Learn Bass Online with Ari

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

There is a story to these two basses that grace the covers of my books.   Music Theory for the Bass Player Cover Girl It all started with being hired by my friends over at TrueFire to create my first teaching video with them. I was super excited about this opportunity and wanted to do

More Permutation Drills in Action? Chromatic Acrobatics 2!   You don’t have to have Chromatic Acrobatics 1 under your belt to tackle this one, but you surely want to have some permutation exercises  (or these permutation drills) under your fingers. These chromatic grooves are a great creative application of permutation exercises. Sometimes permutation drills get

A Beautiful Story When I first launched my Indiegogo campaign for my second book “The Pattern System For The Bass Player”, it was greeted with a lot of eager backers. We were grateful and excited. And then I get an email from a course participant and student named “J.” saying that he just backed the

Chromaticism in grooves is permutation exercises in action! Check out the groove that started the Chromatic Acrobatics series for my Talking Technique column on notreble. Learn it using my step-by-step approach that teaches you more than just the groove- but also how to approach and practice such a beast! Ready to check it out?  

When Performing doesn’t go as practiced… There is a reason. And a remedy! We likely have all been there… aced the tune in the practice room. Yet, when playing it for the teacher or wanting to show it off on stage, it’s doesn’t go as planned. What is up with this flummoxing phenomenon?   Please

Which Skippy should grace our T-Shirt? I’d like to tell you about the star of my new book “The Pattern System for The Bass Player – Sharpen Your Musical Mind Using Fretboard Proficiency, Improvisation and Mental Practice” (by Ariane Cap with Wolf Wein) His name is Skippy McBeat and he is a vintage metronome with

Please celebrate with me as I am extremely excited to announce that my second book is ready for pre-order: The Pattern System for the Bass Player – Sharpen Your Musical Mind through Fretboard Proficiency, Improvisation and Mental Practice I co-wrote this book with Wolf Wein, my partner. It is an in-depth method of getting the

Reposting this Octave riff because it generated lots of interest when it first came out. Many of my students went ahead and learned it- and then sent me their recordings! Many others told me how much it inspired them. It was a Talking Technique episode, so it was mostly designed to be a challenging technique

Fretless Dreaming! [Video] When is the “right” time to add a Fretless? Asked & Answered Series Victor asks: I’m a beginner and have a medium scale four string fretted bass. When should I add a fretless bass? Do you agree when the time is right, a medium scale four string fretless bass similar to the

Join Our Practice Groups Whenever I am able to open my waiting list to welcome new students I notice that while I customize content for each individual student quite a bit, I also draw from my sizable library of programs in very similar ways. I started thinking about possibilities to cater to students and get

These free weekly streams are practice gold for your ears… They are free –  they are useful – and they are easy to join. Get Fearless Ears! If you are overly relying on TAB to learn songs, you probably realize that’s a bit of a crutch. We offer a very deep and comprehensive Eartraining Course. 

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