It was the education, that I get in the B.A.S.E.

http://base.si/

I've never put my time into memorizing many scales and this at times hampered my jammability if you will. I still remember a quote from a Victor Wooten DVD my wife bought me a few years back whenever I hit a wrong note.

"The right note is always one fret away"

That has allowed me to play what I feel instinctively but adding in a few "accidentals" on the way to the right note.

It's a crutch but one that has kept me walking in live jamming situations without having to memorize every scale thats out there.

Hey everyone thank you all for your responses.

I haven't been on here in a while but I'm understanding what you're all saying and it applies to my situation lately.

Recently I've been working on the fundamentals. Sometimes this involves practicing the c major scale in lots of different ways for half an hour. And i'll do this over and over for a couple of months and gradually introduce chromatics and eventually a different scale based in C. I've also been working on Green Dolphin Street for a few months - in the past I'd try to learn as many standards as possible aned I learnt all my scales in every single key without allowing myself to absorb the music of that each scale. I'd go through all the modes in every key over and over which seems crazy to me now.

The interesting thing is that by 'microfocussing' on the fundamentals over the course of months I have found that playing in situations with other people has developed tremendously. I don't get the urge to play loads of s*** during a song because I can do that in practice if I feel its necessary. It kind of relates to business - not that I'm an expert in that - however a when working with a business model if you can maximise the potential of each element of an existing business you can end up with a superior model and product.

With music if we take a few fundamentals (taken from Victor Wooten's The Music Lesson): Lets start with; notes, rhythm, feel, listening, phrasing and technique. to focus on one of these for half an hour would improve your entire personal musical model.

Not sure that I'm explaining myself clearly but this is what's on my mind lately.

Thank you all again for your responses,

best wishes, Sam

After my self-taught first year, my teacher helped a lot in fixing all those bad habits I had. Wish I would have skipped that and gotten lessons from the start. That teacher also made me learn songs by ear, which is one of the most important skills for me to this day.

Aside from that, playing chromatic exercises to get proper and independent 4 finger fretting was a ton of help.

Hi Sam,

I'm only new to bass, but I was at lessons 2 weeks ago and I actually got through an exercise and got the big 4 fret stretch to work and i said "that was lucky". My teach replied "yep, and the more you practice the luckier you get".

Ron.L

That's good Ron............well I must be the luckiest guy on the planet when it comes to playing LOL!!! Don :)

I started playing bass when i was 15 years old. I basically taught myself and played by ear and tab. In 2004 I met a Hollywood first call session musician, arranger,composer and orchestrator for motion pictures, tv, records. And is credited for writing and playing in many movies,television shows and records.
and has recorded in the studio on more than 10,000 sessions. He offered to teach me music theory so I can play,write and read music hands on in a working environment. His lessons are based on his experience as a musician for the last 50 years. 7 years later I am still learning. lol.

I started smoking at 10!

Didn't stop coughing 'til 10:30!

hahahahaha

one time I let my girlfriend bang on my front door for 15 minutes before I finally got up and let her out...

Did she have to pee? :-p

lol! Cigarettes are a nasty habiy i cant shake. Doc gave me chantix and got a allergic reaction. What a waste. That medication is not cheap.

lol! Cigarettes are a nasty habit i cant shake. Doc gave me chantix and got a allergic reaction. What a waste. That medication is not cheap.

Careful with Chantix and alcohol. Had a pretty well known local musician around here die because he drank a few too many while on that stuff. He turned violent (not normal for him) and was killed in self-defense.

Just be careful my friend.

Thanks for the heads up Bo. Wow thats sad to hear. Chantix made me irritable. The side effects are scary. People committing suicide and other problems. They really should pull that stuff off the market.

Yes, they should.

Dan, Bo, I have to disagree. I'm a former three pack
a day smoker, thanks to Chantix. My wife was the
same. My daughter, too. No side effects and quitting
was easy.

Gerry, thats great they did not have any side effects and they quit successfully. Not everyone gets side effects. I am going to try another method to quit smoking.

Whatever method you choose, Dan, I wish you luck.
It's a tough battle but it can be done.

Thanks Gerry I think the patch maybe my next option . Anything except cold turkey, lol! Although I have quit in the past doing the cold turkey method. obviously it did not work for that long.

I was able to quit with the patch in just a few weeks. My advice is NOT to go with a generic patch brand though.

Cold turkey for me - 25 years ago.

Gumby

I quit with the patch. It worked with no side effects.