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I spent about two hours studying with Kai Eckhardt tonight. I wasn't really sure as to what to expect from this. It's kind of hard to really learn a lot when you're only going to study with someone once. The first time that I sat down with Anthony, I really did learn a lot the very first time, but we were mostly focusing on fingering exercises and mechanics.
Anthony and I talked a few times about what I should and should not do with Kai. His suggestion was to learn as much as I could from Kai about spritiual issues, general approaches to music and playing rather than any particular mechanics.
So, before I arrived out in SF, Kai had sent me a few questions to answer. Here's what he asked, and how I answered:
What do you think your strengths are in music?
I think I have a pretty ingrained sense of rhtyhm. I can usually home in on the beat, regardless of what other people are or are not doing. In most ensembles, I am usually the 'meter Nazi'. I usually know when the group has sped up or slowed down.
Before I started playing bass, I was a drummer for eight years or so. I think that gives me a better understanding of the rhythm section than a bass player who switches over from lead.
I think I have a good sense of rhythm and of what "fits". I used to be a DJ spinning dance music, and I developed an ability to hear the phrasing of one song and how it was both similar and different from other songs. From that, I could make various songs blend together accordingly.
What do you think are your weakness in music?
I am very ingrained in a 4/4, 6/8 and 3/4 mindset. Odd time signatures (particularly beyond 5/4 and 7/4) are very challenging for me.
I have trouble with composition -- either in trying to write and/or arrange a full song (guitar, keys, bass...) or in playing a solo on top of an existing song. It's getting better, but I have a concern about playing the wrong notes at the right time, the right notes at the wrong time or both bad at once.
I am trying to expand my ability to play well in alternative musical idioms. I have been mostly playing rock, blues, some jazz, some funk with the occasional country-ish type of playing. I'd like to get into Indian, African, Latin or Reggae styles (just to name a few).
I do rush from time to time, particularly when excited or under stress.
When I play out with people and they start to rush (or slow down), I tend to struggle with the best way to bring them back to the right tempo. Oft times, I try to simplify my playing and play a bit late or a bit ahead of the beat as a way of trying to bring them back. In some bands, that works; other times, they persist and I just shrug my shoulders and go with them on it.
Are you happy with your practice habits?
For the most part, yes. Since starting to study with Anthony, I have been spending more and more time with a metronome, doing fingering exercises, arpeggios and scale exercises. I can see these activities getting to be old hat, though, so any suggestions on how to keep them fresh would be greatly appreciated.
this far, i have not been focusing on my right hand. I am trying to get my left hand working the way I want it to be working. Once that gets to be automatic, I intend to go back to work on my right hand.
What do you want to accomplish over the next 3 months?
I want to write some songs over the next months, so I'd like to make a good start on that.
I would like to begin to feel as if I could reasonably play one or two alternative styles comfortably.
I would like to be able to get that sudden call from the bandleader for a bass solo of the next eight bars without starting to curse to myself.
I got to Kai's place a little early. Well, about forty minutes early. So I misjudged the time to get there by cab. And his studio is not in the best of neighborhoods. I went ahead and rang the bell, and Kai let me in while he was working with another student.
We talked for a bit about my background and where I want to go musically. We talked about some of the things that I want to work on, and then got to the main focus -- some suggestions on how to write. Kai made a suggestion for a rational, left-brain kind of way to approach writing using somewhat of a random number approach. It's interesting; I think that it would be a good way to get around writer's block, but I'm not so sure as to how useful it would be as a way of writing a complete song from scratch.
As far as working on tempo, he shared some of his pain that he has experienced with other musicians. Amongst a lot of the bass players, there seems to be a consensus that musician who focus on melody tend to have better time than the supporting musicians. Which does seem to make sense; supporting people have to hold the song together while the melody people bring out the primary emotion and focus of the song.
It seems that the consensus on learning new idioms is an immersion approach -- just listen to as much of it as you can, and you'll start to pick it up unconciously.
Posted by Casper at September 9, 2003 10:37 PM