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Confession: I played bass for years without ever practicing. I didn’t know what to focus on and certainly didn’t have enough discipline for it… I just wanted to play. I played along with records, I fooled around and discovered certain licks, and I hung out with musical buddies who would give me tips now and then; but I never actually...

Q: What’s the point of a “zero fret”? A: I haven’t noticed much of a difference having a zero fret vs. not having one. My Skjold basses all have zero frets in them, while my Zon’s do not. However, I believe that that the zero fret serves two functions: It gives an open string the same tone as a fretted...

Recently I’ve had the good fortune to take several trips into the recording studio, each situation was entirely different from the last. Each session, or group of sessions, highlighted in my mind different features necessary for an efficient, pleasant and successful session. Unless you are doing both the performing and the engineering, (something I advise against if you can avoid...

Passion trumps all. That’s what master luthier Michael Pedulla learned after building his business to greater and greater heights. Starting as a one man shop in 1975, Pedulla reached a pinnacle in production during the mid-1990’s, putting out close to 750 basses each year. Michael was forced to work more on running the company than building basses, and since then...

Q: I’m an amateur bassist, and my current setup consists of an active bass, multi-effects pedal and a combo amp. All of these have equalizers built in, and I’m really unsure how to use them all to the best of their potential. The multi-effects pedal has the most versatility, having separate modules for high and low equalizers with an option...

No matter how prepared someone usually is, most gigging bassists will find themselves at a gig, searching through their bag of “stuff” and saying: “hey, where’d my _____ go?” It happens to everyone at least once. If this has happened to you, you’ve probably experienced one of three outcomes: You get extremely lucky since you happen to be gigging five...

Q: I’ve spent a lot of time developing exercises for myself to practice connecting chords so that I’m not treating each chord as a separate entity. My goal is to voice-lead my way through the chords as if each is a slight variation on the last. I’ve been trying to solo during chord progressions, but I find myself stuck on...

There are several reasons why a passage may sound sloppy. One of the more prevalent ones, however, is incorrect coordination between the two hands during passages of separate (i.e. not slurred) notes. For such passages, the fingers must completely stop the string before the right hand, or bow, articulates. While studying violin pedagogy with Mimi Zweig at Indiana University she...

Q: During a recent performance with my band, I was given a spot to solo in a fast, up-tempo (120 bpm) funk tune. I basically have as much time as I need to “do my thing” with only the drummer accompanying me. My question: during my solo spot, should I stay in the pocket (the song’s in E) and just...

Greetings, bass players! Although I’ve enjoyed writing about the blues for the past few months, a new year calls for a new subject, and I’ve decided to shift gears a bit. Thanks to you guys, No Treble readers, and to the nifty technological advancements that allow us to communicate in new ways, I’ve been impressed by the ongoing dialogue that...

Q: I’ve been thinking about getting a new amp head, and I want to make sure that it will work properly with my current cabinets. How do I make sure that the head I’m getting won’t blow a speaker or ruin my shiny new head? A: While I’m not a super “techy” guy, I have learned about some of this...

As someone who has taught at the University/Conservatory level for a number of years, I get many questions regarding undergraduate music school auditions. Some questions are specific to my school, but many are general requests for advice. As I am currently deep into audition season, I thought I would summarize some of my more common suggestions. Although much applies to...