THE VALUE OF TECHNIQUE

We live in an interesting time with respect to bass playing. It seems to have claimed its own share of the limelight these days, with even more 'bass heroes' seemingly making their way into the pages of the music press than ever before. What is most interesting to me, however, is that the understood pre-requisites for 'bass hero' status seem to have changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. These days, it's not just the virtuosity, captivating melodicism, or sheer technical prowess displayed on your instrument that puts you on the cover of magazines... It's pure image, attitude, and exhibitionism now sharing the bill alongside the more skill-centered demonstrations of talent.

However, out of this dichotomy results some inevitable confusion about what we should be aspiring to as bass players these days. Many bassists are hypnotized by the flashy techniques of their heroes and subsequently invest all of their practice time trying to cop their style and tricks. Other players are more intimidated by technical challenges and decide that they will spend all of their practice time working on grooves, instead. Some players don't even practice at all, having adopted the notion that "either you can play or you can't." Regardless of which of these camps a bassist might choose, it should be apparent that approaches like this have inherent weaknesses and will keep you from reaching your potential as a player and musician. The truth is, virtually all aspects of bass playing and musicianship are worthy of study, and should not be ignored.

In more recent times, it seems as if the pursuit of great technique has been downplayed in many circles of influence. (I have a philosophy that attempts to explain why this has happened, but I won't bore you with the details at this point in time...) Although no player's approach should be solely based on the technical elements, it is important to recognize its value in pursuing excellence on your instrument. The value of technique can be summed up in the following statement:

If your hands can't deliver what your mind, heart, and soul are trying to communicate musically, your message will never be received by your listeners.

This is the fundamental reason for pursuing technical mastery on the bass. The elimination of all technical obstacles frees you up to focus on the more inspirational and communicative aspects of playing bass without being restrained by mechanical limitations. However, consuming yourself with an exclusively-technical approach has many dangers, the most obvious of which is a resulting lack of musicality. Because many pattern-based approaches prove to be quite effective in the development of technique, we can often become overly concerned with what I call 'playing the math', instead of the music. Players that have limited their development to a mastery of patterns usually don't have the tools necessary in order to communicate on a deeper musical level. Unfortunately, this is heavily reflected in their playing. For example, most of what they might play in an open improvisational setting would sound as if they were merely performing various exercises. Because we need to sometimes detach ourselves from the discipline of methodical exercises in order to become more seasoned players, I feel that we should respect technique for what it is: simply a means for acquiring better tools to express ourselves without limitation. In other words, practice technique for technique's sake only. Reserve your pattern-based and more 'mathematic' exercises for the practice shed.

In this series, we will cover many approaches aimed at making you a better player through technical improvements. We will start by breaking down our right and left hand approaches and then move on to specific excercises and their musical applications. Remember: The ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of translation that occurs between inspiration and its delivery through your hands to the listener. Keep this concept in mind as you practice, and you will successfully keep your skills in balance!