Finding your direction as a player (PLUS, book recommendations!)

>Hi,
>
>My name's (name omitted). I heard about you through About.com and thought I'd give you an email. I've been playing bass for about 5 years, starting in high school, and I'm now in my third year of college. However, I had to take a break from playing for about a year because I got tendonitis. It was pretty frustrating to say the least, but I don't have it anymore (I found an exteremly good physical therapist who worked on yo-yo ma and poncho sanchez, to name a few). My problem right now is that I really don't have a solid direction or way of consistently improving my skills. I've learned alot on my own, but I don't really have the money to take lessons (starving student) and I'm just not sure what the next steps are towards my mastery of the instument. Can you give me some tips or advice? I'd really appreciate it.
>
>Thanks,
>
>D

Dear D,
Thanks for your letter. Congratulations on overcoming the tendonitis. I went through a similar episode while studying for my degree at Temple University. The experience taught me to always warm up properly, listen to my body, and not play through pain.

Ahh, where to go next! I think some of the answer is in defining your goal or goals as a player.
For example...
-- Do you want to be a super-versatile freelancer who makes a living for being able to step into any situation and play the right stuff on the bass?
-- Or are you more about trying to search out and refine a personal and unique "voice" on your instrument?
-- Is bass a potential vocation, or an avocation, for you?
-- Do you play other instruments and see your bass playing as part of a larger musical picture?
-- Or are you very intently focused on things like bass technique, the role of the bass in an ensemble, and other things specific to bass playing concept?

These are just ideas for the kinds of questions you may want to pose to yourself. The answers you find may show you more clearly what you want or need to do on bass. Bear in mind, however, that you can have more than one objective. You can want to be a super-literate session cat and also strive for a very unique, identifiable style.

In my own case, I decided at about 22 or 23 years old that I wanted to make a living playing bass. That summed up my overall goal. I decided it was okay with me to be a "hired gun" and get whatever experience and income I could playing with more or less anyone who would hire me. The steps I took toward that end were as follows:

First, I borrowed a truckload of money and moved out of my little town to Philadelpha and enrolled in Temple University's Jazz program. Then I practiced 25 hours a day (and had a tendonitis episode like yours!) and became a better technician, reader and stylist on the bass. Along the way I pounded the Philadelphia pavement and took any gig offered me. I ended up playing a lot of jazz, latin, rock, r & b, and some gospel. Every gig offered some kind of growth experience and somehow reinforced what I was learning at school. By the time I graduated three years later, I was making a living playing the bass.

Of course, you are always allowed to change your direction along the way. The experience you gather will help you regardless of where your journey takes you. I eventually decided making my whole living playing the bass had it's drawbacks and took a full time gig teaching music.

Okay, so all of that might have addressed a broader issue than what you were really asking, which is, how can you get better? It's always best to have a good teacher as your guide. But, if a teacher is out of the question for you at the moment, let me at least list some great books to practice from.

_Rhythmical Articulation_ by Pasquale Bona. Get the bass clef edition. It is a very thorough set of reading exercises. They are ridiculous near the end!

_Sight Reading For The Bass_ by Ron Velosky. This is a more down-to-earth reading text than the Bona. Better for getting started on reading.

_The Jazz Language_ by Dan Haerle. It's not a bass book, but a jazz theory book. A very valuable, comprehensive, and well-designed guide to theory.

_The Charlie Parker Omnibook_ . Get the bass clef edition. It's a collection of transcribed Charlie Parker solos. Learn them and you will learn the language of bebop. Which is the basis of most small-combo jazz to come after.

_Six Suites for Solo Cello_ by J.S. Bach. How better to become a solid bass technician but by studying the beautiful works of one of the all-time masters?

_Patterns for Jazz_ by Jerry Coker et. al. A series of short studies I have used mainly for technique practice.

_Mode Shapes for Bass _ by me, Andrew Pfaff. Sorry, couldn't help myself. I use the modes of the major scale as a means of improving fretboard knowledge, chart reading, ear training, and improvising abiility.

I hope something in here helps. A final thought -- maybe it's time to check out some new music. Buy some cd's recommended by a trusted friend or check out some of the more obscure material on public radio shows. Maybe something new is waiting to catch your ear and spark your imagination.

Best Luck and Regards,
Andrew Pfaff
http://www.andrewpfaff.com