A Public Musical Fluency Experiment
The Great Bass Vocabulary Project
I’m on a mission to build a vocabulary of 1,000 musical phrases and become truly fluent on bass.
1 / 1000
phrases documented
0.1% complete
Why this project exists
For years, I thought musical fluency came from learning more scales, more theory, and more exercises. But the musicians who sound truly fluent are not just running information through their instruments. They have vocabulary.
This project is my attempt to make that process visible: learning phrases, internalizing them, documenting them, and turning them into usable musical language.
Learned by ear
Each phrase starts as sound, not notation or theory.
Playable from memory
The phrase has to live in my hands and ears.
Documented publicly
Each phrase gets a post, video, or breakdown.
Added to the wall
The phrase becomes part of the living archive.
How I’m building the vocabulary
I use Music Phrase Pyramids to capture musical ideas, break them into chunks, and practice them progressively until they become playable vocabulary.
The Living Archive
Giant Phrase Wall
Each card links to the post where I play or break down the phrase.
Phrase #001
Brothers Johnson – “Get The Funk Out Ma Face”