Jonathan Randall

As well as having a full schedule of teaching, I’ve been able to spend a bit of time over winter woodshedding on my 5 string bass. The approach I’ve taken is to try and pick the 5’er up every time I go to play and to focus on sight-reading.

It’s definitely been a challenge but Im starting to get more comfortable on this (especially if I don’t think about it too much).

I can highly recommend for students moving from a 4 to a 5, grab some sheet music and work through a few tunes. One thing I have had to focus on is slapping as it is a little different from the perspective of muting the extra string. 

I’m including a tune (About Damn Time) that was both a good sigh reading exercise AND a good technique development exercise as it gave me the opportunity to use the low Eb and include some slapping. More 5 string stuff is in the works but I will always be including my 4 string work and thoughts.

Peace Jon

About Damn Time Bass Playalong