had an early morning student..and he reminded me of something I posted previously...I thought I would share it again... "I had a discussion with a student this morning about the concept of...as a studying, evolving, exploring musician (...artist) you will: 1. Always feel you don't practice enough... 2. Always feel you don't know enough 3. Never be satisfied with your performances or level of play 4. Never feel you completely understand ANYTHING 5. Experience sometimes cri

Question: Who is your favorite bass player... Answer: YOU!!! it better be you...anyone else is just a part of what makes you as a musician. If it is not you..figure out why and FIX IT...or go be a dentist, or a rodeo clown.... That s all... #favoritebassplayer #philosophy

Players need to stop defining themselves by their gear, style or tricks they know... Unless you are writing a resume..you are NOT a 26-string fretless bubunga ramp, dual preamp, slap, tap, 4 finger, Hungarian folk song, microtonal, post modern jazz, metal, improvisational solo artist... You ARE a musician.....and what matters is what you CREATE...not the labels or the shit you use to create it... #philosophy #quoteoftheday

I get asked this all the time and see it in social media. I get lots of grief and I always answer "ME!". I has to be me. If not, why do I work my ass of to be the best player I can? Yes, there are players I admire and emulate...but ultimately, I want to be the one playing...not anyone else. So who is your favorite bass player? (thanks for saying me, but you are wrong)...IT IS YOU!!! IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE YOU!!!! If it isn't then fix it....get a teacher (me? lol), find diffe

Posted this in a group on Facebook..thought it was worth repeating.... I feel we need to eliminate the "elitism".in art....just because a person plays a certain type of music or has a particular skill or a certain kind of gear...it doesn't not make them better or worse than any other. In my 40+ years of playing I have met few if any musicians I would classify as "bad" and those were more based on their attitude than skill. I HAVE met players whose playing I did not like, or d

There was a GREAT magazine in the 1980's called GIG..it was a really great publication that covered many areas to help the working musician....the quote below always stood out..hope you enjoy it as much as I have: "A professional musician is someone who knows how to listen, is sensitive to the musical personalities around them and is AGRESSIVE IN THE BELIEF IN HIS/HER OWN ABILITIES. A professional does nor overplay and understands what it means to be a team player." Lots of

So many players I meet in person and on social media drool over "celebrity" players and bass gods. It is OK, IMHO, to REALLY like a player and to be inspired by him/her. The issue becomes when you base all your effort on playing like them. We don't need Jaco/Wooten/Burton/Miller/Jamerson/Graham/etc. clones...they exist and we are grateful. What we need are players that take from them and make something new and individual. All of these players, and others, are AMAZING tal