You've heard the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none." For musicians, this is definitely a Very Bad Thing. One pitfall that some of us fall into is to learn just enough about a particular style of music to mess it up royally. If you want to be able to gig in a particular style, you need to learn it well, to become a "master" at it. Take the time to learn the nuances, the subtleties of the style. Make it part of your daily practice time until you've really got it under your hands. Then, you can move on to the next style. This is how you become a Master of ALL Trades.

Someone once asked Branford Marsalis why he played so differently with Sting than with his brother. "This ain't a Jazz gig," he said quietly. Branford knew that the most important thing for any musician is to play within the context of the song. It's great that you can play blindingly fast slap triplets, but do you really think that Mr. Singer/Songwriter wants to hear that in the middle of his Ode to Roses love song?

Keeping this in mind, here are the three most important rules to becoming a successful bassist:

Play to the context. Play to the CONTEXT. PLAY TO THE CONTEXT!

Here's my last tip for fretless players (at least for now!). Practice sliding doublestops. Fourths are easy, but try parallel fifths, for example. This is hard, because your fingers have to slide different distances, with the distance between your two fingers getting smaller as you go up the fingerboard, and larger as you go back down. Practice this going slowly up and down the fingerboard, first looking and listening, then turning out the lights or closing your eyes, and finally using the "no sound" approach, checking your tuning when you arrive at your destinations. Master this and you can get some very cool melodic effects by throwing doublestop slides into your lines from time to time, if it's appropriate to the type of music you play.

Here's another muscle memory workout: practice sliding specific intervals without sound or visual cues. To do this, play a note, then kill your volume with the volume pedal or your volume knob, slide to where you think the note is, then turn up you volume and check yourself. You need some background noise with this one, to overcome the fact that you'll be able to hear your bass acoustically if you do this in a quiet environment. Experiment with turning on a fan or something, so that you can hear the bass amplified, but not when the volume is turned to zero.

To really work on muscle memory, eliminate the ears. Turn your bass volume completely down, and play along with a song you know, keeping your eyes closed. Turn up your bass volume periodically to check and see how you're doing. A volume pedal is a great help for this exercise. In real life, of course, you should always use your ears and play in tune with what you're hearing. This exercise, though, develops your muscle memory as a reinforcement, and as a backup in case you're ever in a situation where you can't hear well. Also, with good muscle memory of the fingerboard, you have less fine-tuning to do with your ears, and your fingers will land that much closer to the note you desire, even without visual cues.

Here's a tip to help fretless players improve their intonation: Play some bass lines solo in the dark, and/or with your eyes closed, and check your tuning against open strings every so often. This helps you develop your ears and your muscle memory, and to stop relying on looking at the fingerboard so much. You can also do this by just being disciplined and not looking at the fingerboard, but fretless in the dark is a true spiritual experience. (smile)

In Part 1 last week, we turned all the bass EQ up and the high EQ down. this week, we're going to switch that, so that all you hear when you play is the high end. All the string noise. All the hand noise. All the mis-fretted notes. This forces you to clean up your act in ways you never thought existed.

By regularly practicing both parts of this drill, you will learn to minimize string noise and the like while bringing tight articulation to your notes. And that, my friends, is precision bass we can all appreciate.

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No, not that kind of precision, although precision on a Precision® has got to be the ultimate, don't you think? Anyway . . . here's something I do regularly to increase my precision:

Turn the highest three bands of EQ (on an Eden, anyway) fully counter-clockwise and boost the lowest 2 bands all the way up. This will cause your sound to lose most of its definition. (On non-Eden amps, you might get NO definition at all.) This extreme EQ will force you to learn to articulate due to the lack of high end content to separate the notes.

Part 2 next week.

While it's important to perfect each scale and exercise you learn, it's also important to reach beyond your present ability. It is only through pushing the limits that we achieve our full potential. So don't be afraid of experimenting to see how far you can go.

Forget the window dressing and the rest of the decorations on your House of Bass. I'm talking about the slap, tap, harmonics, chords, blazing thiry-second-note runs - all that "woo-hoo, isn't this cool?" stuff with which we impress ourselves and other bassists. Forget about all of that for a minute. Find the foundation of the house - and the basic bricks that created it. THAT's where great bass lives. And if you don't live there, too, your window dressing is going to be sloppy and uninspired, no matter how fast you play it. And if you don't know what basic bricks I mean, I think Lane has some 'splainin' to do.

This is the last subtlety in our list from last year. By special effects, I mean hammer-ons, slides, pull-offs and other "non-standard" ways of attacking a note. Each of these techniques can add flavor to a line if used properly. However, like spices in a recipe, they can be overused. So grab those headphones and get back to listening to your favorite bass tracks, paying particular attention to how the bassist incorporates special effects to create a interesting line.

We're almost through our list of nuances, so hang with me and stay focused. Vibrato - the act of slightly altering the pitch of a note - can add flavor to your lines, much as the proper use of spice can wake up a recipe. As with most things, knowing when to use it is as important as how. Use slow vibrato to fatten a long note. Quick, stinging vibrato can add sharpness to a shorter note. Listen closely this week, as it's not always obvious when a player is using vibrato.

Continuing our study of subtleties, we now come to the most intriguing nuance, and most difficult to master - exactly where in relationship to the beat does the note fall? Is it slightly ahead of the beat? Slightly behind it? Dead on? I'm not talking about rushing or dragging the tempo; it's far more subtle than that. This is a technique that some study their entire lives. And the first step is to actively listen.

Timbre -- or the tone of the note -- is the next subtlety on the list. Does the bassist caress the note so that it's full and deep, or hit it with a brick so that it's aggressive and brassy? Perhaps it's somewhere in between. You'll never know unless you listen closely.

Duration is the next subtlety on the list. I'm not talking about whether a note is an eighth or quarter note. I'm talking about how long that eighth note is. A stacatto note is shorter than normal; a legato note is longer than normal. Listen closely to some of you favorite bass lines and pay particular attention to the length of each note.

Let's talk about the first subtlety on my list from last week. Do you have any idea how many different ways you can attack a single note? Even if you think you do, I bet that, if you spent a little time experimenting, you could find a few more. I'm not talking about just pick, fingers, thumb. I've got about thirty different ways I can attack a note with just my fingers. And I'm still looking for more. This week, why not find some new ones for yourself?

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To continue from last week, let's talk about subtleties. Here's a quick list of things to listen for:

• Attack
• Duration
• Timbre
• Placement in relation to the beat.
• Vibrato
• Special Effects (slides, hammers, etc.)

As I said, a quick list. Just to get you thinking. More to come.

Groove is Where You Find it.- Lane Baldwin, Special Projects Coordinator.

Every style of music has its groove. Or, grooves, actually. So, if you're dream is to play Metal/Funk fusion, with speedy slap riffs backed by double kick drums, there's a pocket to find and lay in to. The simplest Root eighths can pulse in such a way that virtually no one can keep from moving some part of their body. Even whole notes have a right way and a wrong way to be played (within the context of the style). Phase One is to focus on your chosen style(s) of music and study not only the notes in a line, but how they're played. The Key Word here is "nuance". Listen for subtleties. More on that next week.

Some of the coolest grooves are the most repetitive. Two excellent examples (both which I played this past Saturday) are Shaky Ground (as recorded by Delbert McClinton) and Stevie Wonder's I Wish. Listen to the original recordings and you'll see that the bass lines hardly vary at all. And, yet, Saturday night saw the floor flood with dancers as soon as the band kicked in to these two (and a bunch of others), and stay until the very last note. So. How long can you hold onto a basic groove without messing with it? And make it sing - and swing - the entire time? Can you drive a Blues shuffle for six, seven, eight minutes or more with only the basic groove? If not, it's time to start concentrating on basic, simple, makes-you-have-to-dance grooves.

Vibrato - the act of varying the pitch of a note - can add intersting dimensions to your playing. Use mild, slow vibrato on a whole note to bring it to life. Sting an accent with quick vibrato too give it authority. Spend a few minutes a day practicing this as a separate technique, starting slowly, as always. Once you become comfortable with it, you can add it to your playing. (Thanks to good friend and fellow Edenite Abe White for reminding me of the importance of this one and learning it early. . . and far giving me a great "private lesson" on it as well.)

We all spend huge amounts of time learning cool licks, scales and tricks. But how much time do you spend contemplating the proper use of space? It's not just the notes you play that make the groove; it's also the space between the notes. Rememberthatjustasyouwouldn'tstringwordstogetherwithoutpunctuation, you shouldn't string notes together without space. Think of the space as punctuation. Framing your notes with space allows the music to breathe and let's your True Groove shine through.

Let's say you're having trouble transcribing a phrase. Using the trick I showed you last week, find any two notes in the phrase. Now, let's look at the notes between the two you've discovered. Is this third note between the two original notes? Is it higher or lower? Take it slow, one note at a time, and this technique can help you figure out even the most difficult line. Hey, if Steve Vai could use it to transcribe for Frank Zappa, it just might work for you!

Sometimes, when transcribing a bass line, you may come across a phrase you can't quite get. Instead of attempting to find each note in sequence, write down any two notes in the phrase that you can figure out. This will give you a starting point from which to discover the other notes.

Take a pattern or riff that you normally play in straight-8 or straight-16 feel and play it in triplets. No, the notes won't hit the downbeats the same way - and that's the point. You can do the same in reverse - take a triplet pattern and translate it to 16th notes. Yes, some of what you come across will be no more useful than socks on a rooster. But you can also find some very interesting patterns. . . using the same notes everyone else does, but in a new way.

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Here's a tip for budding soloists. Occasionally, when experimenting, you may find an interesting pattern or riff comprised of an odd number of notes. This means your riff won't "sit" across the required number of beats the way you expect or hope. Instead of moving on to something else, take a minute to see how you might repeat the riff two or more times such that it "comes back around" to the beat. The repetition can build tension (in a good way), which resolves when you land back on the downbeat. This takes a bit of getting used to, but can add a new depth to your solos.

Each scale, riff or pattern has a shape. Committing these shapes to memory can really help if you're ever in a situation where you can't hear yourself. So, as you practice, pay attention to the shapes of the riffs and scales that you use to build your basslines.

Many players like the sound of fresh bass strings on their instrument. However, it's pretty expensive to constantly replace dead strings all the time. If you have two basses, you can help keep your main bass sounding bright and snappy by using your backup bass for all your practice and rehearsal needs. Break out your primary bass only for gigs, recording sessions, and other situations where it really counts. This will keep the strings on your main bass sounding new a lot longer.

Adding to the exercise I suggested last week, here's another way to memorize fret width. Again, play 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 on the E string. This time, however, instead of climbing up a single string, play 1 - 4 on the E (or lowest) string, then A, D, etc., until you get to the highest string, then play back down. Move up one fret at a time and repeat.

Over year ago, I suggested that, for every note, your finger should contact the string immediately behind the fret wire. Here's an exercise to teach your fretting hand where those wires are across the entire neck. Beginning with the G (or highest) string, play groups of 4 chromatic notes, starting with first through fourth frets and fingering 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. As you're playing the last note, your index finger should set up for the next set of notes, which will start on the second fret. Work your way up the neck one fret at a time ( 1 2 3 4 - 2 3 4 5 etc.) until you get to the very end. Then, reverse the drill and go back down. Do this on every string. Very quickly your hand will learn to hit each wire correctly, even as the width of the frets decreases.

This week's variation involves playing accents. Play your exercise at medium to low volume and accent random notes (play them loud). The louder notes should still sound "right" - that is, no fret buzz, no flubbing, just louder.

Last week, I suggested working on varying your volume while practicing scales. Here's another way to do that: Play a scale as eighth notes. For the first group of four notes, play at medium volume. Play the second group of four at low volume, then the next group at medium volume again. The goal is to be able to make instantaneous volume changes without losing the tempo, feel, and correct execution.

Instead of practicing scales either loudly or softly, try doing both at once. Start out playing as softly as you can. Then, as you play UP the scale increase your volume as you go. On the way back DOWN, decrease volume. Then, reverse the drill, starting at high volume and getting softer as you go UP, then back down as you descend.

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Expanding on last week's tip, pick a scale or phrase. How many different ways can you play that phrase. Soft and legato, Loud and stacatto. Soft and stacatto. You get the idea.

Pick a note. Any note. Now, how many different ways can you play that note? Soft, loud, long, short and everything in between. Tap it, pick it, pluck it, slap it, whack it with a hammer. (OK, forget that last one.) The key is to see how many different ways you can approach a single note, how many different personalities you can give it.

A great way to learn how to craft bass lines is to study the lines of others. And one of the best ways to do that is to transcribe the complete bass part. Sure, you could just learn the part by playing along, but writing it all down better cements the information in your mind. So, grab a pencil and some sheet music and start with a relatively simple song.

Here's one I just heard about that combines an arpeggio and a scale: Start out playing the notes in an F9 chord, then come down the scale to complete the exercise. Like this: 1 3 5 b7 9 8 b7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

The best to way to improve your playing is to focus on weaknesses in your technique and gaps in your knowledge. Take a few minutes to give yourself on honest appraisal to identify the areas which need work. Then, plan your practice time so that you are spending the bulk of your time working in these areas.

Not knowing the notes of a chord can make it far more difficult to craft a decent bass line. So, learn the notes of each chord (Major, minor, etc.) and play them as arpeggios, calling out the individual notes of the chord as you play them. While you're at it, learn each chord at every position on the fret board.

If you don't already know each and every note on your fretboard, now is the time to learn. One way to do this is to play chromatically up each string, calling out the notes as you play them. (It helps if you can also sing each note, but not necessary.) Start with the Open String and the first three frets. Play whole notes and call out each note as you play it. (EX: E -- F -- F# -- G --) Then, start at the third fret, then fifth, etc. And learn every note.

No, not that kind of tune. I'm talking about keeping your bass in proper playing condition. Occasionally check the frets, the neck, the bridge, etc. Make sure everything is as it should be. It's no different than a car: things go more smoothly when everything's working as it should.

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Here's a warm-up I learned from Carol Kaye. Press the tip of your index finger into the tip of your thumb. Use enough force that you're finger muscles tighten, but not so much that you're straining. Relax. Repeat with each finger. Do this three to five times with each finger and your muscles will be ready to play.

Place your fretting hand so that the index finger is on the twelfth fret of your skinniest string (G on a 4-string bass), middle finger on the 13th, ring finger on 14th, and pinkie on 15th. Now play the following fingering pattern: 1 2 3 4, first on the G string, then on D, A and E. Then move down one fret and repeat. Do this all the way down to the neck. This is an excellent warm-up exercise to use at the beginning of any playing session.

If your tuner breaks, you still need to tune. Using harmonics is any easy way to do it, once you've gotten used to it. Here's how you do it: take any two adjacent strings - let's use A and D. Play the 7th fret harmonic on the D string, and the 5th fret harmonic on the A string. They should produce the same note - the A two octaves above open-string A. If the strings are slightly out of tune, you will hear a "warble"; if they are in tune, you won't. As always, practice makes perfect.

Using a finger on your fretting hand, touch a string lightly, directly over the fifth fret. Then, pluck the string and pull your "fretting" finger away as soon as the note sounds. What you should hear is the note two octaves above the open string. This is called a "harmonic". (At least, if you do it on purpose, it is. If you do it by accident, it's called a mistake.) Practice playing harmonics above the fifth and seventh frets. I'll tell you why next week.

I recommended keeping a notebook back in Week 23. The front inside cover (or the first few pages) is a great place to keep a list of the types of scales you are working on: Major, Melodic Minor, Dorian Mode, Egyptian, whatever. This way you have an immediate reference to jog your memory, so that you continuously review what you're learned.

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A great way to get to know how to move up and down the neck is to practice your scales across two octaves. Keep in mind that there are several ways to shift from one position to the next. It's a good idea to work on one until it's second nature. Then, work on another, then another, until you've found them all.

For the past several weeks we've looked at various ways to expand on basic up-and-down scales. So, are you playing all of these permutations in every key? Major AND minor? If so, give yourself 50 Cool Points and spend this week reviewing. If not, time to get to work.

Even weirder than last week. Try playing groups of four notes over triplets. 123 423 453 456 456 756 786 etc. Again, write it all down first. And start very slowly.

Here's where things get really weird. Try playing groups of three notes over eighth notes (or sixteenths). 1232 3434 5456 5676 7878 98... Definitely start very slowly with this exercise. And you'd be well advised to write it all out before you try to play it.

Let's take what we did last week and combine it with Week 51. Going back to eigths (or sixteenths) play groups of three notes - but play the first note of each group twice. Like this: 1123 2234 3345 etc.

Staying with the concept of playing scales in triplets, try this: Play the 1 twice, the 2 once, and so on. Like this: 112 334 556 778.

Most of the time, students seem to practice scales in eighth notes or sixteenth notes. If you're not doing it already, play your scales as triplets. Congratulations. You've just opened up a whole new world.