Learn Bass Online with Ari

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

Behavior Model [My Homework for a Course] There is a formula for changing your behavior. Professor BJ Fogg of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab developed it (he is also the creator of  Tiny Habits™. As part of my training, we had to record ourselves teaching it. Let me know what you think… this is highly

Killer Octave Riff Turn a simple 2-chord progression into something special using a modern take on a “disco-inspired” octave groove. This killer riff is also great for shedding your technique: Challenging string crossings, a varied rhythmic pattern, and a relatively quick tempo… enjoy! I’ll go step by step to break it down for you starting

Five Small Bass Playing Tweaks for Instant Results From years of teaching, I have identified several small adjustments you can make in your playing and practicing that will make a big difference instantly. In this mini-series, I walk you through five such jewels. All five of these tips – whether technique related or practice strategy

COVID Practicing Fatigue? The puzzling phenomenon! My students know they can always talk to me about practicing challenges, as can my Music Theory for the Bass Player cohort participants. I have been getting quite a number of emails, posts to my Facebook Group, and comments on the topic of “COVID practice fatigue” (some even go so

How Notes Work One theme I have seen over and over again as a teacher is students being very confused about how notes work: How many notes are there within an octave? How do notes get higher and lower on the bass? How many note names are there? How does note naming work in major

Practicing Tip: How Playing Bass is Like Martial Arts by Wolfgang Wein Playing bass is a lot like martial arts: There are rules and best practices The stakes are high – play a wrong note and the singer might attack you with lethal force (read: fire you from the band!) There are masters of the craft

A Quick and Useful Ear Exercise Developing confident ears remains one of the most requested items on my student’s intake forms. Below I will show you a great new Ear Exercise I have been using lately with my students below! There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding what ear training is, does, and

Getting Yourself (or Your Kids!) to Practice Without Nagging or Guilt-tripping Practicing – or even just playing – your instrument ideally is a joyful activity you look forward to. And often when you have gigs on the books, tours coming up, recording dates, auditions on the horizon – motivation will be super high and long