Five Questions With Bass Guitarist Cristian Tisselli

Cristian Tisselli is a native of Argentina, but is currently packing his bags to move to sunny Los Angeles. He’s a supreme bassist with the skill to play a wide range of genres, including jazz, pop, rock, Latin, and beyond. Cristian teaches both in English and Spanish, so if you want to practice un poco while you improve your bass abilities, he’s your man. You can also read more about Cristian in No Treble Magazine, where he was featured as a name to know in the bass world.

Lessonface: How did you first get introduced to the bass guitar, and what kind of music were you listening to at the time/growing up?

Cristian Tisselli: I started playing the bass because it was needed in my cousin’s rock band, so I got a band before I got a bass. At that time I was listening to lots of bands like Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Color, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, The Police, The Beatles -- the list goes on and on.

LF: Did you take lessons or have particularly influential mentors early on, or later as you progressed?

CT: I started to take lessons with a local teacher and to practice at home with an old acoustic guitar I turned into a bass, and immediately I started to listen to the bass guitar masters (Jaco Pastorius, Lee Sklar, Marcus Miller, Gary Willis, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten, Tony Levin, et al) and learn from them. That was for the first three months, then I finally got a bass, and at the end of the year I was invited to play in a local jam session with older musicians who played better than me. So I think it´s very important to have a band or just go to play with friends immediately while you are studying -- for me it´s the most important part of the learning process and I always try to encourage my students to play with people, and if they can play with better musicians than them, it would be much better of course.

LF: What got you interested in teaching online and through Lessonface? How long have you been doing online lessons?

CT: I found it interesting to share my experience with students from all around the world since people from other countries have started asking me about classes for different motives, sometimes to know about my approach to the instrument, sometimes to teach them how to improvise, etc. So I think LessonFace is an open door to make it possible. I have been doing this for a couple of years, and I think it really works.

LF: If you had to recommend one video or performance for prospective students to check out in order to understand you and your style, what would it be?

CT: I would recommend watching my YouTube channel. I have a little part of what I play there, but most of what I play comes from listening to the masters of the bass -- it’s so important to hear them playing different styles and also to watch them playing. I think it´s important to hear bass players of different kinds of styles (Latin, Rock, Jazz, Funk, Fusion, etc.), whatever you like, and try to play a little bit of everything. Then, if you know your instrument and yourself you can build your own personality in music.

LF: Can you tell us a bit about what's going on with any musical projects you're working on, and any latest news about them?

CT: I just recorded a new album with my fusion band call Contusion (we put that name to the band because we used to play that song by Stevie Wonder called “Contusion,” it's a really old fusion tune that goes out of Wonder´s R&B/soul style). Now I’m moving to L.A. to play there and go on with my musical career.

Click here to book a lesson with Cristian or here to learn more about how Lessonface works. You can also check out our blog here to read more about Lessonface and our teachers.