First of all I should say that I want this part of my site to be a bit unusual. I don’t want to give advice how to improve your playing techniques and so on… I’d like this part to be more narrative, based on some psychological points.

  Nowadays we are lucky to have a lot of books, notes and video workshops devoted to playing techniques and special styles of play. I was even thinking of giving this part another name, for example NOTEBOOK, but finally gave it the international name FAQ.

  Video workshops are a very interesting phenomenon. You can see everything the expert shows you and than you repeat it. Soon you’ll understand that it is much easier than if you were listening to audio. Studying in this way, after each viewing of a workshop you’ll definitely notice upgrowth and development of your playing skills, which will stimulate you to move further!

  In due time I’ve bought many different Bass Workshops. I buy them even now, and sometimes I find wonderful video workshops by great bass players! In past twenty years there were a lot of good bass workshops released. I can’t single out the bad ones. I think all of them are great! Some of them are more interesting than the others, but be sure that every video workshop can be useful in its own way. I’ve watched these bass workshops many times, but every time I found something new and useful for me. I even can call them “my desk books”.

  Of course I’ve got many weaknesses and every day I work to improve myself, but it doesn’t mean I can’t teach other bass guitarists and give them new ideas and good advice.

  Here I’d like to discuss one important thing, which is always missing in all workshops I’ve ever seen. This is what I call “The bass player psychology”. It’s a name of my first solo and also a name of my video workshop, which I think will be released in future.

  I’d like to start with an instrument choosing. Discussing this topic, I may seem a little bit scandalous, but I don’t see another way to tell my own opinion. I’m sure it will be important for some of you. Actually I am kind and friendly person and I don’t want to provoke anyone, but the thing is that many people are mistaken when mixing altogether the idols, their signature series and the high prices of the instruments, which they think are the high quality guarantee.

  This is far from reality! Unfortunately, many of the signature series are not the exact copies of the originals. I understood it after some researches and observations were made. Actually I was disappointed. I won’t give examples here for not to cause a negative reaction of a producers. I’ll just tell about one current event, which is connected with one of my favorite bands, its bass player and the YAMAHA Company, which is highly respected by me.

  So, let’s pay attention to the great “Score” video by Dream Theater, which was dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the band. During the whole concert Mr. John Myung played his second signature series RBX JM2 by YAMAHA. I had tried to play this instrument and even wanted to buy it.

  This instrument has a good sound and flashy looks. However my amazement had no end when I’ve noticed, that Mr. Myung had played this guitar only in their first opening song – The Root Of All Evil. The rest of the concert he played the exact copy of YAMAHA RBX JM2. It was different color and had an extra sensor device near the bridge and two switches beside the tone, volume and balance handles. I’ve never seen such model available for sale or even in catalogues. Why? – it is a mystery! I have my own opinion on this point. The thing is that instrument RBX JM2 by YAMAHA, which is the signature series of John Myung, actually doesn’t meet the requirements of Mr. Myung. That’s why he rarely uses it, mostly for advertising purposes. Most of the time he plays the more convenient copy of RBX JM2 with extra details. I don’t want to say anything bad in this situation, because the choice of the instrument is every musician’s own business. But after this incident I turned to be a bit distrustful of some signature series of our idols.

  Now I’d like to give a positive example of the bass guitar JP2 by the same YAMAHA Company. It is really chic and expensive instrument! Its price totally matches all materials spent on its production. Moreover, I’m sure that if there wasn’t John Patitucci’s name on the instrument, its price wouldn’t be lower!

  I’ve carefully watched Live At Montreux video, where John Patitucci played with Chick Korea Electric Band. Watching him playing his second signature series instrument, I reached the conclusion, that the instrument in master’s hands has no differ from the one we can find in stores. It is evident that Mr. Patitucci together with YAMAHA had designed a perfect model, and he has nothing more to add exactly for himself. So now he plays this guitar together with many people in the world, who also like this instrument. This is very important!

  Choosing an instrument is an endless theme. I’m sure we’ll return to it from time to time. Probably you guys have your own ideas and thoughts. I’ll be glad to get to know them and share my opinion with you!

In this part I’ll tell a little about tuning the instrument. There are many books about tuning and many topics on different forums are devoted to it. But still there are people who think that the instruments in the stores should be ideally tuned. No!

I won’t repeat what’s been already told and just give an example of my own story.

There is one well-known person in our city. His business pleases many musicians not only from the capital of Siberia, but from the whole Siberian region. This man sells used Japanese guitars and bass guitars.

Once one bass player (not a beginner, with a musical education) had found on his website a wonderful instrument. It was six-string bass! There and then he went to that man, switched on the bass and started to play. When he finished, he said it was fantastic! He said he was amazed by the pitch of that bass. He confessed that every six-string bass he had tried before had a problem with its uppercase. In the end that guy added that the instruments he had tried were made in China, Indonesia or Korea, and that must be a root of all problems…

Well, I should say that this guy is completely mistaken. To make bass pitch ideal you should spend much time on tuning it by a chromatic tuner, saying nothing of setting the fingerboard. It’s very laborious process and both hitch-pins and bridge take part in tuning. So, the perfect pitch of the Japanese instrument is not a merit of the producers, but of its former owner. The bass was used and its last owner must have tuned it very well. I tune my bass guitar by myself, and I know that shop assistants won’t ever do it because of a big number of instruments and a lack of time. Usually it takes 2-3 hours for one instrument, so the only thing they can afford is usual tuning of open strings.

Best regards!