Welcome to our
Student Spotlight!

Our students work hard - and it shows!
They show up for practice and do their assignments.
Check out what they are up to!

Pattern System Pals Create Beautiful Piece

FRED:

This collaboration started from working with Jodi and a few others in a“practice pod” working on the assignments from the Pattern System course. We thought it would be a fun challenge to work together on our final exam assignment. 

I relished the idea of using some of the concepts that Ari taught us like scalar studies and donuts for soloing to come up with functional yet interesting bass parts. We decided upfront it would be best from a musicality perspective to trade off responsibilities. So for instance, when I would solo she would play chords (and vice versa), or when she was busy in the upper register, I would stay simple in the lower register.

I got so much out of creating bass lines that complemented her parts - it required a higher level of thinking than just coming up with a bass line over a set of chords and that was very satisfying to me.

JODI:

Fred approached me with the idea of recording a collaboration from material we learned during our Pattern System course.  Having never done this before, I was excited to accept the challenge of recording my part and hearing how Fred’s part would mesh with mine.

I made sure to play enough repeats of each section, such as the chords, or the bass part, or the solo part so that Fred could work out what he wanted to play over it.

After some impressive technical meshing, the result shows each of us getting a chance to shine while the other supported.

This experience left me wanting to do more of this kind of thing; collaborating and incorporating all that I am learning from Ari’s courses.  Application is key.

Getting to do it with fellow classmates only adds to the community Ari has created for all of us to excel.

ARI's NOTE:

Big ups to you both! I hear you put area drills, scalar studies, triad shapes, interval studies, and creative conceptual approaches (yummy donuts!) from class into a beautiful musical context. Lovely to listen to!

 

Pattern System Level III Finals!

In our Level III Pattern System Intensive, we tackled topics such as:

  • Diatonic triads and four-note chords in Areas 1 and 2!    
  • What makes a cool groove and how to create it using such figures
  • The Beauty of common notes when the chord changes (whether it's a shift inside the key or not)
  • Scalar studies: how to make them sound musical
  • The fact that if your rhythm is cool and the target note is cool, you can get away with a lot :)
  • How to create a story arc using a simple idea and developing it further. 

    Our Membership spotlight features our student Laurent from France/UK, who composed a really musical groove/solo combo for his final. Can you hear the melodic arc, the beautiful build, and the musical ideas he spins further? If you notice this is moving to listen to, that's why: it tells a story!

    And on fretless, no less! Beautiful submission, Laurent!

 

A Multi-Bass Collaboration!

Our members work hard and it shows! They show up for practice and do their homework.

Check out what they are up to!

Multi-Bass Collaboration: My Favorite Things

Over nine sessions around Christmas we tackled:

  • walking in three
  • adding some “burps” (the real technical term is skips) to add interest
  • analysis (oh: another example of the diatonic cycle in there)
  • how to solo over it
  • playing the melody
  • playing chords
  • how to make a bass solo version of it
  • Four of our students got together over the internet and took all that and created this beautiful multi-bass piece from it

    Our Membership spotlight features our students Christine, Laurent, Randy, and Rick (who also put together the awesome video!)

As a member you can study all these sessions in our membership archives!

 

Bring Your Bass Playing to Life with Ari

Personalized Paths for All Levels: Ari's Guidance, Your Groove!

  • Live Interaction, Feedback, and Coaching.
  • FastTrack your results through effective practice
  • Consistent Methods for all levels
  • Song-Study - the Ari Way: don't just learn the songs, learn from the songs!
  • Shape- and pattern based learning

 
What Our Students Have to Say...
 

Her style of teaching is really accessible, to anybody, on any level of music...

Your stomach needs to be fed, but so does your soul and I feel the best way to say it is music feeds my soul and playing an instrument feeds my soul.

So she’s created this online community which is really incredible - talking with, asking questions of, interacting with other bass players - it’s a very friendly place. I don’t detect any kind of judgments or impatience with people. It’s a very positive community.

Daniel Member
 

I cant say enough how fun it is working with Ari. It’s a very fun way to practice.
...you also see how the others folks are having the same struggle as you have, and it’s really helpful to understand you are not alone

I like that Ari - she not only tells you how you can do things, but she also explains to you why things work the way they work, and she is just a fun person to hang out with during those sessions.

It’s definitely a hightime of my week!

Peter Member
 

...And then I found Ari online and that was the beginning.

So I noticed that my playing is getting better because of what I am doing with her. In other words, my movement, where I’m going, what I can learn, how to prepare for that groove. It’s all improving. All of it.

Go for it. Don’t wait. Don’t procrastinate. If this is what you’re looking for, and this is what your heart is yearning for… you found it! Just know that you found it and do it and don’t let anything stop you.

Ellie Member