Meditate Yourself Into The Zone

Meditation

Let’s start with what meditation is.

Meditation is an ancient Buddhist, Hindu, Yogic and Taoist practice meant to bring focus and a stillness to the mind. By concentrating on the breathe and/or controlling the inhale and exhale, meditation can bring you into the present moment.

There are several different types of meditation that have been develop over the centuries. Vipassana, Pranayama, Mindful, and  Transcendental to name a few.

Vipassana is also referred to insight meditation and has been used by Buddhist monks to ages. Buddha himself speaks about this type of meditation in the Dhammapada – the book of Buddha’s teachings. In Vipassana meditation you focus on the inhale and exhale of the breathe to still the mind and bring calmness.

Pranayama is a Yogic type of breathing that brings focus to the mind. there are different types of breathing methods in Pranayama that also bring other heath benefits, but we’ll just focus on the effect of the mind. Unlike Vipassana though, the breathing in Pranayama is controlled in a specific way.

In Mindful meditation, the focus is on the body and the sensations that you are feeling in the present moment. It is a way of not only bringing focus to the mind, but also an awareness to body. Mindful meditation is mostly associated with the Zen Buddhist monks.

Trancendental is different in that the focus and stillness that it brings come from a specific word or sound that is repeating either in the mind or aloud. The sound that is given to you from a person qualified to teach Transcendental is specific to each person. By repeating or chanting the world or sound, it bring focus and calmness to the mind and brings higher states of consciousness.

Getting Into The Zone

Ok, so what does all that have to do with playing bass, or music in general?

We’ve been there before, playing a gig, and everything just seems to be working. We’re playing things that we never thought of, like we’re trying to catch up with our fingers. We all know the “zone” when we’re in it. But what exactly is the “zone”?

Essentially the “zone” is when we are in that exact moment in time and no where else. Our minds are strictly focus on what we are playing and what is happening in that moment in time.The present moment is the only thin that is important, everything else has fallen to wayside.

How meditation helps with that is by training the mind to be in the present moment at all times. By bringing a focus, stillness, and calmness to our already busy minds, it allows us to get into the “zone” easier. For musicians, that one moment on stage is like the life blood to us all. To be able to cherish and relish in that moment at that exact time is one of the best feelings. Meditation helps to bring that type of focus to the mind so that we may be able to more often.

Give it a try. You don’t have to sit in meditation for a long time. Science has shown that even five minutes day can help to bring a focus and clarity to the mind that wasn’t there before.

Please leave any comments about your experiences or stories that you may have below. If you have questions, feel free to leave those as well. I’ll do my best to answer them for you.

Namaste

 

Groove Theory

So what is groove anyway?

According to Wikipedia, groove is defined as…

the sense of propulsive rhythmic “feel” or sense of “swing” created by the interaction of the music played by a band’s rhythm section (drums, electric bass or double bass, guitar, and keyboards)

That’s a very good definition for what groove is. The thing about groove is, it’s not so easily defined. Yes groove is a rhythmic feel and swing is a type of groove, but it goes much deeper than that. Groove is subjective as well and isn’t felt the same from one person to another. What I feel is a great groove in music may not be to you and that is one of the beauties of music. Ask any musician, or anyone at all, what groove is to them and you may just get vastly different answers.

Groove is the feeling that the musician is playing or putting into the music at that specific time. It must be felt and descriptions don’t do it justice. Groove is the emotion that is put into the song, the way that the song is played, the articulation/emphasis put into certain notes or phrases, and numerous other aspects of music. Groove can also depend on how you are feeling at that time. You can listen to a song one day and have no feeling towards it at all. Listen to it another day and it could move you to tears, make you laugh, or brighten your day. It can be funky, swinging, laid back, aggressive, or any other adjective, or adjectives, that you can think of. It can also be varying degrees of those adjectives. Our genres of music are defined by the grooves and feelings that are associated with them and can crossover and intertwine together.

Groove is similar to life in the way that we experience it. You have your ups and downs, happy and sad, and any combination in between in life. Emotions vary from day-to-day and even happen all at the time or throughout the same day. You could be swinging, feeling good one moment and then feel aggressive and angry the next. We can busy with little rest or relaxed with a lot silence. We talk loud when angry and softly to give advice or console. We move to the beat of our own drum, fly to our own melody, and groove to our own bass line. Life is one big musical suite that changes moods and grooves differently as we play the song of life. Yet we can interact with each other in harmony and, unfortunately, sometimes in dissonance.

In music, like any art form, groove is one of those things that will be defined according to each every one of us. You may have a similar definition to another person and completely different from the next person. What makes a great groove to you is going to be the connection that you have to it. Does it move you? Does it make you want to dance? Or does it make you think of a long-lost love? The question that is of most importance is, what is groove to you?

Roscoe Guitars

If you’ve ever played one Keith Roscoes basses you know why they are considered some of best basses out there. If you haven’t, then I suggest that you at least take some time and play one. Roscoe basses are just phenomenal instruments and great works of art. I’ll give you a little back story of the company.

Roscoe Guitars is based in Greensboro, NC, which is north of Charlotte and west of Raleigh, and owned by Keith Roscoe. Roscoe makes both guitars and basses, but stopped making guitars for some time before getting back to making them recently. Keith Roscoe started out playing guitar and attended Berklee College of Music. He later moved to Greensboro and opened up a shop repairing and restoring guitars. Around ’83, he opened up a separate shop and, with a friend, began to build instruments. As the business grew, Keith Roscoe started to get more orders for basses then for guitars and eventually built basses exclusively for a while. He recently started to make guitars again using some of the bass designs that he has honed over the years. Roscoe Guitars is still located in Greensboro, NC and still producing amazing instruments.

Now when I said that you really need to play a Roscoe bass, I mean, you really need to play one. They are truly high quality basses that play amazing and look absolutely beautiful. They have smooth and very easy to play necks on all of their basses. They use Bartolini pickups and pre-amps with a push-pull mid frequency switch that sound great. Your choice of body style (LG, SKB, or Century), tone wood (mahogany, spanish cedar, swamp ash, alder, maple, and myrtle), and optional top wood (too many to list) for their Standard Plus models and up. They make 4, 5, and 6 string basses with a 34″ scale length for the 4 string and a 35″ scale length for the 5 and 6 string. The Standard series they use a three piece quarter sawn maple, a maple/purpleheart/maple quarter sawn neck for the Custom series, and a maple/purpleheart/purpleheart/maple neck for the Signature series neck. Like all custom built basses, you have additional options to choose from on the neck and electronics.

All and all, these are fantastic basses that are great to play and will provide the sound and tone that you’re looking for in any playing situation. You can connect with them on their website and on Facebook.

Leonard “Hub” Hubbard

We all have that one moment, that one bass player that made us want to pick up the bass. That musician just spoke to us, was in our favorite band, or was the first bassist we saw live. They made us want run to the store and buy a bass right away and start learning to play. For me, that bassist was Leonard Hubbard (aka Hub) from The Roots.

Hub grew up in Philadelphia, PA and studied bass through high school. Later going to college at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA where he studied classical upright bass. He join The Roots in ’92 and played his last show with them in August of ’07. Hub played on their first 12 albums before leaving the band. His main bass was a Fender Jazz Bass, but can be heard using upright on The Roots first album Organix.

I first heard Hub on The Roots 3rd album Illadelph Halflife when a friend turned me on to the band. I had never heard hip-hop quite like it, I mean an actual band that played hip-hop. And they were good! The Roots instantly became my favorite group. The album was fantastic all the way through with its lyrical word play, solid beats, and of course, Hub’s grooving basslines.I went back and got their first two albums and have stayed up to date with them ever since. Hub’s playing is just grooving and adds to the overall sound of the song that just speaks to me. He can play jazz, rock, reggae/dub, or just straight grooving’. His overall musicianship just inspired me to want to play. At the end of the day, I’ll always be grateful for the inspiration start playing bass and I’ll always be a fan of his.

Preview of first installments

With the holiday season fast approaching and many of you looking for gift ideas, my first few blogs will be about gift ideas. I’m sure there are several sites doing this but I think coming from a bass players perspective is due. There is a lot out there and I know it can be confusing, but I’m here to help. I’ll be going into some of my suggestions that will help you pick the perfect gift for your musician friend, significate other, or family member. Stay tuned and look for the first installment catering to the beginner bassist. The second will be for the intermediate to advanced bassist and the third will be for the advanced to professional bassist. I’ll be covering basses, amps, and strings.

Again, stay up to date by following me with the links to the right and look for the first installment “Gifts For The Budding Bassist”