Bass Lessons

John Patitucci Excercise

I was in London last year, catching up with some old acquaintances. One person I was really looking forward to seeing was Dill Katz. In London, Dill is like the father of the electric bass. Besides being an excellent bassist himself, playing on countless significant recordings, Dill is a great teacher. Although I’ve never officially taken a lesson from Dill, I have to say that he’s definitely taught me than any other bass player I’ve known….not just about music.

Dill is also known for renting his upright bass to well known jazz bassists coming through town–Eddie Gomez and John Patitucci are two names that spring to mind. Dill happened to be renting his bass to John Patitucci when I finally caught up with him. I had the good fortune to hang out with both of them for an hour or two. I was great to see Dill after many years. John was very down to earth, enthusiastic about music and quite a good laugh.

I remember seeing an instructional video that John Patitucci put out years ago. There was an exercise on that video that I still use all the time. I use it for left hand strength and to warm up before a gig. Here is my interpretation of what I remember of that exercise.