Learn Bass Online with Ari

Chick Corea’s Spain and the tough Riff… I collect challenging bass lines by way of asking for them in bass groups: What tune is technically hard for you? One that is requested over and over is the iconic riff in “Spain” by Chick Corea. And I’m happy to oblige in this Talking Technique. My hope

New Year – New Cohort! Is Improving Your Bass Playing on Your To-do List for 2021? If you have dropped off online courses before, you may be an excellent candidate for peer support, accountability and coaching! Don’t take it from me…. listen to what 2020 graduates are saying… Check out our New Year’s Cohort My

Happy Holidays 2020! 2020 has been one. hard. year. So many people have been adversely affected. And while personally, I have been very blessed, many of my friends, colleagues and relatives have not been as fortunate and are having a rough go of it. My hope is that the Holidays can bring everyone a sense of

Color “Outside the Lines” Using Chromatics! If you are looking to come up with some fresh ideas for grooves, try injecting some chromatics. “Chroma” is the Greek word for color. Chromatic approaches and transition notes are a terrific way to use non-scalar notes to expand the possibilities for your grooves. While a diatonic scale has

Make Your Walking Bass Swing Notes, notes, notes…It’s all about ‘da notes, right? We dutifully study “roots and fifths”, using chord tones and approach notes and enclosures… and then cool rhythmic skips, drops and left hand pull offs… all these get lots of attention during lessons and online discussions. But famously: It Don’t Mean a

A Cohort. A Co-what? Our famed course “Music Theory for the Bass Player” has a proven track record for getting results in these key areas (just a few examples): Creating your own Grooves over chordchanges Finding your notes up and down the fretboard Improving your technique, agility and speed Getting a highly practical understanding of

Do you Have That Sinking Feeling That Your Bass Playing Lacks Foundation? Thanks to Stuart Hamm for showing me this great place to shoot a bass course ad of all places…         [Attention Bass Players  📣📣] If you feel stuck and you want to move forward in your bass playing, this video

Recently David asked me in a LinkedIn comment: Hi Ari!! Your 5 pentatonic shapes lesson has had a major impact on my playing. Fills are easier, the fretboard makes more sense and feels connected. And I have a framework for soloing. I cannot thank you enough. But I have a question. do you have a

Ari, I am cheating! I am often amazed at what my students think constitutes “cheating” and hence dutifully try to avoid. Let’s clear up some misunderstandings: It will help you stop shooting yourself in the foot Allow me to take a load off your shoulders Here are the top 6 “cheating” myths I keep hearing:

I got a kick out of this YouTube comment: “She even looks like Geddy!” Maybe you start looking like the master if you study his tunes long enough, so get ready for your glasses and curls… and while you are at it: Learn the theory behind power chords and more… Empower – quite literally! –

Note Naming Realization From my student Christine: The note naming exercise was amazing for triads, to figure out that A-C-E is always A-C-E even when it’s Ab-C-Eb or A-C#-E or A-C-E, etc. I must have skipped that realization! YES! Big thumbs up for that insight, Christine! It is precisely one of the reasons why I

My Five Favorite Practicing Tools Practice Time! If you have been wanting to upgrade your practice sessions, here are five simple tools that will boost the effectiveness of your practice immediately! Your practice nook can be simple with just the essentials (e.g. amp, bass, music stand, tuner…). Or more elaborate with the walls decorated with

 Four-voices Fugue on Basses What a pleasure to record this with not only one Stu Hamm, but two of him! What’s a fugue? It is a musical composition in which a musical “theme” (called a “subject”) gets repeated over and over in various ways by various voices. A fugue is a bit like a canon on

Helping Your Kids Practice using Tiny Habits How to get little Mozart (or mini Jimi) practicing without nagging, agonizing, or guilt-tripping. Talent is overrated: explore powerful practice habits! Watch this 15-minute video that provides you with great tips for your youngster’s music practice! Also read: May I Have Two Minutes of Your Time? tinyhabits.com Tiny

I see it with almost all of my students – from beginners to pros – it’s just too easy to overwork the thumb! Even experienced players are guilty of this from time to time. What’s so tricky about this bad habit is that even though I am talking about your left-hand thumb, to cure the

Tiny Habits for Practicing Musicians Celebrating the good notes: Bring the joy back to learning music and make practicing your instrument a favorite part of your day! Check out this video I did on using the Tiny Habits© Method to help your practice. Thanks to Professor BJ Fogg for inviting me to participate in the

Bach Prelude Number 2 for 2 Basses with Mark Smith! Mark Smith of talkingbass.net approached me a while back about doing a Bach piece together. And he happened to suggest one of my favorites, the C minor prelude of the Well-tempered Clavier! I have played this piece (on piano) since I was a wee one

One of our course participants just asked me this question. Here is my answer: Neither!! First let me say this loud and clear: Never “go back to the top” if you made a mistake. Ever. It is a terrible strategy. The reason why it’s a bad idea is that you will know the beginning quite

The “Become a Bassist” Summit FREE ONLINE EVENT | August 10-14 2020 There’s a really cool event coming up in a few weeks that I’m a part of. Me and nearly 20 other bass players and teachers are getting together for a ‘bass summit’. What the heck is that? It’s an online event where we’ll

My Little UBass Friend and I have a Little Note for you… Enjoy!       Thank you Kala, for creating amazing instruments that are highly addictive and impossible to put down! More Kala UBass renditions: Fun groove! Tapping on my Kala Ubass Me and Magnus Sjoquist: U2 stands for: 2 UBasses Giveaway of a

How the Pros Use Inversions A student recently asked me: “I’m not 100% sure I get the necessity of inversions… I understand them, but when I’m playing and I need a third or a fifth, I just think of the note I need and then go up or down, which doesn’t require the extra calculation