From the email list
Stories and lessons that first went out to the Better Bass Lessons email list. Join free and the next one comes to your inbox, plus a $7 lesson pack matched to your bass.
Past emails
- Rhythm Changes: The Gershwin Chords Jazz Players Keep Borrowing (October 2, 2026)
Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm stopped a 1930 Broadway show. Jazz players kept the chords, dropped the melody, and built Oleo, Anthropology and Rhythm-a-Ning on top. - The Wrestler Who Carried a Calf: How to Play Faster on Bass (October 2, 2026)
Legend says Milo of Croton carried a calf every day until it was a bull. How to use the same idea to play faster on bass: find your max tempo and train right at it. - Scott LaFaro: The Bass Player Who Stopped Walking (October 2, 2026)
In June 1961 Scott LaFaro played the Village Vanguard with Bill Evans and for long stretches didn’t walk. Here’s what that tells you about soloing on bass. - What Drummers Figured Out in 1933 That Makes Bass Players Faster (October 1, 2026)
In 1933 drummers agreed on a list of rudiments and drilled them until their hands got fast. How to steal their paradiddles for right-hand speed on upright. - Giant Steps: The Coltrane Tune That Tripped Up Tommy Flanagan (October 1, 2026)
Tommy Flanagan had barely had time with Giant Steps when Coltrane recorded it, and you can hear it. What the tune says about right notes and wrong notes. - Coleman Hawkins’ Body and Soul: A 1939 Hit With Almost No Melody (September 30, 2026)
Coleman Hawkins played a few bars of Body and Soul, then two choruses of improvising, and it was a hit. What it teaches electric bassists who freeze on solos. - Jimmie Blanton: The Kid Duke Ellington Found in St. Louis (September 30, 2026)
Duke Ellington heard Jimmie Blanton in St. Louis and hired him on the spot. In two years he turned the bass into a solo voice. Here’s what he had to work with. - Thumb Position Fingering: The 1968 Olympic Fix for 0-2-3 (September 3, 2026)
Dick Fosbury couldn’t make the straddle work, so he changed the shape and won Olympic gold. Here’s the same fix for the 0-2-3 box in thumb position. - What a Boxer Can Teach You About Thumb Position Sound (September 2, 2026)
Bottesini made the bass sing up high on gut strings and a bow. Here’s the boxing-gym fix for a thin, choked sound in thumb position. - Jaco Pastorius Walking Bass: The Other Jaco Most Players Miss (August 30, 2026)
Everyone knows Jaco’s solos. Almost nobody knows his walking. Five Jaco walking lines, from Giant Steps to Dolphin Dance, and what each one teaches. - The Ray Brown Story: One Day in New York, Then Charlie Parker (August 25, 2026)
One day into New York, Ray Brown walked into a rehearsal with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Max Roach. How he got there, from a trombone his dad couldn’t afford. - How Bird Got Laughed Off the Bandstand: The Jo Jones Cymbal Story (August 18, 2026)
A teenage Charlie Parker lost his way in a solo at the Reno Club, and Jo Jones threw a cymbal at his feet. What that cymbal says about learning by ear. - Four or Five Days of Rehearsal: What Carried the John Mayer Trio (August 17, 2026)
The John Mayer Trio hit the road after four or five days of rehearsal. What Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan leaned on instead, and how you build it on bass. - The Wrong Chord Herbie Hancock Played in Front of Miles Davis (August 15, 2026)
Herbie Hancock hit a wrong chord on So What, right as Miles Davis started his solo. Miles made it sound right in a few notes. Here’s what that takes. - Famous Musicians Who Couldn’t Read Music (and What They Did Instead) (August 14, 2026)
Irving Berlin wrote in one key on a trick piano. Django, Hendrix and Erroll Garner couldn’t read a note. What they could do instead, and how you practice it. - Victor Wooten’s Shortcut: Learn Music the Way You Learned to Talk (August 12, 2026)
Victor Wooten says music is a language, and we teach it backwards. How he learned bass from his brothers, and how to point the ear you already have at music. - Dario Deidda: They Call Him a ‘Devourer of the Four-String’ (August 9, 2026)
Dario Deidda trained on classical double bass, then made the electric a lead voice. Eight straight best-bassist awards in Italy, and what his Serenity line teaches. - Stanley Banks: The Brooklyn Bassist Behind a 3x Platinum Record (August 9, 2026)
Stanley Banks learned his trade in Brooklyn clubs, met George Benson in 1975 and played bass on Breezin’ and “This Masquerade.” Here’s what his space teaches. - The Car Accident That Put Bob Cranshaw on Electric Bass (August 8, 2026)
Bob Cranshaw played bass for Sonny Rollins for about fifty years. A car accident put him on electric, and he made it feel like the string bass. - 5 Crazy Jaco Pastorius Facts Most Bass Players Don’t Know (August 8, 2026)
He started on drums, told Joe Zawinul he was the greatest bass player in the world, and told the butter knife story more than one way. Five Jaco facts. - Steve Swallow Quit the Upright for Electric and Never Went Back (August 8, 2026)
Steve Swallow was a respected upright player who picked up an electric bass at 30, fell in love, and never went back. Here’s what he made of it. - The Most Impressive Thing Charlie Haden Ever Played: 4 Whole Notes (August 3, 2026)
On Body and Soul with Keith Jarrett, Charlie Haden plays four whole notes for the first four bars. What most of us would play there instead. - Charlie Haden: The Connection Between Polio and Walking Bass (March 12, 2026)
Charlie Haden sang on the radio at 22 months. Polio took his singing voice at 15. Then he became, to my ear, the most vocal bassist in jazz by playing fewer notes than almost anybody. - 5 Crazy Paul Chambers Facts Most Bass Players Don’t Know (October 29, 2025)
His dad threw his bass down the stairs, his first jazz heroes were Bird and Bud, and the So What theme is a bass part. Five Paul Chambers facts.
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