Bass Solo- One-on-One with Nathan Navarro
Nathan Navarro is one of the most popular bassists on YouTube, with over 225k subscribers and a wider variety of videos than Devin Townsend has musical influences. Along with being incredibly hard-working and talented, he’s also exactly as nice as you would think he is from his videos. He was kind enough to sit down at his computer and answer a bunch of my questions about his bass journey, creating content, pizza, and if Empath compatriot Mike Keneally would be my friend.
image credit- https://www.nathannavarro.net/bio
Doug Robertson- According to your YouTube’s About page you joined the platform in 2007 and your videos have over 53 million views. What is your YouTube origin story? Why did you first join and what was YouTube and your content like in the early years?
Nathan Navarro- YT began as a pass-time. I was a lurker, finding entertainment and inspiration - musical and otherwise. In 2009 I moved from Southern California to Boston, Massachusetts to attend the Berklee College of Music. Suddenly I was bumping elbows with incredible young musicians I had seen online; I was awestruck. Soon after, I realized that any student walking the halls could very well be the most gifted player I had never heard of, regardless of their following.
Competition was steep, cliques were tight, and I was more introverted. I decided that I would make a couple YT videos of my bass playing so that I could include them with my “hey are you looking for a bass player?” emails. November 5th, 2009, I made my first post: a performance of “Dorian Gray,” a solo bass piece I had written for my Berklee audition. The response was fair. I had positive feedback from other students as well as the interwebz, but as a solo bass piece, it didn’t show my strengths in any particular genre.
I continued with more focused videos, like “Metal Bass,” “Jazz Bass,” and “Funk Bass,” and that’s when I had real progress. The videos landed me spots in ensembles that I was otherwise unqualified for, based on Berklee’s rating system, and they also led to many extracurricular and real world opportunities. To this day I am so grateful for the artists, producers and brands who saw something in those videos and helped me jump-start my career. I left Berklee four semesters early and have been playing professionally ever since. YT continues to open new doors, and I really enjoy the community my subscribers and I have built.
DR- Clearly you deserve all the attention you get from companies and artists due to your skills as a bass player, but what was it like the first time someone emailed you and said “Hey, do you want to play on this” or “Hey, can we send you some gear?”
NN- A quick backstory… A few college buddies introduced me to electronic music at the height of dubstep. I really wanted to figure out a way to play aggressive sounding bass wobbles on bass guitar; as a metalhead interested in music tech, it proved to be a fun project. I first learned how to create a bass wobble with software, and I then picked apart each step of the process and translated it to pedalboard form. Simplified: Compression, Synth, Distortion, Filter/Modulation. The sound was there, but I needed a way to control the rhythm of the bass wobble via the filter/modulation. I first tried with an expression pedal, but it was too slow (16th note foot-expressions at 140bpm is a no-go), and I didn’t like the idea of being anchored to one spot on stage. A friend of mine told me about the “Hot Hand,” which was a wireless motion-sensitive ring that could send expression. With that addition, the setup was fire.
There was a phenomenal local band called Pinn Panelle that was playing electronic music as a live four-piece rock band and they hadn’t yet solidified a bass player. I wanted to be that guy! I made a demo with my new rig and called it, you guessed it, “Dubstep Bass Guitar.” I sent the video to their frontman, and it landed me an audition. After talking a bit, the band and I went into a couple hour jam session. Each band member had a different musical style as their foundation, which gave the band a large vocabulary of musical textures to work off of. My metal approach tailored to an electronic style fit in perfectly without being redundant. It was a yes! It felt so rewarding to get the spot as their bass player, and even more rewarding to play with this group of killer musicians. Sometimes progress in music can feel slow. Years of practicing and sacrifice. And then, all of the sudden, a huge step forward is made in a few hours. That felt like one of my first big steps.
That same video, “Dubstep Bass Guitar,” also landed my first endorsement. Unbeknownst to me, Source Audio, the makers of the Hot Hand, were local to Boston. I had sent them the video to say, “Thanks for the awesome gear, check this out!” They were thrilled and had their Artist Relations Manager at the time, Will Cady, meet with me for an interview and to set me up with some of their latest gear. It was another very rewarding feeling, but simultaneously a little complicated.
I felt a sense of imposter syndrome, like I had somehow tricked this company into giving me free gear, despite knowing it was a gesture of their gratitude and that I would make it even more worthwhile for them through promotion. I know other musicians have felt this way, and I would add that the opposite can be true as well. There have been times in my career where I’ve felt entitled unrightfully, perhaps after a string of major successes and big tours. There is a constant need to keep sober judgement of one’s self. This can be difficult to do sometimes. You might have a troll damning you to hell one minute, and a standing ovation from a crowd of thousands the next. I personally find great strength and stability through my faith in Christ. I pursue righteousness, and know that I am still cherished with each failure.
DR- As a content creator, how hard is it to still produce high quality video ideas on a weekly basis? Even when you post covers you’re including tab, notation, and backing track stems.
NN- The high quality part is what makes it difficult to stay on schedule. haha Covers, for example, I’ll start by breaking the song into separate stems (Vocals, Drums, Bass, Other) with various plugins, mostly iZotope. This also includes manual edits and other processing, because the isolation software is imperfect, and I want my Patrons to have a great sounding backing track. This can take some time. I’ll then give myself a bass-forward mix to notate with, and once I’ve finished I’ll cross-check my work with a few live performance videos from the original artist so that I can follow their approach to the piece verbatim. That can be quite time consuming as well - I want to make sure it’s 100% accurate. Then I practice the piece, decide on the right bass and tone, perhaps restring, and film it after double-checking the lights and camera angles. This portion is always the quickest. Once it’s all recorded, I put the bass track through a series of plugins and hardware that process the hi, mid, and lows separately. Again, a fair amount of time is spent here, but it’s necessary to keep the bass tone consistently good across different systems. Then comes the video editing, which is often the longest process due to the notation needing to line up perfectly, and some third party video plugins that I just can’t convince myself to do without. Much of my video background is black, and without the plugins, it looks very pixelated and lo-fi. It does an excellent job of cleaning that up, but man does it take long to render! My thumbnails are often templated, so that usually goes quickly and is done while the video uploads.
Despite the lengthiness, I do really enjoy it. I would post even more, but I’m always juggling a few projects at once. I like it that way. Typically it’s YT content (covers, demos, lessons), session work (currently Devin Townsend’s “The Puzzle”), and product development (Amps, Effects, Instruments - NN signature bass coming soon!).
DR- Because we’re all gearheads to some extent, can you give me a rundown of your favorite pieces of gear?
NN- My Genzler rig by far: Magellan 800 Amp Head, Bass Array 210-3 SLT Cab and Bass Array 15-3 SLT Cab. It’s the only rig I’ve found that can reproduce the clear yet powerful sound I get in the studio and its level of responsiveness is just incredible; the attack is immediate and the transients are so precise. It’s an innovative design that utilizes a line array of individually tuned speakers for the mids and highs and subs for the lows. The cabs are slanted for increased projection and dispersion, especially when stacked, and the head will take you anywhere you want to go tonally at lightning speed.
If you haven’t tried it yet, check out the Fender American Ultra Precision Bass. The new neck and body shape is really comfortable, and the electronics sound excellent. I keep coming back to it for most of my covers.
DR- The highest level of your Patreon buys you pizza. What is on that pizza, and if I eat enough pizza with those toppings will I be able to play a song using 40 techniques?
NN- Yes, most definitely! I am a lifelong lover of pizza, and I initially got into music because I heard musicians are often paid in pizza and beer. Little did I know that when paired with the right toppings, pizza would increase my skill level exponentially overnight. I’ve repeated this discipline biweekly, and the results continue without fail. Unfortunately, I’m unable to disclose which toppings publicly, for safety reasons. I can teach you, but I have to charge.
DR- [Ed. Note- The following is where I got all of my Devin Townsend/Mike Keneally fanboying out of the way in only four questions. Nathan played bass on Devin’s most recent album, Empath, which everyone with ears should own.] For my money, the Devin Townsend album “Empath” was the best album of 2019. Devin is famous for making very detailed demos and having a strong vision for his music. What was it like to step into that environment and work with him?
Mike Keneally, who got his start playing with Frank Zappa, has played with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, and has the most underrated solo career in prog rock, was also a part of the “Empath” sessions and touring band. Can you talk about the learning opportunities you might have had being in the studio and on tour with him?
NN- The most intimidating honor ever bestowed upon my music career. Devin is a gifted and thoughtful orchestrator of people. We recorded much of Empath at the historic Monnow Valley Studio in Wales with a group of just over a dozen, and each person, in addition to being outstanding in their specific role as a musician, engineer, photographer, cook, etc, had a uniquely symbiotic aspect to their personality that filled the studio with kindness, respect, and fun, alongside some serious hours. I don’t know how he pulled it off so well, but it certainly wasn’t by accident.
Mike Keneally, the project’s Musical Director, oversaw the bass recording sessions, and our work would typically be signed off by Devin at the completion of each track. Mike is filled with exciting and creative ideas: “play that line again, but tune the bass down an octave,” “once more with a pick,” “once more with your thumb,” “I hear something cool, let me grab this guitar and teach it to you on bass.” It was a sincere honor and privilege to work so closely with Mike, Devin, and all involved in those sessions. I went home a much better musician.
Some of my favorite memories from the project were of our dinners, where everyone came together, ate delicious food, and laughed. Morgan Ågren has the best party tricks, I tell ya.
DR- What gear did you use on “Empath” and on tour?
NN- For the studio sessions, I used my Dingwall NG3 5-string with nickel strings, Nolly’s personal Dingwall NG3 5-string with steel strings (Nolly engineered), a 70’s Fender P Bass with roundwound strings, and a bunch of pedals here and there. On tour, I used my Kiesel Zeus 5-string, Mayones Custom Jabba V Fret 4-string, this board, and In-Ears. We had so many people on stage, we decided to go ampless.
DR- You recently teased on your Instagram that you’re working on Devin’s next album “The Puzzle”. Is there anything you can say about that project? It must feel good to be asked back to work with him again.
NN- Devin has described the project as “Abstract, Complex, Ambient Nonsense” and said that it may not be for everyone. You can count me as not everyone. I am thrilled to be working with this body of musicians who are taking risks and finding gripping new sounds. It’s been a long time since I heard something that made me respond this way. Many will find this album healing, interesting, exciting and really cool.
DR- How do you practice? I mean, you released a video a year ago that I referenced earlier where you use 40 techniques in one song. What are you working on and what is your process for doing that?
NN- I really wish I could practice more. Honestly, I know all my weak points as a bass player, and as I progress as a musician, they become more and more apparent. In my beginning years of playing I recall the constant unbalance in left-hand and right-hand abilities. Some months I felt like it was my fretting hand slowing me down, so I’d work on it, and then the next season my picking hand would be behind. Currently, I feel both hands have plateaued (unfortunately) around the same spot (fortunately), and my ability to recognize imperfection grows by the hour.
It has been a good exercise in showing grace towards myself. Something I miss from when I had greater availability is the time to practice something specific, something conceptually simple for days on end. With the demands of content creation and quick turnaround times on sessions, I might play something successfully once and then send it off. It’s not as impactful to my musical vocabulary and skill as if I were to play it a couple hundred times. That said, I’m super happy where I’m at with work and opportunity, and I wouldn’t trade it back.
DR- The pandemic has been hard on music, how can our readers help support you and keep you making great music and great videos?
NN- Thank you for asking. This is an excellent question for anyone wondering how to support their favorite musicians.
I’ll start with things you can do for free: Watch our videos, comment, like, subscribe, click the bell, etc; it really does make a difference for the algorithm. Share our music and videos with people who might like them. For guys who demo gear, like me, tell your favorite brands that you want to see me demonstrate their gear.
If you would like to support music financially, here are few ideas: buy music (physical and digital), merch, use affiliate links right before purchasing gear. I have affiliate links to Sweetwater, Reverb, and Thomann on nearly all of my videos. Many musicians, myself included, have paypal and/or ko-fi donate links listed. I have tons of rewards on my Patreon that are fun and will help you grow as a bassist. Many players offer private lessons online. Thanks for considering.
DR- And one last question- Bass solos- Should the guitar player let us get away with it?
NN- *Addressing the reluctant guitarist: Bass is the future, young Padawan. Take a moment to comp tastefully. Don’t step on my toes, and I will give you a glimpse of what could be.
Doug Robertson is the editor of The Bass Blog, the blog component of The Bass Channel, your one stop YouTube channel for all things bass. His number one is a Mexican Geddy Lee Signature Jazz and his boomer is a BEAD tuned T-Bird. Find books by Doug here. If you’re interested in contributing to The Bass Blog please reach out to Doug at doug@thebasschannel.net. We would love to hear from you.
