Bass day (1h 45m)

Finally a bass session! 😃

Warm-up

Be My Love in C
- Basic Latin (1-5, 3rds, some chromatic passages)

Scale studies

Harmonic minor in all keys
Harmonic minor dissection (bass variation): figure #1 — sheet music coming soon
Harmonic minor dissection (bass variation): figure #2

Reading

Hrabe etude #7

Pick + technique

Famous blues lines by Larry McCabe — figure #5 (C, D)

Observations

If there’s one thing in this multiverse that can make me instantly get back on my track and feel great again — it’s sight reading on bass. I was missing it so badly!

Bass day (1h 40m)

Latin rhythms & walking bass
- Cha-cha-cha in G & E
- Walking bass practice with Nashville number notation (keys of G, E, C, Bb)
Chord tones
- Recap all 7th chords in all inversions around the cycle of 4ths
- In context of the song (very briefly)
Tons of Runs (Andy Laverne book) — reading in treble + learning licks for soloing: dominant 7th run in 3 keys

Observations

OMG! I don’t know if it’s just a recent update or was always there, but I have just discovered that you can display chord charts in iReal Pro in NUMBER NOTATION!!! YAAAAAY!!! That’s an absolute killer. Keep improving walking bass line skills and at the same time finally internalise all scale degrees relationships (even though the app is not smart enough to detect mode mixing and modulations to other keys, but still!). Priceless.

Bass day (1h 30m)

Chord tones
- II — V — I’s
  - In the keys of C, F, Bb & Eb, all inversions
Walking bass lines
- 3/4 Bossa Nova over a jazz standard
- Walking bass line including passing tones & enclosures over same standard

Bass day (1h 30m)

Chord tones (Phil Mann) — 30m
- Major / minor / dim triads in all inversions around the cycle at 80bpm
- Major / minor / dominant / dim 7th chords in all inversions around the cycle at 80bpm
- Slow focus on dominant and diminished, not looking at the fretboard (as a singing bassist, I need to improve this skill)
Walking bass lines — 1h
- Partido Alto + Cha Cha Cha over random blues progression from iReal Pro app, played in Latin rhythm
- 2-octave dominant walking bass line exercise (b7 ascending, b7 & b6 descending) in all keys (well, not ALL 30 according to Victor Wooten, haha) around the circle of 5ths, very slowly

Observations

After all generations of music educators and thousands of practice techniques, the best piece of advice remains unshaken: EVEN SLOWER DAMMIT! 😆

Bass day (1h 20m)

Chord tones (Phil Mann)
- All triads (major / minor / diminished / augmented) in all inversions around the cycle of 4ths at 70bpm — 30m
- Major 7th chords in all inversions around the cycle (70bpm) — 15m
- Minor 7th chords in all inversions around the cycle (70bpm) — 15m
Walking bass lines + Latin grooves
- Latin patterns & improv with 3rds / 7ths over same jazz standard played with Latin groove (Shine by Dabney-Mack-Brown) — 20m
  - Mamba
  - Cha cha cha
  - Bossa

Observations

Latin patterns are super fun! Also, I was kind of contemplating enrolling in SBL Coaching program, but then decided not to as it seems that I’m focused enough and I have a lot of courses planned out for the next couple of months, so looks like coaching is not a necessity at the moment. But the idea is great anyway! I may join the next cohort.