Upright Bass with Joseph T.

The universal truths of being a great bassist are great rhythm, great feel, and great note choices to create a strong foundation. But in order to bring out those qualities, you need to have an excellent technique to be able to clearly and accurately articulate the musical ideas in your mind or on the page. Let's face it: the bar can be pretty low for double bassists, and we can always blame the physical nature of the instrument, right? That shouldn't be good enough. The bass is the foundation of any style/genre, and the difference between a band, chamber ensemble, or orchestra with a solid foundation is night and day. But beyond just laying a foundation, we should aspire to have something to say on the instrument as well; being able to communicate what you hear, without being encumbered by the instrument, requires technique as well as musicality. My goal is to help you develop the skills you need to play the instrument how you want to play it. I have observed that one of the main differences between the pros and amateurs is what, and how they practice. There is a huge overlap of exercises and methods used by all the pros - we're talking things like long tones, metronome reduction exercises, left hand warm up and shifting drills etc. - and my goal is to help you to understand what you need to practice, how you should approach practicing (e.g. in order to gain maximum benefit from doing scales and arpeggios one must approach it in a specific way), and why, so that you can develop your ability to play without limits.