Pocket Player:

In my estimation, the ideal pocket player has a number of qualities…

• Complete control over their time and beat placement.

• A historical knowledge of their genre(s)

• The maturity to simplify their lines enough to put the job of ‘pocket-protector’ first and foremost without muddying the waters with extra fills and licks every four bars (although they usually also have the ability to go above and beyond when called upon and most pocket players are so adept at phrasing and playing compositionally, that they often make great soloists as well).

• The harmonic awareness to make a statement when they do step out and play a fill or take a solo. Basically, when you do something, it has IMPACT.

Fundamentals Module | Scale Basics | Transcription | Groove Development | Rhythm

Fundamentals

It’s of the utmost importance that we develop a solid foundation. When you couple good practice with a strong foundation, we have the most efficient path towards realizing real growth on our instrument.

Click the button in order to download some helpful shape diagrams for the pentatonic, major and minor scales referenced in a few of these lessons.

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Scales:

While we may not have to go deep-sea diving with our scalar and harmonic studies in the ‘pocket path’, we definitely need to have a solid understanding of basic harmonic functions and intervallic relationships (it’s easier than it sounds).

The following videos are designed to help you with both your internalization of scales and how to use them but also your mindset with regard to the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of it all.

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 Transcription:

Being a pocket player is as much about vocabulary as it is about time & feel. Having a deep, internal reference of grooves and approaches from those that came before goes a long way towards identifying and discovering your own approach. In order to truly understand the role and approach of a great pocket player you have to have done your homework!

First, here are a few thoughts about how to go about transcribing tunes as well as a ‘process’ video of me transcribing Erick Coomes on “166th St.”, by the band ‘Lettuce’.

Due to copyright laws, I can’t just add my favorite tunes and streaming audio of their music but I can give you a list as a launching point and provide some public YouTube videos as a launching point.

I’ll also include a list of common tunes that you’ll be expected to be familiar with on some level (if not know outright). Many of these are more common on cover/top 40 gigs but learning these classic lines are fantastic for your bass line development and groove vocabulary.

The real pro will have enough music under their belt and in their head that, even if they don’t exactly know a tune, they’ll know it enough to give a reasonable facsimile (and will often have the ‘ears’ in shape and be able to work out the lines they can hear in their heads in real time, to a degree).

Again, this is just a launching point for you. Tailor your transcriptions to your own aesthetics and genre preferences. If you want to be working pro though, don’t ignore the master song list. You don’t have to have them all on instant recall, but you should work through enough of them to have a solid vocabulary and point of reference for the respective genres and eras.

Bottom line, find the music you love and the players you’d like to emulate and start learning their bass lines, one note at a time.

Wish you had that ‘Jamerson thing’? Start learning a TON of Jamerson (by ear don’t just find the tab… find it on your fretboard by ear, repeat it, play with the album over and over. Chase the tone, feel and lines… internalize it…. THEN it begins to become vocabulary.!

I could post a hundred videos from each of these players… If one resonates with you, do some digging and find more. I’ll just post one video from each of these world class pocket protectors! Additionally, most of these players have a loooong list of credits. Google each of them and check out the versatility!

Some Players I think represent the ‘Pocket Player’ well:

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Groove Development:

So now let’s get into a few lessons on how to develop grooves on your own.

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Rhythm Module:

A good ‘pocket’ is really just another way of saying great time and feel (in my opinion). I saved the best for last here because rhythm is at the very heart of having a great pocket.

You may recognize this as the ‘Rhythm Module’. You’d be accurate.

Personally, working with rhythm like this (like a drummer) was crucial in my development of my internal time and my external time-feel. I still feel like this is one of the best ways to begin your exploration of time and time-keeping (aside from just playing music with recordings and other humans, of course. NOTHING beats that, ultimately).

downloads:

TIP: Take your time with each of these lessons (especially when things get a little more open to interpretation). As they say, “It’s not a sprint… it’s a marathon”. Slow & steady….. You’ve got all the time in the world. Just focus, listen and let your ears guide you when your brain isn’t sure what’s “right”.

Check out the apps that I used in these lessons for some great tools (bottom of the page)

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