Understanding awareness means you are living in the present moment. All good bass players understand this concept. You need to ask yourself, “What am I doing right now? Not last week or next month, but right in this crystal moment called NOW.”
Confronting yourself with this question on a regular basis will not only help you to re-define your practice skills, but also greatly improve your performance ability. Some of the key attributes of awareness that we will concentrate on in the next few days will include:
– Visualisation
– Focused Concentration
– Expressive Intent
– Listening
– Understanding
Focusing on developing attributes instead of techniques will accelerate the process from struggling with an idea to being able to be spontaneous and creative with your bass playing. So, what exactly is an attribute? An attribute is a quality or characteristic element that ultimately defines YOUR personality as a bass player. In other words, it is all the things that defines one’s personal expression on the instrument; elements that set you apart from anybody else. Far better to concentrate on developing attributes rather than just cataloguing thousands of techniques and licks. Please remember- there will only ever be one Marcus Miller, one Stanley Clarke or one Victor Wooten. Surprisingly, there will only be one version of YOU as well!
Peace
Joe
