20 years of playing bass, 10 years on TB.

[Benjamin Strange]

I'm a few days late posting this, but I just surpassed my 20th anniversary of playing bass, and 10th anniversary of being on TB - which is, incidentally on the same day: Christmas.

With a little bit of help from family, I bought my first bass for myself for Christmas at age 15 (a terrible Lotus P-bass copy), and started teaching myself how to play. That first week I took it completely apart to figure out how it works, so I guess I've been fixing guitars now for 20 years, too. Over the past two decades I've played countless shows (from tiny clubs to giant stadiums), toured the world and elsewhere, played in some great bands, met some fantastic people, released 3 solo records (working on the fourth - see my signature!), 1 EP, two music videos, owned only a small handful of basses(!), am still using my first bass amp (prototype Mesa/Boogie Bass Triaxis), and started my own guitar repair shop (Strange Guitarworks. It's been at times extremely frustrating, almost always financially straining, and yet somehow always rewarding. I couldn't imagine my life any different, nor would I want anything else.

Somehow in the early days of my internet usage (WAY before LOLcats), I stumbled across TalkBass, and in subsequent reading managed to learn a whole lot over the years (at least before it got taken over by all the young whipper snappers). I've learned a lot about pedals, amps, and basses, read some hilarious gig stories, ogled (and then forgot about) a bunch of instruments I could never afford, and chatted with some of my bass heros (Michael Manring). I've Fuqua'd, ribbed Bruce Lindfield over his crotchety old man routine, risked god's wrath by making fun of John Turner's puffy shirts, participated in the OT uprising of 2008 and didn't get caught, garnered a couple of infractions for speaking my mind, ragequit once or twice, puzzled over the mystery of the Quintar, became "pile drivingly heavy", replied with "carrots" more than once, witnessed a fake public suicide, saw the rise and fall of the Lobby, witnessed the banishment of Mike Money, PsychoBassGuy, and Ken Smith,... and I still don't know what the best bass for metal is. Over the years I post less and less, as simply talking about basses instead of playing them has become increasingly boring, and I can't keep up with all the new inside jokes and forum drama, but I still check the classifieds pretty often, and occasionally make a post (although I have to be careful about not snagging another infraction by being too honest). Perhaps someday I will tire of this site, and I will just drift away, just barely a internet memory... It's certainly been a fun ten years, though.

So yeah. I've been doing this a long time. Hooray for me.

[bassteban]

Hooray for you indeed, & I only skimmed. Will read in full later

[MAJOR METAL]

Wow, I was just thinking about you the other day. Nice to see you back, Ben. Keep rocking

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by MAJOR METAL

Wow, I was just thinking about you the other day. Nice to see you back, Ben. Keep rocking

I never really left (other than the odd weeklong temper-tantrum ragequit when I got mod-slapped). I just don't participate nearly as much - the internet, as a whole, generally bores me, so I don't have much to contribute anymore that hasn't already been gone over ad nauseum.

I'm glad to see that you're in a much better spot than when I "met" you 10 years ago, Kevin. That warms my heart.

[MAJOR METAL]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

I'm glad to see that you're in a much better spot than when I "met" you 10 years ago, Kevin. That warms my heart.

[blipndub]

12 years ago talkbass helped me get back into playing bass. I had just gotten fed up with it and stopped playing for about 5 years and then it all came back to me. TB helped me get connected and stay inspired!

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Hmm....what came first? Benjamin Strange or the lol cat.

Good to hear from you and congrats on your 10 years.

[LiquidMidnight]

Yeah, I just mentioned earlier today on another thread that I've never been on a forum for as long as I've been on TB. I guess I should pony up for that supporting membership one of these days.

What was the OT Uprising of '08? I don't remember that one.

[Bard2dbone]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

Somehow in the early days of my internet usage (WAY before LOLcats), I stumbled across TalkBass, and in subsequent reading managed to learn a whole lot over the years (at least before it got taken over by all the young whipper snappers). I've learned a lot about pedals, amps, and basses, read some hilarious gig stories, ogled (and then forgot about) a bunch of instruments I could never afford, and chatted with some of my bass heros (Michael Manring). I've Fuqua'd, ribbed Bruce Lindfield over his crotchety old man routine, risked god's wrath by making fun of John Turner's puffy shirts, participated in the OT uprising of 2008 and didn't get caught, garnered a couple of infractions for speaking my mind, ragequit once or twice, puzzled over the mystery of the Quintar, became "pile drivingly heavy", replied with "carrots" more than once, witnessed a fake public suicide, saw the rise and fall of the Lobby, witnessed the banishment of Mike Money, PsychoBassGuy, and Ken Smith,... and I still don't know what the best bass for metal is. Over the years I post less and less, as simply talking about basses instead of playing them has become increasingly boring, and I can't keep up with all the new inside jokes and forum drama, but I still check the classifieds pretty often, and occasionally make a post (although I have to be careful about not snagging another infraction by being too honest). Perhaps someday I will tire of this site, and I will just drift away, just barely a internet memory... It's certainly been a fun ten years, though.

So yeah. I've been doing this a long time. Hooray for me.

Wow. I was there for a lot of that as well. But I haven't really thought about it that way all at once. How did I miss the OT uprising? I miss the Tin Pan Alley fairly frequently. But it's probably a good thing on balance to make us quit that. I hadn't thought about it but this is definitely the longest I've participated in an online forum. My wife refers to all of you as my 'invisible friends'.

But then I'm still kind of new at this. I've only been playing bass since April of '79. And I've only really been online since '98.

[jrthebassguy]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

I'm a few days late posting this, but I just surpassed my 20th anniversary of playing bass, and 10th anniversary of being on TB - which is, incidentally on the same day: Christmas.

With a little bit of help from family, I bought my first bass for myself for Christmas at age 15 (a terrible Lotus P-bass copy), and started teaching myself how to play. That first week I took it completely apart to figure out how it works, so I guess I've been fixing guitars now for 20 years, too. Over the past two decades I've played countless shows (from tiny clubs to giant stadiums), toured the world and elsewhere, played in some great bands, met some fantastic people, released 3 solo records (working on the fourth - see my signature!), 1 EP, two music videos, owned only a small handful of basses(!), am still using my first bass amp (prototype Mesa/Boogie Bass Triaxis), and started my own guitar repair shop (Strange Guitarworks. It's been at times extremely frustrating, almost always financially straining, and yet somehow always rewarding. I couldn't imagine my life any different, nor would I want anything else.

Somehow in the early days of my internet usage (WAY before LOLcats), I stumbled across TalkBass, and in subsequent reading managed to learn a whole lot over the years (at least before it got taken over by all the young whipper snappers). I've learned a lot about pedals, amps, and basses, read some hilarious gig stories, ogled (and then forgot about) a bunch of instruments I could never afford, and chatted with some of my bass heros (Michael Manring). I've Fuqua'd, ribbed Bruce Lindfield over his crotchety old man routine, risked god's wrath by making fun of John Turner's puffy shirts, participated in the OT uprising of 2008 and didn't get caught, garnered a couple of infractions for speaking my mind, ragequit once or twice, puzzled over the mystery of the Quintar, became "pile drivingly heavy", replied with "carrots" more than once, witnessed a fake public suicide, saw the rise and fall of the Lobby, witnessed the banishment of Mike Money, PsychoBassGuy, and Ken Smith,... and I still don't know what the best bass for metal is. Over the years I post less and less, as simply talking about basses instead of playing them has become increasingly boring, and I can't keep up with all the new inside jokes and forum drama, but I still check the classifieds pretty often, and occasionally make a post (although I have to be careful about not snagging another infraction by being too honest). Perhaps someday I will tire of this site, and I will just drift away, just barely a internet memory... It's certainly been a fun ten years, though.

So yeah. I've been doing this a long time. Hooray for me.

Good to see you're still around, Benjamin. Haven't seen a Qintar mention in quite some time. The only thing missing from your old skool cred is a nod to JWC or Biski2Dope.


I've been around for TB nearly half of my life, if you can believe that.

[MakiSupaStar]

I just posted in this thread to check on how long I've been here.

EDIT: I guess it's only been seven years for me. What ever happened to your sexy doctor friend?

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

I just posted in this thread to check on how long I've been here.

EDIT: I guess it's only been seven years for me. What ever happened to your sexy doctor friend?

Sexy doctor friend instantly wanted to get married and make babies. I haven't heard from her in years, but I understand she's gotten married and is having babies. It couldn't have worked out, though - we would have had a bitch of a time hyphenating our last names: Grimm-Strange or Strange-Grimm?

You'd be proud Maki: I'm dating a tiny little tattooed bi-sexual Chinese chick, who just happens to be a scientist and makes the best fried chicken in the world. I'm a lucky man.

[Marlat]

I remember you.

[ShredderMaximus]

Here you go:


You've earned it.