Learn Bass Online with Ari

A Rainbow of Colors: A Great Modes Drill Many students are incredibly confused about the modes – what they are, how they sound, how to use them, etc.  My theory (ha!) on why they are so intimidating is this: 1 – How They are Often Taught One of the reasons why I wrote my Theory

A Favorite in a Recent Ear Training Practice Group: Show and Tell (Al Wilson) My students tell me they are scoring points with their partner when practicing this one! It’s a great tune – awesome singing, cool arrangement, and a smooth and groovy bass line! It is deceptively tricky, too. Right out of the gate

The Final Chapter in A Beautiful Story Earlier this year, I launched my Pattern System for the Bass Player book (co-written with Wolf Wein) and the response on the Indiegogo campaign was incredible – and incredibly humbling! We reached our ambitious goal in the first 24 hours!  Then something even more special happened. One of

Bass Advice from the Top 140 bassists in the world! We all get so much inspiration from the bassists who inspire us… What they do makes us marvel. And we also often wonder, how do they do what they do? What is their story? How can I learn from it?  A new book by KJ

Chromatic Acrobatic – Practice Hack Chromatic approaches can be extremely effective to add spice to an otherwise “inside” bassline. In this episode, “Chromatic Acrobatics 2” I demonstrate a cool riff that you can use to shed your technique, too. Rapid fire 16th notes, extended fingerings and string crossings will be a challenge at first. But

Fusion Bags – Music Cannot be Confined!! There’s no doubt that the pandemic has reduced and eliminated opportunities for musicians to get together and play. Gigs and tours have been slimmed down or canceled; jams and rehearsals scaled back and postponed. So what’s a musician to do? Well Fusion Bags has an answer! They decided

Opportunity to Receive 1 of 25 Pattern System Books for free! During our super successful Indiegogo campaign to launch The Pattern System for the Bass Player, one of my students (JJ) contacted me about buying two books and donating them to deserving students who aren’t in a position to purchase on their own.  Word got

Tapping is just for solo bass… right? Absolutely not! While tapping is certainly an integral part of a solo bass performance, it is and can be so much more. And as with any expansive bass technique (eg slapping, harmonics, etc), it can be viewed as another tool in your toolbox.  I recently did a live

Rhythm’s Gonna Get Ya! (Mini- Series Video 5) Two notes – many options! Swing feel math! It’s a bit like hitting the “quantize” button in your DAW: how shuffled do you want it? When I show this grid of options of just playing two notes with various rhythms and feels, it is usually a big

Rhythm’s Gonna Get Ya: How to Make it Swing! [Video 4] WALKING BASS AND SWING It don’t mean a thing… if it ain’t got that swing! Learn how to use phrasing (video 3 in this series), shuffle (video 1) and syncopation (video 2) to walk with the best of them! I demonstrate exactly how to

Phrasing! What is Phrasing? It’s everything! This under-appreciated detail can make or break a groove. Rhythmic phrasing is a vital piece of phrasing. Are you conscious of your note lengths and attacks? Together with dynamics and other aspects of music, they make phrasing. If you have a listening drummer it makes every jam ever so

Rhythm’s Gonna Get Ya! (Video 2 of 5) This happened to me at a rehearsal once. We were all giving the sixteenth notes a slight shuffle but one of us was playing them completely straight. Me: “Hang on, the rhythm isn’t clicking. Give it a bit of a shuffle.” Bandmate: “Shuffle? It’s not a shuffle.”

Practice Groups? How does this work? Maybe you have heard of our new teaching format: live on zoom ten weeks Practice Groups of various topics. We get it it’s a bit hard to imagine, so I wanted to share a screen grab view. (Actual view of the student will show a full screen size speaker’s

Rhythm’s Gonna Get Ya! But you’ll be ready if you watch my brand new Mini-Series on Rhythm. Five bite-sized, but info-packed videos that will take the mystery out of a few rarely talked about, but super important and sometimes tricky aspects of rhythm. First up is: Straight Versus Shuffle Afraid to stray from the straight

Which Book to get? Are they the same? A reader asked: I am looking at getting your new Pattern System book on Amazon. Would I also want to get the “Music Theory for the Bass Player” book? Or does the Pattern System book encompass everything in the previous book and more? This question makes a

I love questions. They reflect the state of understanding of our course participants and students. And I love watching the answers come in on our Facebook Group when the question is posted there. Some spot-on, but others adding more to the confusion revealing why precise and careful instruction is needed. After an epic thread that

Now Available on Amazon! Four years to write and 20 years in the making, my new Pattern System for the Bass Player – Sharpen Your Musical Mind through Fretboard Proficiency, Improvisation and Mental Practice is now available on Amazon! What is The Pattern System?  Is it just moving shapes up and down the fretboard?  Is

I get a lot of questions about our Cohort. What of all things is that? So let me take a minute to walk you through the answer. What is this Co-hort Thing? And how did it come about? It all started with my best-selling and highly-regarded book, Music Theory for the Bass Player – A

Rhythmic Revelations When a student of one of our Cohorts has a question and something is not clicking I cannot let it be. For instance: Natalie from our Cohort posted this question into our FB group (at 6:00 AM no less, a very eager student. Also, she lives in New Zealand!):        

The Amazing Marleaux Bridge and the Zero Fret It is no secret that I love my many beautiful Marleaux basses. I am blessed and truly lucky to have collected all these amazing instruments over the years. There are several reasons why I like them so much: Superior comfort and playability, absolutely amazing craftsmanship, the versatile

Skippy MacBeat Whether you call him the “metrognome” (Steve Bailey), the “basscot” (Forrest from our Facebook group), channeling Pete Townsend as “Skippy MacPete”, or by his real name Skippy MacBeat, this lovable little vintage metronome is the star of my new book – The Pattern System for the Bass Player – Sharpen your Musical Mind