My Playing Philosphy and Musical Approach

Making music: The act of making music is inherently spiritual and part of the fundamental need for humans to create and experience art. It has the potential to express things that cannot be said in words, and it does so even when the music is made for its own sake, rather than being clearly “about” something. Music made for the sake of music is naturally an expression of the person who makes the music, of their intent and what drives their reason for making music.

At the same time, while music is inherently deeply spiritual and serious, it should never be taken too seriously either. Embrace the joy in music play musical jokes, make musical conversations, and especially don’t take yourself seriously.

Improvisation: Music that is highly improvised, it seems to me, allows for greater potential for self expression, especially if one is not a composer. It is essentially composing on the spot and to be effective it requires the removal of all of the mental barriers in between you and your playing. However, I do still think it is important for musicians to do both composition and improvisation.

In general, my approach to improvisation follows the Kenny Werner Effortless Mastery school of thought, and it is a book I will always recommend. The more you think the more you will mess up.

Practice: This ties directly into my thoughts on practice. One of the main goals of practice is to take an idea or concept and practice it to the point where you do not have to think about it at all and it will naturally come out in your playing. This same concept goes for learning tunes; if you do not really know the tune then you cannot really be free over it.

Time and Feel: For developing good time and feel, there are two things that are important. The first is to practice with a metronome, which will hold you accountable and help you develop the ability to keep time. The other is to play with people who have a good time-feel. This can also be accomplished by playing along with records, which will let you play with all of the best rhythm sections ever recorded. Find records where people are playing way behind or ahead of the beat and making it feel good and then play along with those.

One other note is that when people fail to stay in time, often the actual issue is that they are trying to play something that they do not have good enough technique to play, not that they can’t feel the time correctly. I have great time on bass, but when I try to play drums my time is not very good at all. This is because of lack of technique, not lack of time-feel.

Musical Genres and Traditions: Most people should learn as many genres and musical traditions as they can. Learn the way different genres feel time, the way the ensembles fit together, and the musical norms in the music. Find what makes the genre tick. Most of the time when people don’t like a type of music, they are listening for the wrong thing. If you listen to a James Brown song looking for complex harmony, then you aren’t going to like it, but if you focus on the power of the groove, then you will understand. Do this for both other genres and music from other cultures.

At the same time, especially for the music you are the most invested in, learn the history and how the music developed to what it is now. Having that background will allow you to play it more authentically.

Other Notes:

• Everything is the blues.
• Listen more; however much you are listening to the other musicians, you can always listen more. Listen to both individuals and the sound of the whole group.
• Leave more space, you almost never hear a musician and wish they played more notes.
• If you don’t have a good sound that sits in the mix, it doesn’t matter what you play. If your playing doesn’t feel good, it doesn’t matter what you play. If you have those down, then play either melodies or vibes.
  last update: 1/29/2026