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Q: I’m getting married soon and thought about how much wearing a wedding ring could affect my playing. I suppose it takes some time to adjust to it anyway, but I’m especially thinking about fret and string noise, or neck scratches. I noticed that you play with a wedding ring yourself and seem pretty comfortable with it, even on wide...

Although the title may suggest it, this is not a gym advertisement, nor a plan for a special low-fat diet. And, while we consider our vacation time as a way to take off from work for a few days, hang with our friends and family, and eat lots of goodies, our practice schedule usually falls victim to this time of...

They say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Well then, here goes… I’m a bookworm. So much so that it takes an enormous amount of will power to pry myself away from a good novel before being late to work. It’s easy to get caught up in a story, to lose track of time,...

Q: How do I brand myself as an internationally recognized bass player? How does one get endorsed to an international brand? A: You’d be surprised by how many times I get this question. It seems that many think there may be a trick or a simple solution to “making it”, “getting discovered” or “scoring an endorsement”. There are a few...

When confronted with a difficult passage that just isn’t getting any better, most of us will isolate the left hand to improve our accuracy. We may change from arco to pizzicato to isolate the left hand. We may “shadow bow” the passage. Perhaps we may finger the strings in the left hand alone, completely taking the right hand out of...

Q: I have great vocal chops, which I exercise frequently in my alter ego solo acoustic guitarist thing. I play bass in a blues/R&B band and have the best vocal talent in the band. But I can’t sing over a bass line to save my behind. Can this be learned? Any tips? A: Keep in mind that I am one...

Q: I have been playing upright for about a year and wanted to know what I can do about developing speed. I mostly play jazz and at the college I go to it seems like everyone wants to play uptempo tunes (Charlie Parker, Rhythm Changes, etc.) I feel as though I’m falling behind trying to stay with the tempo and...

Last time we talked about playing fourths across strings using two adjacent fingers, a concept sometimes called “forked fingering.” For example: We can, of course, use the same exact concept in the upper registers of the bass, or thumb position. For example: As mentioned before, this can be easier to execute effectively in the upper registers than in the lower...

Q: What do you think about Jeff Berlin’s approach to teaching music, specifically: no metronomes? A: Uh oh… This could mean trouble! Here’s my spin on it: I think different things and methods work for different people. I disagree with Jeff’s statements that metronomes are bad for everyone. I think he has a bit of a habit of speaking in...

Let’s face it, we usually don’t enjoy picking up the phone and finding out that our gig is canceled. Hearing the news via email or text doesn’t make it any better, especially if it’s short notice. On one hand, the middle-schooler in us delights in the fact that we can stay home in our PJ’s, watch movies and maybe even...

Q: As bass players, we often find ourselves in situations where we do a job for others, be it taking the bass chair in a singer’s project, subbing in a band, teaching, giving workshops, etc. I often find it difficult to get appropriate feedback for my job. I like it when people are happy with my work, and I also...

Playing fourths across strings on the upright bass can be fraught with problems, especially when we are playing double stops. Sometimes it is appropriate to “bar” the notes using the same finger like this: However, this can create a clamping of the hand and needless tension, which in turn limits our facility and ability to adjust quickly. Intonation can also...