The latest issue of BassMusicianMagazine.com is now LIVE! Be sure to check out my latest column: PRACTICING WITH CHORD TONES, PART 2: NAVIGATING CHANGES. It takes up where I left off in my last column and includes exercises and practice strategies designed to help you become more effective in outlining harmony when improvising. Here is a video excerpt from the exercises:
Congratulations to Heather Headley! She won Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album for “Audience Of One” at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night. I am especially excited about her win because my bass playing can be heard on “Audience Of One.” Special thanks to producer Keith Thomas for allowing me to be a part of the project. Heather is one of the greatest singers I have had the opportunity to work with, and I wish her much continued success.
www.ForBassPlayersOnly.com just published a review of my ‘Liminal’ CD. ForBassPlayersOnly is a fantastic site dedicated to bass players and all things revolving around the low end. Special thanks to Jon Liebman for putting this together!
You can view an excerpt, below. To read the full review click HERE.
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“Adam Nitti has always played the bass with a lot of energy. His performance on Liminal, his latest CD release, is no exception. Surrounding himself with a first-rate band, including Mike Whittaker on keyboards, Shane Theriot on guitar, Marcus Finnie on drums and Jeff Coffin on tenor sax, Nitti’s newest effort is outstanding on many levels. First off is the fact that Nitti not only produced the album, but also composed and arranged all the tunes, which he performs using a combination of 5- and 6-string basses. Careful not to make Liminal “just another bass record,” Adam takes an unselfish approach, giving plenty of room to the other band members to stretch out, treating everyone with equal importance…”
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See the rest of the review HERE.
Howdy, folks! My new article is finally up and running at Bass-Musician-Magazine.com.
This latest installment deals with the improvising using chord tones. As a practice shed tactic, chord tone exercises are an important part of learning how to navigate harmony. In the context of learning to improvise over chord progressions, they can help you to effectively outline the changes whether or not you have accompaniment ‘assisting’ you. Included in this lesson are some arpeggio inversion exercises that are designed to help you recognize and navigate chord tones over the entire range of your fingerboard. Below is a short excerpt from the article… The complete lesson can be viewed HERE.
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A lot of bass players are intimidated by the idea of improvising over chord changes. Although it would be beyond the scope of a single installment to present a complete and comprehensive guide to improvisation, I wanted to try and shed some light on some simple concepts that you can work on to improve your soloing. In subsequent columns, I’ll elaborate on these some more and demonstrate more of their application.
For any improviser, it is essential to have a working knowledge of chords. Chords are the building blocks of harmony, and they essentially act as ’signposts’ that help an improviser to navigate through a chart. Most of us who have experience playing improvised walking bass lines or solos probably have at the very least assembled and memorized a collection of scale forms or patterns that we have used to play over particular chord types. Scales can be useful in the creation of musical phrases, but for any improviser is very important to have a thorough and complete understanding of chord tones and how to find them on the fingerboard.
A true test of whether or not a player can improvise effectively is to see if they can outline the changes for the listener without having any accompaniment playing underneath them, whatsoever. If you can outline the changes and harmony of a tune using nothing but your bass, then you probably are on the right track to further developing your improvised voice. It is very difficult to do this relying on scales alone… Take for example, a common 4 bar ii-V-I progression. For this example, let’s use the key of F major:
G min7 – C 7 – F maj7 – F maj7
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To view the entire article click HERE.
Copyright 2009, Adam J. Nitti
I have a new interview posted at The International Institute of Bassists website. You can view it HERE. Special thanks to bassist and IIB founder Cliff Engel for putting it all together.
The International Institute of Bassists (IIB) is a bass-centric web site aimed specifically toward the art of contemporary bass playing and the study of the bass tradition. Since its founding by Cliff Engel in 1997, the IIB has established a long-time presence on the internet and grown into one of the largest and most popular interactive bass-related web sites found online. Today, the IIB is comprised of a think tank of bass-playing professionals and recognized as the premier online publication for bass players and the promotion of all things bass.
The Adam Nitti Band is going to perform at The Foundry Church, Nashville, TN this Thursday, November 5th @ 1pm. We’ll be performing tunes from my new ‘Liminal’ CD and will also host a band masterclass immediately afterward. I’m excited to have Mike Whittaker (keys), Marcus Finnie (drums), Scott Bernard (guitar), and Rahsaan Barber (sax) with me this time around! Hope to see you Nashvillians there. 
Thursday, November 5th
1pm-3pm
The Foundry
1419 Clinton St
Nashville, TN 37203-2805
European Bass Day: Viersen, Germany
I am so thrilled to be performing for the first time at European Bass Day this year! The event takes place on November 15th, at Festhalle Viersen in Viersen, Germany. Performing with me will be Ulf Stricker on drums, Oliver Keller on guitar, and Christian Wegscheider on keyboards. For more information, visit www.european-bassday.com.
Bass Day U.K.: Manchester, U.K.
I will be returning to Bass Day U.K. this year in Manchester, United Kingdom on November 22nd at the Royal Northern College Of Music. I will be doing a live performance and also will offer a separate masterclass to a select number of attendees. Seating for my masterclass is limited, so be sure to sign up early. More information will be made available at www.bassday.co.uk.
The Adam Nitti Band will be performing live at the Atlanta Bass Gallery on Tuesday, October 27th. If you are in the Atlanta area, please come on out and groove with us at this FREE event! Start time is 7pm… We’ll see you there!
The Atlanta Bass Gallery
814 Marietta Street
Atlanta, GA 30318
866.745.9924
404.745.9924
Featuring:
Adam Agati: guitar
Mike Whittaker: keys
Marcus Finnie: drums
