Thursdays, 7:00-8:15 pm, beginning February 7
$80.00 advance / $90.00 after January 31
register online

Whether you’re new to the instrument or are sometimes called on for backup, you’ll learn a slew of good techniques to help you hold down the bottom end. We’ll cover proper left-hand technique to improve intonation and several right-hand techniques (one-, two- and alternating-finger approaches), as well as damping and methods to improve your timing. We’ll also cover some basic theory and play through songs using a root-fifth approach and some basic runs.
NOTE: Don't have an upright bass? Two loaner basses will be available during class periods. Contact the instructor in advance if you would be interested in using or sharing one. chuck.ervin@att.net

Bassist Chuck Ervin has recently been performing swing music with the Sylvia Herold Trio, folk music with Euphonia, classic country with the Mike Stadler & Mary Gibbons Band, jazz and pop with guitarist Chris Grampp and the Spin Cats, bluegrass with the Nell Robinson Soldier Stories Band, and occasionally Celtic folk/rock with Wake the Dead, among others.

He was the bassist in the “Woody Guthrie’s American Song,” which in 2012 enjoyed a two-week run at the Freight & Salvage and in 2011 at Marin Theater Company. He has also worked as an actor, bassist, and singer in stage productions at Center Repertory Theatre, Sierra Repertory Theatre, and Contra Costa Civic Theater.

Other area musicians he's worked with include Bobby Black, Joe Craven, Ed Johnson, Jinx Jones, Keith Little, Tony Marcus, Jim Nunally, Rick Quisol, Jeff Sanford, and Radim Zenkl. He studied jazz bass with Glenn Richman, bassist for vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, and teaches bass at music camp and at his Oakland home.