Janek Gwizdala - his Strange Bass Journey, Pedalboard, Soloing and more

[@joshjamesuk]

That opening improvisation was truly incredible.

[@devinebass]

🔥🔥🔥

[@timbo7873]

If he improvised that, I'd assume it not available anywhere but here?

[@quintenzonneveld556]

⁠@@timbo7873 The song is ‘The Last Dance’ by Bob Reynolds, written by Janek…

[@bassimprovjams3772]

@@quintenzonneveld556what? Really? No way!!

[@bassimprovjams3772]

It’s genius! Seeing that he has a chase bliss pedal is so awesome!!

[@k0brakai]

I LOVE Janek's sound... it's warm, round and so well defined at the same time.

[@timrobinson8717]

Would love to see how that sound stands in a live band mix

[@skineyemin4276]

It sounds just like every other fusiony bassist that plays a Fodera.

[@GeorgeFromthePorch]

But it has no low notes 😂

[@bryanperez4505]

Janek’s playing is so soothing and inspirational.

[@devinebass]

💯💯💯 he's an incredible musician!

[@HIGHPOSTERtown]

Janek has transparently shared his bass journey so my imaginary bass career i live vicariously through him. 🤔😩😂🙌🏽

[@gregmoore2875]

Janek holds a special place in my heart on this musical journey! From the genesis of the inspirational #365 Day Vlog Challenge to "All The Good Stuff", an abundance of a blessing you've been in my life as a musician! Blessings to you and your family Janek! Thank you for the life lessons you've shared with us and more to come. #GoodMorningCoffeeDrinkers

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@geoffgascoyne63]

thanks for the mention Janek, best wishes, Geoff x

[@CurranKevin]

This is a great part of the SBL ecology: serious long-form interviews with serious musicians. (And I love all the other stuff you guys do too of course!) Janek's experience and approach to the profession is really inspirational.

[@devinebass]

Cheers for that, glad you like this longer form content!!

[@patdaveydrums]

I was on that summer school with YG. He can't have been more than 16. In his room he threw a real book on the bed and said "pick a tune" and he was playing tunes on the bass like a boss. X❤

[@joninawhitecoat]

I saw Janek in Nottingham three weeks ago and he was astonishing. The last musician I saw that had me that captivated was Allan Holdsworth. I've wanted to see Janek Gwizdala for years and have looked at travelling to the US to do it, and then he announces a gig 4 miles from my house!

[@devinebass]

That must have been a great gig/experience!!

[@hoot7588]

That is so cool! And to be named in the same sentence as the mighty Holdsworth is pretty special

[@mxmllrguitar]

Janek is a gift to the world!

[@bassimprovjams3772]

I have watched the episode 4 times and Janek’s intro jam about 12 times

[@lionsdenblog]

Janek has become my absolute favorite soloist on bass guitar. His experimentation, techniques, musicality, his melodious voice on bass… it ALL just appeals to my ears and my heart as a bassist. I’m 62 now and haven’t seriously played in years, but he sounds like what I wanted to become as a performing bassist. I’ll keep listening to his podcast. It’s SICK!

[@dorssberube]

So happy to see Janek at SBL

[@cheewaiyuen4237]

All of us knew that we waited for this like FOREVER and it finally happened!! Janek is the man !!!!!!!

[@matto9734]

I love seeing you guys together. Scott is so well prepared and "knows" Janek for so long + they both teach on YT but come from a totally different approach... and Janek is the one of a kind perfectionist and workhorse and he is doing amazing things with his "tools" in combination with his imagination... the Mattisson Bass is by far the most beautiful Bass I´ve seen + it sounds sooo great! And Scott - thank you for sharing this conversation with us!!! So many stories and valuable hints and thoughts from you both. 2:10 hours is really NOT too long ;-)

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@AmilcarBaxo]

Hello coffe and drinks! The channel deserved an interview with Janek, who in addition to being a spectacular teacher is probably the most innovative and brilliant bassist of the 2010s so far.

[@iksajotien]

The man, the myth, the legend, Janek rocks, love his tone, his playing, his attitude towards music, great man.

[@kellyvibert7861]

My 2 favourite bass content providers chatting. Such a great watch. Janek's experience, history and people he did time with makes me shudder with amazement. Being in the same space as the player with The Roots blew my mind, just because I love them (hip hop as a genre was/is better because of them if you ask me) and never connected them to Janek.... I learnt more tonight than I have all year. Well done Scott for doing the video. Thank you both, absolutely wonderful 2 hours. ❤

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@thehater8389]

Janek is the reason that I pick up the bass after playing many years on drums and guitar and because of that I change my perspective on rhythm, melody and harmony. He's my hero ❤

[@devinebass]

😍😍😍

[@ethanlocke3604]

Been waiting for this for months since he mentioned y’all recorded it!

[@SimonMSvensson]

Same! Was scared it wasn't going to come out

[@ninjalife8467]

This video is priceless!!! Let it be, please, keep it here for generations, it is really a treasure, greatings from Russia, wiv best regards

[@lauriebluesguy]

It's been a tough day (at work), doesnt seem so bad when you can come home and listen to these 2 great guys.

[@ibassnote]

This is an entry point for a lot of music that I don't know anything about. I love this guy. He is a musicians musician. Never satisfied but so happy to be playing. His existence challenges so many things I hold dear. For example I started the video staring at the P-bass and by the end it looked like a backwards 1950's jalopy. He changes the way I think about modern music and the future.

[@mule71]

I love Janek’s playing! ❤

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@AstromarineCorpse]

I have to say congrats. Even putting all the bass nerdery aside, just the flow of conversation, this was an *incredible* interview. Your chemistry was clear, great questions, amazing answers, you guys should have a podcast together basically. :D This was amazing to listen to. Well done

[@devinebass]

Thanks for that, glad you enjoyed it!!

[@joninawhitecoat]

There is an SBL podcast with Scott, Ian, and Janek done earlier this year (I think).

[@erwanmoreau6357]

I literaly starting digging bass because of listening Mystery to Me, every day during several month, on my skateboard, on my way to the street spot of my little town.. Unforgettable moment of my youth... That was 20y ago. I have 36yo now. So thank you so so much Mr. Gwizdala. Thank you.

[@pablomcelio]

I learnt from Janek the creative discipline that implies really learn your instrument and music in general. I am not a working musician but this approach has been completly usefull in my work field (education) and in my life in general. So thanks Janek!

[@jahkeeli]

The Last Dance-The heat on that song, GEEZ! I discovered Scott BL and JG during the pandemic, brushing off my bass after 20 years. Thank you for everything you gave me and continue to give now.

[@panosskentzos]

Wow, it sounds as if Richard Bona did a duet album with Pat Metheny as equals, absolutely beautiful :)

[@RobVespa]

The opening 4 minutes brightened my day... not to type of the remainder of the video. Many thanks. What an amazing conversation. This has been such a treat. Much of what you discuss, which may be old hat/gospel for you and many players, is all new to me. It's so interesting. I feel like I've been missing out - and I'm having fun catching up. All the best.

[@cambioderumbopuntonet]

Sooooo happy to see Janek here!!! Thanks Scott!!!

[@devinebass]

👍👍👍

[@adityanemlekar]

I JUST finished watching the SBL Podcast with Janek! This is definitely my lucky day!

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@drazen_fuzzmaster]

What a great combo! Thank you for this interview ❤

[@devinebass]

Thanks for checking it out!!

[@savedplayer]

I love Janeks playing I'm 18 and I was lucky enough to attend a clinic of his in London in Novemeber. He treated my like everyone else dispite my age he is an amazing man and musical my hero. Thank you for the interview.

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@simonpetersonmusic]

FINALLY!!!! I´ve waited YEARS for this collab!🙏

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@oliplaysbass]

Love this interview. The 2 main channels I watch all the time. Been following Janek since ‘09

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@JBKeyz88]

Two of my favorites in one room!!

[@brianwilliams196]

Wishing I had stumbled on Janek sooner. I love the interview, he’s so relatable and full of insight. Than you for all of your hard work bringing people like him to the channel and enriching the musical community with this long form content!

[@devinebass]

He's a monster, check out his podcast and his old vlog if you haven't already!

[@oldmanpence4803]

3:50 in, and the mothership has taken off. What an amazing human and musician. Wow.

[@padureancalin8096]

The intro bro, I think I’ve listened it for about 2000 times Janek’s sooooooo creative, compostion sounds so sweeet man!!

[@_Olorin]

I'm a intermediate bass player and haven't recorded much or played much with headphones yet and hearing these monster professionals talk about how weird the bass and pitch feels through cans made me so happy. I thought I was crazy for having so much trouble liking my sound and distinguishing bass pitch with cans on and I feel much better about myself now. I can't believe this is the first time I hear people talk about this online.

[@Keiseyhicban]

It’s the interview that I’ve been waiting for

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@nessaddison2357]

I’m a new subscriber / student / member / fan and thought my new teacher / mentor was going to be taken away!! So glad you’re already healing well - I’m also excited about your plans for SBL!! Down time with shoulder no accident… time for you to STOP and take stock of your vision and great work teaching aspiring bassists world wide! Take time as others are saying… we need you long time! Ha ha! Nana Ness Margaret River Western Australia (55yo nana to 3 grandies under 5 took up adventure of bass 4 weeks ago!) Fan of Rage Against, Tool, Soundgarden, Audioslave, thru to Lenny Kravitz… then onto Funk and Jazz… also play keyboard… As a kid - talented with wind instruments playing in orchestra by 11.)

[@christophercheney1006]

That was great! Janek is the man!

[@devinebass]

💯💯💯

[@MatthewFearnley-ym3oy]

For me this is the most inspirational basstalk interview with two great players that make me want to puck up my bass everytime enough said

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@thomasfaraone4213]

Janek’s tones are so cool and his playing is so hard to copy

[@ChrisStreidt]

Amazing Interview - thanks so much! Janek is truely a master at changing string when at the same time he switched his watch without anyone noticing 😎 I am sure that watch gave him a speed boost!

[@Jedmanuel91]

Thank you SBL! ❤

[@devinebass]

👍👍👍

[@IgorOdaryuk]

Finally! Waiting for so long video with Janek, thanks for sharing

[@alexaveevelasquez6099]

That was out of this world. best solo yet. very f******creative

[@vinsharrelson2246]

This was an Excellent interview, Scott! It's great to hear about Janek's history and how he's progressed over the years. How about a one on one with Kyle Eastwood?

[@florenttenryu5011]

So inspiring to follow this interview! I'm listening and playing, trying to mimic the flow of Janek, what a treat

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@TheKeseg]

What an incredible musician he is, so inspiring. Thank so much to SBL to give us content of this quality !!

[@danconiglio]

This and the Mike League interview are so great! Wonderful to revisit the past and see how far they've both come. Thanks Scott!

[@andrewpinner3181]

Thanks guys, great interview ! Yes Janek is a totally inspirational player. Love the idea for the The Giant Steps book (re: accessibility & levels). I was listening to this on headphones, so when Janek got his first trivia question right - I went to answer my front door - because the 'correct answer ding' is precisely like my doorbell ! Oh dear ! 😂

[@fender68able]

What an amazing interview!! Thanks Scott!!👍

[@jeffs.1999]

Absolutely beautiful. One can easily get lost in the etherial journey of Janek's music. 🍄

[@devinebass]

He's an incredible musican!

[@SquareWaveSymphonies]

This interview is absolutely incredible. ❤ Btw, I'm pretty sure the EP stands for Echorec Preamp. 😂

[@squidito2534]

Real quality conversation

[@oscarsantos2608]

Got to love Janek's vibe! So creative! 😊

[@devinebass]

💯💯💯

[@riccardoboom3618]

One of the coolest performance I've ever seen! Majestic, very introverse deep sound, just incredible!

[@Bahimo3154]

This man is the reason that enhanced the consideration of practice regarding my instrument ❤

[@melanieviau1356]

Excellent artist!!! Your exchange with each of your guests are so generous, I'm amazed every time. Just starting to lean music at age 47 and discovering such great artists thanks to you and all the references

[@piscada182]

He is SO humble omg

[@andrewgreen5986]

I played at The Gun in Croydon a good few times in the early 90’s. The promoter was a lovely man called Ron Carter. He was a jazz buff straight out of central casting with a voice like 200 Rothmans. He would put on rock bands during the week so he could indulge his passion for jazz on a Sunday lunchtime. Sadly the venue and the pub are long gone. Flats were built overlooking the venue and after that it was on borrowed time.

[@thisisMRJAMES]

I take back my previous comment. Janek is a killer bass player and educator

[@Ainword]

I clicked because of the funny name...but goddamn this dude can play!

[@doubledecker1094]

I love Janek, and knew he would crush the string challenge!

[@ClearStreamsUK]

I've been waiting years to see the two of you talking! Well worth the wait!❤

[@devinebass]

Cheers, it was a pleasure to sit down with Janek like this!!

[@gianpaoloalfano9017]

Fantastic collaboration, so much to think about. Great work!

[@Tomijee]

Nice guitar indeed. One of the greatest intros, sipping some coffee and just enjoying that performance.

[@WCruttenden]

This and the Neil Mullarkey interviews are worth watching multiple times. Interesting and inspiring. Thanks SBL

[@devinebass]

Cheers for that, good to hear you've been digging these!!

[@MichaelBenko-p9b]

What a lovely show and I’ve been to Berkeley and I am also player lotta good talk I remember a lot of those places wonderful

[@BrentODell]

less than two minutes in, I'll go ahead and hit the Like button now.

[@sumeursault]

I know this is unrelated to this particular video. But as far as interviews, it'd be great to see an interview with Roscoe Beck while he's still with us. He played with greats like Robben Ford, and was MD for Leonard Cohen for a stretch. His signature Fender bass is also very highly regarded as one of the best signature models they produced (and just a great all around instrument). Cheers

[@richarddial6403]

i've never heard of this guy but man this was awesome! thank you both so much!

[@devinebass]

Glad you enjoyed it, check out Janek's music!!

[@k1ll8oi62]

I've never heard such sadder sounds come out of a bass before. 😍

[@basshippy101]

I've not bought a bass book since I was a music student, the last being Standing In The Shadows of Motown. I was so invested and engrossed in that book, I studied it repeatedly for years, every word and line. I miss those days.

[@LawrenceHaberMusic]

This is a fantastic interview. So much wisdom and incredible lessons. I’ve followed Janek for over a decade and his dedication is remarkable. Thanks for sharing this!

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@bristevenson]

Striing changes, watch Janek pre stretching the strings as he puts them on by putting his finger against the upper frets and holding the string with his other fingers far away to keep the tension up while winding.

[@bassimprovjams3772]

This was so awesome! Thanks SBL for this!! Thanks Janek!!!

[@reueldaniel4995]

You should interview Chelsea next, his wife can play 🔥

[@ChadHensley]

I love Janek's comment about what gear he used to get based on who was in the image with the item. It's actually due in a large part to Ian Martin Allison and Janek that I ended up investing in a Line 6 HX Stomp XL. Originally I had done exactly what he said with the Aguilar pedals that Ian was covering on his Instagram but then started doing my research and came across the Line 6 pedal, which Ian also uses, and in that research discovered Janek was using it as well. Going to definitely check out Janek's books. And for your reference, Scott, I got the book for the Fretboard Accelerator when I purchased the program last year and it has been huge in my development. Would love to see you release books too. Really appreciate this interview!

[@dannygold2882]

Think this is my favorite interview. Will be rewatching

[@devinebass]

Good to hear that you enjoyed this one!!

[@markhudson8656]

SO enjoyable! thoroughly enjoyed this for so any reasons. Such a great player but so humble and funny too!!!!

[@leitnerjoe]

I can listen to this all day long. So much to learn. You rock!

[@SalvaROCK]

Muchas gracias. He fluido mucho con esta meditación. Abrazos para todos. Namaste

[@kennethgarcia25]

I really love Janek's playing in this introduction. Such an inspiration!!! Anyone suggest an album where his compositions and playing are like this!

[@savedplayer]

American elm is solo bass check that out.

[@dopetone]

This is such an incredibly insightful interview. Really helpful perspectives on self analysis, honest critique and stages of evolution as a player. Thank you ! ❤

[@devinebass]

👍👍👍

[@vorbat7363]

Janek got me into jazz

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@basclef7]

Fantastic interview.

[@jeanmicheldoge6807]

Thank u 4 the Great Interviews u made!!!

[@gabzgroove3088]

Always loved his playing since day 1.

[@kostishasopoulos9816]

Been following Janek since 2008. Huge love for the guy! Tremendous work ethic,great isnpiration. Keep it up!

[@devinebass]

He's an absolute monster musician!! Glad you enjoyed this!

[@kostishasopoulos9816]

@@devinebass Loved the interview/dialogue. It went smoothly. 2 hours and never got tired. An interesting concept to have the musician watch his performances and comment upon. He is realynhard on himsel, reminiscent of Holdsworth.

[@rastapastrychief]

This is a true artist here, in Janek. That (first) solo is primitive/tribal feeling. Amazing timing and tone!

[@VadimAnatolich]

Unbelievable! Awesome!

[@VadimAnatolich]

Like immediately. No hesitage.

[@LordEradicus]

Because I don't do gigs anymore and now have this terrible habit of never changing my bass strings unless they break, I realized I kind of had this nice warm sound with one of my PJ basses. Now if I only had Janek's pedalboard...🤔 😁

[@gabzgroove3088]

Magazines did die off. One of my favorites was bass player magazine. I reached out to the editor in chief, Chris Jisi a few times regarding advice on a clinic I was putting together in 2013 but he always brushed me off.

[@davetay44]

That was awesome. Thank you Janek, thank you Scott.

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡