Bassists who Skateboard Club.
 

I just took up skateboarding again after 20 years away. I'm starting to realize the parallels between learning tricks and learning to play music.

For example all skateboard tricks are are a series of submovements that connect together to form a trick. If you change one submovement the whole nature of the trick is changed. In a bassline is just a series of submovements where if you change one submovement the whole nature of the line changes.

I just realized that I can't be the only one on here who skates.

Who else is out there?

C/S,
Rev J

I think good playing is more about playing good stuff than the mechanics of playing good stuff.

Mechanics sorts themselves out if you simply practice.

Being tasteful (aka playing "good @#$%") is something you try to improve on for the rest of your life.

My guess is that skateboarding is more (by far) about the mechanics (landing the kickflip) than the artistry (do I follow the kickflip with the double-ollie?).

(I slept in a Holiday Inn Express and then played THPS3 for two months straight - I had to go into thumb therapy)

Dude, Tony Hawk is the most successful dope dealer on the planet. Hawking (no pun intended) Mountain Dew and video games. Both sugary soft drinks and video games work on the same part of the brain that Crack does.

About artistry versus technique check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbSbbY5ibas

I see the technical side of it. But to me it is also like watching dance. To me the technique is merely a means that leads to self expression.

Also on that same note. I remember being a teenager (about 20 years ago) watching Ski, Skate, and Snowboard videos with the sound turned off improvising a soundtrack to what was going on on the screen.

If you limit your inspiration to music you will limit your music.

C/S,
Rev J

I still have my skateboard and ride it maybe once every 3 months these days. Started skating when I was 8 and didn't stop doing it regularly until I was 26. I'm 36 now. It just hurts so bad to fall. Yes, I'm a kitty.

One of my real good friends owns/runs a local skateboard company and I have a couple acquaintances through him that were sponsored by big name companies at one time and now are old and own shops, themselves. Still on the periphery of the Boulder scene & still love going to video premiers and skating with those guys from time to time even though I totally suck these days.

If you didn't watch the recent Bones Brigade documentary, Lance Mountain said it best... Skateboarding is about staying as immature as possible for as long as possible. A lot of folks on here seem to think I'm a kid. I guess I'm doing a good job. :D

I saw that doc too. To me Rodney Mullen looked like he was about to fall apart. That led me to watching a couple of other interviews to see if he was really that bad off psychologically.

When I was a kid I used to watch the Bones videos with my friends and kind of laugh at Mullen and the Freestyle stuff. Ironically now he's my favorite skater.

Watching a lecture he did at USC as a part of their TED talks series and a video he did for the Smithsonian got me interested in skating again (interestingly enough alot of the things he was talking about I saw being similar to musicians). I've decided to take a year and learn Freestyle skating on a street deck which to me is like a slightly oversized freestyle board anyway.

I'm only about a year older than you. I'm having a blast learning this stuff again.

C/S,
Rev J