Learn Bass Online with Ari

A common question I hear a lot has to do with practice routines: “What are some good exercises to improve my technique?” “What should my practice routine look like?” “How can I be more creative?” “How can I make music theory accessible and practical?” Well, I love, love, LOVE exercises that practice more than one

I have been gigging and traveling non-stop: London, Austria, Germany, Florida, San Francisco. So, no educational blog this week, but I do bring gifts! Solo Bass Night VII in LA (Read on for gifts!) Solo Bass Night was such a celebration in the Bay Area (sold out!), we are doing it all over again in

I have a few Quora answers for you today. The first one is for guitarists, but highly relevant for us bassists, as well. Guitarists/Pianists omitting the fifth in chords One person commented on my answer: “This is one of the best two-minute music lessons I have experienced, maybe ever…” Why is the fifth note often

With solo bass night upon us,   (compile of the Los Angeles Show, there are two, see solobassnight.com) the question re-emerges… what is solo bass? Bass Solo So, there are bass solos…. when a bass player plays a solo, when the band “gives the bass player some” – after dutifully laying down the groove and

Well, the Quoran opened a bit of a can of worms with that question. Some of the “worms”: Do you even need to know theory in order to compose? How do you advise someone whose biggest concern is to learn something fast? What styles are we talking? (I don’t think a single style of music

Goodness, what a blast we had at the Marleaux Camp! It is called Tiefgang, which is a play on words in German. We are “going deep” – as in notes, low tones on the bass, and we are diving down deep to the bottom of the sea (of knowledge). It was held from October 4

Scroll down to watch the video Thinking Inside the Box: Upper Structure Pentatonics If you have been following me for a while or if you have taken any of my courses, you know that I am big on boxes. Boxes, as in box shapes, as in 0f course pentatonics. After all, pentatonics make up a

London Bass and Guitar Show - EPIC! Plus: Find the hidden gift in this post… Some of my favorite highlights: Recording two courses for Scotts Bass Lessons with Nick Wells Seeing epic masterclasses and performances by Nick Beggs, Paul Geary, Cody Wright, Ellen O'Reilly, Steve Lawson, John Patitucci (who also received the Lifetime Achievement Award),

Hi Ari, On page 36 of your book “Music Theory for the Bass Player”, there are two interesting statements about minor and major thirds. When repeating minor thirds, you reach the starting note after four minor thirds, creating three unique interval sequences: [diatonic naming, meaning Bbb is called A for practical purposes] C – Eb

Happy Birthday, Notreble! We are celebrating our favorite online bass magazine by taking the “notreble” idea all the way, asking the question: Can you play all the 88 notes of the piano on basses? Turned out that notreble part all the way up was doable with a bit of finesse, but we ran into a

Everyone – meet The BeatBuddy! Jessie of Singular Sound contacted me a while back asking me if I would take a look at their BeatBuddy Pedal. I only promote what I truly like and almost all of my endorser relationships have started with me liking and promoting a product for a while and the endorsement

When I hear a great song I feel compelled to “decode” it What makes it sound cool? What’s up with these chords and why are other names for chords interesting? What are the effects of these chords? How can I emulate this and make it my own? Are there other names for these chords and why

We now have a great way to connect – Check out our new Ari’s Bass Blog Forums! Or, maybe we should call it Ari’s fretBOARDS?  What do you think? It all started with our new Cohort Course which we launched in January – Cohorts offer a way to go through the course with extra support,

Well, there is this triangle… There is a running gag between me and the singer/bandleader of a favorite project I am in, Generation Esmeralda. Let’s just say that triangle is super groovy but also so incredibly loud on stage, Jimmy sends me to the other end of the stage with it because I can’t hear

Floating thumb? Three-finger Gary-Willis style? Raking? Pumping eighths? The right-hand does not only pose several opportunities for sound variations, but it is also crucial in relieving the left hand from overgripping and plays a vital role in the overall set up to reduce tension and allow the music to flow. So, this is an important

Seems like Quora liked my answer on the phrygian characteristic last week, because I got similar request today, this time for: The characteristic of Dorian! Many of the answers recommended playing C major, and then using all the same notes, start the scale from D. The problem with that is you can’t really “hear” Dorian

Scroll down and click the Quora link to watch the videos: A Quoran requested my answer to the question: What are the characteristics of Phrygian? A few of the other answers that beat me to it stressed the fact that Phrygian is the third mode and hence any iii chord (chord on the third scale

A Quoran asked about the difference between major and minor scales… I tried to put myself into the shoes of someone who would ask this question below. In doing so my goal was not only to answer the question but to show the beautiful symmetry of sounds and modes, and how just like putting beads

It is a bit past the middle of the year. Revisiting New Year’s Resolutions is a great strategy to reinforce what’s working and tweak what is not If revisiting New Year’s Resolutions in the middle of the year is not your idea of a good time, you may need this conversation more than ever. Either

Practice tips galore in this iRealPro Tutorial From how to get started with the program, to downloading songs, to using its practice capabilities to the fullest. iRealPro is a great practice tool! Did you know you can create loops that change the key so you can shed transposing? Or put a click on 2 and 4?

Scroll down to watch the video Student Feature: Beautiful Practice Beautiful Practice is a practice regimen that tackles a whole legion of core challenges: the diatonic cycle arpeggios inversions of triads open voicings going up the bass neck in a systematic way string crossing playing with a hocket delay  It is a bear on your