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- AboutScott Devine… Scott Devine is one of the most versatile and in demand bass players on the UK scene today. He has performed, recorded, shared taxis, vans, planes and boats with players such as, Adrian Ingram, Martin Simpson, Gary Boyle, Neil Brocklebank, The Drifters, The Four Tops, The Nolans, Marisa Turner (Prince, Chaka Kahn), Peter Grant (top 5 jazz artist), Spyro Gyra, Ogie Alcasid, Vina Morales, The Jeff Andrews band (Mike Stern) and has performed at venues such as Ronnie Scotts, Pizza Express (London Soho), The 606 Club, The Vortex, Dubai International Jazz festival and Montreal grand prix. Currently Scott is Musical Director for platinum selling Polish artist Tatiana Okupnik. Alongside side teaching at several Universities within the UK, Scott is writing a set of Bass guitar method books covering a wide range of topics due for release in 2011. He is also busy recording his debut album, which is due for release in 2011.
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Here are my latest bass lessons. You can also check out the Lessons Map!
Using simple shapes on the bass #1
My students are definitely an inexhaustible source of ideas for new bass lessons! The previous lesson to this one, Internalizing fingering positions on bass, followed a private lesson with a student who had a pretty good bass technique but struggled to use it in a live situation… This one follows a lesson I gave to a professional bass player who …
Internalizing fingering positions on bass
As you may know, alongside my online bass lessons — and when I’m not on a gig marathon… I also give one-on-one coaching. The bass student I met yesterday was a pretty well-rounded “technician” but came to me because he found it difficult to apply all this patiently acquired knowledge in a live situation. Can you relate? If you do, …
‘THE’ most important bass lesson I ever teach!
You can put your bass down for this lesson, you won’t need it. Why? Am I talking about harmony or something like that? Something like that, yes…
Funky Bass Groove #2 in G7
Want more funk bass lessons? I got such a great feedback following the ‘Funky Bass Groove in C7′ lesson that I decided to make another one, this time on a G7 chord, for a change. This time we’re gonna be grooving and creating a bass line on top of a good old Hammond organ –or ‘underneath’, rather. Like in the …
Funky Bass Groove #1 in C7
Hey funk bass lovers! In this new funk bass lesson, I’m completely deconstructing a great groove and showing you why it ‘works’ on a C7 chord (C dominant 7), but the same applies for any dominant chord, of course. First, remember the arpeggio on a dominant chord is: root-major 3rd-5th-flat 7th. Second, make sure you lock in with the bass …
Right Hand Dynamics on Bass
In this new bass lesson, I’m talking about right hand dynamics on the bass. Many bass players or students coming to me, haven’t got particularly good dynamics –if any, and it’s a very big flaw as we shall see. Don’t worry… looking into my past, I definitely suffered from this as well, which reminded me of a somewhat painful anecdote …
The Importance of Melody
This lesson is all about melody! As bass players, we generally play… bass lines most of the time, rather than melodies. So if you’re not used to soloing, it can be a pretty scary experience at first, because you’re not used to playing melodies. Even if you know all your scales, arpeggios, etc. you probably won’t know what to do …
The Gary Willis Approach #2
This is part 2 of my bass lessons about what I call ‘The Gary Willis approach’, in which I’m talking about a specific lesson Gary and I went through together when I was studying with him. If you haven’t seen the 1st part of this lesson, please go check it out, otherwise you’ll most certainly wonder what on earth I’m …
Walking Bass – Beginner #2
This is part 2 of my walking bass lessons for the beginner jazz bass player. In this lesson I expand on what we looked at within the first lesson and get you to start walking 4 in a bar using chord tones and chromatic passing tones. When trying out these exercises remember – making it ‘feel’ good is SUPER important… …
Walking Bass – Beginner #1
Walking bass is something SOOO many bass players have difficulty with. But – It’s really a lot easier than you think and hopefully, this series of walking bass lessons will help remove the confusion! Through years of teaching and experimenting with different methods I’ve come up with my own ‘fool proof’ method of getting students well on their way to …
Using a pick (Plectrum) #1
“Is it a good thing or a bad thing to play with a pick?” is a question I’m asked quite often by my students. Perhaps because they haven’t seen me playing with a pick (or plectrum) in any of my bass lessons? ;) The short answer is that it’s neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’: you’re not ‘cheating’ if you’re using a …
Right and Left Hand Positioning
In this tutorial I’m talking about right and left hand positioning: I see soooo many players with a terrible hands positioning… they’ll probably end up with a RSI –Repeated Strain Injury, which is not cool at all and can keep you away from your bass for weeks or months. If you haven’t seen my tutorial about strap height, please check …
Bass Beginner: the Major Scale
In this lesson, I’m talking about the major scale and why you should learn it. If you are a beginning bass player and you’ve heard this term “scales”, you’re probably asking yourself “What is a major scale?”. Well, it’s something you’ve heard since you were a little kid: it goes do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do and down… So a scale is just a sequence …
Using Triads To Create Bass Lines
Understanding and using triads within your bass lines is really going to help you grow not only a bass player but also as a musician. Triads are chords in there most simplistic form. As bass players we can utilize the triads within our bass lines and from doing so it helps us expand on the information we already have available …
Strap Height
I get so many e-mails about right and left hand positioning, strap height and what’s healthy or unhealthy, etc. So, I made this short tutorial to show you the most ‘sensible’ strap height to avoid injuries… Looking ‘cool’ can have a cost that perhaps you’re not aware of, both on your health and the quality of your playing. You probably …
