METHOD BOOK NOW AVAILABLE!
Troy Nelson Music Publishing
In 2021, Troy Nelson asked if I would be interested in writing a book about building bass lines. Many painstaking months later, the book was complete, and is now available HERE.
"Build Walking Bass Lines in 14 Days: Jazz & Blues Bass Lines for Upright And Electric Bass" covers the critical aspects of bass playing in a systematic format. Divided into six 15-minute lessons per day, the book is intended to be a resource for beginning and intermediate bassists looking for a methodical approach to improving their ability to create great sounding bass lines. The BOOK is available through Amazon in print and E-book formats, and includes play-along tracks.
BUILD BETTER BASS LINES
MILWAUKEE JAZZ INSTITUTE WORKSHOP From Thursday, August 4th 2020 6:30 - 7:30pm
In this workshop, we examined the fundamental structures of bass playing on the blues form; discussed some simple strategies to help make your lines clear, strong, and forward moving; and finally identified these components in some classic and modern examples from great jazz bassists.
BUILD BETTER BASS SOLOS
MILWAUKEE JAZZ INSTITUTE WORKSHOP From Thursday, January 7th 2021 6:30 - 7:30pm
In this workshop, we discussed some of the basic challenges of soloing on the bass, examined a step-by-step process for developing freedom in improvisation, and identified some of these concepts in classic examples from great jazz musicians.
SOME BASIC FUNCTIONAL HARMONY
I've put together a chart of some of the most frequently encountered harmonic structures in The American songbook. Hopefully, it will help students begin to identify, understand, and simplify some of the complex common harmonic motions in this music. Let me know what you think, and thanks for your interest!