Thursday, July 3, 2014

Portland Bass Player Errick Lewis Doles Out Golden Nuggets On Being A Great Session Player, And Helping Fellow Musicians

Take Your Music To new Heights




This is an important repost of an influential player who I will be featuring again very soon. I hope to create value for musicians with this interview. Errick has sessioned with many top players and helps musicians immensely.


Errick is known as a Bass Axeman with a focus on being a session player's session player. Errick has been in the music game a short time in 12 to 13 years, yet has made an impact most Bass players would love to have been a part of.

His focus has been mainly on hip-hop and gospel based music recently, and has earned the opportunity to do sessions and tour work with some of the game's more well known artists such as Snoop Dogg,Lauryn Hill and tour and production sessions with Jay-Z. Errick seems to be able to challenge himself without knowing the material and capitalizing on that by just killing it!

If that's not enough, EL has his own indie-solo gig (Eric Lewis and the Vibe Project) in which he writes and plays all tracks. These tracks are a good mix of jazz with a funk and soul groove all EL's own.

http://www.myspace.com/truth_bass This is Errick's site with all sorts of material on his career as a bottom feeder and his production company.

So I asked Errick one question on Session work and what he does when going in.

MG: When you set up for a session regardless if it's a whole album or one track, is the combo of proper equipment set up and learning the material beforehand more important than just going in "cold" and getting the feel for the material?

Kind of like doing cold readings in a play or film?

EL: Yeah Mark, it's a combination of both and it's good to learn the tracks, but the setup is more important because 90% of the time I don't get the music until I get in the studio. What I normally do is bring my rig to all sessions and I use an Epifani 902c amp to stay in the groove and pocket and in a signature tone all my own as part of the artist's package in a session.

EL is also doing a lot of work as a producer and assisting musicians who are just developing their story and act. And like I said before, Errick is an accomplished bottom feeder/producer who has been in music a short time.

As well has been recognized by everyone from music equipment companies like Epifani and D'addario to top Bass players like G Rock from Detroit's Gorilla Funk Mob, one of the east coast's top backing bands around.


Another thing I'm finding with Errick as well is his attention to and importance he places on helping other musicians as a producer,teacher and showing them the importance of using marketing on-line and off-line to use as a tool to help develop a fan base and their careers. Like I keep saying to musicians, look for off the beaten ways to market and make money.

Errick does this and more while a lot of blues and rock guys don't understand it or feel the need for it. Just a little rant there. This outsider knows how to market like a ninja bottom-feeder and keeps on thumpin' away.

Errick's Bottom-Feeder Rig:

I will have Eric's guitar,amp,strings and effects lineup in a day or so. So if you want to learn from a real Ninja Bass Warrior teacher on your bottom feeding rig and tunes, look no further than EL himself.

Here's EL's rig that he cuts those amazing Bottom-Feeder Thumps and grooves on:


Bass Axe: 6 String Pavel Bass
5 String MTD Jazz Bass
Amp: Epifani 902c
Cab: 2 Epifani PS-410 Cabinets


Look for further articles on Errick soon and look at his site at:

http://www.myspace.com/truth_bass


or email Errick at: erricklewis@gmail.com

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