Elemental Potassium (Atomic Number 19) is an extraordinarily reactive metal element. Mix it water to produce highly flammable Hydrogen, which in turn ignites from the heat generated by the reaction itself (do NOT try this at home). Intervals are extraordinarily reactive musical elements. Mix with the strings of your bass guitar and enlightening guidance from Kai Eckhardt to ignite atomic groove and intense emotional reactions from your listening audience (DO try this at home).

"Intervals shape the character of every melody, lick and scale under the sun. Intervals are to music what the alphabet is to language and what colors are to a painting. Learn how to harness the power of intervals and you can make your music sound beautiful, ugly, smooth, rough -- virtually any texture or mood is possible."

Video Introduction

Click below for a sample video from the course

About the Guitar Lesson Plan

Interactive Video Guitar Instruction

Reactive Intervals is not another one of those tedious theoretical courses, filled with boring exercises and musical math -- far from it. Reactive Intervals is a learning experience unlike anything you've encountered in your past educational initiatives. Kai takes you on a journey filled with creative stimulation, musical exploration and enough groove crafting insight to last you a lifetime.

Over the past thirty years, Kai Eckhardt's signature musicality was instrumental in defining the role of the modern bassist if not the sonic qualities of modern music itself. Best known for his contribution to the John Mclaughlin Trio in the 80's, Billy Cobham's Quartet in the 90's and Garaj Mahal most recently, Kai has also recorded and performed with Stanley Clarke, Wayne Shorter, Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, Alphonse Mouzon, Larry Coryell, Al Di Meola, Steve Smith, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, George Benson, Mike Stern and so many other musical giants, across so many genres of modern music.

Fortunately for we bass players joining Kai on the Reactive Intervals journey, he is also a passionate music educator who has taught clinics and master classes world-wide for the Berklee School of Music, the Bass Collective, the Musician’s Institute, the Anton Bruckner Conservatory in Austria, the Amsterdam Conservatory and Victor Wooten’s Bass and Nature camp.

Kai presents the Reactive Intervals curriculum across 12 multi-lesson Interval Studies: Minor Second, Major Second, Minor Third, Major Third, Perfect Fourth, Diminished Fifth, Perfect Fifth, Minor Sixth, Major Sixth, Minor Seventh, Major Seventh, and Octaves.

For each of the 12 Interval Studies, Kai first defines the interval technically and also demonstrates its shape and fingering on the fretboard both horizontally and vertically. Kai provides key insight for the interval and points out the "reactive" role that the interval plays when crafting a musical texture or mood.

You'll then learn two "reactive interval" patterns for each interval (24 in total) to practice up and down the entire fretboard to imprint the sound of the interval in your head. The patterns also accelerate the muscle memory process for that interval's fingerings all over the fretboard.

After learning Kai's reactive patterns and becoming familiar with each interval's characteristic tonal quality, Kai rolls a rhythm track and demonstrates how to creatively apply the interval to develop melodies and bass lines with maximum groove. Keep your bass real close because no sooner do you learn the pattern applications, than you join Kai in a play-along where you put it all to work immediately with Kai guiding you every step of the way.

Kai's interactive and cognitive teaching approach accelerates your ability to process new information and apply it immediately in a musical context. Kai also provides tabs and notation for all of the studies and also includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to practice with on your own. Bonus material including improvisational performances and a learning system for ear training further sweeten the overall learning experience.

Get reactive! Your groove will thank you for it.

About Your Instructor

Kai Eckhardt

Kai Eckhardt is a Liberian/German bassist and composer best known for his contribution to the John Mclaughlin Trio in the 80's, Billy Cobham's International Quartet in the 90's and the band Garaj Mahal in the new Millennium. Kai has also recorded and performed with Trilok Gurtu, Stanley Clarke, Wayne Shorter, Patrice Rushen, Dewey Redman, George Brooks, Donald Byrd, Bela Fleck, Maria Joao, Dino Saluzzi, Sertab Erener, Palle Mikkelborg, Victor Wooten, Alphonse Mouzon, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Michael Franti, Larry Coryell, Warren Hill, Al Di Meola, Zakir Hussain, Steve Smith, John Scofield , Bill Frisell, George Benson, and Mike Stern.

Besides being an active performer, Kai is a passionate and experienced music educator who teaches privately and online while being a faculty member of the Jazz School Institute in Berkeley, CA. He has taught clinics and master classes world-wide with engagements ranging from Berklee School of Music in Boston, the Bass Collective in New York, the Musician's Institute in Hollywood, the Anton Bruckner Conservatory in Austria, Amsterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands and Victor Wooten's Bass and Nature camp.