for pen and paper!). This has the value of reminding you consistently of what you’re working towards as well as stopping you wandering off down rabbit holes in the search of ‘the next shiny thing!’.

Your Current Skill Level And Understanding Where You Are Now Musically

Having established where you’re looking to go musically, the next thing to establish is what your current level of skill is, and this covers both instrument specific skills and (where necessary) wider musical skills such as ear training and transcription.

One of the most useful things you can do in this respect is record yourself regularly and then listen back with honest ears. Recordings don’t lie, and you can start to focus your practice routine by listening to yourself and making notes of what needs work.

One thing to avoid here is simply writing ‘everything’ Don’t fall into the trap of being hyper critical and rubbishing everything you’re doing; there is ALWAYS something positive you can take from a recording. That said, listen honestly and with respect, and then make a list (in order of priority) of the things that you’ve heard that need work. If you think that something can be fixed quickly, then it may well make sense to get that done and tick the box, then move on to some of the longer-term issues.

At that point, write down some short- and medium-term things that you want to fix within your practice routine.

BE REALISTIC WITH THESE!

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Working through every arpeggio type in every key within a month for example, is not realistic, not if you want to actually be able to use any of the information. A more realistic idea might be ‘I’m going to work on major arpeggios for a month, looking at multiple different fingering patterns taking it one key at a time’. If you can work on that for 5-10 minutes every day, you can make some real progress!

Record yourself at least once a week working on these things as well as keeping notes in your practice diary and you can start to get a sense of how your playing is progressing. You think you’ve gotten your arpeggios down? Record yourself and find out! You might be right, or there might be a key or a shape that still needs more work! It’s worth saying at this point that skills like using technology such as a DAW and interface is every bit as much a musical skill as those that are instrument specific (as Gary Willis often reiterates).

Your Practice Split

How you split up your available time depends on two things, your total available daily time and what your overall goals are. One wider principle I do subscribe to (again coming from Gary Willis) is that around 40-50% of your time should be spent working on music/creative problem solving (not exercises in other words!).

Here is an example split that you could use if you have a 40-minute block. Let’s say for this example that I’m wanting to improve my fingerboard fluency, I’m looking at playing in a band and I want to build some repertoire...a rough practice split could look like this

10 mins – Fingerboard harmony

10 mins – Rhythmic/Rhythm Section Work

20 mins – repertoire work

With this split I have 10 mins of basic harmony work, 10 mins of rhythmic work and 20 mins working on a new song that will be part of my repertoire. So that you don’t get bored or burned out, at times you could switch exercises around, but again keep notes of these things so you can keep track and see how long it has been since you’ve worked on something!

Practice environment

I find that the environment in which you practice has a real effect on your productivity and engagement, so if you are in a place where you have lots of distractions, you won’t be as focused on what you’re working on. If you practice with a computer, try not to have surplus apps/tabs open with things that will distract you and have your phone turned over and set to do-not-disturb, this way your practice time will be uninterrupted. Personally I don’t advocate practicing with the TV on, this is because even when working on something that might be repetitive and mundane, you need to be building a connection with the instrument. If your focus is on the video, you are noodling, not practicing. Not to say that cannot have a place, but it isn’t productive in the same way as focused practice.

Another crucial thing is making sure your practice environment Is both comfortable and well heated. If your practice environment gets cold, not only will this affect your instrument’s intonation and set up, your body (particularly your hands) will get cold quickly, neither of which are good for your practice because you will constantly fighting to keep your hands up to temperature. Your practice chair/stool should be both comfortable and supportive, ideally with some sort of back rest so you don’t end up slouched/with bad posture! You may be spending considerable time sat on it, make it something comfortable

Don’t get distracted!

There are few things more counter-productive than ‘chasing the next shiny thing’. That can be videos you see on YouTube, the latest ‘lick’ on Instagram or any other new thing you’ve heard recently. While thinking ‘THAT! I want to get that down NOW’ is easily done (guilty myself!), before you do so always check in with yourself and ask what this, that or the other thing is going to do for you, and if you have an established practice routine don’t suddenly try and cram extra stuff in.

Keep your practice materials close together (the shedspace app is FANTASTIC for this) so you don’t end up clicking on things and going down rabbit holes. This is also why writing your goals down in a visible place is important, so that when you get tempted to check out the fancy exercise someone is working on over on social media, you can check yourself and remind yourself of what your overall goals are! If you really feel that something is worth investigating, bookmark it in your browser or make a written note of it in your journal and come back to it at a later date. Often, time will give you a less rose-tinted view of something and you will be able to view it with greater objectivity.

Hopefully this has been somewhat helpful to you all! If you have any questions, thoughts, or you want help and guidance building your own practice routine, leave a comment below or send me a message!!

Let’s begin with the things To Do!

The Music

The first and most important step is to establish what kind of music you’re going to be playing. If you’re joining an established covers band of any sort, get a list of their musical influences and (when possible) a complete song list that will give you a very clear idea of what to expect when you get into the rehearsal room!

In addition to that, when possible get a list of keys that they play the tunes in (again to avoid surprises in the rehearsal room) and any details about different arrangements they may be using. Some bands like to keep things absolutely as per the record, other bands are happy to play things a little loose and let things happen on the bandstand. Whichever way it is, make sure that you are ok with that. Letting things happen on the bandstand can be a lot of fun (and often creative) but it also introduces an element of jeopardy to the performance (if people are not switched on, it can go very wrong very quickly!) that you need to be comfortable with.

If you’re setting up a covers band, get these sorts of things established right from the word go. Get yourselves around a table and agree (in writing) on common influences and what ballpark you are going for within the covers world. Sit down and brainstorm! You’re looking to start a rock band? Nail down what era and style you’re talking about! You’re forming a tribute band? How ‘Tribute’ are you looking to get? Is that musical accuracy only or are you going for the full-on stage look complete with accurate instruments and outfits in order to break onto the tribute circuit? Nail this all down! Are you doing single tunes or are you going to include medleys and segues? What arrangements/versions are you going to play?

When joining or forming a band writing and playing original music, a lot of the same things apply! Do you have common influences? Are you on the same page musically? What kind of music are you looking to write? Is this going to be a studio project only or are you looking to get out and play the music live? Is this a collective thing, or is one person bringing the ideas to the table? Is this a solo project or a true collaboration? One of the most important things to establish is who is responsible for the writing process and if it’s one person leading, to what extent others are going to be able to bring ideas to the table. If you want to have significant creative input, you need to set this out early on rather than trying to muscle your way in later on, but whatever the case may be make sure that musically you are all pulling together in pursuit of a common creative goal!

Set Out Your Expectations

Differing expectations about where the band is going to go is one of the most common reasons for bands splintering and falling apart, the case of some members doing it as a hobby and enjoying writing and others intending the band to be the next (insert supergroup here).

If you are forming a new ensemble and you wish to take it seriously and have the band go somewhere, you need to set that out right from the word go, albeit without terrifying your potential bandmates! If you are joining a band that already exists, then you need to have a conversation upfront about what they expect from you, and this a multi-faceted thing involving time, commitment and (potentially) money. What are you happy investing into that musical project? Are you ok with putting in things that, in reality, you may never recoup? Rehearsal spaces usually need to be paid for, as does (potential) recording time (to say nothing of live equipment). Who takes ownership and responsibility for that? If the band is established, you will need to get yourself up to speed with the material, and if they wish to gig on a regular basis that will be an additional time commitment, are you onboard with that? Get all of this nailed down quickly upfront and you can get down to the music!

As a footnote, that also goes for your own family (if that applies) as well as your bandmates. Be upfront about what you are going to be doing and what sort of time commitment you will be putting in, so you and your family are on the same page and can avoid any resentment or ill-feeling further down the line.

The People

While you do not need to be the best of friends in order to make great music, you do (ideally) need to get on reasonably well with the people you are working with, especially if it is a non-professional situation (where you are obliged to work together as opposed to it being optional). In other words, you are choosing to put yourself in this situation; make sure it is one you are going to enjoy. Meet them socially as well as in the rehearsal room if you can, so you can see what kind of people they are when you’re not in a music- specific situation. See if there is anything there that is going to put you off or irritate you (such as drink/drug issues) and if possible do a little digging within the local scene to see if anyone has any background they can share with you to give you a better idea of what you might be getting into.

Courtesy, Honesty And Respect

Honesty and courtesy go a long way when it comes to having a healthy working musical relationship with someone, and this covers multiple bases within being in a band. The most obvious one is timekeeping. Be on time for rehearsals and always aim to be early for load in if you’re playing gigs because if your timekeeping slips, that is a sure way to get on someone’s nerves.

When working on musical ideas in the rehearsal room, I always try to be as courteous and respectful as I can, especially if I’m not keen on something or I disagree with the way that something is being presented, or perhaps the direction an idea is going. If you don’t like something, take the time to understand WHY you don’t like something and explain that clearly rather than just coming straight out with “I don’t like that”. Musical ideas can be incredibly personal to the composer, so a measured, considered critique while respecting the idea is always (in my experience) the best option. Always have respect for the person that has taken the time to present the idea, and NEVER just rubbish or belittle it. Look to reframe and rework, rather than axe. Different people can also have very, very different creative processes (and different creative timelines) so it is crucial for you to understand and respect those differences if you are going to maintain a healthy musical relationship.

This also goes with things like song choices in a cover or function band. Chances are you might not like every song that makes the setlist but unless you are the musical director and are calling all the shots there, you might need to bite your tongue and get on with it, especially if it’s a song that is almost certain to go down well with your audience.

Now let’s look at a few things to avoid...

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Over-Committing Yourself

This is easily done and is a key thing to try and avoid. Do not promise the earth if you aren’t absolutely sure you can deliver. If you are absolutely sure that you can commit to things (such as weekly rehearsals and fortnightly gigs, as an example) without work or family getting in the way then by all means go for it, but nothing will irritate people more than someone that constantly flakes on band practice because “something has come up with....”. Life can obviously throw spanners in the works (which I think people should be understanding about) but if you lead a busy or chaotic life (as many of us do), think carefully before saying yes. This goes doubly so for gigs because they will usually need to be booked well in advance and you flaking out at the last minute is going to really annoy both your bandmates and (if they can’t get a dep and have to cancel) the venue owner. If you book things like that, make sure they go in a family communal diary as soon as possible so (as I mentioned earlier) everyone is aware of what is going on!

Likewise when it comes to extra responsibilities within the band. If you’ve promised that you’re going to sound out venues/promoters/agencies for gigs and a month later nothing has happened to that effect, your bandmates will start to get annoyed especially if they are anxious to get out and play live. If you don’t have the time or the drive/energy to do that sort of legwork, don’t volunteer for it or let yourself get pushed into it. Only take on what you know you can deliver without it becoming a serious drag for you.

Finances

This ties directly in with the above. Do NOT allow yourself to be pressured into making any sort of financial commitment you aren’t willing and able to make. This might start with weekly rehearsal expenses (which in my opinion SHOULD really be split between the band) but can also extend to things like purchasing PA, monitoring and lighting as well as possible merch and recording/pressing costs. A lot of musicians don’t like to talk too much about the money but having open and honest conversations about how things are to be paid for can avoid a lot of really ugly situations. If it’s someone’s solo project for example and they are calling the shots, the financial burden should ultimately fall on them. For a collaborative effort, I feel things should be split more evenly but I cannot urge you strongly enough not to be pressured into putting yourself at any kind of financial risk or to make financial commitments you’re not comfortable with. Go with your gut on this - if it feels off, don’t do it.

If you are going to be going out and playing for financial remuneration, discuss how that money will be split/used in advance with you all in the same room AT THE SAME TIME so that there is no room whatsoever for misunderstanding or misinterpretation. That sort of thing needs to be completely above board and any disagreements regarding any split or use of money need to be voiced in advance, not after payment has been made. Agreeing to something then someone moving the financial goalposts is another often-seen reason for bands to split apart.

Sharing Your Life Story/Bringing Your Issues With you

This is pretty much a carbon copy of the section from my gigging article. Unless you get to know them really well, your bandmates will in all probability not want personal issues and over-sharing to find their way into the rehearsal room, because it can be very uncomfortable for others when someone in the band is constantly talking about issues (be they professional or personal) when they are there to make music. It’s worth saying that you will not necessarily end up being good friends with the people you play in a band with. I personally have had some wonderful musical relationships with people I wasn’t particularly close to personally speaking, and vice versa. Being in a band does not always equate to being especially friendly, so I recommend approaching personal issues in the bandroom with extreme caution.

Failing To Prepare

Another often-seen reason for people being kicked out of bands is when they don’t do any of the necessary work. I realise of course that some people are far more relaxed about making music than others, but if a setlist has been agreed on and songs selected to work on at the next rehearsal and people turned up without having learned the songs I would be extremely annoyed. You don’t want to be that person, so get the details nailed down (which version and key you’re doing) and do your homework, making charts if need be! Failure To Prepare = Preparing To Fail.

Now let’s look at a couple of Red Flags for you to be aware of!

Excessive Turnover Of Personnel

I of course understand that ‘stuff happens’ in the world of music, but if you come across a band where one or two members have remained constant but the others appear to be going through a revolving door? That usually happens for a reason/combination of reasons. Bands like this should be approached with caution because there are various reasons, ranging from irritating (they are terrible people to work with) to outright alarming (substance abuse to threats of violence) that they could be going through members quickly. Reaching out to former members is the most sure-fire way to get a handle on what is going on or possibly putting out feelers within the local scene to see if there is any information that has made its way out. It’s always worth trying to corroborate any stories you hear rather than taking one person at face value (you never know when someone may have an axe to grind) and always remember there are two sides to every story, but if people keep joining a band and then leaving quickly, consider that a ‘heads up’...

‘Ghosting’/Communication Issues

For me, if people don’t communicate or they set something up and then ‘ghost’ you, that is an enormous red flag for me, because open and honest communication goes a long way both in terms of courtesy and making sure everyone is on the same page. If they don’t think you’re a good fit or they just aren’t sure about you as a person? Fine. But they should have the courtesy to front up and tell you that, not leave you hanging. You go to a rehearsal and then you don’t hear back from them for weeks? Consider that a large red flag and move on. Likewise if you’re trying to arrange things and someone continuously fails to respond properly, have an open conversation with them and ask them why, don’t sit there and stew over it. If they are having problems, it’s better to at least know about them so you understand why there is a lack of comms rather than feeling that you have been ghosted! Ghosting also goes in both directions, if YOU are not feeling it with the band for whatever reason, make sure to be upfront and honest and above all COMMUNICATE.

Drugs/Alcohol

I’ll leave you to make up your own minds on what you’re comfortable and not comfortable with on this subject, but if others in the band are doing things with either drugs or alcohol that you’re not comfortable with, my advice is to walk away. I’ve seen all kinds of issues within bands due to both of these things and have firm red lines on what I will and won’t deal with, especially on gigs as I have no desire for a performance I’m involved with to crash and burn due to someone else’s issues with either substance.

Relationships Within The Band

This is something that (personally) does very much put me off, when two people in the band are in a romantic relationship together though I absolutely accept that one’s mileage may vary. The reason I’ve mentioned this is that a romantic pairing within the band means that they effectively become a mini-faction, and often what one of them does, the other will also do. If one of them throws their toys out of the pram and leaves, the other may well leave; if things need to be put to a vote, chances are they will vote together. Also, if things later sour between them and they split up that will introduce a great deal of tension into the rehearsal room, assuming that they both remain in the band. I’ve experienced these situations myself and have zero desire to do so again.

Hopefully this will have been useful for some of you, and as always with these articles please share and thoughts or comments below!

Our hands are one of the most incredible miracles of evolution in our world. Our ability to manipulate objects with great speed, surprising strength and incredible delicacy, not to mention our sense of touch, are all virtually unique in the animal kingdom. They are however very delicate and need to be treated with care, especially when doing repeated movements over and over again over a significant period. Injuries such as tendinitis and RSI are relatively common among musicians, and in order to avoid potential surgery and being unable to play for a period of months, some simple precautions can be taken at the very start of your practice session, no matter how long or short.

Hand Temperature

The first step I take when I’m preparing to practice is to ensure my hands are both up to temperature. Having the tendons, muscles and joints nice and warm means they will be supple and loose and able to move freely and quickly. Having warm hands also means good blood flow, which means the joints, muscles and tendons are getting the nutrients they need as well as helping to prevent lactic acid buildup in the muscles and thus, reduce fatigue.

If my hands are cold (particularly in wintertime), one way I can get heat into them quickly is to put on a pair of kitchen gloves and hold my hands under the hot tap for around 15-30 seconds, stretching and contracting my hands while doing so. I repeat for as long as needed, and this is also a great way to warm up when you come in from the cold!

Room Temperature

The next step is to ensure your practice space is also nice and warm. Because the hands are at the extremities of the body, if the room is cool they will lose temperature rapidly. Personally, I like to have a heater in the room, especially helpful given that I often practice late at night when the heating to the rest of the house is usually either low or off altogether.

Forearm flexibility and stretching

I usually do this only when my muscles are feeling very tight, after I’ve had a heavy deadlift session for example. Loosening tight forearms shortens the warm up period and reduces the ‘stiff’ feeling when you play your first notes on the instrument, and if you have a job that involves manual handling, I absolutely recommend this step! To get a better idea of the forearm stretches I sometimes use, I’ve included a helpful YouTube video for you all! This can also help reduce the risk of RSI and tendonitis. I’ll also include the link to the preventing injury course in the course library, its something well worth examining in detail, especially if you gig regularly.

Centring oneself

This is, along with getting my hands up to temperature, one of the most important steps in ensuring I have a productive and enjoyable practice session, and all it involves is taking 3 deep slow breaths. This calms me and helps me focus on the work that I’m about to do on the instrument by letting go of the stresses of the day. I may sound somewhat like a yoga commercial saying that, but I recommend at least trying it, just after you have tuned and strapped on your bass, take 3 deep breaths, focusing in on what you want to work on during your practice session. If I’m focused on the stresses of the day, whether it be covid, parenting issues, political issues or whatever else might be cluttering my mind, I’m not focused on the task at hand and practice/learning becomes a futile exercise. In the current climate I would urge you to try this.

Time and Sound

The final step before I start the warmup on the bass is to think of the principles of time and sound, two of the most critical elements when it comes to making great music. I think of how I want my bass to sound, and of feeling relaxed within the time (this is especially important if I’m going to be doing any recording whatsoever). This only takes a moment and then I’m ready to begin. I would like to stress that all these steps thus far take me no more than 5 or so minutes before I begin to play

My warm up

My own warm up takes me around 15 minutes to complete and is primarily built around a specific diminished exercise I took from John Myung around 2008. I like this specific exercise because it works all 4 fingers of the fretting hand, involves string skipping and string raking in the right hand and can be worked chromatically around the instrument. The specific exercise can be found around 45:45 in the video linked below, and I typically start with 8th notes around 80bpm worked all the way up and down the neck, then 8th note triplets, then 16ths. Gradually moving through the subdivisions gets the blood flowing through both hands and gives me a good idea as to how the practice session is going to go, whether it be one that flows smoothly or one that is going to be a little more difficult.

One thing I recommend when devising your warm up is to make it consistent, something that eases you into playing and gives you immediate feedback about how the bass is feeling in your hands. Always listen to what the hands are telling you, and if they feel a little stiff, then take more time warming up before you get to the heavy lifting within your practice session.

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My own warmup routine has remained constant for more than 10 years now and it helps to centre me and prepare me for whatever I’m going to be working on during the session. I also credit it with the fact that I’ve so far had no serious playing related injuries to contend with, always a bonus! You don’t need to take this warm up specifically, but whatever you choose to do, make it something you are happy to do daily, that isn’t too technically demanding and can be ingrained within your muscle memory.

Longevity with playing the bass is something I think we all desire as bass players, and I hope this article has perhaps struck a chord to help you develop a set warm up of your own. I cannot stress enough the importance of looking after your health, both within the hands and overall, because you will be happier and can accomplish more on the instrument while in good health.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment and discuss!

1. The Why - The why is one of the most important parts of the transcription process, both in selecting what to transcribe, and then what specific piece/fragment to examine. Why are you transcribing? What parts of your playing need work that could be improved or fixed via transcription? Ask yourself what is it that attracts you to the specific tune/solo/fragment that you’re looking at, and what exactly do you hope to get out of it? Considering all these factors can help you narrow your focus in beginning the transcription process!

2. Listening - Listen to the music you want to transcribe exhaustively!! The last piece of music I ended up transcribing, I must have listened to it around 80-90 times before I touched the bass or picked up my pencil and paper. Listen to it in a focused way with no distractions so you can fully internalise the music. This is a crucial step in the process, because the more you internalise the music, the simpler the process will become once you pick up the instrument.

3. Mapping Your Transcription - Before you start looking for the individual notes, create a framework (also known as the form of the music). This is less applicable if you’re transcribing a small fragment, but if you’re writing out an entire tune or a solo, creating a framework can help simplify the process. This includes working out the key of the tune, what the form is (for example it could be a jazz blues) and how often (if applicable) that form repeats. In the context of a pop song, if you have an intro, 3 verses, 2 bridges and 4 choruses, once you have one round of verse and chorus transcribed, you then might have the bulk of the song done. This can help make the process less daunting if you are new to it and help you encompass the tune as a whole. One word of caution is that you still need to listen in detail to every part of the tune, because within repetitive music, often there could well be small shifts in the harmony or the line! Don’t skip ahead!

4. Write It Down - You have a finite amount of memory in your mind, especially if you’re in an intensive period of learning, so I like to write down anything I transcribe!! It also always helps to have written transcriptions so that you can come back to them at a later date and refresh your memory. You can also discover new things within the music every time you come back to it! Certainly within most of the transcriptions I’ve done, I often discover little gems that maybe I didn’t originally pick up on the first time going through the process! Precisely how you go about recording your transcriptions is entirely down to you, personally I prefer pencil and paper but inputting directly into the computer is also a perfectly valid approach!

5. Playing The Music - This is the fun part where I learn the transcription and play it on the instrument. This is where you try and get so far inside the phrasing of the musician you’ve transcribed that it sounds like one instrument. This can take time and a great deal of persistence but this is a key part of really understanding the subject and concept of the musician and how it fits within the wider picture.

6. Moving away from the music - This is the critical phase of the process where you move away from the original context. If you’ve transcribed a solo for example, this is the point in the process where you extract those pieces of vocabulary that attract you and that you want to get inside your own playing, and you work on them in isolation. This can involve practicing that piece of vocabulary in different contexts and different keys so that it becomes a completely separate thing to the solo you originally transcribed. Please check out my previous article on vocabulary for a more detailed look inside that process. I will say this, the only limitation with this part of the process is your imagination and how far you want to take the process.

7. Being patient - It may well take weeks or months for these pieces of vocabulary to fully sink into your subconscious. It also requires in enormous number of hours of practice (and endless repetition) before it becomes instinctive to you, in the same way as when you were a child and trying to learn a new word you weren’t familiar with before. Sooner or later, these fragments will sink in to form part of your natural vocabulary as a musician. Again, I recommend reading my previous article about developing patience with the process.

There are several additional points I feel are very important when it comes to transcribing.

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The first is the importance of the selection process. When selecting a tune to transcribe, it’s important not to overreach yourself. If you have limited experience with the transcription process, transcribing Coltrane’s solo over Giant Steps or John Myung’s bass line in The Dance Of Eternity isn’t the wisest course of action or the best use of your time. Your ears need time and training, so start simple and work up. Tunes like So What (Miles Davis) or With or Without You (U2) are good examples of a starting point if you’ve never transcribed before. Give your ears time to adjust to the process of listening for the notes that you want to work out and slowly build them up. It’s a long process and one that requires a great deal of patience, but the payoff is so much greater than if you learn music from a transcription book.

While searching for the notes, remember that there are only 12 tones in the western scale to choose from. Knowing the key will help you get into the ballpark, and you can then move either in half or whole steps to find the note you’re looking for. Often the notes will be diatonic, so explore that avenue first before you start moving into more ‘outside’ options. When looking at bass lines, often chord tones should be the first avenue of exploration.

When new to transcription, try and choose tunes/solos/fragments where it is relatively easy to pick out the instrument you are transcribing. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to pick out the bass, if this is the case, add it to the laundry list for future transcriptions and pick something else. One thing that can occasionally help when transcribing bass is pitch shifting it an octave higher, as you are still in real time but the notes are moved into a frequency range much friendlier to the human ear! EQ’ing to boost the bass frequencies can also be extremely helpful!

Don’t shortchange yourself by looking for short cuts. Do the hard work, and do the work properly the first-time round, and you will see the benefits in the long term!

I hope this helps break down the process of transcription, as always if you have any further questions or want to discuss something within this article, feel free add your thoughts below!

Personally, I have a mental checklist of these things (some of which never leave the car/gig bag) and my gear always gets packed in exactly the same order so that I don’t forget anything. My advice for those first few gigs is to hand write a checklist (or write a note in an app on your phone) and cross things off as they get packed into the car. DO NOT cross anything off the list until it is loaded and accounted for. Build extra time into your schedule before you depart for the gig so that you can do this methodically and carefully, because there is nothing worse than feeling rushed when you need to be leaving the house!

Your Bass/Strap

Priority number one is your instrument!! It may seem obvious, but I’ve seen people forget their instruments before and have to go back home again, as crazy as that may seem! This is your ‘mission critical’ so make sure it is packed and accounted for! You’re playing stood up? Make sure you put your strap in the case! With my loading method, the bass is the very last thing to be put in the car so when I’m leaving the house the gig bag is always on my shoulder.

Tuner

Having some way of tuning is crucial, so make sure you pack your tuner, be it hand held, clip on or pedal! Personally I prefer either a pedal or hand held tuner because clip-ons (in my experience) don’t register my low B string reliably.

Your Rig

Again, it may seem obvious, but people can and do forget parts of their rig. If you have separate amps and cabinets, make sure all the components of your rig are loaded and accounted for! I like to load the rig first as it’s by far and away the biggest component so everything else then fits around it in the car.

Cables

Make sure you have your quarter inch instrument cable and all the cables that you need to make your rig function properly. As I said above, have a packing system so that you know exactly what has been packed. If you’re in a professional situation and are being paid, I would very much recommend that you take a spare for all the major cables, so a spare instrument cable, a spare kettle lead for the amp and a spare speaker cable if you’re running an amp and cab(s). I like to pack my cables in signal chain order, so instrument cables (in the gig bag), then preamp to power amp cable, then the two speaker cables, then the two kettle leads I need for my rig, and all the various spares. Carrying extra cables may be an extra expense, but if you’re in a professional situation it can save you serious blushes if something does break. I also like to have a long 4 way extension lead with me at all times so even if the nearest power outlet is on the opposite side of the stage to me, I can still get my rig plugged in without needing to bother the MD or the sound guys/venue staff. If you happen to be using In Ears, make sure that they (and the monitor pack) are also included.

Breakables

These are important ‘just in case’ items. Will you need them? Probably not, but they are for that 1 in 1000 situation where you break something or something fails and it needs to be replaced. Number one is a complete spare string set. Strings can break unexpectedly, even when you’re not slapping, and a 5-minute break to replace one (cue “drum solo”) is less awkward that trying to complete the gig with a string missing (especially if it’s an inner string such as the D). If you own multiple basses, even better. Take two with you! That 5-minute string change becomes a 30 second bass change.

If you play an active bass, have at least one spare battery with you in your bass gig bag. You never know when that battery may decide to die on you so be prepared to change it! If your battery compartment cover is screwed shut (as mine is) make sure to have a small screwdriver!

A spare fuse for your amp is a good idea, as is a spare tube if you play a valve amp! Both are things that “probably” won’t break but could save your gig if they do! All my ‘breakables’ apart from the strings (they go in my gig bag) live in a small bag that fits in the side pocket of my cable backpack, so it all goes neatly in together.

Music

If you’re reading music of any description, make doubly sure you have it with you! You need a music stand? Make doubly sure it’s packed! You’re reading off an iPad? Make sure it’s fully charged and that you have the charger, page turner (if you use one) and charging cable with you. You never know! I’ve forgotten to power down the iPad after using more than once, and I’ve arrived at the gig to find that it’s got 30% power for a 3 set gig. I have a really long iPad extension cable that, in a pinch, can go from the iPad right round the back of my rig to the 4 way, so I can plug it in if the situation demands it.

Trolley

This is very dependent on what your situation is (and how big/heavy your rig is....), but a little trolley to help you get your gear around can be an absolute godsend, and can also save you feeling sore and fatigued the day after.

Ear protection

Not enough musicians use ear protection on their gigs. Your ears are your single most important asset you have as a musician, and once you damage them there is no coming back, no surgery that will restore it them (currently). Get yourself some ear plugs (one set lives in my bass case, one set lives in my car), I like alpine music pro earplugs because they’re easy to come by, don’t cost the earth and have adjustable filters depending on how much you want to bring the DB level down. They also don’t make things sound like I’m listening underwater, which really helps when you’re listening to the rest of the band. Do they reduce the ‘vibe’ of the gig? Maybe a little, but is that vibe really worth you living with tinnitus and hearing loss...?

Food and water

Staying fed and hydrated is crucial if you’re going to play well. It helps you to maintain concentration, reduces fatigue, and I generally wouldn’t count on the venue being able to supply either food or water of reasonable quality, even if both are technically on your rider (remembering one particular gig where the ‘food’ for the entire 8-piece band was a small plate of cucumber sandwiches). Take a litre bottle of mineral water and a couple of snacks and/or a small meal pack with you so that hunger doesn’t strike mid set. Playing late at night? I like to take a small thermos of my favourite coffee with me!

Clothing

Certain gigs sometimes require you to dress a certain way, but as far as possible make sure that you wear clothing that is comfortable for you to play in, tops that don’t pinch around the shoulders and restrict your movement when you’re stood playing for example. Playing outside? Make sure that you’re wearing clothing that will keep you warm enough, because nothing saps your energy and concentration (and enjoyment!) like getting cold. In wintertime, I also make sure I take gloves with me so my hands don’t get really cold while I’m loading my rig in.

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My pre-gig packing ritual

I’ll give you a look at what my own gear loading checklist/ritual looks like

1 - Bass goes in the gig bag, along with the strap, iP Bluetooth pedal, tuner and instrument cable. I check that I have my spare strings and spare batteries for the bass, tuner and bluetooth pedal as well as my basic tools (screwdriver, Allen keys, truss rod adjuster, wire cutters and tweezers). My earplugs and IEMs live in here too and never get taken out except to clean them or for use on the gig.

2 - Cable rucksack gets packed. This contains my spare instrument cable, 3 power leads, my speaker leads and a spare of each, my 4way power cable, laptop, laptop charger, long iPad charging cable and my phone charger. This bag also contains my spare fuses for the rig, but these are never taken out while I’m home anyway.

3 - Stand bag gets packed, this contains my music stand and my bass stand.

4 - Car loading begins! The cabinets get loaded first, followed by the pre/power amp rack. Trolley goes in next, followed by the stand bag. Lead bag goes in the rear foot well. Suit bag/clothes bag also goes in at this point. I pack that the night before, this way I don’t get to 20 minutes before leaving and realise I don’t have a clean shirt

5. Personal bag is packed, this contains deodorant, a bottle of water, a couple of snacks, my coffee thermos and usually a small meal pack. This way I can (as I mentioned earlier) exercise some sort of control over what food I’m eating that day.

6. Time to leave! Gig bag and personal bag are loaded and it’s off to the gig!

This might seem like a lot with all the spares and whatnot, but I prefer to plan for the worst and hope for the best. I’ve never had my lead or my rig break on me mid gig yet, but I’ve had batteries die and strings break in the past, so I’ve seen the benefit of being prepared!

Any thoughts or questions, please share them below!!

We all want to improve as musicians. It’s why we practice and why we study the art form and, ultimately, why we became part of the SBL Academy! We put in the hours with the instrument, and we aim to become better at what it is that we do with the instrument...except that often, it doesn’t happen as quickly as we want it to. Or we feel as though we have plateaued, and that concepts, ideas or vocabulary just won’t go in or come out the way we want them to. What this comes down to is Patience.

Firstly, I’d like to discuss being patient with yourself. The human brain is an incredible device that man’s technology has yet to even begin to approach when it comes to flexibility, adaptability and its ability to retain information. But even the human brain has limits. I think we’ve all reached that point in our practice where your head starts to hurt, the frustration builds, and you feel like a over-soaked sponge. These are all clear signs that your brain has reached its learning limit, and that further attempts to learn new information on a given topic are not only futile, but potentially counterproductive and is thus indicating that either moving on to something else or putting down the bass and taking a break is the best course of action. This is where many of us (myself included) must develop patience with ourselves.

Everyone learns at different rates, and using different methods, and everyone wants to get that arpeggio, that chord, or that new lick down and integrated into our playing, preferably yesterday. But just as it took time for you to develop the ability to speak and to develop a fully formed and comprehensive vocabulary, so too it does so when developing your voice on the instrument. Pieces of vocabulary can take weeks or months for your brain to comprehend and your ears to accept, especially when they are not a development of something you already know. A good analogy would be suddenly studying the language of Shakespeare and expecting to be able to converse and speak that way. It would take time and no small amount of effort to develop. In the same way, if most of what you know and have practiced is within the realm of major and minor pentatonics, suddenly learning a ton of diminished or altered vocabulary is going to be a huge shift. Your brain and ears will be working overtime trying to process this new information and (more importantly) this new sound that you are working on. This takes time, the amount of which differs from person to person. Your brain is doing its utmost to process quickly, so sometimes it’s very important to recognise when the brain has reached its limit, give it a break and be patient with yourself! With time and application, that vocabulary will come out as a natural extension of your playing!

The second part of Patience I would like to address is patience with the process. In the modern world everything is available at our fingertips, so the concept that something won’t happen immediately is often a foreign one, especially to younger generations that grew up with the internet at their fingertips.

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Skill sets like the ones we use within music, such as command of harmony and improvisation take a great deal of time to develop, regardless of your learning pace. Being patient and playing the long game is thus a vitally important skill. A lot of videos on YouTube offer tips, hacks and tricks to artificially accelerate the process (such as “Improvise over any chord using one scale”). A lot of this is nonsense and often boxes you into a corner with no way to move away from it. Your focus instead should be on playing the ‘long game’ and thinking of where you would like to be in 3-5 years time. A strength coach whose work I admire said, when asked about advice for increasing lifts quickly, that searching for quick improvements leads to disappointment and (often) injury. Instead, your method should be to hire a good coach, train consistently and visualise your lifts in 5 years time. Not only is this applicable to the sport of powerlifting, but it also translates directly into our practice methodology as musicians. We often overestimate what we can accomplish in a day or a week, then we get frustrated that we are not improving as fast as we want to, then we often become dispirited. But if you visualise what you could accomplish in 52 weeks, or 365 days...suddenly there is serious capacity for improvement. If you then multiply this over 3-5 years, you can completely transform your playing out of all recognition.

Play the long game. Be patient. And above all, enjoy the process!