Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When did you start playing?
A: When I was 7 years old.
Q: Who is your biggest influence?
A: I have many influences in music but my first biggest influence on the bass was Jaco Pastorius.
Q: Who is your teacher?
A: Right now I don’t have a regular teacher but I studied with Anthony Wellington for 3 years and attended Wooten Woods and Berklee Summer Groove School with Victor Wooten and the Berklee bass faculty. I've also been to several other music camps and workshops, like Gerald Veasley's Bass Bootcamp, the Hudson Jazz Composer's Workshop and the Central PA Jazz Camp.. My Dad, who is a jazz trumpet player, taught me to improvise. Adam Nitti has also helped me develop my solo lines.
Q: How much practice do you do a day?
A: It varies depending on school, but I practice at least an hour on school days and 2 to 3 hours a day on the weekends and holiday periods.
Q: What is your practice routine?
A: It varies but I always play basic diatonic chord and scale exercises first. I cover both pick and slap style either with a metronome or my Beat Buddy. I'm always learning new songs and bass lines and transcribing solos too. I spend time on reading whenever I can. I play my 5 string, 6 string and fretless basses very day to keep the familiarity,
Q: What kind of strings do you use?
A: On my fretted basses I use Custom Nickel Wounds made by Carlos Pavicich. On my fretless they are GHS Black Nylon tape wounds.
Q: What is your recording set up?
A: We record at home direct into a Mac using a Focusrite Solo and Logic Pro X. We use Final Cut For for editing videos.
Q: What exercises do you use for dexterity?
A: I play digital patterns and diatonic exercises a lot with a metronome.
Q: What advice do you give for beginning improvisors on the bass?
A: Listen and transcribe a lot. You can’t learn to improvise out of a book. Play first and the theory comes later. Learn bass lines and solo fills by the great players. YouTube has a great function for slowing things down.