#1 Slap Bass Line Heard In Guitar Stores

I have come to the conclusion that the most common bass line heard in guitar shops and music stores around the world has to be Flea's rendition of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground. It also has to be the most butchered line played in these music stores. It is a real simple line that sounds confusion because Flea does some slight variations on it throughout the song. I think you should get the basic line or theme down before moving on to the variations. I have been playing this live and teaching it to other players for years and most people seem to have the same problem with "getting it". Notice that the riff starts with thumbing the open E twice, plucking the E at the second fret on the D string then thumbing the open E string again. The way to get the essence of the riff is to thumb that last open E instantly after the plucked higher octave E. Most players seem to pause after the pluck, Thumb the open E again the move on to G,G,g A,a,A. You will never have a chance of coping the phrasing or moving on to get the variations of the whole song if you don't get that. So here is a sample of the tab and a cool video of the Chili Peppers doing it live on Arsenio in 1989. Freakin' 1989! We are all getting old.

Intro
G|------------------------------------------------------------|
D|------2----------5---------7--------2-----------5-----7---| x2
A|-------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-0-0---0---3-3------5-5------0-0----0---3-3-----5---5--|

Playing Is Important, Personality Is More Important!

Are you a professional musician? Do you want to be a professional musician? If the answer is yes then you need to accept one cold, hard fact. You are a business owner and the product you are selling is yourself. I know, music is art and combined with the average persons shyness about self promotion most musicians fail as business people, not as musicians. Ever notice how the most successful musicians in your local music scene is rarely the best players. It is because they are able to communicate with fellow employees, band members. And make employers, bar & venue owners, comfortable buying their product, their music. The people you do business with don't care if you can play the hottest Victor Wooten lick. They only care that you are on time, easy to do business with, their customers have a good time when you are playing, and yes that you can play. As with any business personality is everything. Every time you come into contact with anyone associated with "your business" and "your product" you have to be positive and make everyone feel comfortable with you and your product. You would just take for granted that you would have to do that if you were working behind the counter at Radio Shack. Why wouldn't you take that for granted with your own business.

So if you feel like you are guilty of not treating your career like a real business take the first step in self promotion. In this day and age there is no excuse. Here is an exercise I have for you that won't cost a penny. Go to Google and start a website, it's free. In this site list and describe everything about your product, you! Describe the type of music you are interested in playing, your age, include a picture, and be honest about your skill level. You might be surprised that describing yourself as the greatest bass player might cost you work. Now go to your local Craigslist and post an ad for your product, you! In the ad post a link to your new website. Weather you get a new gig from the ad or not you will now be seeing your product like all of your customers will and you make edits in your website and your product, YOU!

As bass players we are in a unique position that we are in huge demand. In most markets you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a great guitar player.But good, just good bass players are hard to come by. Make sure you are a good bass player then make sure you are a great business man!

Trailer from the upcoming Victor Wooten DVD - Groove Workshop

What a treat for all of us. Victor puts out another must have for all of us with the "Groove Workshop" DVD. Just the trailer I posted below is a great lesson and a reminder about what a force of nature this man is.

Bass Forums

Do you visit Bass Forums? If you do, do you post replies or start new threads? The reason I ask is that I have been spending a lot more time on The Bass Forums since I started blogging and I found myself doing some Internet research on web traffic to different websites and what I have found is that very few of the people visiting these sites are writing anything! Most people are just readers. Nothing wrong with that, I was just shocked because I was under the impression that the main reason people were going to Forums was to actually post. The traffic these sites are getting is amazing and what a wealth of information you will find in them. If you have never used a Forum, some of the best advice I can give you is to use the search features within the Forum itself. Lets say you are thinking about buying a…..”Acme Bass Pedal” and don’t know much about them. Go to some forums and enter “Acme Bass Pedal” in the search box within the forum and with any luck a variety of “threads” will come up with bass players talking about the pro’s and con’s of the pedal. Can’t find a tab? Some of these Forums have members that will race to their bass and draw one up for you. So find some forums, bookmark them and have start taking advantage of the great bass communities out there.

Here are some of my favorites….Just click on the Forum name for the links.


Talk Bass Forum
Stanley Clarke Interactive
Bass Player Magazine Forum
Jaco Pastorius .Com Forum
Ken Smith Bass Forum
The Ugly Bass Player Forum
Bass Dogs Forum
E Bassist .Com Forum
The Extended Range Bassist Forum
Fretless Bassist Forum
Bass Heroes Forum
The Ultimate Bass Forum

Edo Castro - Bass Musician Magazine Article

If you have never heard of him it is time you did. Edo Castro is an "extended range bassist" that creates beautiful music, not just solo bass music but "Music". I received a link from him this morning for a recent article done about him by Bass Musician Online Magazine. Check out the interview with him and make sure to take time to check out his website and music.

Click Here For The Edo Castro Website
Click Here For Edo Castro My Space Site

To read the Bass Musician magazine article click on post title.