Collaborating! One of the most rewarding activities as a musician – is collaborating! Creating, together, something from nothing, sharing a vision, doing the work, the practicing, the promoting, the charts, the setlists, the invite lists… I am proud and happy to introduce to you my new project with trumpeter and GRAMMY® recognized Producer Nick Phillips. Trumpet

Inversions often cause some confusion, so here is a breakdown. Several music theory items can be inverted. Let’s start here with… Interval Inversions Intervals can ascend or descend. If you play a fifth ascending and then play that backwards – that is NOT an inversion, though many think that. Inversions are important to grasp for

Thunderstruck Technique! Sure, learning songs is very important; at the same time, I am a big proponent of technique drills on the bass. But why not combine both worlds for a nice double whammy? That’s what this episode of Talking Technique is about. Get ready to be thunderstruck talking-technique style, because AC/DC inspired a pretty

The hardest thing to do when practicing can often be – to STOP. Stop, and then evaluate. Somehow we tend to have it in our minds that practicing only counts when we hear something coming out of our instruments and our fingers are moving. But nothing could be further from the truth. Mindless repetition, the

What is a Transposing Instrument? Transposing means porting a piece of music into a different key or range. Some instruments are “transposing instruments” which means that the note written on the score is, in fact, not the pitch that is sounding. There are two main reasons why there are “transposing instruments” 1 • Ease of

Bach me up! Need Bach up? Alright, enough with the puns, let’s get to some serious shedding. Bassists have loved playing Bach’s music on the electric for eons – be it the famous cello suite number 1 , pieces from the Welltempered Clavier or others – JS’s bass lines rock! There is something about the function of the

Why should I practice Technique? Isn’t it a waste of time and much better to practice songs instead? Whenever I heard that argument I used to throw my hands up and say – I don’t even know where to begin! It seems that saying – Nike style – “just do it” is a faster way to

Before you think this is some sort of hype – hear me out. There is good science behind this… The Tiny Habits® method developed by Stanford Persuasion Lab’s BJ Fogg is a powerful method for developing habits. BJ Fogg, PhD, teaches us that if something is hard to do, the motivation needs to be high to do it.

Used Versus New? Used and new, both are great choices! If a bass is new it is a blank canvas waiting for your fingers to shape its tone. If it is used it has a story to tell. Are you its next chapter? But if you do buy used… keep in mind: The Most Important Thing to

I received an email this morning from a course participant (let’s call him CP). He received the Monthly Ask Ari reminder and felt pressured as if failing at school, not good enough, not with the program… Ari, I am so behind on the course. Can I even participate in Ask Ari Live?? For those of you who don’t know, Ask Ari

Hope you had a lovely Valentine’s day. Did it make you remember your first date? How about your first date with your bass? Test Test… So, you are looking for a new instrument. Time to test it. Maybe you are at NAMM Show or Guitar Center. Or you are lucky enough to have a place

Slappety-Slap Mania Last week the exuberant spectacle known as the NAMM show occurred in Anaheim, California. (I wrote about what the NAMM Show is here). I had a fabulous time, got to meet up and catch up with bass besties from all over the US and the world and enjoyed playing several concerts and performances

NAMM Show No doubt you have heard about this loud spectacle in Anaheim that commences every third week of the new year for four days! But – if you have never been – what is the hype about this event? And what, actually, is it? What is it? NAMM stands for National Association of Music

East Coast, Anyone? Come join me for this cool live Clinic! Please join me for a rare and free in-person clinic in Burlington, MA! There will be break-out sessions, master classes, concerts and more. Check out the featured artists, gear samplings, and sponsors on the poster above! RevSound is the company putting on this clinic

Pivot Perms… If you have been following my prescriptions for good bass technique you have come across my recommendations for permutation exercises (powerful technique exercises to get your fingers nimble and moving independently from each other, yet in sync with your plucking hand); check out the basics of permutation exercises here, a few variations to

Happy New Year, Bass Blog Friends! Ah, a fresh start! 2018 is here and a new adventure begins. In a way, it is just a date on the calendar, but since our time on earth in our current form is limited, a new year is always a milestone, reminding us of that fact while feeling

Eyes closed…. When I wrote this article for notreble about playing without looking at the fretboard, about the micro and macro ways of feeling the instrument and how that can help us practice and play better, I did not at all expect to receive an email such as the below. Thank you, Eric, for sharing your

                Behind the Scenes of the Wall Chart The response to the music theory wall chart has been off the charts, so to speak! I calculated that since the chart went up for pre-sale on April 1st 2017, we fulfilled hundreds of orders in house, shipping to 42 different

Looking for a Christmas Gift for the Bassist in Your Life? Our Course shows up on a lot of Christmas lists this season. If you’d like to give the course as a gift, we can create a lovely stocking stuffer for you. It looks like this:       Just purchase the course and forward

I get it, you had all the best intentions since the last lesson, but just didn’t get to as much practice as you had hoped. • Maybe there was no way you could have done better (the kids started school, the dog was sick and there was an emergency at work). • Or you know

Hey, Ari, can you play that again a bit slower? Totally! Found some new tools… check it out! Ever watched a video and would have loved to have it go by much slower? Such as when you wanted to figure out what a musician is doing and needed it slower? In the course, watching the