Bass

I constantly reach with my bass playing, but in terms of making it groove. I like to work on a chord, or a fitting chord sequence, and with the metronome on, work it over and over, constantly reaching for that sequence of notes where it does what it needs to do, and from there, can evolve without breaking the back of it.

My influences tend to come from a number of sources: hip hop, and not necessarily the live stuff, although the approach tends to inflect what I do, Motown for Jamerson, because he was fearless, inventive and yet in complete control of the low end(thats not to discount Babbitt, who was equally powerful) and the funk, or at least the idea of funk, that lives in my head.

I know it when I hear it, sometimes its simple, sometimes its intricate and melodic, but when I hear it, I repeat it over and over, until I kind of go away, listening with all of my attention but feeling it, until I can register the precise set of sensations and emotions. It has to be music, I am tough to please when I practice alone. Oddly with El, I tend to make my choices even simpler, sometimes locking in with the kick is all I need, to the point that sometimes El wants me to go crazy, which by that point, I am grateful to do.

I practice chords and scales, but not as much as I should because I tend to get more developing my ear, but that will change from now.