How to CRUSH at GOSPEL Bass: The Justin Raines Interview

[Music] come on dude Scott is going to go on reverb right after this and buy an MTD Justin just wait Scott and I are sitting here today with Justin Reigns who is a three-time Grammy award-winning basist he's also a private base and drum instructor founder of Jay Reigns lessons you know him as the basist for Israel hoden and new read he is a beast of a bass player and he's with us today to break down some of his classic baselines and hopefully like just let me in on a let me in on a piece of that ferocious technique uh Justin man thank you so much for being with us today oh man thank you for having me this is an honor this is definitely honor so thank you oh dude it's our honor obviously you know so many of you will already know that Justin is like a gospel Legend um but if you don't already know and you haven't seen Justin in action what we thought would' be cool to kick off this conversation this video with is actually uh just in playing a performance that we've got right here it's a medal of Israel and New Breed and it's just absolutely blaze in uh hold on to your socks cuz they're about to get blown off check this out you know [Music] this I've got a bunch of questions about this B as well just I want I want to know the kind you know answ you're playing is so even too like between the thumb stuff and the finger stuff yeah you know that's that's important to me to be able to go from yes a balance between the thumb and and finger [Music] sty I'll explain that in a minute I love mimicking The Melody of everything else yeah and had to get to my plane hey oh good lord blazing it's outrageous man I mean oh there's so many questions I'm going to jump in first I I just when you're playing that on YouTube are you doing are you treating it any differently than you would live and I guess I just would love to know the balance between like when you decide to step out and really play busy with a lot of fills versus playing Super back pocket supportive like what how do you feel what do you feel determines the balance of that for you you know I try to stay as transparent as possible to like YouTube or social media as I would live yeah you know so playing live it really depends on the energy on stage you know most of the time playing with Israel he he's a musician so he appreciates um little things here and there you know what I mean and the one thing about playing with Israel and and even some other gospel artists is that a lot of the licks become a part of the song sure you know I mean so so they're not just random drum licks or random bass licks but they're actual Parts you know that that they that they listen for to kind of go to like the next section or to kind of determine how many times we've gone around in in the same section like it signals a transition that Unison line that you play with the keys and guitar everything locks moves into something else yeah exactly and then there's the element of it's social media you know people they want the flash so you know so you know so on some parts like like there's some recent videos that I've put up where I purposefully just played you know cuz that's what people want to see you know um and then I have somewhere I I remove the base and I'm actually playing the actual part you know where I I give you the example of me actually playing you know so as the energy builds within the song then I might add a little bit more um if if I'm playing along with the verse then I'm you know kind of just lay back and kind of playing the Baseline depending on whatever it is and those lines just in that you you know that everybody's just watch you play on that track what's the what's the if there was a pie chart of impr like obviously the Baseline is the Baseline right but a lot of those like you're basically from what I can see you're unleashing the Beast right how much of that is improvised and how much of that is like you know fast runs of transitions between cords if there was a pie chart what would that look like um if it was a pie chart I'd say 50/50 to be honest 5050 yeah about 5050 you know cuz the main base part is probably extremely simple so like if we took like Rejoice is very simple rejoice in the Lord all always and again I say again I say rejoice that's the song like four cords yeah yeah you know or um the vamp of Lord you are good ah you are good all the time all the time you are good that's it so so the Baseline is fairly simple um so everything else I'm listening to what the keyboard is doing the guitar is doing the vocals are doing um and me and the drummer we're pretty much super locked to kind of help the transitions along if you could you show us levels of like if you take that Vamp for you are good like what's the first level of um putting something else on it what's the second level like how would you build something like that abs yeah great question let's [Music] see just like that oh come on it's not done and goes from there yeah you know it's so cool to just hear you do that out of context right now because the thing that doesn't get sacrificed as the pocket right like even when you're busy right those syncopations are tight you're feeling quarter note through all that stuff absolutely I don't know right that's what makes busier playing work right yeah I'm glad you mentioned that because I grew up I grew up in church so I heard you know stay in the pocket since I was 10 you know stay in the pocket stay in the pocket and for the longest timeck who's pocket in my stain I didn't understand what that meant um I I thought it meant play Simple that's what I thought the pocket meant and as I got older I'm like well there's a pocket in every genre yeah you know there's a pocket in Fusion there's a pocket in in in R&B there's a pocket in gospel the pocket I look at it as the feel you know what I mean to make what feels good and locked into that feel if it's playing simple then that's what the pocket is you know there's some Pockets where it's seemingly busy but you but but like you said I you can feel you can still feel the groove absolutely even within the notes and the sing of pati yes you can c can we just just jump into the gear for a second because I know just you know I'm just super into it you know yeah yeah absolutely and I've been watching you play this bass that you're playing or you know different versions of that Bas for so many years now but going right back it wasn't that base it was actually your six string wallnut toop MTD with a maple board that was the first base that I saw you play and uh it was like back in the day hearing leads actually and everybody was like texting that clip to each other yes that Bas everybody was like whoa like check out this guy playing this base and it was you playing I think it was like a soundcheck for Israel I think that it's still on YouTube and you know we were all texting it to each other it sounded outrageous you sounded outrageous so I guess you know talk about the start of your relationship with Michael Tobias and I'd love to know about that but then also like your transition from playing That Bass with the soap bars to the bass that you play now which is much more like it's ja jazz pickups pickups right so yeah if you could talk about that that would be fantastic absolutely so before I went to college I was looking I played like a Yamaha BBG passive you know five string base yeah yeah and my mom bought it for me because I liked it because it was blue and it had black stripes and it had fake gold Hardware yeah cool I knew nothing about pickups and wood combinations or nothing about that I just like the way it looked and um once I got to college I said okay it's time for me to get a bass I need to learn more about what a Bas is and yeah and then I met Andrew guet I met Andrew guet um and my late brother uh Tim Rob is Williams and um they were MTD MTD all the way I'm like what is this base what is this base and while in college me and Tim were in college I used to play his MTD all the time and um I got my refund check from school and and um and I bought my first uh six string MTD which isn't this one it looks similar it was a it was a walnut top but it had a Rosewood fingerboard and I bought it cuz I like the way it looked again but iend that was the same but that was the same we're still the same we just don't admit it you know as much as you get older you still buy bases cuz they're cool you know yeah but I looked up because the sound was incredible sound Engineers loved it recording Engineers loved it they're like I don't have to put anything on this Bas I just plug it in and play it and um I remember taking the bass out of the box I was so excited at school and I just let it just kind of fall into my hand I said oh this is comfortable it just felt comfortable to play very trans very very transparent whatever you play that's what's coming out of the base right you know and um that's kind of how I fell in love with it and you know for years I just I just played six string bass I knew that I wanted a five string so I even looked around I lo I looked at pavl I looked at Aliva Capa I looked at Fender and I said what am I doing Mike Tobias is like one of the greatest luers ever so I reached out to Mike I said hey I'm looking for like a five string jazz style version and it was around the time that he was just starting to release the Saratoga line anding so he had kind of like serendipitous those link together yeah absolutely and he sent it to me and I took it to church that night and I said this thing feels amazing it's light it was like 8 lbs I say it's light and it's powerful this thing it's powerful it's got so many tone options on it and um I played that for about four four or five years I recorded the 11 Asia album with it I recorded a few albums with with William di with it after that people started requesting it people started asking like I want the Justin RS you know base and I remember Norm Stockton P me to the side and he said if you could make this base your signature base what would you do different and I said if I could have the tone kind of a little bit more controlled and it's a little bit of a little bit more punch on the high end I love the low end and that it doesn't get away from you it's it punches you right in face you know in true MTD fashion um it's very transparent in the mid-range you know what I mean it's not it's not overbearing it's right there and I want it to be flat like I want as many tone options as possible because here at home on Mondays I play jazz and play fusion and know and then in the studio I can play Rock I can play R&B I can play pop I can on the road I'm playing R&B and gospel and so I want as many tone options as possible so well me and Daniel and Mike kind of with this one so we put a top on what was already done with the original so we put the Quilted Maple top on here and we put in ba axis pickups so in the original one it was just you know Jay bini pickups and it was actually an accident because Mike sent the the the jbas pickups but there was like a malfunction with them and they were like kind of like reversed I don't understand it but but I send it back to Mike and Mike was like well I have these baxis pickups that bini just kind of released I think you'll like them I said hey I trust you I've been with you for years I I trust you man I pulled it out the box and started playing I said up that's it a oh amazing Justin will you plug that thing back in and just show us like when you plug your base in what are you doing right away to the knobs show us like how you get your sound is it all flat are you boosting Bass are you favoring neck pickup like what's your go-to with the knobs sure sure so when I first plug in my base and let me just go ahead and show you here what what everything is um look at that thing so this is my volume here volume is right here this is just a passive inactive right now it's active up is passive okay this is my blend between the two pickups blend knob I keep I typically keep that right in the middle unless I'm getting ready to solo Jazz and I'll I'll favor my my bridge pickup yeah um the stack here is low and high and that's typically flat right in the middle yeah so my mids now it's a push pull so when it's down it's activating 400 HZ when it's pulled out it it's 800 HZ and I can cut or boost those mids um I typically keep that around 400 and this is I call I call it the sweetness knob but it's my tone knob the secret sweetness knob it's the secret sweetness knob yeah and um it it's just the tone knob so it's the active passive tone so when it's so my Bas is passive the only thing that's that's activating It tone wise is the tone knob so like a darker sound to to a little bit more of a brighter you know tone and whenever it's active it does the same thing to the U to the onboard EQ I can darken the EQ or I can brighten it up that's what I call the sweetness now where do you usually have that set I mean or does it depend on the gig and the music it typically depends on the gig or the music but it my every day I'll have it pretty much wide open yeah and um so so like right now everything is flat [Music] oh it's cool it is a great sounding bass now what I typically do is everything is usually flat and then I probably I'm going to show you I'll boost my mids that much just a little bit got it just a little bit and the same thing with the Bas mhm just a little bit and do you find that that just helps you cut through in the mix Mo absolutely yeah man congrats on that Bas That's so exciting thank you thank you we got to talk about some slapping I mean you got you got This ferocious technique right I mean we we need to i' I've seen you do some double thumb you're you're putting it in I mentioned earlier that you have this incredible like evenness between your finger sound and your slap sound so we got to get into it there's plenty of slapp going on in here check this [Music] out hey and is that the same base Justin yes it is yes it is it's great as well the the tone the base like finger style it doesn't when you start slapping it it's not one of them bases that you've got to alter the EQ at all when you go from finger style to slap it just works both yeah so me and my friends we have this thing called um a tone check tone check is when you go from finger style to slap to slap right yeah and it's even so that's the if your bass doesn't pass the tone check throw it away yeah it's a it's a serious thing though isn't it so it just doesn't work on some basis yeah but also let's not take agency away from you man I mean you know you give that to somebody else maybe they're not passing the tone check you know what I mean you know what I mean hey hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] facts come on dude Scott is going to go on reverb right after this and buy an MTD Justin just wait outrageous mate outrageous let me stop it there I just can't take anymore sorry I'm out see you that's a mic drop man I mean you know yeah we're talking about the bass and obviously you know you're mentioning the bass has to pass the tone check and like does it slap does it play finger style does it feel even but that's also you um so can you talk to like if someone um comes to you and is like oh man you know how do I get that even thing do you have any exercises or just pointers for how to like cultivate that evenness between those two techniques absolutely you know um as a teacher like I'm always kind of paying attention to that right hand you know I mean that the right hand technique I think getting a nice even tone just finger style you know not even not even worrying about slap just yet but just getting a nice even tone by how you like how I play you know is is pretty much just kind of just I say you want to land on the string below it so if I'm playing my a string you're landing on the E string yes you know what I mean so you're not you're not going under you're not going away you're just kind of gliding into the next string and that's how that's how I teach my students now when it comes to slapping um I was always taught from my from my ogs growing up you know yeah you slap right here you slap in between this I don't know what what the significance was I just thought that it was because my thumb actually hit the board yeah right got it you know so what I teach my students today is just accuracy and making sure you're getting a nice tone whenever you're playing so if that's how it sounds when I slap whenever I plug I should have the same same volume and so so one exercise would probably be let's let's just say like a major scale you know same thing slap so you're trying to get that same same evenness and velocity yeah and now when it comes to the thumb of course people out there students based players you're going to have to take time in being accurate you know I mean cuz you it it sounds like like that then you know right it's you kind the purpose but the things that you do finger style try it slapping you know what I mean even if it's it's a pentatonic [Music] scale you know you want to you want to have you want to match the two so so that means you have to be kind of conscious of how you play your finger style and know when it comes to slap you can't just right you know yeah you have a really nice like measured you're not you're not smashing the Basse you don't have to and it looks to me too like you're going through the string right you're landing on the adjacent string with your thumb I am yeah so if I'm slapping my e I'm landing on the a string yeah you if I'm slapping my a I'm landing on the D string but that's but that's typically how I uh I kind of work between my finger style and my and my slap it's a disciplined mindset of practice you know what I mean really making sure that this matches that you know when I go from here I don't go I don't do that I just yep make sure they match each other are you using a lot of up thumbs as well like when you're doing that so now now the double thumb I really got into it from Ethan Farmer you know and and um he he he him Eric Pik Funk Smith D Mo farmer uh DOA they all call it greason know they call it they call it greason it's the phone but introduced to it by Victor you know and just a just a the double thumb technique I think for me before I got comfortable with it I just sat at home for like a year and yes making sure that my down thumb and my up thumb [Music] matched that I had control over it timing wise and um I remember the the main place I used it was in church and I were playing what we call Shout [Music] music wow cool man yes that was the that was the main place that I used it and then like I said like watching Ethan Farmer he would start you [Music] know dude yes man you know I've seen Ethan and yourself just in as well when you're doing that I've seen you both do it like you know around here on the Bas but I've also seen you do it like right back here yeah now that's the greasing part that's because when it becomes muted I'm trying to see if I can sit up some yeah can you demonstrate that I'm take my race l oh it's getting serious now yeah yeah so now so [Music] now ah so it's palom mute combined with double [Music] thumb right [Music] so like so like it becomes that like the funk is the notes that you don't hear know I so that's where that's where the F kind of element of it isn't it yeah does like CU obviously well not obviously some people a lot of people might not know but you're also like a monstrous drummer as well does that like how does that you know affect the way that you play your relationship with the bass you know like slapping a really percussive you you know way to play the instrument how do you think that that's influenced how you play the Bas a lot I think it a lot it influences the way that I play rhythmically I don't think that I would be as rhythmic as I am without you know being the drummer that I am and that's not to say that that you have to be a drummer to be um that rhythmic but you know the way that I play drums is the way that I play B face um and understanding the syn of patients um thinking about the wander while I'm playing and know feeling the wander when I'm playing you know um or if I'm playing along with the drummer I'm paying attention to I know what they're doing I know I'm paying attention to the Ghost Notes on The Snare I'm paying attention to their drum feels so I probably match their drum Fields with my Baseline you know or of course you know the groove but I'm very conscious because I play drums it's that same mindset when it comes to Rhythm on the Bas you know hey Ian have you heard just in play drums no I haven't actually is it ferocious it's ferocious I I don't doubt that it's ferocious I was like I can remember like the first time I was like like I I was it was too much it was too much watching just playing the base is too much and then I saw him playing drums I was like damn it outrageous outrageous hey I wanted to ask you a question just too about worship based playing and you know I have played my fair share of worship music but not in like gospel style more in like CCM Pop Style I've played you are good a million times but I have never played it or have been asked to play it thank goodness like you because it wouldn't happen right but there it seems like there's two Styles right and the style of church that I came up in was all about avoidance of distraction and and maybe you get asked this a lot whereas then when I see you play you you're not thinking about distraction maybe in the same way or you're not thinking about like drawing attention in the same way and I got to say man when I look over on on that side of the playing I'm like man like Sharon and I were even talking about this like Why didn't like why didn't we get to do that you know our worship leader was like seem way more fun yeah man it's way more fun absolutely and so I was just wondering if you could speak to that kind of that dichotomy of like when do you feel like you're stealing the Thunder um or when do you feel like it's um a celebration sure I do get this question a lot um because there is The Stereotype of uh some bass players that grew up in in the black church experience where they're just busy you know I can't hire there from for anything else because they just busy it's it's undisciplined um whereas in some cases those it can be a distraction you know what I mean but there's a there's a fine line between distraction and freedom you know what I mean to kind of having the the freedom to be expressive on your instrument but without being a distraction for this answer I kind of like separate the two gospel CCM um CCM whole notes quarter notes yes Four Courts you know pretty much it growing up in the gospel that I where I grew up it was more Jazz driven you know um a lot more core changes a lot more movement but you still didn't get in the way of the message H you know what I mean we're going to give the band you know their opportunity to you know Express themselves but also as the song intensifies the song grows you know the tension kind of builds it leans or it lends to adding a little bit more you know sometimes sometimes the movement of the bass or the movement of the keys or the licks of the drums help build the song up everything's building it it's a it it's telling a story you know what I mean there's a climax to get to that climax sometimes it's going to be a certain Baseline you know or run that leads somewhere yes it can't just be this random Baseline that you you know I practice this lick at home and it's going to hit you know right and then you do it and it's like Won Won you know so it's one of those things where you kind of have to be in the moment you know and not be a distraction if you will do you feel like this you know distraction um versus expression thing comes down to listening like for you it seems like you're responding like I'm never hearing you think like oh I can't wait to the end of this four bars where I get to do this thing like I can't wait to the end of the eight bars where I get to break out the thumb it's almost as if you're responding to the energy of the tune to the drummer uh to the other musicians versus like leading the way because you have licks to play is that true ABS absolutely absolutely and I matured to that point you know just like just like any Young musician you know when I was younger you know it was I I got these licks and I got you know and I just want to I mean I used to play so many chords on my six string I couldn't wait to play open note chords couldn't wait to play them I couldn't wait oh we playing the a minor you play e e minor B minor I couldn't wait just cord cords everywhere to show people that you know like oh I can play this on my bass check it out I can play oh my goodness and and I remember like some of the older guys they're like hey man that sounds all good but but do it down here do it in the basement do it down there you know and I be mad I'm like mean what you mean I'm playing B what you mean know but um but as I get older you know it is a response a lot a lot of my lines I'll check what the vocalist is doing or what the horns or strings or guitar or keyboard player is doing it's a response to kind of stay within the the vein of the song um one thing I tell my students I says whatever you play you want it to complement the song you want it to build or add value to the song the minute it becomes something that distracts or takes away or puts the attention just solely on you you probably shouldn't have played that right in in that particular moment but if it's something that adds value or it's something that's uplifting the tune then sure you know what I mean so that's where I I think that line comes in between freedom of expression and then also being a distraction hey can we play that clip Scott of uh Justin playing with Neo um and doing that bay solo you get to see audience side like it's it's shooting out on the stage it's such a fun perspective and to see you surrounded by all those syns I want to talk about that in a minute too but we've got this cool clip of you taking a bass solo um with this artist Neo check this out it's [Music] amazing [Music] dude come on [Music] [Music] it's my favorite lick oh nice hey come on dude it's such a fun combo Jus of like stepping out but also so pocketed and dude because it's so pocketed you can Flash because everything is locking in it just sounds like it's part of the drums in a cool way you know yeah and you have to have like man they're so lucky to have you right because you have to have the facility the gas in the tank the horsepower right so that you know okay it's cool you're driving 25 mil hour but when you need to get to 100 you can like this and it's so fun to see that like man just I love it man I don't even have a question I just want to Heap Praise on you man I've got a question you're talking about that like raw horsepower in the tank it's obviously you know we've been watching a bunch of clips of you justtin you've obviously got a lot of horsepower in the tank can you talk about some of the the technique exercises that you used in the past to to build that you know build that um ability absolutely um I love that analogy um it kind of gives me one of the quotes from my music teacher in middle school he used to say it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it right oh yeah did and he was talking about a pencil he was like make sure you bring make sure you bring your pencil to class and he said say that all the time and I remember I said to somebody man it's better to have it not need it they need it not have it I said oh shoot it's come full circle youve become the teacher you're right I become teacher but but um but but to your question yes so some exercises as far as just kind of the the Locking and in the Rhythm it's very important to me that I practice with a metronome or practice with a drum Loop something that keeps me accountable to my licks or my runs or or my lines if you will let's take like a simple pentatonic major pentatonic exercise yeah instead of doing you know something like that I would do it in what I say like like four notes at a [Music] time but everything has to be in time so go up super even as well well yeah but everything has to have a pulse so you see even when I'm playing you you're locked in yeah right let's take that Groove to nobody yeah [Music] um [Music] yeah so that's a that's a perfect exercise that I would do all the time is that I would pick a Groove and then I would pick a little section where I can actually just solo so like a little F like that yeah m [Music] so even if I mess up even if I mess up I have to come back on the one your point you're trying to stick in the pocket yeah exactly I'm trying to stick in the pocket when it comes to the rhythmic side now when it comes to to the sound of Harmony practicing certain licks in the clip I was like oh this is my favorite this is my favorite lick so I would practice that it's it's now on the theory side it's it's very simple it's a minor 7 arpeggio but I'm playing a fifth to each one of the the notes in the Minor 7 arpeggio so yeah it's an E flat minor 7 arpeggio E flat g flat B flat d flat but I'm playing a fifth to each one that's and to make it more interesting doubling it get those cool extensions yeah exactly but man nobody would care no one would care about that lick or the harmony if it weren't pocketed no one exactly it it would sound like lame if it wasn't pocketed and you and no one would be like oh listen to that amazing Harmony would' be like oo that wasn't pocketed I feel like bass players don't think that they have the fill requirements of a drummer like if a drummer played it would have to be lock step even for it to work and I think that's the same with Bas I'm so glad that you're expressing that because it's important now one thing one thing that I that I would practice and and still do to this day I don't want my licks to rush I don't want my licks to be sloppy I want everything to be clean for anybody that's out there that's intimidated by Theory the licks that you already know how to play slow it down put a metronome to it you know what I mean challenge yourself for everything to be clean and as my as my good friend Derek Bennett says clean clear and precise you know make sure that everything that you play Shout Out Derek you know make sure that it's clean clear and precise and that you have control so many people like are worried about speed but be in control of what you're playing you know what I mean when you have that control you're you're unstoppable you know what I mean you're unstoppable based on what you want to play growing up playing drums we had drum sheds and you know in the drum shed it's like all right I take four bars you take four bars you take four bars then after a while it's like all right keep going H so after four bars Play Over the Bar line keep going keep going keep going even if you keep repeating yourself keep going keep going keep going so after a while you're like playing the same thing you're like I don't know what else to play know just just keep going just keep trying things that became a part of my practice on the Bas so if I'm playing so if I have a something right [Music] here with Ste keep going all right we going change keys to G minor yeah back to E minor and just keep going you just keep going and keep going making sure that you can so cool yeah and it's to your level to your level some people may watch and be like well I can't do that that's that's that's years and years of practice absolutely but to wherever you are this keep going explore the instrument you know what I mean some people get locked into just technique which is important we want to have the technique that they kind of step away from the imagination or the creative part you know what I mean like just try things mess up I mean mess up yeah give yourself the room to do that yeah and and and then find your way back so so that in in the field in real life Planet gig yeah I I can recover a lot easier I can I can just imagine what everybody watching right now is thinking when they saw you do you [Music] know you know like you all the like they will be probably thinking well what are you using to do that like what what what's making up all of those notes are you thinking pentatonics are you thinking scales like what like what's going through your mind if anything or you just like what's going on absolutely um so big part of my playing is foundation is is foundational I've taken the time to practice all of my skills and and for the sake of this I'll say like my major skills my minor scales my molds pentatonic scales blue scales melodic minor scales these particular scales um I've taken the time to learn them all over my neck every key you know so if I'm taking the key of G major these are all the notes that are in kg that I'm comfortable on my base got it and are you pattern orientated Justin as well are you have you sort of like broken up are you visually have you learned the scales in terms of like visualizing the fingerboard or is it more notes and intervals that you're thinking it's both so I got it I learned Theory before picking up an instrument so in school we learned music theory just as you would learn math and social studies and and stuff like that so so we're looking at sheet music and they're like okay how many sharps or flats are in the key of a three what are those Sharps f c g Shar you know these were like that's how theory was taught to me in middle school I didn't really take advantage of we had different schooling experiences same yeah I think it was more like you Scott [Laughter] but um that kind of stuck with me so fast forward so when it comes to kind of my fretboard if I'm in like okay I'm in the kfg I know there's only one sharper in the key ofg so I know what my notes are g a b CDE e f sharp G I know that so how do I translate that to the base that's where the kind of shapes come in you know that's what that shape kind of looks like you know what I mean um but because our instrument is pattern based then we have we have that way you know or we have we have that way or or that way or yeah yeah yeah or that way you know what I mean so we have so many ways of playing the same thing and as far as really really understanding the neck of the base I always encourage students or people to always play multiple octave scales not just one you know if you if you learn one octave okay learn it what's in it g a b c d e f Shar G A flat B flat c d flat E flat F G A flat whatever is in that particular scale learn those notes you know that's in because it's going to repeat itself as you get higher as you keep going okay if you number system 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven one or eight octaves you know however you have to think about it yeah and learned that foundation and then extend it [Music] so oh man do you know when you play you you've got this vibe that Richard boner has got as well where it just feels like fluid water flowing over rocks when you play of like a it's like it's just glorious that just makes me you know how like like you know how like I'm really like jumping on the inside right now trying to hold my composure because Richard boner changed my life oh dude yeah I'm tell you a quick story um rest in peace John Blackwell when I was at Berkeley John Blackwell came to the school and it was like percussion week at Berkeley and i' never seen Richard boner I was probably introduced to his playing mightbe like a week before I was listen list to a Greg how album it was Greg how Richard Bona and Dennis Chambers yeah I said oh my goodness I don't know who this bace player is but good Lord and um so fast forward it's percussion week John Blackwell's in town and he was like hey Mike Stern is coming uh to do a concert Dennis Chambers is is playing with him I said I'm there because I'm I'm a drummer I'm going to see Dennis Chambers yeah so it was at a jazz club called skulls in Boston and there were two shows there was 8:00 and there was a 10:00 but me and my friends we got there me John Blackwell and all the drummers we got there maybe like around 9:30 and this guy came out and he was like man that first show was incredible I didn't have tickets I was like oh man we needed tickets he said man that first show was incredible who needs tickets I was like uh me I need tiet closed mouths don't get fed I get I need and he just gave me the tickets and Scott Ian the tickets were right in front of the Bas amp like I was s like how how close my computer is to my to me that's how close Richard bonus's B amp was to me like I could touch the B amp and amazing but I didn't care CU I could see Dennis Chambers drum sets sure yeah I can see his yellow Pearl drum set I'm just like I I can see Dennis that's all I really care about now I'll tell you I didn't know what Richard Bon look like and and I didn't know that he was playing that night so the band comes out out comes this African guy he's sitting right in front of me and there's a microphone at his Bas amp I'm like okay that's cool all right I can still see Dennis man they start the show I sat like this right the entire night that night I became the biggest Richard boner fan ever afterwards he he was so nice he was so nice to me he let me play his bass you know we joked around like laughed around and I studied everything that I could by watching his technique how he moved um how free he was how he just tried things so kind of where I kind of get that that mindset up just try things you know just kind of you know just but and find your way back you know what I mean um all that being said you mentioning Richard boner and kind of making the comparison that just made me excited I D like it makes so much more sense now that like that that feel is like ingrained in you it's really obvious that you know it's just because it's there's not many people have that particular feel within their plane of like water flowing over rocks when they're playing sort of like a complex line like that and I think that you're one of the only people in the world that really have like that Essence in their their pocket their feel when you're playing it's just outrageous yeah I absolutely love it thank you thank you I really appreciate that there's a lot of vocabulary going on and this there a lot of information there um from years of practicing and and not even just you know the scale that I kind of showed you everything that goes up has to come down you know I mean and then in between that you know just the basics know the are the arpeggios be comfortable with [Music] those safe to say that you know your neck yeah this is a man that knows the fingerboard it reminds me of a conversation I had with there was a great I was in New York I like getting grabbing some lessons out there and I was having a conversation with this great guitar player called Brad Sheik and can remember you know you you guys know you like remember when you sort of like you think there's a shortcut and you're like I'm going to meet this guy he's going to tell me the shortcut or he's going to tell me the shortcut yeah and ultimately he it was the conversation went something like so so what you're telling me I need to do so I need to know all of the modes he's like yeah you need to know all of the mod okay okay and I need to know them in in all 12 keys he's like yeah was he was kind of sort of like dumbfounded that I I didn't already know this like and I was like oh okay so okay right I'll just make a note of this no shortcuts you know but but I think it's actually really it's really common for people to to to think there's some kind of like magical special secret source that somebody has that gives you the ability to not do the the work needed to be able to understand you know the neck and obviously you know looking at you right now just in you know the neck you've done that work needed yeah absolutely I've definitely done the work and I share that with with anybody some people over complicate it you know they they they over complicate Theory we have 26 letters in our alphabet we only need to know seven in the musical alphabet you know you know ABCD mg when we start to simplify the basics or the foundation it makes it it makes it a little bit more palatable cuz some people they'll they'll go and pick up oh oh I got to learn my theory let me go pick up the Bas Grim wire oh I have that is brutal I have it too but it's like if you're if you're not disciplined it's like going on YouTube if you're not disciplined on what you need to focus on on cuz there's so much information right it'll be overwhelming right it'll be extremely over like hexa Penta what what is this Mongol minor right exactly but it makes so much more sense when you realize that everything is birthed from the major scale yes yeah the major scale is context for everything yeah it's context it's the foundation and if you can understand that everything else will kind of slowly kind of help you W well Justin you you um you're a man that know that knows your fingerboard but you're also a man that knows your way around a keyboard see what I'm doing here a little seg I want to I want to check out that key base can we pull up that key base video of Justin just crushing some key [Music] base come on dude that [Music] slide getting the wobble in [Music] okay oh you're a killing Keys base player too oh jeez dude it's outrageous outrageous when you're doing this I mean I feel like I could we could just start the interview over and I want to talk to you for two hours about keyas but we're not going to do that I guess what I want to ask you is when do you choose like when are you choosing keybase over ebase there's a lot of different factors so some of it is based on the producer some of it is based on the musical director um if it's up to me I typically based it off of what the genre feels like if it's like okay this feels like a pop song that would like key base or this feels like a song that would be better on live Bas um sometimes I feel like I can be a little bit more aggressive on the live base than than sent Bas depending on the tune sometimes it it's just trial and error sometimes it's like okay let me just try it here or it just feels like this is this has more of an R&B vibe to it so it may need that smooth you know vibe to it right and did you play did you always like have you played keys for a long time or was there any kind of like learning curve taking what you knew from bass to to the key base um I always had a basic understanding of keys I wouldn't consider myself like a piano player I can play like licks with my right hand on a piano but I triy to approach keybase like a bass player because there's a difference whenever a piano player approaches key base right versus a bass player approaches in key Bas cuz there's there's a certain feel like certain like the way that we play octaves yes on on key base is going to be similar how we play octaves or fifths on on our live base you know the the ghost notes that we would play on a live base is the same ghost notes that I would approach on on keybase um if you will the same way that I was talking about you know whenever we want to do the tone check with our with our base and we want make sure that whatever we play on on our base that we do the with our thumb yeah I'm the same way on syn base I'm going to going to practice those those pentatonic scales in every key and try to find the fingering that works for me it's not going to be perfect but whatever works for me um in the in the heat of a song because I cuz I want to be able to if this is the tempo know I want to be just as clean as I would live so that means I just to do the work put on metronome and and try to figure out a way that you know that it works out know for me do you spend a lot of time still playing like how much just I think it's it's always interesting to ask people of of your caliber you you know there's you're kind of the ceiling D there's not much more that you can do do you know so with that in mind are you just chilling or or do you play yourbody every day and keep like what are you doing every day I have to play I have to um one I one I I love to play you know two although I thank you I thank you for your kind words to me I have I still have a lot more to go you know there's there's so much more that I like to learn there's so much more that i' like to clean up there's so much thing know things I want to be better at doing um for my own personal goals um I recognize the ability that I do have now absolutely I recognize the hard work that I've put in and what I'm able to do I I know my strengths but then I also know my weaknesses and I don't want to do I have a fear I have a fear of doing my students a disservice of of being the teacher that can teach you all of these things but can't do it right sure I have I have this fear of that so I'm like I always want to make sure that I'm better tomorrow than I was yesterday I want to be a better all together and that's just not as a musician that's just as a person I want to be a better you know a better me today than I was yesterday and I want to be better tomorrow than I am today well dud let me just say that I think I think that you're such a inspiring individual and and I think that you know from Ian and I but also the entire High based Community I just want to put it out there just in case you do not know that you have inspired freaking hundreds and hundreds of thousands possibly millions of bass players around the world for you know for the time that you've been doing it like you really truly are an absolutely outstanding musician in every single way and ever ever since that first time that I saw you I was just so excited to see you know how you developed as a player and you've just always been an inspiration to me and I think I'm just like super super excited about where you're going to take it and yeah I just want to thank you for being you know the musician you are and for being here today just yeah absolutely blown away man thank you so much AB you for thank you for having me thank you both of you thank you Justin can I ask you one more question absolutely um man there are a lot there going to be a lot of young Bas players checking this out and you know I just wonder if you have a piece of advice that you could give to a young Justin r like so instead of thinking about oh what's the piece of advice that you want to give to all the young B players what's something that you wish you would have internalized early on that would have helped you in your journey wow um learn everything learn as much as possible um and when I say that you know me growing up I was like the gospel encyclopedia how how we have Jazz standards I knew all of the Gospel standards you know and I spent so much time there that I wish that I created and listened to more a lot earlier I probably could have wrote my first album when I was in college but I was just so focused on just being a player versus got it yeah being more creative and looking in looking in the producer and the artist and the writer realm like oh yeah you can do it all you can you can literally do it all so like don't close yourself off to just one genre or one option be open to just learn be an open book yeah so that's definitely what I'm would saying you heard it from this guy he's going to tell you Justin Reigns man what a treat thank you so much so generous with your time and your spirit and thank you so much for being here today where can people find you online justtin oh you can find me on on in stagram it's j Reigns j r a i n s112 um that's Instagram that's Facebook um YouTube is Justin Reigns and my website is J rigns l.net go check him out go yeah go stalk this man online thanks a lot Justin take it easy man bye awesome take care

Channel: Scott's Bass Lessons

Views: 94,802

Keywords: gospel, scott devine, bass lessons, bass guitar, beginner, beginners, scottsbasslessons, scotts bass lessons, sbl, electric bass, bass lesson, beginner bass lesson, beginner bass lessons, gospel music, gospel music praise and worship, gospel bass, gospel bassist, justin raines, justin raines bass, justin raines bassist

Id: DD7yqAuTUbU

Length: 61min 17sec (3677 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2024