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The great Steve Lawson brings us a new approach to studying bass at beginner level. The journey begins…

Right, last month I got to write the Intermediate column, so just to make things interesting, this month I’m going to continue with the focus on rhythmic groupings that I started there, but we’ll focus on string crossing and repetition today. Using some simpler examples, we’ll think about what opportunities our changes in phrasing can bring for any drummer we’re working with. As we’ve noted before, string crossing is often the point at which ideas that we’ve been developing on a single string can fall apart if we don’t give them enough attention. So let’s give it plenty of attention!

Before that, I want to talk a little about what do with exercises, because the fact that a thing is written down makes it feel like it’s the most important thing to learn. It stands to reason that the things I choose to notate as examples, or that end up in this or that book, are the things you really need to know, right?

Wrong. Unless the transcription is of a particular song or a very specific example of a particular player’s approach, it’s of the utmost importance to realise what ‘an example’ is and to accept the invitation to explore far beyond the constraints of the few examples that fit the page in a magazine lesson, or even a more comprehensive tuition book. These are just examples. There’s no sense in which this version is any more important for you to learn than any other possible set of variations on the theme we’re looking at.