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Hey, talkbass. I've been scoping this place out for a while, and I've been debating whether or not to jion, but I figured what the heck, and joined anyway.
Well, My name's Liam. I live in Southern California, and have been playing bass for...well, I've been fiddling with one for about 3 years, but only really started PLAYING this September. This janurary I'll be 17, and will graduate from high school this year. Yeah, I know, bit young, but I learn quickly.
Well, Bass for me won't be a profession, I don't think. Drama fits that bill. i've been studying that for eight years or so, culminating in a month-long summer program at Juilliard this past summer. Armed with that training, I really believe i can make a living in theatre.
I'm sorry if I sound terse, but this page rebooted on me a few times, forcing me to rewrite a few paragraphs. Bloody tab key.
Well, I also write a lot. And read. I read a lot of classic French fiction (Hugo and Dumas) and modern fiction (King, Vonnegut and O'Brien). I myself have a very meaty writing voice, like each sentence is a hammer, driving home a nail of an idea. I dig it.
Music wise, I'm pretty diverse. I'll listen to most anything but rap, mainly because (ironically) it's TOO bassy. My ears are very sensitive to bass, and the volumes at which rap mixes its bass makes it painful for me to listen to. There's a line between melody and pain, and i think rap sometim4es crosses it. I listen to a lot of radio on a vareity of stations, and have a plethora of CDs ranging the gambit from Classical to Eurobeat. No iPods, though. I'm a sound-o-phile, so the diminshed quality annoys me.
But bass-wise. three christmases ago my mom bought a Squier P-Bass package with amp and gig bag. It's a nice little deal, but I quickly grew frustrated with it's limitations. Not all bad, though. THe P buzzes VERY badly, but if you patch it through a wah pedal it creates synth-like lines with sharp decay, offering a very spacey and grungey sound simultaneously.
Luckily, i have a Fender Geddy Lee Jazz in the cards this season, which plays like an absolute dream. I'd heartily reccomend. IT can generate exactly what I expected from it, and i truly feel at home when playing it.
I also played around with an Epiphone goth T-bird, and was thoroughly impressed with that, as well. See, My hands are long but not wide, making it difficult to correctly acheive hand positioning. To compensate, I tend to just use the index, middle and ring finders in fretting, and slide-play a lot. I found this apprach worked well when i was playing the Goth, as those resonant lows transitioned fluidly up and down in my slides. It honestly felt as though the notes were made of hot oil, and warmed you as you heard them.
However, I decided on the Geddy as i also tend to use a lot of harmonics in my playing, and the harmonics on the Geddy...well, let's just say that they're so clear, i found harmonics i didn't even know were there! I also found that i could cinch all the strings at the twelth fret and play almost like an acoustic guitar, which offered nice folksy thing. I ultimately found the Geddy at a Best Buy for $680. Talk about a steal!
I play a lot of progressive rock and funk. The odd time signatures and quick striking hand work come very naturally to me, and i'm ciompletely comfortable with a bit of walking bass lines, as well. Frankly, I'm slightly too impatient to play the same thing over and over, so i tend to improvise.
I count among my inspirations Geddy, for imparting upon me a love of mids and trebles, Entwistle (specifically, his work on Eminence Front) for getting me to think about impact in a bass line, Clayton for making me love a bit off jazz work, and The Edge (Especially on Zooropa and Pop). I know it might seem odd for a guitarist to inspire a bass player, but I'm very effects-driven. I love experimenting with diverse arrays of soundscapes, and those two records really got me to wonder what I could do with an instrument.
I taught myself how to play, with the help of Bass Guitar for Dummies. Good book. The theory part interests me most, as all the scales and such i pick up instinctively, but it helped me practice and learn the ins-and-outs of bass, which I am very grateful for.
Well, that's about it. I hope I can contribute to the comunity here, and if anyone would like to talk bass, I'd be glad to learn! I'm still fairly raw, and would really like someone to mentor me somewhat. My YIM's on my profile. I hope to talk soon!
Regards,
Endy |
