Talking Technique: The Most Important Technique Exercise of All

It’s fun to talk technique using song samples, blistering licks, and double stops. This episode of Talking Technique is dedicated to a less flashy but incredibly important topic.

Most of us are guilty of it and on some level, we know it: we grab too hard, we work against ourselves and we tend to hold tension in all sorts of places. I developed an exercise for this that I call “Drop G Permutation”. You can use it as a warm-up; or in songs; you can use it when you are working on getting to a higher speed, or even on stage when things feel “off”.

This is a longer episode than usual and I hope you check it out, standing, bass in hand. It can make a tremendous difference in your playing.

Take a load off, let go of tension – it invites the natural flow of the music in.

Austrian-gone-Californian Ariane Cap is a bassist, educator, blogger and author. In her book Music Theory for the Bass Player and corresponding 20-week online course, she teaches music theory, bass technique, bass line creation and fretboard fitness in a systematic, practical and experiential way. She just released a brand new course on ear training for the bass player: Ear Confidence - 6 Paths to Fearless Ears. Contact her via her blog or website.

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