Hi Folks, my name is Mike and I've been a drummer forever. I dabled with the bass in my youth, and at age 51 and retired I thought it would be interesting to get more seriously into the instrument.
Here is some of my story...
I first picked up drum sticks thanks to a neighbor named Ted Early in 1969. (Thanks Mr Early.) He was a country singer/guitarist who played a lot of Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. He also taught my brother Paul his first guitar chords. Anyway, we were friends with his kids and their attic was full of musical instruments. This included acoustic guitars, electric guitars, a mandolin, a banjo, a pedal steel, a set of japanese stencil drums and an electric bass. All of the instruments were inexpensive pawnshop finds, but it was cool to have all of those choices. Only one of his sons (they had seven children) showed any intrest in music. So... he would show my brother Paul and I the basics on various instruments. once we were able to play at all we would jam with him. For my brother Paul it was guitar, I would play drums or bass. I never got super acomplished on the bass, but I was capable of playing simple bass lines. When I wanted an instrument for my birthday my parents bought me a cheap electric bass from GC Murphy's 5 & 10. Eventually I traded that bass for a cheesy set of drums. I didn't mess much with bass for the next 35 years or so.
A couple of years ago I was in a pawn shop picking up a snare drum that I saw on Craig's list and I saw a really clean Jackson bass. I ended up buying it for $125 with a hard-shell case. I took it out of it's case a couple of times in the past couple of years and messed around with the basics that I could remember after three and a half decades, but I didn't get serious about it.
So...
A couple of weeks ago I was bouncing around on youtube as I often do and I stumbled upon some simple bass lessons. Hmm. I went up to the attic, tuned it up and brought it down in front of the computer to fool around with it.
After three weeks of practicing for a little every day I can play a decent walking bass line in "A", F, G, B and C, although a little slow. As soon as I feel comfortable with it I'm going to work on some different patterns. I have to say that it's not as easy to pick this stuff up in your fifties as it was when I was ten.
In any case, I'm not looking to become the next wonder on the bass guitar. I'd like to get comfortable on the instrument though.
A side note is that I used to be an executive as my day job, bassed in Baltimore. After my second stroke I retired and my girlfriend and I moved to Pittsburgh where I was born and raised.
I'm a serious drummer who owns 8 drumsets, 34 snares and over 80 cymbals. I also play hand percussion and at this time I've been gigging on percussion as half of an acoustic duo.
I'm somewhat active in the drum forum community, I hope to get to know the gang on here and learn a lot.
Thanks
Here is some of my story...
I first picked up drum sticks thanks to a neighbor named Ted Early in 1969. (Thanks Mr Early.) He was a country singer/guitarist who played a lot of Hank Snow, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. He also taught my brother Paul his first guitar chords. Anyway, we were friends with his kids and their attic was full of musical instruments. This included acoustic guitars, electric guitars, a mandolin, a banjo, a pedal steel, a set of japanese stencil drums and an electric bass. All of the instruments were inexpensive pawnshop finds, but it was cool to have all of those choices. Only one of his sons (they had seven children) showed any intrest in music. So... he would show my brother Paul and I the basics on various instruments. once we were able to play at all we would jam with him. For my brother Paul it was guitar, I would play drums or bass. I never got super acomplished on the bass, but I was capable of playing simple bass lines. When I wanted an instrument for my birthday my parents bought me a cheap electric bass from GC Murphy's 5 & 10. Eventually I traded that bass for a cheesy set of drums. I didn't mess much with bass for the next 35 years or so.
A couple of years ago I was in a pawn shop picking up a snare drum that I saw on Craig's list and I saw a really clean Jackson bass. I ended up buying it for $125 with a hard-shell case. I took it out of it's case a couple of times in the past couple of years and messed around with the basics that I could remember after three and a half decades, but I didn't get serious about it.
So...
A couple of weeks ago I was bouncing around on youtube as I often do and I stumbled upon some simple bass lessons. Hmm. I went up to the attic, tuned it up and brought it down in front of the computer to fool around with it.
After three weeks of practicing for a little every day I can play a decent walking bass line in "A", F, G, B and C, although a little slow. As soon as I feel comfortable with it I'm going to work on some different patterns. I have to say that it's not as easy to pick this stuff up in your fifties as it was when I was ten.
In any case, I'm not looking to become the next wonder on the bass guitar. I'd like to get comfortable on the instrument though.
A side note is that I used to be an executive as my day job, bassed in Baltimore. After my second stroke I retired and my girlfriend and I moved to Pittsburgh where I was born and raised.
I'm a serious drummer who owns 8 drumsets, 34 snares and over 80 cymbals. I also play hand percussion and at this time I've been gigging on percussion as half of an acoustic duo.
I'm somewhat active in the drum forum community, I hope to get to know the gang on here and learn a lot.
Thanks
