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THE 10 COMMANDMENTS AND THE 7 DEADLY SINS OF THE PROFESSIONAL BASS PLAYER BY IGOR SAAVEDRA
This article is very short, but I think is very meaty. Don’t take anything of this as a dogma… I’m not a religious person myself and I’m also the first person in this world to dislike dogmas, so just take it as a “creative way” to give you and advice on the aspects that I consider the most important ones to do and avoid doing.
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
1) The Beat is your god.
2) The Fundamental is your goddess.
3) Invest more in learning stuff rather than having stuff.
4) Never overplay.
5) Have your bass ALWAYS clean, calibrated and intonated… and change your strings 3 days before any important concert, not the same day.
6) Tune your bass and absolutely relax before going to the stage.
7) Level the quality of every link of “The chain of your sound”. If you have a weak link, that’ll be the exact measure of the quality of your sound.
8) Never think you are so good that you have nothing more to learn.
9) Be always on time for your meetings, rehearsals and concerts.
10) Be nice, responsible, gentle, kind, empathic and helpful with your colleagues, but at the same time demand these very same values from them towards you.
THE 7 DEADLY SINS
1) Disrespecting the Pattern by not keeping it steady and recognizable, making it to get lost within the ornamentations.
2) Slapping when not necessary.
3) More popping than thumbing when you slap.
4) Not listening to what your colleagues are playing.
5) Spending more time playing from the 12th fret up rather than from the 12th fret down.
6) Playing under the influence of alcohol, drugs, hate, fury, anger and stress.
7) Thinking that “playing bass” means playing an instrument “named as bass”.
That’s all for now my friends… I’m leaving now to the US to play at the NAMM Show 2013 in Los Angeles and then I’m flying to New York to perform a Master Class at the New York Bass Collective, so I’m really happy because life continues providing me with amazing opportunities to learn.