To say I had a good time in Brazil is an absolute understatement!
Seeing dear old friends and making new ones was the highlight of it all. To get to make music with the incredible Stuart Hamm and to spread solo bass and duo bass vibes
When vijazz invited me earlier this year to come to Brazil…
TalkingA 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 topic at a time, especially technique and music theory. If you manage to make some beautiful music on top of it with that, all the better :).
Here, for example, is a Talking Technique episode where I hope to achieve all that:
The Alberti Bass Talking Technique Episode
This exercise definitely sheds your fingers quite a bit (left and right!) and it gives you a good theory workout as we are going through the diatonic cycle in minor.
In it, I explain the “Alberti-inspired” keyboard figures that we can adapt to the bass. Domenico Alberti was a composer in the 18th century. His left hand piano figures provide inspiration to this day and also give us some heavy-duty technique shedding: string crossing, right-hand shedding, and coordination.
Exercises like these are a beneficial part of a smart practice regimen. In this lesson, we’ll go over these Alberti-inspired figures over the diatonic cycle in minor.
