Student Reviews / Quotes 

What an honor it was to learn from Kai. I can confidently say that my overall musicianship has improved.  I have strengthened many facets of my playing and have a more complete understanding of my instrument. It was a real treat to learn some of Kai's wonderful tips on harmony and rhythm.  I will continue to expand my knowledge of the instrument and I thank Kai for giving me the opportunity to study with him.  

-Ryan Stasik - Umphrey's McGee

I loved the workshop Kai gave. It was very informative and really opened a different way of looking at bass playing for me. That's the important thing in teaching to make old seemingly obvious things seem new and fresh.
 

-Dave King   - bassist with Charlie Mariano, Donna Summer

Your program is pretty amazing! I can not believe how much I have improved already!  Thank you for all the awesomeness and for being a major player in my education!  I have grown so much from this program, it just clicks, it works! Everyone has noticed my skills and confidence improve.
 

 -Melissa Dorres   

Kai's mentorship program is helping me deal with life at a deeper level. I can actually feel my brain changing 🙂 Your system has helped a lot to give me so much perspective on the long haul of things.  

-TL Mazumdar 

Kai is friendly and open with those attending his workshops. Regardless of the style of music you play, you will learn some new tricks! 

-Al Powell   -Director of Independent Learning,  Colorado State    University

I'm finally able to just enjoy the ride with playing music.  I'm not so worried about the destination and I'm just enjoying the journey.  I realize no matter how much better I become with music there will always be stuff I don't know so I'm not so worried about trying to learn it all because I don't believe there's a person living or dead that ever did learn it all.                                

-Robert Duarte  

Over the last three months I have improved more than the previous year. The fundamental practices you have presented to me have helped me gain control, dexterity, clarity, dynamics and articulation in my playing. I thank you so much! My solos are much more clear and fluid now.

-Alex Kalicinski

This is a great program for all musicians. I participated in an early form of the mentorship program and indeed I experienced profound transformation in myself and my bass playing. It's hard to describe what it was like to transform as it happened very slowly and in subtle ways. Try it for yourself and see--it is the best way to know.

-Josh Atlas

I think your programme is wonderful. It certainly helped me to bring more focus and necessary routine back into my practice. I can honestly say that my playing has improved over the course of the last three months and that my confidence and also ability to extract emotions and listen to the 'self' has grown. Thank you! The way the system works is very good.

-Maciek Pysz

First I would like to thank Kai for such a great plan and all the helpful tools he has giving to me. I have finished my studies and it was some of the best concentrated work and production I have done in a while. Thank you again!

-JosephVeloz

I really appreciate the spiritual aspect to the mentorship. It takes away the competitiveness, judgmental, gamey aspects of practice on the instrument and makes it positive.

-Marc Sichel

I'm feeling great about the mentorship.  It's been an eye-opener and my playing has definitely improved in ways I hoped it would when I started.  The free-play portion of the sessions has been a great exercise for me and has transferred over to how I approach improvisational playing with my band...just what I was hoping for !

-Ray Spencer

My picking has significantly improved, that's for sure. And picking has always been one of my greatest challenges.
Just wanted to thank you for all your words and advice. You are a great resource of knowledge.

-John Skalecki

I learned and grew a lot as a bass player these past few months.   All in all the journey of discovery was all there in front of me. Thanks for all you have provided,  it really was terrific.

-Richard Silberg

Thanks for all you've taught me this past session. I can definitely tell the difference in my ability to identify and play different time signatures. In fact, I listened to Frank Zappa's Don't Eat the Yellow Snow for the first time in a long time and immediately heard that it was in 7/8 time. There's no way I would have known that before !

-Joshua Cauley

My playing has become smoother and more relaxed.  Higher tempos are not an issue for me anymore.

-Heyko Guelicher

I must say your lessons are really helping me to see things another way, which I never knew before. I am writing music now, thanks a lot!

-Manas Chowdhary

The 15 minutes of non-stop free play has yielded some new songs that I'm going to record and publish eventually. Furthermore, the exercises that you taught me I do at the beginning of every practice session and will continue to do until I can't.

-Kenny Wilcox

I never thought I would know as much of the fingerboard as I do or be able to play with my fingers nearly as fast as I can with a pick. 

-David Lenci

What really changed my playing, in my opinion, was the "free nonstop practice" segment. And it happened one day I started to play a bass part non stop for 10 minutes (15 was too much! that time i devoted the other five to soloing). It was a simple question/answer type of thing, nothing too avantgarde. After some repetition, you have this light bulb moment and you realize that the part is warping a little bit and adapting itself.  I don't want to sound overtly Zen, but you do feel one with the part after a while. And that's what changed my approach. I've always been the player who "needs to know where things are heading" , but sometimes it's just better to find a rythmic idea that goes and just play! after a little while all pieces fall into place. Nice! Well, the method works for me. I'm more confident and I sound way better than when I started, so a big thank you !

-Nicola Franceschini

For me, the clinics turned out to be much more than bass and music lessons. The positive experience with Kai, and the other students, inspired me to be a better person and citizen of the world. Learning to be a better musician/bassist was icing on the cake. In every clinic, Kai created a relaxed atmosphere that allowed each of us to take chances and learn from each other as well. Learning to play well with others has never been so much fun. Hopefully we can share this among non-musicians too. The bass clinic turned out to be "exponential growth" for everyone in the class. A true "worldly" experience.

-Tolbert Pitman

I got so much out of it I can't even believe it.  I'm really excited about all the new ideas and concepts he introduced to me, but what I'm really stoked about is just the things I picked up from his playing and him as a person that he didn't teach.  He was such an awesome person to be around and he just sent off such a positive, happy vibe the whole time, playing or not.  I would definately without even thinking twice at all attend any lesson, clinic or camp that he was willing to teach. By the end of Sunday, I got more out of the whole day than any other music lesson or camp I have EVER been too, which is definately quite a few.  He is really one of the best teachers I have ever had the pleasure of learning from.

-Marcus Heath

I think it's safe to say that I've had what could be considered a breakthru over the past few days!  I played shows this Friday and Saturday with my blues/soul band (4 hours each night!).  I felt more connected to my bass and the music that naturally flowed out of me, than I have in a LONG time!  I feel that it has to be a direct result of a month of practicing every day.  I've logged more personal practice time on my bass lately than I have in many years, and it shows...and will continue to show!

-Brady Millard-Kisch 

 I just came back from attending Kai's bass workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado.  It was great !   I  enjoyed Kai's tremendous insights, from the technical aspects of the bass guitar to our relationship to the world around us.  His patience and understanding on how to provide each one of us with just the right tips for where we're at in our own playing level was perfect, from novice players to those with years of experience.  In just the few hours we spent together I received months worth of exercises and knowledge that will take my playing up several notches.  And his spiritual approach provides a relaxed and mature environment to the workshop experience.

-Jack Wisbon 

I got a lot done during my study time with Kai. I practiced all the modes of the major scale, plus the jazz minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor scales, and all 7th and 9th chord arpeggios (up to 8th notes at 140bpm).  I transcribed Gary Willis' solo on "Say Never" from Actual Fiction.  That took about a month.  It's a great example of building intensity through rhythm.  I learned Jimmy Haslip's solo on "Downtown" from Live Wires.  It has been one of my favorite solos for 19 years...so melodic. I also became more comfortable using my computer as a practice and composition tool.  Transcribe and Sibelius for transcriptions, Ableton Live and EZDrummer for writing tunes. 

-Benjamin Rose  

Here is what I learned from Kai:

First: "The journey is the reward".  I like to practice now!  I haven't enjoyed practicing in 16 years and I never had a consistent practice routine until now  and I've been playing music since I was 6.

Second: "If you want to find water dig one deep well, not a bunch of shallow ones."  I have had that quote hanging around for years, but never successfully lived it until this program.

Third: "If you want to know, you have to go."  Henry Rollins said that referring to understanding what people were like in different countries.  Don't rely on the words of someone else, but I think it applies equally to learning.  sure you can take lessons, watch dvds, and read instructional books.  They all contain good material, but the true learning and knowledge comes from actually doing the work and finding your own answers to questions.  This program was great for that.

-Jeff Smith  

I already knew Kai was a one-of-a-kind performer - now I know he is equally unique as an imparter of information and inspiration.  He showed in his intensive weekend event that he can truly work with musicians at any level and on any instrument.

I had toyed with music theory on and off over the years but found it vaguely intimidating and unengaging. Kai made it meaningful and non-threatening, even fascinating, and he showed me a practical path for making it increasingly useful.** He has a global, integrated approach. I got material no one else would have given me, and rhythmic training I would not have gotten anywhere else. 

Kai is amazingly generous with sharing bass techniques and compositional approaches he has personally developed, treating his contributions as "open source" information. He has gathered practical and inspirational concepts from all over the world and from all times, balancing the collective and the individual in his directed group exercises. He brings out the best in his students. By the time the weekend was over, my musical tool bag had been expanded and my musical perspective was enriched.   

-Dan Fairchild