Interviewing Bassists Stories part 2

[Arthritic_Tom]

In preparation for the rolling out of Ghosts and Ballyhoo, I'm creating an online presence.

Here's my piece "Ode to Bill Laswell and Pino Palladino." The video description tells you everything you need to know.

Thanks to Alex Golden for cleaning up the MP3 of the tape I made, and thanks to all the others who sent me MP3s. All of you get a copy of the book, as promised.

I think there were a couple of people I didn't answer. I'm sorry. My life has gotten very very busy. Today one of the greatest bassists in the world kiddingly called me a gift-horse-looker-in-the-mouther. I swear to God I'm not. I'll always be grateful to everyone here for pushing me into making this book a reality. We're very close to it dropping into your hands. The price I pay is a massive commitment to making it a success, which means very little free time right now.

So, here's the musical version of my book. The video is sad in that I can't play this way anymore. I pantomimed all the techniques and used my computer to take the photos, and even that was incredibly painful. Physically painful; not emotionally painful at all. When listening to what I could once do, all I feel now is happiness that I'd reached that level. I feel only happiness that I once knew the person who bought me that bass and served as the catalyst for me to take my playing as far as I could.

"For those condemned to [a] twilight existence, there may be brief periods--say, three years, for example--of fulfillment if the stars align. These short intervals can’t last, however. That’s why every second of them must be seen as a gift. When they end, the bearer of the gift must be honored for creating that which would otherwise have never been. The bearer of the gift is a conjurer, magicking out of thin air something unfractured and clean. Something defensible."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkrgT30lhE4

[KPJ]

Very nice, Tom! Not just a chop-fest, it is a very musical composition. Nice groove. Non of the techniques took away from the musical statement or drew attention to themselves.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by KPJ

Very nice, Tom! Not just a chop-fest, it is a very musical composition. Nice groove. Non of the techniques took away from the musical statement or drew attention to themselves.

Thanks very much. I tried hard to make it a composition and not a chop-fest. I did want to memorialize what I could do while I could still do it, but I wanted to keep it emotional and melodic. That's why I dedicated it to Laswell and Palladino. They're masters at playing technically difficult stuff that doesn't overwhelm you with show-offery.

[TinIndian]

Tom, That was great! Cool groove and impressive display of chops! Most important to me it gives me a number of ideas to work on.

Thanks for the bit of inspiration!

[miles'tone]

That is brilliant Tom, a great display of musical talent there! Nice to hear someone with all the chops using them to serve the music rather than the other way round. Tastefully done sir and totally rocking!
Love the tone of your stingray too, full on ray but nice and warm with it. How did you record it if you don't mind me asking? Do I detect a touch of a pedal or
something there?
Props to the TBer who remastered it for you, sounds wicked!

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by miles'tone

Props to the TBer who remastered it for you, sounds wicked!

I'm curious what he ran it though?

[sharp8874]

Originally Posted by miles'tone

Props to the TBer who remastered it for you, sounds wicked!

yeah it was me...thanks!

yeah i don"t think Tom had any effects on it and he recorded it with a tape deck and then made it an mp3. I did put just a tad of reverb when i ran it through protools though because i thought it added a little depth to the sound. also the slapping isnt as bright as it could have been because of the tape hiss that was on the recording originally so i cut the frequencies which has the hiss and the thing is that they also contained some if the harmonics and general percussive sounds that were recorded when tom played his song so the song is missing those little things.

also, Toms playing i have to say is something I've never heard before and can only dream of being able to that one day.
so thank you very much Tom for sharing your music with me and the rest of the community.

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by sharp8874

I did put just a tad of reverb when i ran it through protools though because i thought it added a little depth to the sound.

On my attempt I didn't want to do more than needed - but the 'verb does sound good !

also the slapping isnt as bright as it could have been because of the tape hiss that was on the recording originally so i cut the frequencies which has the hiss and the thing is that they also contained some if the harmonics and general percussive sounds that were recorded when tom played his song so the song is missing those little things.

What did you do for cuts? I ended up just throwing on a 48db/octave HPF at 6KHz, then moderately leveling and normalizing it in my attempt to clean it up.

[sharp8874]

i can't remember the exact numbers but it was somewhere up around the 5-6 KHz level i think. but i basically just cut everything off past that since i couldn't find a filter that had a good range but with a steep curve (if that makes sense)

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by miles'tone

That is brilliant Tom, a great display of musical talent there! Nice to hear someone with all the chops using them to serve the music rather than the other way round. Tastefully done sir and totally rocking!
Love the tone of your stingray too, full on ray but nice and warm with it. How did you record it if you don't mind me asking? Do I detect a touch of a pedal or
something there?
Props to the TBer who remastered it for you, sounds wicked!

Thanks very much. Alex answers your question below. When I recorded it, I used my old interview recorder set up in front of my amp. It was just a tape I wanted to have for me, so the sound quality didn't matter at the time. It was a pretty awful tape, very low volume and with lots of hiss. After I recorded it, I put it in a box and forgot about it until I wrote the book.

Both the bass and the drum machine came out of the amp, which was a Carvin R600 that I'm glad to say is now seeing service with a working bassist and a Talkbass reader in Arizona.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by TinIndian

Tom, That was great! Cool groove and impressive display of chops! Most important to me it gives me a number of ideas to work on.

Thanks for the bit of inspiration!

When the Web site goes up, I'm going to have a contest page called "Play Bass for Tom." It'll include songs I always wanted to play but never got the chance to. People can win a signed copy of the book by playing a song from the list and posting a video of it on YouTube, to which I'll link, along with the bassist's Web page or blog.

There'll be a special limited edition prize for a handful of people who learn "Ode to Bill Laswell and Pino Palladino."

[Gazman]

Originally Posted by Arthritic_Tom

When the Web site goes up, I'm going to have a contest page called "Play Bass for Tom." It'll include songs I always wanted to play but never got the chance to. People can win a signed copy of the book by playing a song from the list and posting a video of it on YouTube, to which I'll link, along with the bassist's Web page or blog.

There'll be a special limited edition prize for a handful of people who learn "Ode to Bill Laswell and Pino Palladino."

Looks like I'll be buying my copy, great idea though.

Loved the clip, very entertaining.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by Gazman

Looks like I'll be buying my copy, great idea though.

Loved the clip, very entertaining.

Thanks very much! I appreciate it.

Very fun piece to play.

[CG Jones]

Wish I had something more to say than "I enjoyed the clip," but there you go.

Incidentally, I've also picked up a copy of "In Cold Sweat," which I also really enjoyed. I can't believe you made me respect Gene Simmons as a person.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by CG Jones

Wish I had something more to say than "I enjoyed the clip," but there you go.

Incidentally, I've also picked up a copy of "In Cold Sweat," which I also really enjoyed. I can't believe you made me respect Gene Simmons as a person.

"I enjoyed the clip" is fine. Thank you!

And you're as perceptive as Gene Simmons is if you came away respecting him as a person. He's a remarkable man, easily one of the most intelligent people I've ever met.

Think about the incredible chance he took, granting me that interview without being assured the cover. Bass Player had never mentioned him before, and at the time it was a giant in the music-journalism field. Kiss had the reputation of being sort of a joke among "serious" musicians and music journalists. He gambled, but only after he calculated the odds, which he did by talking to me.

He had the ability to perceive that I wouldn't screw him, so he relaxed and followed his instincts. He also gave me over two hours, when the original time scheduled was for just one.

Those were great days for music journalism. Hopefully they'll be back and we can start reading interviews that entertain the heck out of us again.

[secretsound5]

Tom, the video turned out great. Alex, good job on cleaning the original mp3 up.

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by secretsound5

Tom, the video turned out great. Alex, good job on cleaning the original mp3 up.

Thanks very much. It was my first slideshow. Took a full day to learn how to do it, but now I know. And Alex did a great job, didn't he?

By the way, here's a little trade secret for playing:

I replaced all the pickguards on my basses with plexiglass versions that were over twice as thick. I used the original pickguards as templates and cut out the new ones using a coping saw. In the case of my Sting Ray, it's a clear pickguard with a paper photo beneath it.

Making the pickguard so thick reduces the empty space between the body of the bass and the strings. This keeps your fingers from going too far under the strings when you slap and pop, rake, and do other techniques. When you use a pick or play pizzicato, it also allows you to rest your hand on the bass closer to the strings.

The end result is you can play much faster and much more accurately without expending any more energy, because your fingers don't travel as far and don't have to cover that same distance coming back to the strings.

[WokenDeer]

I knew you had to have some skill to pull off playing successfully over seas and what not, but you truly are skilled. And like you said, whether or not you can still do it. It lives on in your soul and mind and memories. And thanks to your video, all can share in it. Props my friend.

[WokenDeer]

Speaking of making use of techniques, this has been posted here before but it deserves a retake. Check this kid out...
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2012/07...s-performance/

[Arthritic_Tom]

Originally Posted by WokenDeer

Speaking of making use of techniques, this has been posted here before but it deserves a retake. Check this kid out...
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2012/07...s-performance/

Wow! He's great! He'll go far. It isn't often that you hear someone so young play so well and with such feeling.