With Halloween 2020 fast approaching, we thought we should share 5 of our spookiest lessons, or at least, some of our more unusual techniques and tips! Hopefully, once you’ve watched the videos, the exercises will be less scary and more useful to add to your practice routine this week.
1. starting off with Jason Heath’s unusual sound effect: The Lion’s Roar.
In this new video, Jason demonstrates an unusual sound effect you can play on your bass that is sure to surprise anyone around you! It’s a fun effect that sounds like a lion’s roar or some sort of underwater creature…
2. The Phantom Hand Exercise by David Allen Moore
David Allen Moore introduces the phantom hand exercise, designed to improve your intonation on the double bass. This exercise helps you build an internal map of the fingerboard to improve the intonation of all your playing - so nothing too spooky!
3. The Vomit Exercise by Lauren Pierce
The vomit exercise is not as bad as it sounds, but it is an insanely effective drill for improving your shifting and intonation!
4. Double bass and Harmoniser, Adam ben Ezra
In this video, Adam Ben Ezra shows us the cool-sounding effects you can get by using a harmoniser. You could experiment with these to put on a spooky Halloween show!
5. Killer Joe by John Goldsby
Scary title, but hopefully not so scary tune after John has gone through this classic jazz standard. This one comes with a free transcription which you can download here.