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welcome to my wacky world of fretless
bass as you can see this is out of the
ordinary for a instructional video but
at the same time we're going to be
steeped in tradition we're gonna learn
to play the fretless bass in tune seems
to be a big problem these days we're
gonna start very basically working on
octave intonation and progressively more
complicated intervals we're going to
work our way into chords we're going to
work on some advanced techniques
artificial harmonics composition we're
going to work on our right hand
alternation of fingers good plucking
techniques our left hand we're going to
be concentrating on a lot of consistency
and a good solid method to keep you in
tune to the whole instrument we're gonna
play with some great friends of mine who
play really loud but really good
Carl behind on guitar joel taylor on
drums we're gonna have a lot of fun
studying the instrument and we're gonna
find new ways to use a vegetarian pizza
or just one slice of vegetarian pizza
above all we're going to have fun and at
the end of this we're all going to be
better off and we're going to be in tune
with those that we're playing with
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here's some notes to tune to e
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a
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d
the
gee
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and if you have a six-string see
and a low B
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here I sit with a four-string fretless
bass what we're going to get into
initially it's just a good left hand
fingering system one that will enable
you to play in tune on all areas of the
fingerboard and just give you good
consistent fingering techniques for
playing octaves in tune for playing
fifths in tune
my concept of how to study intonation
starts with the intervals that are
easier to hear in tune and for me the
octave out of tune octaves are in tune
octaves are the easiest things to hear
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one thing you might want to do is play
these octaves and purposely detune them
a little bit and hear what one sounds
like flat and hear what it sounds like
sharp and using this fingering system of
one finger per fret or absence thereof
facilitates that first thing we're going
to do is always turn on our metronome
but since I don't have a metronome I
hired a real drummer to be my metronome
for the day among other things we'll
play this first octave intonation study
one word of warning the first few
exercises are extremely boring so you're
you're gonna be bored by playing them
and may be bored by listening to them
because I get tired of them but it's
very similar to if you play trombone or
trumpet long notes you know when you
warm up you just play long tones so this
is what this is based on you use your
ears to listen for the octaves in tune
and if you get bored with that just look
around in the back it's some bases there
are some pretty weird ones back there
and who knows after this video they
might be for sale I don't know so we'll
start with some basic octave intonation
using one finger per fret less one two
three four listen closely
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yeah
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let the notes ring
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shift
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and so on
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great thanks Joe as you can hear they
are just kind of tedious but you must do
this to really listen for the octave
intonation
here we are a little bit flat here we
are sharp one key to playing fretless
bass consistently is ear training and
given how much you've done I don't know
but you must be very conscious of
hearing the waves and the pitch sharp
flat nobody plays in tune 100% of the
time
basically it's it's a percentage play I
mean if you just start out you might be
in tune 20% of the time 30% what we
strive to do is just make it a lot more
kind of like baseball players you know
keep keep the percentage up but there
are three processes or three steps in
the process of correcting your
intonation the first thing you do of
course is you play the note now whatever
your point of reference is whether it's
a guitar player probably playing too
loud on a big D chord or a pianist or or
whatever you must tune your note roughly
to them or to yourself so initially you
play the note the next thing you do is
you analyze that note and this is all
happens in milliseconds you analyze it
now my sharp or flat okay
I'm sharp so I'm gonna roll my finger
back a little bit
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you adjust your fingers quickly you you
play the note you analyze it and then
you adjust to be in tune so let's assume
that this note is is the consonant the D
if I'm nodded
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I played it it was sharp I roll my
finger back and actually had to slide a
little bit there to get it in tune okay
maybe I'm using my first finger and I
hit the note that's something you hear
fretless bass players do a lot sometimes
for effect but a lot of times it's just
that hitting a note a little low sliding
or rolling your fingers into it in the
octaves we talked about I'm rolling them
and I'm assuming that the bottom notes
in tune no that's not always the case
you'll find the point where where you'll
do this
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so it's good to just sit around and
practice that and develop your ears to
where you can hear it moving from
octaves the next easiest interval to
hear I believe or fifths and how many
knows what if it is two three four five
root and fifth very prevalent in certain
kinds of music but we'll find that so
it's the same system of exercises
basically playing long tones and
listening going up the same part of the
neck and and I'll play it slowly at
first and then gradually speed up so one
two three four let all the notes ring
together
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listening very closely okay I'm gonna
play a couple and I'm gonna play
purposely out of tune and see if you can
listen to the way I adjust because
believe me it happens all the time we
just get good at fooling fooling you
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here hi I'm sharp
I mean it actually could be a nice
effect but if you're trying to play in
tune with a nice little folk singer she
probably won't appreciate it very much
so these exercises are designed to
develop that I noticed some of you were
looking at me like how can you stretch
his hands though that far I've got I've
got small hands well they're wide but I
have short fingers and I found that the
one three to four particularly for
octaves and fists like that work for me
but some of you with smaller hands and
you've probably seen many many great
musicians play one in four four octaves
and and I have no problem at all with
that and sometimes I do it either for
strength reasons or just for for comfort
but I found that that once again back to
our methodical logical fingering system
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playing octaves stuff like that you
would have to shift twice as many times
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if you're catching them one in four and
one thing that that you'll learn and
that I've learned the hard way is that
the highest risk the most risk of being
out of tune is when we shift if we stay
in one position all day
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I actually can make a lot of money
playing that kind of bass and staying in
one position there's nothing no problem
with it but staying in one position you
can play in tune when you start to shift
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once again I'm just explaining the most
efficient way to use your fingers the
least amount of shifting results and
probably a lot more accuracy and a lot
more consistency in your intonation use
your ears not your eyes you'll notice
I'll look down a lot to shift but I'm
still if you're if you're on stage
playing to an audience and and something
we all want to do I'm sure you do we
don't want to be staring in our left
hand I mean not only does it take away
from the show you can't look at the
other musicians for cues there's none of
that magical eye contact stuff that
everybody talks about and and you know
you can't see all the nice looking
creatures in the 1st through 15th row
you know if you're looking at your left
hand another thing you'll notice when
you're playing the fists or the octaves
you notice I'm fingering 1 3 2 4 1 3 2 4
don't always get locked into that there
are other ways to finger fists for one
is going a to 4 so why not switch and go
for it just puts a whole new perspective
on keeping these consistent
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same thing with octaves listen closely
listen to how easily I can play out of
tune did you just find that pocket there
and as you work your way up the neck
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constantly stop and listen to yourself
here's an exercise that's a what I call
a combination exercise it octaves and
fists together I think there might be a
six thrown in but this exercise looks
easy on paper but as you'll hear it's
it's more than that um little little
slight back beat mr. Taylor my personal
metronome that's great
keeps me in line and in time one two
three
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intonation is so important I sit here on
a beautiful day like this talking about
intonation it must be important we'll
ask anybody off the street oh excuse me
oh hi I hate I see you're in a hurry but
when you strange question but when you
go out and you hear a fretless bass
player in a band what's your main
concerned intonation in C lady off the
street that'll about do it for fists so
what's the next logical interval to hear
in tune after fifth well after a fifth
of anything I can't hear anything in
tune anyway but those are fourths
fourths force you know
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basically you can play them by barring
your finger across or by playing
separate notes but without drawing
things out too much here it's the same
consistent exercise just listening
listening to what a perfect forest
sounds like in tune and listen to what
it sounds like at attune you'll notice
my left hand there's a and a D just the
slight pitch of my finger changes
changes the the whole intonation of the
chord or whatever you're playing so you
got to be really careful and from the
angle I sit looking down at it it
doesn't look like it's even straight so
you got to get over the the the visual
thing of looking at it now that looks
straight to me and listen the way it
sounds
hear how it sounds when I bend it into
tune it doesn't look straight
there it goes sharp so you just have to
play these I'll do this one real fast
one two three four two two three four
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third finger fourth finger and so on and
so on up and down the the fingerboard
sometimes you'll facilitate them a lot
better by playing with two fingers but
play them in tune even if you're in the
upper register you've heard these kind
of blues licks a lot
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here house lightly tuning and detuning
them here's a one position force
exercise that'll give your left hand
quite a workout you use all your fingers
remember listen don't look too much
you'll see me looking over my left here
and that's a trick I have there's a
music stand right here and which leads
me to another point but if you're ever
reading in the studio or wherever you're
reading if you find if you put your
music slightly to the left you're able
to with your peripheral vision watch
your shifts as well as watching the
music as opposed to you see some people
looking this way gotta look back and
forth this way you kind of kill two
birds with one stone force exercise one
two one two three four
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here's an exercise that combines
everything we've done octaves fists and
fourths 1 2 3 4 listen closely in and
outta tune I was having to make
millisecond adjustments in there just to
keep it roughly absolutely almost in
tune here's I picked up the big bass now
it was a quick change huh and I'm gonna
play a more advanced exercise utilizing
force fifths and octaves shifting around
on the instrument and and really listen
to my intervals and I'm going to keep
this D droning which is a great thing to
do find an open note on your bass and
let it drone and tune against it you'll
be tuning the octaves seconds minor
thirds major thirds force
fists flat fists all the notes you learn
to hear them relative to an open string
or a constant pitch so here we go with a
brand new song of mine did I haven't
written yet
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strange story happened to me I was in
college and I got called to go do a gig
and this just shows you the public's
awareness of a fretless bass I mean I've
kind of grown accustomed to it but North
Texas State University go to a gig at
the i-35 Club playing in a country
western band and I had a fretless bass
because it was shortly after that I ran
over my other one so I take it in there
and this guy with a cowboy hat and big
boots which I have nothing against he
goes golly look at that thing it ain't
got nary a fret on it and thank God I
grew up in South Carolina and I
understand what Neri means it didn't
have a single fret and he said gee did
you pay less for that thing because it
didn't don't have no frets on it and you
know I went to the bar and that story
gets worse because now I'm confessing
this to people it's stuff a rumor
there's a lot of rumors about this but
yeah I went out that night and and I get
halfway back to my college dorm and I
keep my bass right behind my seat there
and I notice it's not there and I go
swinging over i-35 back up to Oklahoma
and you know there's my bass laying in
the parking lot with a tire track down
the gig bag and before the other one
ever even came back I ran over my
fretless bass I think it had a lot to do
probably with that Club and if that Club
still around you should visit it let's
move on thirds and tents now it starts
to get pretty and I'm gonna switch bases
while you watch just to show you that it
can be done in real time and thirds and
tents what's a third third is
and a tenth is merely that third taken
up an octave you've heard that sound a
lot I'm sure same principle I know it's
boring and believe me I have to sit
through it every day because I practice
it but but I know it helps G to B one
two three four listen closely notice my
left hand fingering ship smooth
so on up and down the instrument thirds
notice when they're flat what it sounds
like
here that window of opportunity when
you're in tune gone sharp there it is
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play it against an open string listen
for it that way
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you know I realized that playing with
expression or all those nuances or just
being able to control whether you're in
tune and attitude and using them both
together here's a finger Buster for
thirds intents stack them on top of each
other
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shift
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all the way up the neck just get hearing
that in tune and here in the octaves in
tune so you hear the thirds the B in
this case against the G and then tune
the B to the low G and then tune the
bead to the high G then tune the low B
to the high G then you tune your low G
to the high B then you tune your B to
your G gets kind of confusing and then
you you quit for a while so try that
exercise going up and down their their
variations that you'll find in the
fretless bass book regarding this way to
develop that third and fourth finger
coordination is through what I call the
hazard exercise which is a little
exercise that that have I've been
torturing bi T students with for a
number of years now and a couple of them
have come over from other countries and
said teach us your houses an exercise
priest and I guess this is what they're
talking about but but it's a great it's
a great warm-up exercise and it's also
great for developing your third and
finger the third and fourth finger
coordination very simple the notes
themselves aren't important but it's
what you do with your left hand fingers
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notice my index finger stays where it
ended right there and now my middle
finger stays where it is so I end up
with a contorted painful left hand well
actually it doesn't hurt anymore it
hasn't hurt for a few years now but you
end up developing these fingers so watch
closely and then I'm gonna shift and it
even gets worse notice my fingers are
staying down shift up to the C didn't
miss an area beat and that's about as
hard as it gets right there because if
you can keep these fingers down in that
tent and come down
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it looks bad on a four-string you ought
to see it on a six-string it's it looks
painful
and you can combine this with some right
hand exercises rhythmic exercises to
create a great warm-up I've had many
times where I've got to go on stage and
do a show and I haven't had time to warm
up I'll just do this once and I'm ready
to go
minor thirds not like the fingering we
have four four major thirds but it's
probably easier to get here's a G - a
b-flat using one and four
we're back to that fingering system
again of not fingering the octaves like
this but fingering them for one G b-flat
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here the pitch there I'm going from the
minor third to the root to the minor
third again so I'm getting an octave
with that third in between got a B
natural a G sharp and a B natural
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once again do them slowly and listen
here's some major tense
my fingering is optional I mean one
thing I believe in strongly is I never
force any of my students or never demand
them to finger a thing one certain way
because depending on the shape of your
hand or what kind of fingerings you've
studied or how you feel that day you're
gonna end up fingering things different
my philosophy is finger it every way you
know how that way you'll never get stuck
in a corner here's some tents 1 2 3 4
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I wish I'd written that song kind of
makes you thirsty though doesn't it
here's a combination of everything we've
talked about so far what does it been
it's been octaves this force thirds
tense minor thirds all those intervals
at this point you should be hearing
perfectly here's the combination using
them all one two three four
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what better time to talk about tents
then after a 10-mile ride around the
lake yeah nice
listen closely if you can hear these
tents over the traffic and hear them in
tune then they're really in tune
consistent left hand fingering a must
compared with open string
six strings can add other voicings on
top dominant minor seven dominant 13
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that son said it was its I gotta fight
just like this I got one just like it
III do the next interval we're almost
out of them thank God is the sixth
you know those little devices they teach
you in music class to identify pitches
or help you remember them this is my
Bonnie lies over the ocean that's a
major six now getting that in tune is
the difference between this that's a
good notice the rolling action of my
pinkie same kind of exercise long tones
one two three four notice the fingerings
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listen to all those if you noticed I was
doing some very microtonal adjustments
in there but but managing to pull them
into tune notice the fingering one two
one three two
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just like the other thirds here's an
even harder exercise listening to them
all two sets of six stacked on top G and
E D and B
sounds like Avon calling sort of and
then shift sixth shift
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that's pretty good to stack all those
notes I was lucky the minor sixth which
is which interval if this is my Bonnie
lies over that this is
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if you want to study in six just study
that melody it's all composed of minor
six and major six getting to hear them
in tune
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it's actually if you look at it from the
top down it's an inverted major third a
minor six down from E the same thing is
a major third up for me G sharp so
here's a sixth exercise one two three
saw
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it had tents six almost everything in
there notice I use an open string to
check check my pitch a lot there's a
nice little song called too loud too
fast too bad
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[Applause]
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triads combining thirds and fifths tents
and fists
just like the the stacked fists they
they can make life very difficult
this exercise unit six in the book if
you happen to have the fretless bass
book if not you've got it there in your
little additional book this covers every
interval we studied and it's kind of a
melodic exercise some of it stolen from
various composers that I like and
various hymnals that I've stolen and it
goes something like this one two three
four let the notes ring together
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open deep
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every interval that we've talked about
is covered in that one piece if you can
master that short little exercise your
intonation has come a long way so that
kind of covers try an intonation you can
practice playing minor thirds this way
major thirds and triads this way
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really listening and little artificial
harmonics I threw and well you can
figure it out
actually in my advanced rock bass book
there's a lot of lot of talk about
artificial harmonics and the ways to get
them here are some scales kind of the
same concept but on one string kind of
like what we talked about with the
droning but now we're concerned more
with with just shifting accuracy not
necessarily slides but the pitches is
altogether important b-flat major scale
I'll do it once with extended fingerings
one and two and three
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just a b-flat major scale learning it
over your whole instrument the big
concern of mine is is being able to play
a major scale and start on any finger we
all get so comfortable with certain
positions and this and that so I'll pick
a key like b-flat and and spend about 20
minutes just in a b-flat major scale of
doodling as they say concentrating on
intonation but learning fingerboard
harmony as well at clinics concerts and
lessons around the world people always
ask about my right hand technique I
realize you bought a fretless bass video
and this has nothing to do with fretless
bass but it it has something to do with
music so let's talk about it anyway I
use a three finger alternating technique
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the whole key to that is just keeping
them even whether you're starting on
your third finger your second finger or
your first finger no matter which
direction you're going you should have
control over them so I just practice it
very slowly try to get them all to sound
the same
it's like developing a consistent two
finger pattern but you're just throwing
the third finger in there initially
you're probably going to have to develop
your third finger sound because most of
ours are weak so I just do that by
practicing two and three
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and just getting them to sound even with
the same amount of attack in the same
amount of intensity
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I'll do string crossing exercises where
I'll pick up like the hazard exercise we
did earlier and try to keep the
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I'll play scales the whole time
trying very hard to keep my right hand
consistent which I found that through
developing the three finger thing I'm
able to to play certain things that make
certain things a lot easier it makes
other things a little more difficult
when it comes to string crossing but as
far as playing triplets I'll usually
start three two one
and keep that pattern going as opposed
to one which is a great thing to do
doing eight one two three two and then
your accenting every beat with a
different finger
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which sounds like but using various
combinations this technique I found that
I'm able to play things faster and
considerably cleaner than then when I
use to although you know I'm probably
the exception to the rule because all
the great guys I admire mainly play with
too and some of them even play with a
pic but not on a fretless I hope it's a
right hand technique that I got from a
classical guitarist and you know how
those guys are they're pretty meticulous
and the guy who taught me was very
adamant that I alternate my fingers and
and I'm thankful to this day that that
that he did do that here's a little hu
did I wrote can be played on a 4 string
5 string 6 string bass it all fits
neatly on a four string it combines once
again a lot of intervals there's a lot
of suspended chords
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which is the same interval we studied as
a fourth but up and octaves involving
those kinds of shifts of not only the
upper note but the lower note it goes
something like this one two three four
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here's a little blues ditty lots of
tents seven sliding around main thing is
copped a feel that triplet kind of thing
and make your slide smooth one thing
that we're doing a lot now is sliding
the chords in keeping the consistency of
a dominant chord those kind of things
one two three four
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combining your ears and your eyes is a
great thing there's only one other thing
one main ingredient
I shouldn't say probably only one but it
is a main ingredient muscle memory
the ability to play in tune consistently
using your ears sometimes it's so loud
on stage you can't hear then comes your
muscle muscle memory and your sight my
muscle memory I mean the the acquired
technique
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of being able to make shifts just
because you've made that shift 100 times
a nice practice for that is to take a
note and you notice I'm looking when I
shift I'm not brave enough to do it with
without that although there have been
times when I've had to like when I'm
jamming with some guys and all sudden
somebody gets artsy and decides to turn
the lights out and then you find out
what your ears and your muscle memory is
made out of other exercises are just
simply
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in other words jumping all around on the
instrument but trying to maintain your
pitch center as well as making the shift
extremely quick 1 2 3
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here's a couple more etudes from my
fretless bass book they involve some
harmonics some more wide slides we're up
to slides of a fourth now
which further reinforces all the muscle
memory things we've talked about and
pitch pitch as you're doing those slides
stop yourself at any point and check
your tuning with an open string one two
three play
[Music]
kind of pretty here's another one that
fits right along with that
once again shifting down a fourth up a
fourth up a third that kind of thing on
one string make them smooth and make
your slides quick don't make them sound
too syrupy major and minor thirds tense
all kinds of stuff in this one one two
ready play
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progressing on we find that slides of a
fifth slide to the six and of a seventh
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all are valuable slides of a fifth
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I'll do that all over the instrument on
various strings I'll start on different
fingers maybe start on three maybe start
on one maybe start on for just building
that muscle memory whenever I think of
fifth or here at fifth hopefully I can
slide a fifth and by then I'll probably
drink a fifth then I'll move on to a
sixth Maya and so on so forth three
sevenths which gets pretty dramatic
which leads to my next little topic here
is called blending it's a name i I
invented the word blending I as far as I
use the word blending referring to
taking slides when you see on a piece of
music it might have a see up to an
octave see and I mean literally this is
what it sounds like
which is pretty dramatic unless you're
playing in a circus band or or a comedy
show or something like that so I've
found it that crossing strings
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or even on the same string blending by
blending I mean blending the fingers in
so I don't have to slide from one to one
I'll slide and on the way up it's a very
subtle thing you might be able to hear
it but I'll switch fingers on the slide
which gives actually less less distance
less distance to slide as opposed to you
get the full impact of the slide it also
works when you're crossing strings
sometimes crossing two strings
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check with an open string close that's a
blending technique here's a little ditty
once again that uses some blending
techniques one two three four
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talk about getting inspired wow this is
a great environment to practice in
further emphasizing my point that that
you must be in the right frame of mind
to really practice well and learn a lot
in a short amount of time so I figure
this lift is about 12 minutes long
plenty of time to learn a lot of things
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I'm listening to every note my point is
be inspired when you practice it doesn't
have to be a situation like this it can
be anywhere but your your frame of mind
has to be right your concentration has
to be up and in this case you can't have
a fear of heights
[Music]
here's a song using a lot of chords and
voicings on the bass we talked about and
it's basically called
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
some special effects on the fretless
bass you hear people doing this
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something you can't do very well on a on
a fretted basis is catch harmonics and
slide and you can slide down you take so
what you do is you find the harmonic and
then you mash your finger down you've
got to be very accurate but you mash
your finger down over and quickly slide
up the fingerboard notice that wonderful
left hand technique you can actually
tune while you're doing it there's an
exercise in the book in unit 11 that
goes something like this the bottom of
the page one two ready play
[Music]
you've probably noticed I've been doing
a lot of artificial harmonics no like I
said that's kind of covered in my
advanced rock base book but I'll give
you just a quick lesson in that you see
me do it
it's an octave up so the basic principle
is you find a note it's just like the
twelfth harmonic you move ahead to a G
sharp change your note use your index
finger or your thumb
[Music]
I call it the movable nut approach to
advance or to artificial harmonic I just
got to make sure your right hand and
your left hand stay proportionally an
octave apart for my right hand I use my
index finger as the node point like I
would normally go here I can go here use
my index finger and pluck with the two
fingers behind it
Jaco used to do his with his thumb and
when I hung out with him once I said
well I do mine with my index finger it
seems like I can be a little more
accurate and plus I can play chords and
that was really hard to do with his
thumb and his reply was well I don't
want to do that vibrato you've probably
heard me doing it a lot today and
wondering he's wiggling his fingers and
it sounds good
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vibrato is is as I heard our cello
instructor in college say is one of the
hardest things there is to teach is
probably why I haven't mentioned it yet
it looks so simple
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but a person's vibrato is is its I've
also heard said is as different as their
fingerprints because everybody vibrates
at a different speed or feels a
different way to do it if there's a
particular singer you really like I
mentioned Peter Gabriel boy Pavarotti
Frank Sinatra all different vibrato
John Anderson from yes his lack of
vibrato is is unique and is dead on
pitch
although these are my influences among
many other horn players and everything
like that but one thing to avoid is this
kind of vibrato no matter what you hear
a lot of new fretless bass players
they're so enamored with the fact that
they can finally so they're like playing
and meanwhile the singers eyes are going
from side to side because there's no
pitch center in the band a nice
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here how subtle that is and how
effective it is as opposed to and
finding the right place to do it all I
can say is don't make it too fast and
make it a natural motion practice it
with all your fingers just kidding
hear how the pitch is pretty dead-on for
those two vibrato an accord see with a
tent
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very slight vibrato is detuning is all
it is it's like I said earlier
musicality comes from control over being
able to play in tune and out of tune a
great exercise for shifting as well as
vibrato and getting from finger to
finger finger a G with your first finger
go to an f-sharp with your fourth finger
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now why why would you do something like
that here's the reason you never know
when you're going to be if you're doing
a scale doing a scale going down now do
it to your third finger to your second
finger very effective ways to facilitate
shifts into different registers so if
you're going as you're going you're
already starting to shift
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a lot of times I'll just practice and
then I'll stretch it out make a whole
step out of it sets me up for a whole
new a minor third you probably noticed
that I've been using my thumb for
strange and unnatural things you
probably think those of you that know
that oh he's just using an acoustic bass
technique called thumb position
well you're right and you're wrong when
I started doing that I didn't even own
an acoustic bass what I did I owned a
precision bass that only had 21 frets or
20 frets or only goes up to an e-flat I
can't count that high of it and I had a
record that had Stanley Clarke on it my
first jazz record was chicory as light
as a feather and he was going up and
hitting all these G's on his upright
bass and I went wow I don't have the
range so I took it to the luthier in
South Carolina the one and only and he
extended my fingerboard up to 24 frets
but the thing he forgot to do was cut
the bass away so I ended up with a
fingerboard up to here and no way to
reach it so I'm like reaching around
gets you catching these nose and notes
and my thumb is just hanging there and
ulsan I went wow it works then I found I
could get some really
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found a lot of uses for it to use the
way some people would tap you can get
those kind of it's great for playing in
the upper register because if you're up
here if you're playing like this you can
kind of nail it on a fretless but if
you're over the top of the fingerboard
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b-flat major scale so you're free to
play as well as linearly vertically on
all portions of the instrument play on
this part of your thumb
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thanks for hanging in with me all this
while I hope you've had as much fun as I
have and hope you've learned something
the main thing our main objective is to
play in tune to play in time and to play
with good tone so keep that in mind you
might want to rewind this thing and
start all over a lot of stuff to get an
hour or so so you'll see on the next
go-around and remember play in tune
remember all the principles we talked
about and stick to them see you
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my fingerboard my neck is a little bit
sticky because I wanted to set this is
if you don't have anything around what
you can do you just you either eat the
pizza and get it all over your fingers
the grease and then you wipe the back of
your neck or if you're not hungry you
simply take the slice of pizza and you
rub it on the back your neck you caress
it like this
rub some of those sweet Domino's oils
into it and and then you eat it now
actually then you go up to the cameraman
say hey Steve you want to slice the
pizza but what I like to do with this
instrument mainly will play it upright
of course and in legitimate situations
but I got nothing better to do and and
it's it's just that the right time I
take it out and and I like to go out and
play country-and-western both both I
mean I'm open - play country-and-western
and I like it beautiful thing about
having a place up here in such a calm
tranquil environment is it inspires me
to come up with sounds that fit the fit
nature is it work
so I work around with different sounds
and today I kind of feel like this fits
this calm tranquil environment
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you
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