Teaching jazz double bass in the 21st century

Tony Overwater

My initial plan was to do research and catalogue the available existing method books for Jazz bass education. But during the process I realized that matters were more complex than I had foreseen. Jazz (bass) methods were often based on classical music methods but Jazz education demands a different skillset and approach. I reexamined the fundamental building blocks necessary to successfully teach Jazz double bass. For this I designed a graphic theoretical framework that helped me analyze the existing methods. With this information I built a data base and webpage that offers analytical information about the available methods. Methods not limited to the traditional books but also on line learning programs and other methodical teaching material. Furthermore I examined the influence of the technological developments that the computer, smartphones, tablets and the internet have to offer. Teaching Jazz in the 21st century has proven to be much more of a modulair approach than the traditional linear approach.

Jazz Bass with John Patitucci

Author	: John Patitucci
Year	: 2012
Format	: website
Level	: beginners, intermediate, advanced
JDB	: Jazz Data Bass Link


Highlights:
Well organized beginners exercises
Musical, contemporary etudes
Interesting method for teaching Jazz rhythm
Use of call and response method
Ear training and solfege exercises
Comments:
A lot of verbal instruction
Very little focus on constructing bass lines
Little focus on repertoire and history
Quite expensive: 250 dollars per year

World renowned bass player John Patitucci and the people at artstworks.com have reached an impressive achievement presenting this online method for Jazz double bass. In total over 200 lessons were filmed. The lessons are accompanied by PDF documents and audio recordings to play along. It encourages the student to send in his own video recordings which are all answered with a video response from John Patitucci. The beginner’s section is the most elaborate and has 160 lessons. The intermediate section has 32 lessons and the advanced has 25 lessons. John Patitucci is explaining elaborately and into great detail. This makes the lesson also a little tiresome at some point. There is so much verbal instruction needed to explain it to all types of students. This is showing us some of the bigger challenges of video lessons. As a teacher you don’t know the level or personal challenges of the student watching the video. This makes the lessons a little overwhelming for most students as a lot of the instruction is not applicable for that specific student. This way a teacher can’t respond to the individual needs of the student. On the other side, the advantage is that video is very patient and the student can watch it over and over again. As a practice companion, this can be very practical.

One of the more interesting lessons is about rhythm. Patitucci explains Jazz rhythm from the African Abakua 6/8 rhythm. He uses physical exercises to teach this. (lesson 130: beginners)

Another interesting approach and also an advantage of video lessons over books is the use of call and response teaching methods. John Patitucci plays an example which the student either has to copy or to respond to. This helps the student to ‘feel’ the music.

Surprisingly, he spends only few lessons on developing walking bass lines, especially compared to all the lessons with scale and arpeggio exercises. He uses a method of melodic cells for walking bass. Also it’s remarkable that these lessons only start in the intermediate section.

In general John Patitucci emphasises the importance of solfege, ear training, harmony and theory. He uses this in many of his lessons, for example by singing intervals to bass tones, and teaching harmony lessons on a keyboard. The method has a separate section for theory.