Interviewing bassist stories

[TinIndian]

We also do have a contingent of people who get really angry and defensive any time science is used to challenge commonly-held beliefs about bass gear. They assert that science is only used by non-musician nerds, and that Real Bassists are above such wastes of time.

Don't get me wrong Bongo, I trust you guys about such things because I don't have the time to put into studying it. I'd rather go with the knowledge of guys like you, plus I'm way beyond bringing multiple cabs to a gig. I just find it quite humorous any time I see the topic come up the way it is feverishly commented on buy some.

 

[smcgov]

So true, in relationships, music, work or wherever. It reminded me of this story:
Invalid Link Removed

The point is that sometimes our best efforts are ignored, or even derided simply because of context. The same music for a different set of ears, or the same words for another person's eyes might make all the difference.

this is pretty sad...I wonder if the age demographic is relevant to the results though, for instance, if there was a full band there playing the blues or if steve vai was there playing if more people would have been able to relate and stop. I can't say for sure but I don't think classical lovers are prominent in that age range and would be riding the subway, maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Spin Doctor]

I always have a problem with these types of articles. They bemoan the fact that "the beauty of the music" should shine through, when the only thing that matters to most people is relavance. Most people can't relate to classical becase it's about 300 years out of date. But 300 yers ago, it was the pop music of its time, just as 60 years ago, jazz was the pop music of its time.

The huge advantage of classical music, beauty wise is that they have had centuries to cherry pick the best works, about 500 years worth of violin building to perfect the instrument and another few centuries to perfect the interpretation of music that is absolutely always played with the exact same notes each and every time. It's beauty lies in the fact that it's polished to a high gloss. Not the fact that people recoginze the relavance of the Polish Revolution in a Chopin piece or something like that. It's just pretty.

I guess beauty is a fundamental concept in and of itself, but in a society that is geared and constantly saturated with the concept of beauty and being beautiful, violin music isn't gonna make a dent, especially in Washington DC, the "hey-look-at-me capital of the world" and on top of that, when you are trying to hussle your ass to work. Play it in some war torn area, that is typically surrounded by uginess and the public response will likely be very different.

 

[SoVeryTired]

...With apologies to the Brits reading this, but the British flamethrower effort in World War I was ludicrous...

Well now you've ruined the whole thread. If there's one thing that you just can't question in Britain, it's the quality of our flamethrowers. I shall be reporting this thread to the moderators forthwith, and will seek satisfaction from you at dawn tomorrow. Bring your best duelling flamethrower, sir.

 

[bongomania]

Don't get me wrong Bongo, I trust you guys about such things because I don't have the time to put into studying it. I'd rather go with the knowledge of guys like you, plus I'm way beyond bringing multiple cabs to a gig. I just find it quite humorous any time I see the topic come up the way it is feverishly commented on buy some.

The funny thing is, I hadn't seen your post before mine, I was thumb-typing slowly on my phone--so after the page reloaded I saw it and thought "oh no, he's probably going to think I was referring rudely to him!" Even funnier though: I actually had initially included a snarky comment about Victor Wooten vs. science, but nixed it before hitting "send".

 

[TinIndian]

The funny thing is, I hadn't seen your post before mine, I was thumb-typing slowly on my phone--so after the page reloaded I saw it and thought "oh no, he's probably going to think I was referring rudely to him!" Even funnier though: I actually had initially included a snarky comment about Victor Wooten vs. science, but nixed it before hitting "send".

That is funny! Talk about the same wavelength! Like I was saying, I just find the replies on the topic humorous when it comes up. Usually makes for some good reading.

 

[NWB]

Oh, we have our moments. One of the reasons we seem so open-minded is you haven't tipped any sacred cows, or trod on sacred toes. With the British flamethrower deal, you walked into a room full of people that venerate British military history and told them a chunk of their True Cross was actually paper mache, and that the officers in charge were idiots. Over here, you'd have to post that tube amps are garbage and Leo Fender was an idiot. We also do have a contingent of people who get really angry and defensive any time science is used to challenge commonly-held beliefs about bass gear. They assert that science is only used by non-musician nerds, and that Real Bassists are above such wastes of time. Anyway, we are all very fortunate your memoir posts are about humanity and inhumanity, so we can all relate.

What really strikes me about those debates is the pointlessness of it all.

A lover of the precision isn't going to change their mind because so-and-so says it doesn't work for slap reggae fusion.
And so they argue until they're both blue in the face and their fingers are mushed from pushing keys. To what end?

I have a strong preference for jazz basses, but I'm not about to tell anyone else to play one. Except maybe Scott Thunes. I think his band would really come alive if he ditched the P for a good J.

Yeah, he should really listen to me because....because...

 

[mixtapelove]

What a great comment!
An internationally famous creator of a hugely successful TV series that has become a permanent part of American culture said to me at a Zappa convention, "Do you know who I am?"

[...]

He was a physical monstrosity, and an arrogant one at that. He was spending his fortune on fatty foods, and he liked to lord his fame and power over a struggling writer having absolutely no success selling even one copy of his little book.

Nobody on this thread is that kind of failure.

I know exactly who this is, because it's pretty much my favorite TV show of all time, but I won't reveal it.

I will say that Frank had a mutual affection for said show and was supposed to appear on it one day, but never did.

 

[Lady Kayri]

And, Tom, if you mention playing bass with a pick, the flame wars will erupt...

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

I know exactly who this is, because it's pretty much my favorite TV show of all time, but I won't reveal it.

I will say that Frank had a mutual affection for said show and was supposed to appear on it one day, but never did.

I was never able to watch the show again. I'm not a very forgiving person. Every time the characters spoke, all I could hear was, "I'm a fat a-hole! I'm a fat a-hole!"

What got me was him instantly and unselfconsciously turning me into his errand boy, as though he were entitled to do so, and my own business there--trying to sell books--was inconsequential to his need to get a message to Gail Zappa.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

And, Tom, if you mention playing bass with a pick, the flame wars will erupt...

You think I'm afraid of flame wars? I've published three books on them!

Ray Shulman was a pick wielder. Scott Thunes is a pick wielder. I mostly used a pick until it got too painful and then switched to my fingers until that got too painful.

How could you play this without a pick?

Massacre - Legs - YouTube

Flame away!

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

I have a strong preference for jazz basses, but I'm not about to tell anyone else to play one. Except maybe Scott Thunes. I think his band would really come alive if he ditched the P for a good J.

Yeah, he should really listen to me because....because...

When Hendrix first saw the Who, he had Entwistle describe his entire rig in detail--bass, amp, settings, effects--and then Hendrix ordered Noel Redding to buy all the same stuff and play it using all the same settings.

It didn't last long, because Redding simply couldn't get the same sound, even with the same equipment used at the same settings.

 

[turbo chicken]

im on page 23 and there are 38 pages...

i haven't done crap since about 10:00 CST ...

I gonna have to bust my arse tomorrow at work.

 

[NWB]

When Hendrix first saw the Who, he had Entwistle describe his entire rig in detail--bass, amp, settings, effects--and then Hendrix ordered Noel Redding to buy all the same stuff and play it using all the same settings.

It didn't last long, because Redding simply couldn't get the same sound, even with the same equipment used at the same settings.

Funny thing that after all heated debates about equipment minutae, in the end, we still manage to sound like ourselves.

Just my opinion, that's a very good thing.

PS - I hope you had a nice weekend Tom. Don't forget to take time away from us scrubs to enjoy life.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

im on page 23 and there are 38 pages...

i haven't done crap since about 10:00 CST ...

I gonna have to bust my arse tomorrow at work.

Thank you very much.

I may have an announcement to make in the next day or two. It will make some of you sad for the immediate future, it terms of what'll mean for this thread, but it will make all of you glad for what may come about in less than a year, and every single one of you will be able to take credit for it.

Stay tuned...

 

[NWB]

You think I'm afraid of flame wars? I've published three books on them!

Oh man, I really busted up laughing on this one!

 

[BassNeo]

Thank you very much.

I may have an announcement to make in the next day or two. It will make some of you sad for the immediate future, it terms of what'll mean for this thread, but it will make all of you glad for what may come about in less than a year, and every single one of you will be able to take credit for it.

Stay tuned...

I LIKE the sound of this. Well, not in the sense that this thread will come to a close (and I recommend that the thread be closed so that it doesn't degrade into the topics that turn good threads into detritus) but that it leaves room for you to write your book.

 

[Arthritic_Tom]

Funny thing that after all heated debates about equipment minutae, in the end, we still manage to sound like ourselves.

Just my opinion, that's a very good thing.

PS - I hope you had a nice weekend Tom. Don't forget to take time away from us scrubs to enjoy life.

I had a great weekend, thanks.

I'm tethered to my house for now, so the computer means more to me than it does to the rest of you. Writing this thread has clarified a lot and apparently created an opportunity that simply didn't exist either in my mind or (from what I gather) in reality just a few days ago.

But things are coalescing rapidly. It's very strange. A swan song is apparently on the verge of becoming whatever the opposite of a swan song is. A phoenix song?

This was one of the first songs that truly mesmerized me with the bass. Every time I listen to it, I smile. It always bothered me that Bill MacCormick didn't get more recognition. I tried for years to copy his tone and style, until I realized it wasn't my voice; it was his.

801 - Tomorrow Never Knows (1976) - YouTube

(MacCormick is also a World War I historian who publishes under the pen name Alan MacDonald.)

 

[mixtapelove]

I was never able to watch the show again. I'm not a very forgiving person. Every time the characters spoke, all I could hear was, "I'm a fat a-hole! I'm a fat a-hole!"

What got me was him instantly and unselfconsciously turning me into his errand boy, as though he were entitled to do so, and my own business there--trying to sell books--was inconsequential to his need to get a message to Gail Zappa.

My wife worshipped the ground he walked on for several years. Then she tried to meet him. Completely blew her off.

I don't watch the show anymore anyway, because it hasn't been clever in years.

There might be something to your whole "never meet your heroes" theory.

 

[MartinG1957]

Tom, I've read this thread from start to its impending conclusion- gone through the same gamut of emotions as everyone else has here with you and rejoiced in the realisation of your own personal realisations and the support and joy expressed by all the contributors here.
I just wanted to put down my own thanks and admiration for your sharing and for all of the wonderful community on here who have responded in such a wonderfully human way-makes me proud to be a tiny part of such a fantastic group of people.
Very best wishes for what's hopefully coming-my order will be ready as soon as you tell us to go!
To my fellow TB'ers- respect!