Joe Hubbard Bass

Here's the link to my latest book about learning to incorporate triads into your bass lines and solos.

https://www.joehubbardbass.com/triad-sudoku-workbook/

All the Bass

Joe

Just letting you guys know that I'm running a Black Friday Sale which ends today where you can get any of my courses for 50% off.  This include the 2-Year Bass Mastery Course, Bass Foundation Course, The II V I Encyclopedia and The Walking Bass Blueprint.    Click here to get this deal! 

I've just extended this for another day just for you guys!

Cheers

Joe

SOLD!

You'll never need another cabinet other than this one.  It handles 700 watts of power @4 ohms.  I've been running this with an Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 and club gigs, wedding, and general casual gigs I would never need anything else.  This cabinet is "brand new", I just prefer the vertical 2x10 that Jorg made for me so this little guy needs a new home.  I'm selling this for £500 cash!!!  If you ordered this from Schroeder you would pay $799 pus shipping ($195) as this one was custom made for me to handle 700 watts RMS. So, in pounds  you would  pay £829.76!  With  that in  mind, you are  saving  £329.76 straight out of the  gate. 

It also has a heavy duty Titanium bullet tweeter at 200watts RMS.  I can ship it but would rather someone from the UK buys it and collects from me personally.  If you're interested, please message me.  Cheers!

SOLD!

I've got a Strymon Bluesky Reverb pedal that I'm no longer using and it needs a good home.

This reverb pedal is a super-high quality reverb which is one of the few reverb pedals that works well with bass.

Mint condition- comes boxed with 9V PSU power supply for £200  PRICE DROP: £175!!! Plus Shipping

Features:

•  Intense Spring, Plate and Room Algorhythms
•  Normal, Mod and Shimmer Modes
•  Zero Latency Dry Signal
•  High & Low Damping Controls
•  True Bypass
•  Separate Pre-Delay Control
•  Favourite Footswitch for storing settings
•  Stereo Input & Output
•  Super Low Noise

PM me if you're interested.

SOLD!

Just replied to PM.

Cheers

Joe

BUMP!

On ‎25‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 21:52, wishface said:

Thank you. Am I correct in assuming you favour raking over strict alternation in all situations? If so I have a follow up: what is your approach when raking meets string crossing? It seems, froim my experience, that, when skipping strings, one's fingers tend to favour leading with a specific finger, even if that means using that finger to pick a note and not alternate (if you follow me).

Thanks for your time

When skipping adjacent strings, I would use the same approach described in the video- when ascending alternate; when descending cross with same finger.

1 hour ago, TKenrick said:

Thanks, Joe, much appreciated - I keep meaning to catch you at the bass show, and then I remember that I'm allergic to them... The notes from our lessons are still keeping me busy after all these years!

Good to hear Tom.

Footprints on the Miles Davis record Miles Smiles.

Hey Tom

How's it going- long time Brother!

Melodically, a good place to start is by just using triads.  Experiment by not always using the root on the downbeat.  Rhymically, 3/4 often gives you the opportunity to use Ostinato lines as in All Blues.  Also when walking build your lines by first playing dotted half notes, then progessing to dotted quarters and then finally quarter notes.  This allows you to build dynamically over time.  For more advanced purposes, start to experiment by using the dotted quarter notes as a metric modulation concept over the 3/4.  For instance...2-bars of dotted quarter notes in 3/4 equals one bar of 4/4.  You can experiment with a drummer where he holds the original time in 3 down while you do that, or he can start to interprept the new 4/4 time over that with you.  Lot's of fun here.  I have a course on my 2-Year Bass Mastery Course which goes way, way into these concepts.

Hope that helps.

Best

Joe

Some folks have been asking for pictures.  As you can see, this rig is in perfect condition.

There is a better, more productive approach to growing musically by focused targeted subject matter rather than slinging mud against a wall, along with a hope and a prayer…and by an organised system rather than random and erratic acts of nothingness :-)

Thank God for my Black Friday 50% Off Sale…For all my books!

…but there’s only 72 hours left!  So…hurry!

GET 50% OFF NOW

Use the checkout code: BFEARLY

Hey Guys

I've got a great deal on an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 and two SL112 cabinets that are just sitting around waiting for a new owner.

As a complete package I'm selling this for £1200

If you were to buy this new...it would cost £2197

I'm also throwing in the Gig Bag for the amp plus the Speakon Cables as a FREE BONUS.

I'm willing to break it up...but that will change the price...

Tone Hammer 500: £420

SL112: £450 per cab

Both the amp and cabs are used but in great condition.

No offers- PM  me is you're interested.

All the Bass

Joe

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 14:00, pbasspecial said:

Hi Joe,

Thanks for answering all our questions.

I've been playing for quite a while (30+ years) and a Pro at a quality jam night said that I have 'flying fingers'.  I wondered:

1. Is it really a problem?

2. How to fix/improve it?

Thank you, Paul

I guess it depends whether or not you think it's causing you some issues.  Learning to play with better "economy of motion" will definitely allow you to access more faccility across your instrument.  I have a good video that breaks down left hand technique here:

On ‎07‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 07:44, thebigyin said:

Joe i'm going to make a taboo suggestion would you consider using tablature with you transcriptions and courses I think it would bring you a much wider audience for the non readers, hope you don't mind me asking, cheers Bob.

Most of my books have a tablature section included.

If you aren't aware- I'm running a Halloween 30% Off Sale for all my books.  Use the checkout code: HALLOWBASS30

https://www.joehubbardbass.com/store/

This isn't for very long though- Sale ends FRIDAY Nov 1st at midnight!

All the Bass

Joe

On ‎18‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 00:06, Stub Mandrel said:

Hi Joe,

I struggle to play slap and have it sound half-decent. I can alternate octave slap/pops all day but struggle to be fluent playing more complex patterns with any force. It's not really a speed issue, more one of getting a pleasant sound! I've tried playing lines I know well by slapping rather than fingerstyle but they just come out as terribly stilted.

Have you got a favourite exercise for developing a more fluent slap technique taht isn't playing 'Higher Ground' endlessly?

Thanks!

Not really.  I feel that slapping is a very individualised technique and is probably best developed through listening and transcribing.  With that said, most slapping is based on very syncopated rhythms.  If you don't understand syncopation then that's wheree you'll want  to start. 

On ‎17‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 16:37, wishface said:

Hi, what would you recommend for shoring up right hand two finger plucking technique and is there a particular picking style you regard as optimal?

Thanks for your time

Yes there is.  This lesson will help.  Pay close attention to the detail covered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXr75R2egt0

This is what I do for a living so I pretty much practice every day.  How much varies, but it's usually betweeen 3 to 4 hours per day- sometimes more.  What I work on is usually dependent on my on going studies with Charlie Banacos.  Although Charlie is no longer with us, his top student - Garry Dial - of 38 years who works on behalf on the Banacos family continues to carry on Charlie's legacy.  I studied with Charlie for 10 years and in that time had 150 lessons with him.  I haven't counted, but I've been with Garry for the last 8 years and have probably had roughly well over a hundred lessons with him as well.  These are all Charlie's original lessons in his own hand.  They are very involved and it takes a lot of time to work these concepts into your vocabulary.  At the moment I'm working on a bunch of John Coltrane improvisational concepts which are mind bending to say the least.  My formula is simple: Listen, practice, play!  I never warm up- I just sit down and do the work.  Often to find out what I need to work on, I'll practice improvising over a tune (with no backing tracks) and after about 12 choruses, I can find various things that bug me about the way I played. It's sort of a reverse-engineering process but it works for me. 

Check out the number one reason that beginner bassists don't improve:

https://www.joehubbardbass.com/9335/beginners-bass-principle-1-learning-to-slow-down/

On ‎19‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 21:26, Soledad said:

Good question, so +1

Also, a basic left-hand issue. Been playing years and way back had to work hard to get 4th digit to work as required and it's become better than my rather lazy 3rd. It tends to let 4th do it's work, or 3 &4 work as one digit. A practice routine to retrain my 3rd to pull it's fair share of weight?

It's a real privilege to be asking your advice Joe

The answer lies in using two left-hand stances: the one finger per fret or 4-finger stance and the 3-finger stance, where the 3rd and 4th work as one.  Check out this week's lesson on my YouTube Channel, where I break this down:

I go into great detail with thesse left-hand positions in my Bass Foundation Course: https://www.joehubbardbass.com/foundation/

On ‎19‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 15:19, project_c said:

Hi Joe, I’ve learnt a ton of stuff from your books, they continue to help me a lot so thank you. I have a question - it’s about practice routines, motivation, energy levels and a busy work schedule. I have a full time job as well as a freelance career (not music), so my practice time is often very limited. Do you have any advice for maintaining a meaningful practice routine even when work is crazy and energy levels are low?

It's really down to just a few things.  1).  You have to have enough reasons to want to improve.  2).  You have to create enough time in each day that is your music time.

Personal motivation will be different from person to person, but a good thing to do is write down all the reasons why you want to become a better musician and why it's important to you.  By visually seeing all the reasons this is so omportant to you will help you to prioritise your schedule.

In a 24-hour period, there are 1440 minutes.  All you need is 100 minutes for 6-days a week to see incredible improvement.  You then want to understand the commitment needed to to become proficient.  It takes a while.  People far over estimate what they can accomplish within a year and far under estimate what they can achieve in 6-years.  100 inutes a day for 6-days is 10 hours per week.  There are 168  hours in a week and everybody has the same 168.  The average person watches anywhere between 4 to 6 hours of TV and social media...sometimes more.  It's all down to priorities and ultimately what's important  to you.