"From fizzling out in less than 60 secs to jamming for half an hour"
Meet Michael:
Before going through my Bass Lines on the Fly material, Michael had been playing for 2 years and he’d actually started on Uke bass, but eventually added 4, 5 and 6-string basses to his arsenal.
But even though he’d been playing for a few years, he felt like there was something missing. When it came to making bass lines on the fly, Michael was stuck playing the same thing over and over and was feeling pretty down about it.
The first time I did for example Autumn Leaves…all I did was the 1, 3 and 5 whether it was major or minor all the way through and I memorized that…but there was no way I could go outside of that 1-3-5. If I got really brave, I’d throw in a 7th…I had no freedom on the fretboard.
Being boxed in to just using roots, 3rds and 5ths, plus knowing a ton of theory, but not knowing how to use it left Michael super frustrated with his progress and trapped in the first four frets of his bass.
And that’s despite Michael knowing his music theory well - at least on an intellectual level. But actually applying the theory he knew was a different story:
Since well before I could actually play bass with any level of minimal competency, I was pretty heavy in understanding music theory…I understood the modes, and all kinds of things about music theory. It was the application of that knowledge that was so far beyond me that it was ridiculous.
The result of these two things? Well when it came time to put on a random backing track and jam, Michael couldn’t even play for 60 seconds before everything fell apart.
That’s when he joined my testing program for Bass Lines On The Fly.
The Pentatonic Epiphany
Michael’s lightbulb moment came from one particular ‘science’ drill in the Bass Lines On The Fly material about the pentatonic scale.
This was a scale that Michael already knew. He knew the theory behind it, he knew the shapes, he knew the patterns, but he hadn’t ever applied the theory that he knew. This one science drill from the course showed Michael how he could use this scale that he’d known for ages.
Check out the results in Mike’s own words:
After 2 years of being trapped in the first few frets of his bass and chained to the roots, the 3rds and 5ths, Michael got a taste of freedom on his fretboard - and it felt amazing.
Imagine how it must feel to be able to go to any old random backing track on YouTube, press that play button and just be able to play along with it.
No more:
Fumbling over your notes
Getting confused by the theory
Being trapped in the first few frets
Later, I asked him about this first time doing this and here’s what he said about it:
All I remember is that at some point, I was listening to the song and I was feeling it and I was playing and I was trying to figure out what I was going to play next to a certain degree, but at the same time I was just going with it…I kept the groove through the whole time and at some point I remember noticing that I was kind of sitting there bouncing with the music playing it with a big grin on my face. The next time it happened, it was a 20 minute jam. It was like learning [how to apply] the pentatonic scale gave me just enough freedom…to sit down and jam on that thing and feel the transitions. Up until that point I could feel the transitions on a song, but I was stuck repeating the exact same bass line.
“You sound like you’re almost a professional bass player...”
Playing with backing tracks is one thing, but how would Michael fare when faced with a ‘real’ song?
I wanted to know, so towards the end of the bass line material, I gave Michael and all the other students in the testing program an ‘impossible’ drill.
I called it the ‘Simulated Jam Session’ drill. I sourced a ton of live performances from real bands playing real songs - not artificial backing tracks that just looped the same 4 bars for ages.
These were songs with intros, verses, choruses, breakdowns - the whole gamut.
Michael’s task was to create a bass line - on the fly - for these songs on the first try. It was almost a jam session where these bands had asked these students to ‘sit in’ with them.
There were a range of different tracks the students could pick from, but Michael, being a classic overachiever, went through ALL of them - even the one that I warned was quite advanced.
So Michael used everything he had learned from the course and actually applied it to create a ‘real’ bass line. Then he showed the recording of his exercise to his son, who is a very accomplished jazz guitarist:
In fact, I played [the jam session drill from Bass Lines On The Fly] for my son and he said, ‘So how long have you been working on this?” And I said, “Well that’s the first take.” And his eyes - he was like “What?!?” He said, “That was your first take?!?” And I said, “Yeah I looked at the lead sheet to figure out where I should do chord transitions”...and he was blown away. He was like, “Wow - that’s really good” and that was really encouraging.
…He listened to it a 2nd time and about halfway through he said, “You know - in this song, you sound like you’re almost a professional bass player”. He says, “It sounds like it’s a part of the recording” and I was pretty happy with that...When he gives me a compliment, I take it pretty well.
But for Michael, things only got better and better because if he can do this at a ‘simulated’ jam session, then he can do it with real people at a real jam session as well.
From Backing Tracks To Real Jam Sessions
Because both Michael and his son play music, it’s only natural that they’d end up playing together and that's exactly what happened. They recruited a drummer and started playing in a power trio - Michael on bass, his son playing guitar and their drummer friend.
It’s also where Michael was able to try out his bass line chops in a real-world scenario. No backing tracks, no ‘simulated’ jam session. This was the real deal.
Last Friday, when we were jamming, the other thing that happened - I said, “Throw down a funky drum line” and then I turned to [my son] and I said, “Start playing something and tell me what key we’re in.” So he did and we had a good 30 minute jam out of that.
Those on-the-fly bass line skills Michael worked so hard to improve now means he can jam with other real people for 30 whole minutes! Just weeks beforehand, he struggled to make it even to 60 seconds.
But again, it gets even better.
We were out on the side of the house, we had a good 30 minute jam out of that and these 4 kids came by and were out on the street air-guitaring and kind of bobbing their heads. They were like, “You should be at the Friday night concert” because the county puts on a free Friday night concert over the summer. We’re not that good, but I took the compliment well.
Random people hearing your impromptu jam and then suggesting that you play out at a public gig? That’s high praise - especially coming from 4 ‘kids’ that Michael didn’t know at all.
It’s all possible because Michael put the work in, honed his on-the-fly bass line skills and learned how to apply the theory he already knew in a practical way.
Michael’s Thoughts About Who Should Join Bass Lines On The Fly
I asked Michael what kind of student he thought would benefit from joining Bass Lines On The Fly and here’s what he said:
It’s a great class for anyone who can ‘sort of’ get by with a lead sheet, and is looking for some freedom. I wouldn’t recommend it for a rank beginner, but anyone who’s got a little bit of familiarity with their instrument; they can sit down and figure out where the note is and they can sort of follow a lead sheet and stuff like that, but they don’t have any freedom to do anything outside of that. It’s almost like playing tab and you’re stuck to the tab like your life depends. I think anyone at that level would benefit a lot from this class.
I completely agree with Michael. Rank beginners (less than 3 months of playing) aren’t a good fit for Bass Lines On The Fly. If you’re just starting out, learning things like technique and groove are probably more important than creating bass lines out of thin air.
This is because having solid technique will make sure you never play with pain, end up with bad habits and lets you play anything you want, and having solid rhythm and groove means you can play with anyone.
By the way, I have courses specifically on technique and groove if you don’t feel like you’re ready to create bass lines on the fly. Just send an email to [email protected] and the student success team can give you the full details and a backdoor link.
But if you can play through a few songs all the way without any pain and with decent timing (they don’t have to be perfect - a few slip ups is totally fine) then you’re ready to start creating your own bass lines.
Creating bass lines on the fly and learning to actually apply the music theory you know is absolutely possible if you have the right guidance. Michael’s efforts are proof of that.
Once you have a system to learn how to create bass lines on the fly, it can take you from struggling to jam for 1 minute to jamming for as long as you want. Michael learned how and so can you.
I’d love to help you do all the things that Michael was able to do with the help of the Bass Lines On The Fly system. Enrollments close this Friday night at 11:59PM EDT, so check out the registration page for the full details and see if it’s a good fit for you. Just click the button below and register on that page.
I hope to see you in the course.
And here’s one last word from Michael talking about Bass Lines On The Fly.
I’m gonna tell you right now. This is the best bass course I’ve taken. I got way more out of this than out of virtually anything else I did...You clearly have sat down and thought about how to present material in a very organized fashion.
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