22 June 2000
Had my 5th bass lesson last night. I wasn't able to practice as much this week because I was in Seattle for four days, but I still felt like it was useful to go. I'm making connections now—finding notes more easily, not having to think about *every* move (just most of them ;), getting my fingering down, etc. I still can't stretch over four frets at the nut end of the neck, but my reach is getting better. We've been working on "All of Me", first starting with root notes only, then adding fifths, then major and minor thirds, and now diminished and augmented versions of the chords. This morning I woke up to Frank Sinatra singing "All of Me" on NPR. Maybe I should have rolled over and grabbed the bass instead of turning on the computer.

28 June 2000
Tonight we started with a new song from Ruby Vroom that I'd been learning by ear (I got help with True Dreams of Wichita and Motor City at previous lessons). When we got to the chorus ("Is Chicago...is *not* Chicago..."), Mark put his foot down about technique. Up til now, it seems, I've been getting by on brute force—playing as fast as I can one finger at a time. Unfortunately, brute force has its limits. Good technique—keeping all my fingers down and moving as little as possible—can take me much farther, but it requires that I slow down first. Two steps backward, one giant leap forward.