Another newbie, and I'm a drummer too...

drummer5359 · #1 01-10-2011, 08:38 PM

Hi Folks, my name is Mike and I've been a drummer forever. I dabled with the bass in my youth, and at age 51 and retired I thought it would be interesting to get more seriously into the instrument.

Here is some of my story...

I first picked up drum sticks thanks to a neighbor named Ted Early in 1969. (Thanks Mr Early.) He was a country singer/guitarist who played a lot of Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. He also taught my brother Paul his first guitar chords. Anyway, we were friends with his kids and their attic was full of musical instruments. This included acoustic guitars, electric guitars, a mandolin, a banjo, a pedal steel, a set of japanese stencil drums and an electric bass. All of the instruments were inexpensive pawnshop finds, but it was cool to have all of those choices. Only one of his sons (they had seven children) showed any intrest in music. So... he would show my brother Paul and I the basics on various instruments. once we were able to play at all we would jam with him. For my brother Paul it was guitar, I would play drums or bass. I never got super acomplished on the bass, but I was capable of playing simple bass lines. When I wanted an instrument for my birthday my parents bought me a cheap electric bass from GC Murphy's 5 & 10. Eventually I traded that bass for a cheesy set of drums. I didn't mess much with bass for the next 35 years or so.

A couple of years ago I was in a pawn shop picking up a snare drum that I saw on Craig's list and I saw a really clean Jackson bass. I ended up buying it for $125 with a hard-shell case. I took it out of it's case a couple of times in the past couple of years and messed around with the basics that I could remember after three and a half decades, but I didn't get serious about it.

So...

A couple of weeks ago I was bouncing around on youtube as I often do and I stumbled upon some simple bass lessons. Hmm. I went up to the attic, tuned it up and brought it down in front of the computer to fool around with it.

After three weeks of practicing for a little every day I can play a decent walking bass line in "A", F, G, B and C, although a little slow. As soon as I feel comfortable with it I'm going to work on some different patterns. I have to say that it's not as easy to pick this stuff up in your fifties as it was when I was ten.

In any case, I'm not looking to become the next wonder on the bass guitar. I'd like to get comfortable on the instrument though.

A side note is that I used to be an executive as my day job, bassed in Baltimore. After my second stroke I retired and my girlfriend and I moved to Pittsburgh where I was born and raised.

I'm a serious drummer who owns 8 drumsets, 34 snares and over 80 cymbals. I also play hand percussion and at this time I've been gigging on percussion as half of an acoustic duo.

I'm somewhat active in the drum forum community, I hope to get to know the gang on here and learn a lot.

Thanks

Snazzy Jazzy · #2 01-10-2011, 11:37 PM

Well, I'm somewhat new also (I've only been playing for about 6 months). The only thing I can say is that books can be really helpful, but really boring. If you can't read music, like me, then tab is the way to go. Learning scales is important and don't give up. Playing the bass has given me so many opportunities and almost all of them have been extremely positive. Don't worry, as long as you keep practicing, you should start to see a noticeable difference in the way you play. Good luck on your new adventure!

drummer5359 · #3 01-11-2011, 04:22 PM

Thanks Snazzy. I have a book/DVD combo that I've used as well as you tube for specific songs.

Songster bass tabs for specific songs seem to help as well.

I have a guitarist brother who also is a decent bass player. He has steered me back onto the right path as well.

If I'm still enjoying this in a few months I'll sign up for lessons then.

Thanks for the welcome.

hrodbert696 · #4 01-11-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummer5359

I'm somewhat active in the drum forum community, I hope to get to know the gang on here and learn a lot.

So there IS a drum forum community! Where is it? There have been some questions floating around the forums here as to whether such a thing exists.

Welcome drummer5359! Be at peace with your bass playing brethren and our strange ways. TB is a great forum, have fun poking around.

drummer5359 · #5 01-12-2011, 06:40 PM

Actually, there are a bunch of drum forums out there. Some of them are quite good, some are not. I belong to several and am active on four different ones currently. I'm a moderator on one of the smaller, yet friendlier ones.

This seems like a strong forum here. I've been doing a lot of reading on here so far rather than tossing my own dumb qustions out there that each of you have already answered 4,000 times.

Thanks for the welcome and although I'm a drummer I'll try to not annoy anyone.

drummer5359 · #6 01-20-2011, 10:31 AM

Here is a pic of my Jackson bass with my DWs and LP congas as a backdrop. This bass is nothing special, I'm sure I'll upgrade when my playing deserves it.