Recent content by mike montalbano

I grew up with the Beatles but, as I became interested in the bass, Paul struck me as a more conventional player. That is until I really listened to I want You(She's so heavy)and attempted to learn the bass line. The grooves that Paul and Ringo laid down on that recording are by far the most...

I always equip my mic stand with 5 or 6 picks attached to my pick holder. Wierd thing is, out of the 50 or so songs my band plays ,only about 20 of them I use a pick on. I rarely drop my picks so, I never use more than 1 or 2. I would say that qualifies as OCD-Quirky!

I own a 4 string Alembic and a 5 string Conklin. I use them both, almost equally. The 5 is good to reproduce covers that feature a 5 string or alternate tunings. I also find my ideas are more inspiring writing originals with the flexibility to experiment with all the octave options. My next...

I have a 4 string 1986 Alembic Distillate and a 1999 5 string Conklin . I use them equally for covers and originals. Lucky for me, I can switch between basses quite smoothly with my Boss ME-50B effect unit to even out the decibal/Hz difference between the two instruments. My dream bass is a...

I agree, Cake's bassist shines on, "I will survive." I learned his parts on it a few years ago and will still use it as a warm-up exercise!

Okay, it seems that some of us are thinking of solo's vs. bass lines. I clearly read the latter and have a few responses. First, I would say is Chris Squire from Yes . The song is Tempus Fugit . Busy from the first to last note. As for Geddy from Rush, there's La Villa Strangiato as a song...

Okay, It's 1976, I'm a 14 year old bass player in a band with all 18 &19 year olds. My brother,the drummer was trying to come up with a new band name. My logical mind told me to look in the dictionary. The first interesting name I came upon was" FAUN". A greek mythology man/beast hybrid. The...

First, is there going to be someone in the audience to further your career? Otherwise , not more than 2 hour drive for me. Maybe, that's why I never became a star, or a 27 year old suicide statistic ; }

Yeah, like a Rush lyric a christian could understand like " We can walk our road together, if our goals are all the same. We can run alone and free, if we pursue a different aim. Let the truth of Love be lighted, let the love of Truth shine clear. Sensibility, armed with sense and Liberty . With...

"DOGHAT"!!

No, she didn't have a clue of what the bass did. I did my best to enlighten her though....

Back in the 80's, I was selected to audition for a touring band"live" while they were playing a show at a Hotel. I was given only 5 or 6 songs to learn. the catch was, the bass player I was replacing was Felton Cruise. He was asked to go on tour with Miles Davis! A very exceptional player and he...

My quirk is that I attach a a pick holder to my microphone stand with about 5 picks. I only use my pick for about 15 songs during a show. I guess I'm always anticipating a worst case scenario although, it has never happened.

Mine was after watching me play for the entire night,an interested female congratulated me on my performance. Then, she asked ,if I was the guitarist!!

Obviously , recognized by my guitarist, an I.T. LOL!