Increase Your Speed with Correct Practicing by Andrea Fascetti

HI MY “BASS FRIENDS” AND COLLEAGUES! I’M VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE AGAIN. BASS MUSICIAN MAGAZINE IS REALLY GREAT, AND I REALLY LIKE ALL OF THE COOL LESSONS AND ARTICLES HERE… FANTASTIC WORK!

IN THE LAST LESSON I TALKED ABOUT A DAILY ROUTINE THAT HELPS YOU TO PRACTICE, AND I HOPE YOU USE THIS ON YOUR JOURNEY TO BECOME A BETTER MUSICIAN.

REMEMER THAT THIS IS A COURSE ABOUT IMPROVISATION, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE HAD SOME STOPS TO TALK ABOUT THINGS LIKE EAR TRAINING OR DAILY PRACTICE SCHEDULE, WHICH ARE NECESSARY FOR A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THE COURSE. OFTEN I TALK ABOUT JAZZ IMPROVISATION BECAUSE IN JAZZ MUSIC YOU FIND TECNIQUES THAT ALL GREAT BASS IMPROVISERS ARE USING. OBVIOUSLY, AFTER YOU HAVE LEARNED ALL OF THIS STUFF, YOU CAN PLAY THE KIND OF MUSIC YOU PREFER 🙂

DURING OUR NEXT LESSON, WE’LL DISCOVER SOME USEFUL EXERCISES ABOUT CHROMATIC APPROACHES (CHECK JACO, JEFF BERLIN, GARY WILLIS OR JIMMY EARL WITH CHICK COREA ELECTRIC BAND). CHROMATICS ARE THE CORE OF BEBOP (I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO CHECK MY PAST LESSONS ABOUT THE ARGUMENT).

BEBOP IS FIRST A “MUSICAL LANGUAGE” THAT WE HAVE TO KNOW IF WE WANT TO DO A GREAT JOB WITH IMPROVISATION.

TO DO THIS, I WANT TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT TECNIQUE AND SPEED. THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE WE’LL WORK OVER REALLY “STRONG” EXERCISES THAT YOU HAVE TO PRACTICE IN A CORRECT WAY IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

NOW I WILL POSE SOME SKILLS TO HELP YOU IN AVOIDING PRACTICE MISTAKES. OBVIOUSLY THIS IS MY OPINION AND YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE A MILLION WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR BASS PLAYING.

EXERCISES:

1) WHEN YOU’RE PLAYING, SOMETIMES YOU WILL NOTICE THAT YOU’RE MAKING A MISTAKE… DO NOT RETURN TO THE BEGINNING; INSTEAD PRACTICE ONLY THE NOTES THAT ARE WRONG. IF YOU DO A DIFFICULT BASS LINE OR SOLO, YOU WILL MAKE SOME MISTAKES AT THE SAME POINT. REPEATING ALL OF THE LINES IS NOT USEFUL.”DELETE” THE MISTAKE… WHEN THE MISTAKES ARE  “DELETED”, GO ON WITH THE MUSIC AND DO THE SAME THING EVERYTIME YOU FIND OTHER MISTAKES… I’M SURE YOUR MUSIC WILL BE VERY GOOD… AND ABOVE ALL, YOUR BASS TECNIQUE WILL IMPROVE DRAMATICALLY!

2) IF YOU WANT TO PLAY AT FAST TEMPOS, DO NOT PLAY A COMPLETE LINE OR PHRASE. PLEASE STAY FOCUSED ON TWO OR THREE NOTES AT A TIME, AND WHEN YOU HAVE THE NOTES UNDER YOUR FINGERS, INCREASE YOUR SPEED. THEN TAKE ANOTHER SET OF NOTES AND GO AHEAD WITH THE SAME APPROACH. IF YOU DO THIS METHOD, YOU’LL NOTICE YOUR CHOPS BECOME BETTER AND BETTER.

OK? THIS A FIRST STEP ABOUT SPEED AND TECNIQUE, LATER WE’LL WORK OVER OTHER COOL EXERCISES ABOUT THIS ARGUMENT.

HOPE YOU LIKE THIS STUFF.

…A CLOSING WORD ABOUT MY FRIEND AND MENTOR CHARLIE BANACOS, WHO PASSED AWAY TWO YEARS AGO… CHARLIE WAS THE TEACHER OF MIKE STERN, JEFF BERLIN, BRUCE GERTZ, JOE HUBBARD, JIMMY EARL AND MANY OTHER GREAT MUSICIANS. MANY OF THE EXERCISES ARE INSPIRED BY HIS AWESOME MUSIC LESSONS. R.I.P MY FRIEND.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE NEXT MONTH!

CIAO

ANDREA