Off to a great start! Bassicly Speaking

Its been a few months since a big update so here’s what I’ve been doing since January 1st 2016.

Teaching

My private practice has flourished since December with many new students starting their musical journey. I have had an influx of bass players including two grade 8 players and three complete beginners. Another big hit is vocal tuition. I have 2 new students who started in February. I have recently overhauled a few old teaching methods and streamlined the techniques and syllabi that I use, which has been received greatly! Everyone seems to be enjoying lessons greatly and a lot are already studying ready for the upcoming exam period.

Live Work

I have been playing a lot with the function band (Red Bug) I love playing with this group! Because its mostly 1950’s-1980’s soul music the bass-lines are amazing! We’ve really enhanced our set lists and expanded our arrangements as of late. We’ve been implementing new vocal harmonies too! (sometimes ending up with 5 parts)

I’ve been depping quite a bit here and there too. Mainly theatre work, including Thriller, Mama Mia & Annie plus the occasional Wham! tribute act.

Session Work

Its been deadly quiet as of late but I have managed to get a few bits here there. Mainly remote sessions. I played bass on a very interesting track at the beginning of the year which consisted of a very elaborate bass part for a Sheryl Crow type track. I visited a television studio to record four notes for an upcoming series/film which was uneventful to say the least, but I played the living hell out of those four notes The other sessions have all consisted of playing over pop/acoustic tracks in the singer songwriter genre, which were fun.

Composing, Arranging, Musical Direction

I unfortunately was undercut by an American composer for a HBO show coming out soon. I had 19 tracks recorded, many cues etc ready but was cut out right at the last moment. thankfully I was paid half upfront, but still its very disheartening. I am currently working with an old band-mate, Andrew Evans. from my first pro band Tomorrow Can Wait – A Pop Punk band we started years ago. We are writing and recording right now for some placement and sync options in film, TV & adverts. Maybe even commercial release!

Reviews

Ive got a lot of stuff to review from Mono Creators. Including – Dual Bass M80 Case & Guitar Tick. Which will be up shortly, its impressive stuff! If you are a music store, designer , luthier etc or even a bass player please feel free to message me and I’ll sort out a review if I can.

Band Work

We are working on a very cool new track in Sankara. We had a writing/rehearsal session last month and it was great. The song is completely different to all the others we have, but it sounds powerful!

We have quite a few shows coming up (Most local to me too!) We’ve got some new tracks in the works to perform soon and some of them are funky as hell!

Dead Method – We recorded a music video earlier this year and it is epic! We are currently editing it and working through it. Along with that our first release is being mastered right now and we are waiting to hear it and release it. The track is very different to the music I would listen to normally. Saying that the music we make is very different but I love it! We are also working on our live set too. It’s taking a lot of time and energy to try and be able to arrange and orchestrate the tracks but it is a lot of fun. Plus I’m playing bass, synth bass, keyboard bass, vocoder and triggering samples!

Own Practice

Ive gone back to basics by going through a bass method book from front to back. It’s called The Complete Learn to Play Manual Bass Edition by Koala Publishing? It was the book my first bass teacher went through with me. I’m going through it section by section (covering the tab of course!) and perfecting every element of my playing.

I’m trying to transcribe more by ear too. I’m working on some Geno Young, snarky Puppy & some jazz standard tracks to start with. there’s a lot going on in his tracks, so its going to be an aural workout.

I’m getting ready to take my grade 6 guitar exam this summer too! I’m taking the exam to further my career as an examiner. I need two grade 8 certificates and I already have the bass one so here goes nothing! It’s really weird going into the exam and undertaking an exam as an examiner haha! it really opens your eyes to what you actually need to do.

Upcoming work

Plenty of gigs with Red bug soon and in the local South Wales Area. A recording sessions booked for the remainder of this month and next month. Lots of teaching thrown in too! Its nearly exam deadline time so good luck to all my students, not that you need it!!!

Feel free to contact me about any music related stuff, general advice or if you would like to hire me!

Btw! I was featured in the last two publications of the Musicians Union magazine – The Musician. It’s in the members tweets area, talking about training and getting paid for work #WorknotPlay