Study Piece - 'Donna lee' (L#75)

Donna Lee was recorded by legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius in 1978. It was at this point that the perceived role of the bass guitar was changed forever! And, when I first heard this groundbreaking recording my life was also changed forever!

Because the electric bass guitar is such a new instrument, as yet there aren't really any true 'study pieces' within the 'bass repertoire'. For this reason I love to get my students to use be-bop heads as study pieces. Because they were originally composed for horns such as saxophone and trumpet they can be challenging on so many different levels. Fingering position, speed, technical fluidity and dynamics all need to be taken into account.

Within this tutorial I discuss why we, as bass players need to use 'study pieces' within our practice time, and how they can have a huge affect on your overall technical ability and fluidity upon the bass.

Now grab your bass and get in the shed!

Scott :)

PS. I do completely live bi-weekly streamed workshops for the members of The Academy where I go through exercises just like this and tons of other juicy stuff that'll get your bass playing to the next level. If you haven't checked it out yet, go here.