thedukeofno--If you don't mind, I'd like to take a stab at presenting a slightly differing view. Please keep in mind I'm a big fan of your work and have followed the debate that you've had a hand in stirring up for at least 15 years that I know of. I often find myself in full agreement with you, but often you drive me crazy. Either way, I'm honored to have the opportunity to actually join the debate with you.
1) In general, I think you sometime neglect to take into account the fact that you have something of a gift that 99.99% of the rest of us bass players don't have. I think you discount this fact in much of your self-described "pontificating". I have read that you were considered a prodigy on violin. You are certainly a bass virtuoso. I know that you've dedicated your life to your craft. But I also think it is safe to say that some of your talent was not taught to you, nor was it something you picked up via practice or experience. Maybe some of it was in you before you ever picked up a musical instrument.
JEFF- Good points! I DO have the bug since I was a kid. But it is a fact that talent without practice is nothing. Even an average talent can steadily increase their playing ability as they learn new principles. They may or may not acquire my skills and knowledge. But, if the practice the "Good Stuff" on a regular basis, they WILL impvrove without exception and this is what I am after for those guys.
thedukeofno--People / bassists / musicians come in all varieties. Many people love to play the bass, get endless enjoyment out of it, and could give two s**ts about learning to read, or study music theory. That's OK, and it actually makes the world a better place. Wedding bands need bassists, too. We can't all be jazz virtuosos
You've shared the stage a few times with a bassist some would call a virtuoso, who, if I'm correct, knows just about zero theory (Billy Sheehan)?
JEFF Even an amateur golfer wants the same satisfaction as a pro player is seeking; they all want to put the ball onto the green and into the hole.
A bass has certain hidden attributes as anything that is unknown have. The trick is to want to unlock those hidden gems and use them. Even a basic amateur bass player must feel some kind of need to express themselves through their instrument or else, why would they have bought it. It is in this similarity that every top bass pro on Earth shares the esact same sentiment as the pure beginner feels, to make music through their instrument. And it is for this reason that I ask people to learn well how to play.
thedukeofno--In the past, you've drawn lines as to what constitutes a musician, or bass player versus someone who is merely a bass "owner". The worlds of music and art aren't as structured as say, the medical industry in that anyone who plays can call themselves a musician, and anyone who paints can call themselves an artist. However, removing one of the family dogs' kidneys doesn't make me a doctor. As a trained, learned, dedicated musician, you may refute that, but the simply fact is that "musician" and "bassist" are broad terms. Until they come up with better words, me, you, and the dudes drumming on the buckets on Bourbon Street are all musicians.
JEFF There was once a guy who shot himself in the arm with a .22 bullet and called it art (this is a true story!). There was another guy who once laid on a busy sidewalk between two electrically charged plates of metal and with a bucket of saltwater next to his head. One kick of that bucket and the guy would have been electrocuted. He also called what he was doing as art!
I separate art from academia (regular readers know that I do this). I do this because they aren't related. And I call some guys bass owners because they are not musicians, not having sought out musical things and investigated the musical issue connected with an instrument. I also own a stove and I cook on it quite often, but I have never called myself a chef. I am a stove-owner, a basic cook, a guy not dedicated to pursuing the elements that absolutely every chef pursues in their quest to improve and innovate their artistic pursuit of newer cuisine.
This is the best that I can answer your comments as to why I do what I do. If it didn't make sense, then I am OK with this and we will just have to agree to disagree. Thanks for asking your questions.
