Over the years I have noticed that almost all of my new students have huge gaps in the concepts (in my view) fundamental to any musician, and, in our case, any bass player. There are many reasons for this: more and more are self-taught, convinced that since there is an endless amount of teaching material online, they can make a path of study on their own. Unfortunately, it almost always happens that we then find ourselves having followed so many different teachers, so many different teaching methods without anyone to give us proper advice, and to avoid mistakes, which then become very difficult to fix. Another thing I notice, many bass players have technically arrived at an almost crazy level, they play incredible slap passages, solos at enormous speeds, etc. But then I ask them to accompany a simple song in eighths (example), giving the right intention to each note, and I hear the gaps I mentioned earlier. Who goes out of time, who plays them superficially, who doesn't take care of the sound, etc. Or (this occurs in almost all of my students), I ask them to play me a major scale of (example) B, over two octaves, and they get stuck. What's my point? In my opinion, a good bass player, before "venturing" into very very complex techniques and studies, absolutely must have a solid foundation regarding:

 

• Timing

• Posture and basic techniques (pizzicato, left hand, etc.)

• Care of one's own sound

• Repertoire

• Knowledge and listening to as many genres of music as possible

• Groove and portment

• Knowledge of basic theory and harmony

• TOTAL knowledge of the bass fretboard

 

It is precisely on this last point that I have dedicated this course. Whether you play 4-, 5-, 6-, or multi-string basses, knowledge of the entire bass fretboard is vital to your course of study. Knowing how to play an arpeggio, a scale, only in the " vertical sense," for example, or with only one fingering, or only in one range of the instrument, will result in an almost complete inability to improvise, but also to play simple fills or to compose simple bass lines. 

In this project, I have gone through all my studies about it, trying to summarize the most important points, which have led me (with sacrifice and dedication) to know my instrument (quite) well. FUNDAMENTAL will be to follow the proposed exercises, to take cues from them and then use them intelligently. Change key, change rhythm, try to understand every single topic, spend time on every arpeggio, every scale. One day you will understand how much this kind of work, will twist in a positive sense, the way you play the bass and "see" music.