rut rants
knock a whole lot of rust off.
okay... the burnout is strong. i've become directionless and deep in a rut. it's frustrating and it makes me literally feel terrible when i sit down to play and i'm like *siiiiigh*, "meh". it's a ruff place to be in and it's certainly hard to get out. but I think I know why I ended up here in the first place. lemme explain. full transpa…
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growing pains.
ugh. so. i've been avoiding the thing that i've needed to work on the most because... well, it's just that uncomfortable to do. i mean, that is a trap of practicing/playing, right? we, certainly i, will end up practicing the things i'm already not bad at because it's easy and sounds good. i find it super easy to sit down at the start of a practice…
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rut rants
burnt. out.
uuuf. well, it happens to everyone at some point. this past month I've been experiencing burn out. after my last lesson I basically didn't play for 2 weeks and when I did it was brief and not substantial. during my lesson Todd had said he feels like I'm in on a plateau, which I'd agree with. I've been putting a lot of work in with little upwards …
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reality check
grittiness? grittitude? gritosity. yes, that's it.
i've sorta got 3 posts going simultaneously just because i have a few things i want to put down in words but i can't quite complete the ideas. so for the sake of actually completing something i'm going to talk about my most recent lesson, which... was a whole thing. i was listening to a psychology podcast recently (no like a legit one, not armchair psycho…
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practice routine
go kick rocks.
several months ago my teacher had me starting to work on beautiful love and, as i do, i dove right in. i got it programmed into reaper, grabbed the midi melody from a transcription on musescore, and printed out the chart. i was ready. i spent the month working on it every day hoping to have it all buttoned up for my next lesson. each day i would pick apart each sect…
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reality check
progress and the struggles of said progress.
recently my teacher has got me working on an exercise which is objectively, and i can't stress this enough, not difficult. at face value, at least. however, holy shit i am struggling to get through one cycle. the concept is simple enough, play this thing and then move it down a whole step. run through all twelve keys. okay, sure... play the thing, move it down a…
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reality check
you get what you pay for.
as i do every year, in january i write up a brief description of my year-long goals. a year is certainly long term so i break it down further into medium and short term goals. it's a thing i do. before i write up the new goals i make a summary of the previous year's goals and if i stayed on course, how much i completed, thoughts, etc. needless to say each yea…
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gear
i hate consumables.
strings. i hate strings. don't get me wrong, i love how new strings sound and am always happy when i get a new set on a bass. i'm just not a fan of changing strings. not in a i'm-not-good-at-it sort of way but i just can't stand the prospect of having to do it. lemme explain. i'm one of those people that in a video game i'll hold on to all co…
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practice routine
you can't fake the work.
as i've mentioned in previous posts, i've been taking lessons for the past oh... 14 months or so. i diligently do the work assigned to me each lesson. every morning i get up, get my coffee, make my oatmeal, and sit down for the 90 or so minutes i've set aside for practice. every. day. i've got some technique stuff, the assigned jazz stuff, and whateve…
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practice routine
the depth dimension.
it seems to me that playing bass is 3 dimensional... well, i guess that would be true for any instrument. the 3 dimensions being pitch, time/rhythm, and dynamics. some may be more important that others depending on context, but there you have it. combined they sum to the feel of a bassline. pitch is obvious and doesn't need much explanation. it's the first …
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reality check
well ain't that a thing?
so i've been working with one of my teachers for over a year now on jazz fundamentals, walking basslines and the such. jazz was and is not a dominant genre in my life but when i approached him about lessons and i said i struggled to create basslines of my own he said "great, walking basslines it is". that's fine with me. he's been in the biz for…
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