New City, New Problems, New Solutions

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This summer has been a tumultuous one! I’ve moved three times, I went to New York and played Off-Broadway, and I went on an extensive tour of the northwest. Only just last month did I finally land in the city I’ll be living in for the next little while. As much fun as it’s been living out of a suitcase, I’m ready to settle down for a little while. The biggest letdown of moving has been that all of my music connections are now gone. All the people I knew and the network I had exists only in Idaho and Utah, and now that I live in San Diego, I feel like I’ll have to start all the way over. It’s a bit daunting, but I’ve been hunting down opportunities in studios, guitar stores, and on Craigslist. Surprisingly, I’ve had a decent amount of success online, and I’ve joined a band called Selfish Giant with other auditions and opportunities in the works. It’s going to be a struggle building a fresh network in a new city, but I feel confident that the right doors will open to me as I seek them out.

What We’ve Learned From Sammy’s

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It was recently announced that local hangout, music venue, and proprietor of pie shakes, Sammy’s, is now under new management. This news comes on the heels of some bad press concerning Sammy’s eponymous bungler, and as such comes as a welcome change. While I’m sure the quality of the burgers will improve and employees will actually get paid, I’m far more concerned with what will happen to the venue. Initially, Sammy’s stage was a magical place and the room was packed almost every weekend. Two years later and things aren’t quite as good. What changed and what can we learn as a community of musicians from the past couple years at Sammy’s? Here are my thoughts.

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My Guide to Online Forums

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I’m sorry if this comes off a bit like a rant, but as an active member of online bass communities like TalkBass and Reddit’s Bassit, I feel like some housekeeping is in order. First, let’s identify the different kinds of people on these sites. By my count, there are three:

1. People who have no experience and know how (Newbies)

2. People who have no experience and know how but think they do (Dummies)

3. People who do have experience and know how (Smarties)

So let’s start with the Newbies. You’re new to the instrument and you’re looking for information and that’s great. However, recognize that every question that you could ever ask has been asked a thousand times before. Protip: there is no such thing as a best bass. It does not exist. That being the case, your best bet for good information is to search for your question or thoroughly read the FAQ which stands for “Frequently Asked Questions”. I can guarantee with 90% certainty that you will find your answer there. Also, be sure to read the rules. You’ll avoid a lot of heartache that way.

Secondly, I want to talk to the Dummies. You are the people I hate the most. You don’t know what you’re talking about so just shut up. Don’t ever start a response with “I think” because unless you know for sure, then you have nothing to add to the conversation. Just watch and learn. Don’t just parrot things you’ve read because if you’ve just seen it somewhere else, then repeating it doesn’t really have value. The best thing you can do is refer the simple questions to the FAQ and leave the tough questions to the pros.

And now, I’d like to speak to the Smarties, the online version of pros. First of all, thank you for making online bass communities great. However, I do have one suggestion: Ignore questions that can be easily answered by the FAQ. I know it’s fun to have the answer but if there’s anything I’ve learned as a teacher it’s this: people do not appreciate information they haven’t had to work a little bit for. The best thing you can do for new players is ignore the obvious questions or just refer them to a place where they can get the info. If you see that someone has already done that, then up vote their response and move on.

Why should we do this? This will improve our online communities. The Internet is a great place for information and it benefits everyone including the lurkers when the best answers are easy to find and results aren’t inundated with repeats of the same “Which [piece of equipment] is best for [genre]” questions.

TL;DR:

-Don’t ask simple questions without trying to find the answer first; Google search is your best friend.

-Don’t answer questions you don’t absolutely have an answer for. There is no need to spread misinformation and your opinion isn’t nearly as valuable as you might think.

-Don’t answer simple questions. Make new players value the answer by helping them work for it.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got. So go forth and make the internet great. Thanks for hearing me out.

How I Got My Students To Practice

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I started teaching guitar lessons early this year and it’s been a struggle to make progress with some students because they simply don’t play at home. I’ve never been one to harp on practicing because I feel like that just makes me seem like a third parent. What I’ve come to realize is that most kids don’t know how to practice. They’re not sure what to do when I’m not there guiding them through their materials. In addition, I have found that goal setting is incredibly useful. For example, being able to play a song at a certain tempo.

To this end, I created a couple of challenges for all of my students to participate in. The two areas I felt would benefit them the most are in scales and chords. Here is what I came up with:

The Scale Challenge: Play a two octave major scale using 8th notes at 130bpm. To prepare students to complete this challenge, I have been having them practice quarter notes at slower tempos such as 70 or 80 and gradually speeding them up. This is a great way to incrementally work towards this goal.

The Chord Challenge: Play all major (7) and minor (7) chords within 30 seconds. I use flash cards of my own making to display the chord name and ask them to play the correct chord. To help them with memorizing chords, I created this simple chord chart because I haven’t been able to find one this clean and simple anywhere else. Every week, I have them run through the flash cards with me while I time them to see how close they are to 30 seconds.

I just issued these challenges to my students, but the initial response has been great. Students will be able to publicly put their name on a poster indicating that they’ve completed the challenge as well as winning a small prize.