should i get jazz bass lesons?

[nik]

ive been listening to alot of weather report and jaco recently, and i have realised that my bass playing is stuck in a rock bass mindset. and this is blocking my creativity a fair bit.

soooo.. would it be a good idea to get jazz bass lessons, focusing on scales arpegios and the application of both into all music and also improvising?

any thoughts? recomendations of sydney tutors etc?

 

[Vinnie]

I dunno if this would be good advice or not, but learn the songs and just play along with the track and you should develope the way you play jazz in your own way. Worked for me :wink:

 

[Florin]

You gotta know a lot of theory for jazz, so I think it is a good idea to take lessons.

 

[Grgzilla]

Hey Nik,
Steve Hunter is one Australia's leading jazz bassists,a real nice bloke & gives lessons from his home in Leichhardt.I've never met anyone that can play Jaco like Steve.He's also a Warwick amp endorsee.
Steve's email is,
[email protected]
His website is,

 

[Gman]

Funnily enough, I've been thinking the same thing over the last week or so. My playing hasn't really progressed in years, mostly due (I think) to my lack of theory and fretboard familiarity, so I've bought a few books and hoping that will kickstart a change.

I'd like to get some jazz lessons but I reckon I'll struggle here in the Midlands to find anyone that isn't blagging!

If anyone knows of a decent jazz bassist in the Midlands or Warwickshire, please let me know.

G

 

[nik]

Hey Nik,
Steve Hunter is one Australia's leading jazz bassists,a real nice bloke & gives lessons from his home in Leichhardt.I've never met anyone that can play Jaco like Steve.He's also a Warwick amp endorsee.
Steve's email is,
[email protected]
His website is,

this sounds almost perfect!! thanks greg!

would he be willing to teach a rock/metal guy like me? i guess i have a very open mind when it comes to music.

 

[Negyuh]

Depends on what you want to do with it, i have played a lot of jazz without and real jazz training and it was hard (and sometime embarassing) for me to keep up with the real jazz freaks (my brother is a professional Jazz Guitarist). if you want to play the Jaco stuff you can:

a: Learn the songs by heart and just play that 8) or

b: really learn jazz theory and spend years practicing to get to the musical level Jaco had, but this might be to high for some of us (no offence but the level of Jacos playing is awfull high and i tried to get there but just cannot keep up with the swiftness and change of musical ideas in even a single Jaco peace :!: )

It is your choice but keep in mind path B is the path to greatness, but it is long full of roadblocks and in the end it might even be unreachable! i know when you choose path B there is no way back while path A is more like the patzer approach and leaves you more time to do other stuff 8)

It is nice to share some experience once in a while

 

[Grgzilla]

Hey Nik,
Steve Hunter is one Australia's leading jazz bassists,a real nice bloke & gives lessons from his home in Leichhardt.I've never met anyone that can play Jaco like Steve.He's also a Warwick amp endorsee.
Steve's email is,
[email protected]
His website is,

this sounds almost perfect!! thanks greg!

would he be willing to teach a rock/metal guy like me? i guess i have a very open mind when it comes to music.

No worries Nik.
Steve's a great bloke,he'll teach anyone.
Tell him I said hi.

 

[saxonbass]

I think getting a good teacher would be an excellent idea... if you agree on what you want to achieve it's got to be a good thing! Maybe also a teacher would help you decide exactly what you do want to achieve.

Just a few thoughts: playing like Jaco... that is setting the bar rather high... or you could just settle for learning some of his tunes (I'm sure that would be challenging enough). That just echoes what Negyu has said really.

However, I detect a bit of a feeling here that Jazz is some form of mystical art that descends from above and can only be played by "chosen ones". I admit, it's a bit more complicated than a standard blues form, and probably needs some work putting into it, but so what? If you get any books on theory and try to absorb it first, you'll probably give up. You need to temper the theory with practise, and just get stuck in and make a noise (this can be done in private with backing tapes), then you'll begin to understand what scales, modes and whatever, work with what chords, and what substitutions are and all that cr*p.

I'll just point at here that I've never really played much Jazz on bass... but I have played it (grudgingly) on sax and flute... you just play one note after another, same idea really!

Sorry about the rant!

 

[nik]

I think getting a good teacher would be an excellent idea... if you agree on what you want to achieve it's got to be a good thing! Maybe also a teacher would help you decide exactly what you do want to achieve.

Just a few thoughts: playing like Jaco... that is setting the bar rather high... or you could just settle for learning some of his tunes (I'm sure that would be challenging enough). That just echoes what Negyu has said really.

However, I detect a bit of a feeling here that Jazz is some form of mystical art that descends from above and can only be played by "chosen ones". I admit, it's a bit more complicated than a standard blues form, and probably needs some work putting into it, but so what? If you get any books on theory and try to absorb it first, you'll probably give up. You need to temper the theory with practise, and just get stuck in and make a noise (this can be done in private with backing tapes), then you'll begin to understand what scales, modes and whatever, work with what chords, and what substitutions are and all that cr*p.

I'll just point at here that I've never really played much Jazz on bass... but I have played it (grudgingly) on sax and flute... you just play one note after another, same idea really!

Sorry about the rant!

yea nah thats alright, im not really looking at becoming the worlds greatest jazz bassist, just trying to expand my musicial knowledge and playing to get outside of my rock mentality.

 

[nik]

Hey Nik,
Steve Hunter is one Australia's leading jazz bassists,a real nice bloke & gives lessons from his home in Leichhardt.I've never met anyone that can play Jaco like Steve.He's also a Warwick amp endorsee.
Steve's email is,
[email protected]
His website is,

this sounds almost perfect!! thanks greg!

would he be willing to teach a rock/metal guy like me? i guess i have a very open mind when it comes to music.

No worries Nik.
Steve's a great bloke,he'll teach anyone.
Tell him I said hi.

sweet thanks heaps greg.
do you get lessons from him? or are you just mates with him?

 

[saxonbass]

Nik
oops... it came across as a bit of a rant.... must be the hot weather here (we get one hot day out of 365)...
Lessons sound like the best option... especially if the guy is recommended (then you can blame Greg if it all goes wrong!)
Just one other point... why stop at expanding your jazz horizons... why not get the funk?

 

[nik]

nah thats alright saxon, what your saying is very valid.

im actual into alot of funk and love to muck around with slap playing alot (im not amazing though obviously)

but the reason im wanting to go with jazz not any other type of music is because it goes totally against alot of rock music, and i feel if i can take what im learning about the theory and improvisation in jazz and use that in my metal and rock bass playing and also in all my composing (i do alot of experimental tracks on FL studios on my computer) i could come up with that much more unique stuff.

 

[saxonbass]

Doesn't sound like you're THAT stuck in a rock bass mindset then... sounds more like you've got an open mind :lol: :lol: :lol:
Lots of luck with all that! Hope you find a good teacher!

 

[Mangas]

Something thats helped me alot is to flip the channels and play along with whatever is on. We have a satellite dish with a hundred or so channels. All kinds of music. World,funk, Jazz,blues,electronica,dub,alt and mixes of all types of music. You name it,its there. Playing along with unfamiliar rythems has definately helped me.

 

[ge7243]

Bassists I think have it easy for learning jazz, at least if you're playing rhythm. I had a really tough time in one on one (me and the teacher) lessons, which involved a more theorized approach. But I soon after joined a class/ensemble, and that seemed to help me loads. I was able to apply things in my own fashion, because I had spent a bit of time getting to know where each interval could be found, then finding those intervals in relation to the open strings (fifth fret in relation to the above string, seventh in relation to the lower string for a separate octave..etc). When given a song, I'd learn the root notes for each chord change, then study what type of chord it is and apply the chord shape accordingly to the bass line.

Getting a program like Band in a Box is great, it essentially takes instruments, the key signature, and the chord progression you specify and makes a song out of it. And from this you can play the rhythm, the lead...whatever have you.

Also, a reference I keep coming back to is which has helped me both in jazz and in the music theory course I temporarily took in high school (it really put it into the bass perspective I needed, as opposed to the piano oriented method the course was teaching)[/ame]