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Am I another Jack Bruce?

B

Baruch1994

Guest
May 13, 2019
70
201
#1
So since attempting to resurrect my long-dead bass experience at a somewhat crippled 58 years of age I've twice been compared to the Cream bassist Jack Bruce. I'm actually watching an old 1968 video of the band which includes interviews and lesson demonstrations with Jack, Ginger and Eric. Jack had an extensive classical background and was an aspiring cellist before he got sick of that restraining musical style and opted for the improvisational rock style that made him what he was to become. I also have classical and some jazz training but limited bass experience. I did take one semester of string bass twenty years ago but didn't want to schlep a big thing around, so I ended up majoring in choral composition and voice. When I burned out on 20 years of various styles of music I nostalgically rediscovered my long lost bass improv chops. Now a trained vocalist and theorist, I guess I'm able to channel that experience and training in a blues/rock setting. On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending an open mic jam that's lasted over 20 years, run by a great blues guitarist from Portland Oregon, Robbie Laws. He's really the only pro guitarist I ever played with, and that only as a sub back in 1998. But it turned out to be a huge event in my life that I have discussed on other forums.

I did play the open mic, one of the youngest "jammers" at 58, and played bass with Robbie, a cool drummer named John and another old fart guitar player who...no comment. ;-( Robbie and John were awesome and I bounced ideas off those two and they talked back. I sang "Stormy Monday" with my high voice (tonic key G)...oh, it was glorious! I was so nervous Robbie's bassist, Jim Solberg, had to come up before the jam set and calm me down. I have some "issues!" But overall it was pretty cool. Robbie patted me on the back and made the Jack Bruce comparison. Someone else mentioned me after a jam a few weeks ago. So tonight I'm studying Jack and the old 60s 3 piece band.

Tomorrow I plan to work with a DJ guy who wants me to lay down bass tracks as we attempt some sort of old-school hip-hop-rap-RB thing. I'll do anything. I'm a rock star of rehab, mental health hospitals and world stages, churches, synagogues, wherever. Music is music. If it is for the Spirit and Love thing, rock on, no matter where or what it is. This is a bass website, so that is what my focus was tonight.

I guess being compared to Jack Bruce by a world-class blues guitarist ain't too bad. Maybe I'll go back Sunday. Monday I'm heading to Tacoma to pick up a keyboard I played "on the road" almost 30 years ago, a Korg (Hammond clone) CX3. Nostalgia continues, but I need to start living in July 2019 which is pretty freakin' difficult. Later today I plan to start making rough recordings of stuff I will come up with in a recording studio. Just let the computer recording thing roll and I'll just sing and play whatever comes out of my head. If it's "good," groovy. I also plan to check out a music ministry that needs a guitarist/singer. Last week I sang at a big Christian jamboree in Oregon. I was a high tenor in an all men's chorus.

Money's getting tight. The 20 year free ride from the Veterans Administration that paid for all my music fun is running dry, so maybe I should give the music world I left behind another try. It's tough these days, very tough. I've read what a lot of you are going through to stay busy in the music scene. It's a lot tougher now...so maybe I'll head to the studio and write some fun stuff. Who knows where this is going? Surviving and staying out of trouble is a full-time gig, and I'm doing it pretty much alone in chronic pain, emotional and physical. But this music thing...and my spirituality...keep me going...

So there you go...another story from an old bass player.

Rock on,
Barney
 
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#2
Baruch1994 said:
So since attempting to resurrect my long-dead bass experience at a somewhat crippled 58 years of age I've twice been compared to the Cream bassist Jack Bruce. I'm actually watching an old 1968 video of the band which includes interviews and lesson demonstrations with Jack, Ginger and Eric. Jack had an extensive classical background and was an aspiring cellist before he got sick of that restraining musical style and opted for the improvisational rock style that made him what he was to become. I also have classical and some jazz training but limited bass experience. I did take one semester of string bass twenty years ago but didn't want to schlep a big thing around, so I ended up majoring in choral composition and voice. When I burned out on 20 years of various styles of music I nostalgically rediscovered my long lost bass improv chops. Now a trained vocalist and theorist, I guess I'm able to channel that experience and training in a blues/rock setting. On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending an open mic jam that's lasted over 20 years, run by a great blues guitarist from Portland Oregon, Robbie Laws. He's really the only pro guitarist I ever played with, and that only as a sub back in 1998. But it turned out to be a huge event in my life that I have discussed on other forums.

I did play the open mic, one of the youngest "jammers" at 58, and played bass with Robbie, a cool drummer named John and another old fart guitar player who...no comment. ;-( Robbie and John were awesome and I bounced ideas off those two and they talked back. I sang "Stormy Monday" with my high voice (tonic key G)...oh, it was glorious! I was so nervous Robbie's bassist, Jim Solberg, had to come up before the jam set and calm me down. I have some "issues!" But overall it was pretty cool. Robbie patted me on the back and made the Jack Bruce comparison. Someone else mentioned me after a jam a few weeks ago. So tonight I'm studying Jack and the old 60s 3 piece band.

Tomorrow I plan to work with a DJ guy who wants me to lay down bass tracks as we attempt some sort of old-school hip-hop-rap-RB thing. I'll do anything. I'm a rock star of rehab, mental health hospitals and world stages, churches, synagogues, wherever. Music is music. If it is for the Spirit and Love thing, rock on, no matter where or what it is. This is a bass website, so that is what my focus was tonight.

I guess being compared to Jack Bruce by a world-class blues guitarist ain't too bad. Maybe I'll go back Sunday. Monday I'm heading to Tacoma to pick up a keyboard I played "on the road" almost 30 years ago, a Korg (Hammond clone) CX3. Nostalgia continues, but I need to start living in July 2019 which is pretty freakin' difficult. Later today I plan to start making rough recordings of stuff I will come up with in a recording studio. Just let the computer recording thing roll and I'll just sing and play whatever comes out of my head. If it's "good," groovy. I also plan to check out a music ministry that needs a guitarist/singer. Last week I sang at a big Christian jamboree in Oregon. I was a high tenor in an all men's chorus.

Money's getting tight. The 20 year free ride from the Veterans Administration that paid for all my music fun is running dry, so maybe I should give the music world I left behind another try. It's tough these days, very tough. I've read what a lot of you are going through to stay busy in the music scene. It's a lot tougher now...so maybe I'll head to the studio and write some fun stuff. Who knows where this is going? Surviving and staying out of trouble is a full-time gig, and I'm doing it pretty much alone in chronic pain, emotional and physical. But this music thing...and my spirituality...keep me going...

So there you go...another story from an old bass player.

Rock on,
Barney
Click to expand...
Is that you, Jack?
 
#4
At least you weren't compared to this guy...on guitar...

74234D5B-CC2D-4E53-9EC8-2C697E21CD04.jpeg


And you don't need to justify playing with hip hop artists. It's a totally relevant form of musical expression. Rock on!
 
#8
No I have a Modulus prototype 5-string built in 1990 that I found on talkbass. My first bass was actually a EB0 I bought after I graduated boot camp in 1981. I jammed with a guitar player who went to boot camp and A school in San Diego. It only lasted a couple of weeks, then I went to sea. I don't know what I did with the Gibson, and didn't play with anybody again until 1988.
 
#10
Fretless Warwick Thumb through Hartke. He had a lot of cliches in his playing plus a very aggressive right hand. Listen to his live playing after Cream for some great ideas.

That said, Jack's bass playing style doesnt sit well with lesser guitarists who feel threatened by bass as anything other than support for their "virtuosity ". Many kocal guitarist treat the bass player as nothing more than a leg for an aroused dachshund.

After Cream, Eric never used very busy bass players except Carl Radle.
 
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#11
IamGroot said:
Fretless Warwick Thumb through Hartke. He had a lot of cliches in his playing plus a very aggressive right hand. Listen to his live playing after Cream for some great ideas.

That said, Jack's bass playing style doesnt sit well with lesser guitarists who feel threatened by bass as anything other than support for their "virtuosity ". Many kocal guitarist treat the bass player as nothing more than a leg for an aroused dachshund.

After Cream, Eric never used very busy bass players except Carl Radle.
Click to expand...
You have a great point. I have pissed off guitar players quite a few times with my playing. (I do attack the bass aggressively too) Not because of bad notes but because they do like to be the center of attention and if they aren't they get really stuffy. The best times I've had is with rythem players and guys who are bassists but just like jamming on guitar. I do that too sometimes. I suck at guitar honestly but it's still fun and I love rythem playing.
 
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#12
Exactly.

Last week at the open mic I experienced this both ways. Some old guitar jammer was chewing me out because I wasn't kissing his butt by being what you described.

But Robbie Laws was another story. And he's not far away from Eric's level, except he is pretty much a blues purist who does a lot of chord lead work. From little I know of Eric he's more single note melodic and lyrical. Robbie responded to my improvisational bass communication during his leads and so did the drummer. I can pull off high lead and harmony vocals but I'm not a bar singer. I'm a first tenor choir boy, at least that's been a lot of what I've been doing the past 20 years.

With my current financial situation I'm looking into finding a pro scene or something. Tonight I'm listening to a Prince tribute band based in Portland. They do a lot of west coast touring. I've spent some time talking bass with their bassist. He even tried out my bass that I bought on TB in May. Sounded pretty good. He's more of a pocket thumb bass funk guy but he sounds good and even does some vibrato.
 
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#14
GTHintz said:
You have a great point. I have pissed off guitar players quite a few times with my playing. (I do attack the bass aggressively too) Not because of bad notes but because they do like to be the center of attention and if they aren't they get really stuffy. The best times I've had is with rythem players and guys who are bassists but just like jamming on guitar. I do that too sometimes. I suck at guitar honestly but it's still fun and I love rythem playing.
Click to expand...
Me too, but I'm trying to improve my guitar skills. I make up stuff and sing high vocals using 12 strings. Today I made my maiden voyage into solo recording on a 12 string Gretsch I just bought. I sang and made up stuff and improvised on other's songs. Really struggled on guitar and my chord vocabulary is limited. Some guy turned me onto a guy, Mike Beato, who has a lot of free guitar instruction videos on YouTube. Maybe he can help us.
 
#19
Baruch1994 said:
So since attempting to resurrect my long-dead bass experience at a somewhat crippled 58 years of age I've twice been compared to the Cream bassist Jack Bruce. I'm actually watching an old 1968 video of the band which includes interviews and lesson demonstrations with Jack, Ginger and Eric. Jack had an extensive classical background and was an aspiring cellist before he got sick of that restraining musical style and opted for the improvisational rock style that made him what he was to become. I also have classical and some jazz training but limited bass experience. I did take one semester of string bass twenty years ago but didn't want to schlep a big thing around, so I ended up majoring in choral composition and voice. When I burned out on 20 years of various styles of music I nostalgically rediscovered my long lost bass improv chops. Now a trained vocalist and theorist, I guess I'm able to channel that experience and training in a blues/rock setting. On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending an open mic jam that's lasted over 20 years, run by a great blues guitarist from Portland Oregon, Robbie Laws. He's really the only pro guitarist I ever played with, and that only as a sub back in 1998. But it turned out to be a huge event in my life that I have discussed on other forums.

I did play the open mic, one of the youngest "jammers" at 58, and played bass with Robbie, a cool drummer named John and another old fart guitar player who...no comment. ;-( Robbie and John were awesome and I bounced ideas off those two and they talked back. I sang "Stormy Monday" with my high voice (tonic key G)...oh, it was glorious! I was so nervous Robbie's bassist, Jim Solberg, had to come up before the jam set and calm me down. I have some "issues!" But overall it was pretty cool. Robbie patted me on the back and made the Jack Bruce comparison. Someone else mentioned me after a jam a few weeks ago. So tonight I'm studying Jack and the old 60s 3 piece band.

Tomorrow I plan to work with a DJ guy who wants me to lay down bass tracks as we attempt some sort of old-school hip-hop-rap-RB thing. I'll do anything. I'm a rock star of rehab, mental health hospitals and world stages, churches, synagogues, wherever. Music is music. If it is for the Spirit and Love thing, rock on, no matter where or what it is. This is a bass website, so that is what my focus was tonight.

I guess being compared to Jack Bruce by a world-class blues guitarist ain't too bad. Maybe I'll go back Sunday. Monday I'm heading to Tacoma to pick up a keyboard I played "on the road" almost 30 years ago, a Korg (Hammond clone) CX3. Nostalgia continues, but I need to start living in July 2019 which is pretty freakin' difficult. Later today I plan to start making rough recordings of stuff I will come up with in a recording studio. Just let the computer recording thing roll and I'll just sing and play whatever comes out of my head. If it's "good," groovy. I also plan to check out a music ministry that needs a guitarist/singer. Last week I sang at a big Christian jamboree in Oregon. I was a high tenor in an all men's chorus.

Money's getting tight. The 20 year free ride from the Veterans Administration that paid for all my music fun is running dry, so maybe I should give the music world I left behind another try. It's tough these days, very tough. I've read what a lot of you are going through to stay busy in the music scene. It's a lot tougher now...so maybe I'll head to the studio and write some fun stuff. Who knows where this is going? Surviving and staying out of trouble is a full-time gig, and I'm doing it pretty much alone in chronic pain, emotional and physical. But this music thing...and my spirituality...keep me going...

So there you go...another story from an old bass player.

Rock on,
Barney
Click to expand...

I love to hear stories of people who should be crippled and fight back to function
 
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