Online Bass Lessons Across the Frickin’ World!
Hat tip to Jon Silpayamanant for bringing this article to my attention (although I question the wisdom of enabling future bagpipe players). I've been collecting names of bassists that teach lessons via iChat, Skype, or similar online means for awhile - both for my own learning purposes and to share with others. The one thing that strikes me about this is that these are extremely talented and noteworthy players who otherwise people wouldn't have access to unless a great deal of travel and scheduling was involved. I can personally attest to the wonderful insight and value Todd Johnson and Anthony Wellington have brought to my playing, but there's no doubt that any of these folks would be of great assistance to you, provided you take the following steps (that apply to all lessons, Internet or no, really):
- Listen
- Ask good questions
- Prepare for the lesson beforehand
- Practice diligently what you've learned
- Don't waste their or your time
So here's the list - I'm still in disbelief at some of these names:
- Matthew Garrison
- Victor Bailey
- Anthony Wellington
- Todd Johnson
- Steve Lawson
- Steve Jenkins
- Adam Nitti
These are just some of the famous names, and it certainly doesn't discount the other talent available out there - feel free to add additional resources in the comments. It also doesn't address sites like the Funk University or Music Dojo, either (although these are great resources and I'm currently using FU). These are one-on-one lessons - amazing what technology can do, isn't it?
EDIT: Just found out Dave LaRue is on this list, too - I used to watch his instructional video all the time, and just going back to it reminded me of all I learned from him. Great stuff!
New IMN Podcast and SoftStep Settings
The new IMN podcast is up - download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
The Thanksgiving vacation and other event conspired to prevent me from posting more about last week - and I'd meant to talk a little about my first public solo performance (went well, quite nervous, reviewed here). I also did a little work and finally got my SoftStep Reason and Everyday Looper patch put together just the way I wanted it. The Reason patch contains start, stop, and record buttons, four loop trigger buttons mapped to the Dr. Octorex loop player, and three pressure-sensitive buttons I map to an Echo device initially, but it could obviously be changed to different devices as necessary. I'm posting the entire JSON I used for my SoftStep (it also includes the default settings for Garageband, the Korg iPad synth, and more) for download - feel free to edit and revise as you wish for your own.
New IMN Podcast and Music Services
The new IMN podcast is up - download it here or listen on the site or WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
So now that iTunes Match and Google Music are available, I'm thinking that Google might have have come up with the winning service here - if only because it's free (versus $24.99/year for iTunes match). You might have to spend a little more time and effort to upload the tracks, but the mobile version of the site played just fine on my iPhone browser. And that's key - if it's mobile and browser-based, you'll (theoretically) be able to get it on more devices. The interesting thing to me is that both services don't restrict necessarily by size - they restrict by number of songs (25,000 for iTunes Match vs. 20,000 for Google). There might be some file limit size, but cloud storage is evidently cheap enough that they're not worried about it anymore. Toss in Amazon, and all three will hold on to the music you buy for you (unless you're an ubercollector and have too many songs).
But this all sounds a lot like the debut of Best Buy nationwide to me - remember when CDs were loss-leaders to get you to buy more at Best Buy? Music is still a loss-leader for these companies, and only the products have changed. Apple wants to sell hardware, Google wants to sell you as part of their advertising and analytics ventures (as do streaming services like MOG, Spotify, and more), and Amazon wants to sell . . . everything else they sell on Amazon. The convenience and portability of the music is wonderful, but there's actually been precious little shift in the ecosystem for these larger companies. The content drives the purchasing of other goods, and that leaves music in a surprising familiar neighborhood for all of the recent changes.
New IMN Podcast and Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies
The new IMN podcast is up - download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm. Only a few more shows left!
I was grateful to receive my copy of Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies in the mail a few days ago - this is the second edition to which I was able to contribute technical editing, and Jeff Strong's book turned out wonderfully. This project is exciting for a couple of reasons. First, it's starting to take into account the ability for mobile devices to provide recording capabilities to the home recordists. I can remember classes in 2001 where the professor talked about one day having virtual touchscreens control audio in the studio, and that day is here. And for a lot cheaper than I expected it to be. Second, the book demonstrates that, no matter what tools you use, a little knowledge and common sense goes a long way. Go get the latest edition - thanks!
Quick Thoughts on the Animoog
After some weirdness getting the app to run initially (no audio and weird controls) that has since been sorted out, I'm struck by a few things:
- Did you ever imagine you could buy ANYTHING functional from Moog for $.99? Ever?
- The sound is incredible and quite useful for prominent synth work - no real experience with pads so far.
- The interaction with this synth is AMAZING. Volume and aftertouch on the keys, touch knobs and controls, a functional X/Y pad, envelopes with draggable edit points - this really works well with the touchscreen. You will not want to use a MIDI controller with this app, simply because you're losing out on about half the functionality.
- I REALLY want apps to interact more now, 'cause I'd love to record this live to the looper. There is a recorder built into the synth that exports in AudioCopy/AudioPaste format, so it can still happen within the box. But live playing would be nice.
- That $.99 price only lasts for less than a month now, so act quickly if you're interested.
New IMN Podcast and More SoftStep
The new IMN podcast is up - download it or listen on the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm. Incidentally, this is show 320, and it looks like we'll end up at around show 331.
And then I'll have to find something else to write about on Thursdays.
It's easy to go deep into the rabbit hole with the SoftStep programming software - I'd been using the factory-standard toggle preset in both Reason and Everyday Looper for transport controls and loop triggering. However, I wanted to get a mix of toggles and pressure-sensitive pads on the pedal in order make full use of it in Reason. I ended up going with the Easy Editor provided by the SoftStep folks - it locks the pedal into a single setting, but it gave me the mixed use I need and was really easy to edit and save. I also turned off the backlight per the instructions to eliminate some hum coming through the system. So SoftStep now controls the iPad and Everyday Looper with the audio signal coming into the iRig via the headphone jack and makes for a nice, transportable setup. Toss in a few effects pedals and I'm ready to go. On the Reason side, the additional pads control settings on the Echo device (playing around with analog-style dub delay on the bass is just so much fun) and trigger different loops from the Dr. Octorex machine. Which also makes me happy - who needs a band anymore?
New IMN Podcast and Fun Loopy Goodness
The new IMN Podcast is up - download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
I'd been playing with the Everyday Looper on the iPad for a bit, and it's a useful tool (especially the ability to arm tracks and import music loops). As much as they tried to customize the touchscreen for two-handed players, though, it could be a little awkward to play and loop at the same time. One of their recent updates added MIDI control for start, stop, and record functions, though. And then I paired it with the iPad's Camera Connection Kit and the SoftStep foot controller. So, for the full setup, that's the SoftStep going into the USB port on the 30-pin connection, and the bass going into an iRig in the headphone jack.
Success! The app took MIDI controls quite easily - I'm using the SoftStep in Toggle mode to trigger the looper, and the Everyday Looper accepts multiple commands for the same control. So you enter both the 0 and 127 levels of the toggle for start, stop, and record, and you're good to go. That way, there's no double-tapping the button to get the desired effect. The added benefit that I didn't even plan was that every new record attempt automatically bounces to the next track. You're never recording over the stuff you've already recorded.
I'd love to see future updates use the X-Y capabilities of the SoftStep to handle volume on the looped tracks, but that can wait - I'm having too much fun now.
New IMN Podcast and OS X Lion Compatibility
The new IMN podcast is up - download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
I'm gonna wait just a little bit before upgrading to Lion - I'm working on an older laptop and I'm thinking some more RAM may be in order before making the plunge. I also want to make sure the software I used primarily (Reason, Record, Soundtrack Pro, and the odd amp sim) are compatible. Things are looking good according to Sweetwater and Roaring Apps, but I like Create Digital Music's take on this - wait for the all clear.
New IMN Podcast and Cloud Music Services
The new IMN podcast is up - download it or listen to it at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
Hot on the heels of Spotify announcing their US trial run and expanding streaming services, Amazon announced yesterday their $20/year unlimited music storage plan, plus free storage for all tracks purchased on Amazon and an iPad app coming soon. That's $5 cheaper than the iCloud offering from Apple and includes unlimited storage. But you have to upload it all - have fun with that.
And, if you feel like supporting the artists providing this music for you, take into account the information in this graphic and consider maybe a CD or direct donation or something. Click to embiggen, as you'll need a lot of screen real estate to read and see the relationships.
The Bass Geek’s Twitter
- Free official remix of Meshell Ndegeocello's Petit Mort, great way to start a holiday weekend - bit.ly/KovHLb 6 hours ago
- Last night's rehearsal proved it beyond a doubt - I need one of them there smaller amps . . . 8 hours ago
- Seriously - this Memorial Day weekend will be too hot to do anything. At all. I wanna be this guy. youtu.be/K5JSWZXaKQA 8 hours ago
- New blog post: Fountain Square Music This Weekend thebassgeek.net/2012/05/25/fou… 12 hours ago
- Lightning session at #stc12, then back home - thanks for everything, it was a great conference! 2 days ago
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