Hey everyone! I thought I’d go ahead and briefly introduce myself. I’ve been playing music since I was a teenager (I’m now nearly 50 years old), but it was just about a year and a half ago that I picked up my first bass. In fact, I bought it “for my daughter”when she was assigned bass in the school rock band and thought I’d just play around with it, just give it a try, you know. Next thing I knew, I was hooked! That was January of last year (2022), and believe it or not, by August of the same year I was being invited to audition for a local band! Like, a real band with paid gigs! I had put up a profile on another music website, and they saw me and gave me a call. I said, no you don’t understand, I’ve only been playing bass a few months, but the guy insisted that I go ahead and audition, no pressure, just give it a shot. Well, that motivated me to actually learn some songs, and long-story-short, I’ve never looked back! Although I landed the gig and got to play a few shows, it didn’t work out long-term with that group, but I kept at it and put together a group of my own, then got picked up by a different local band who actually just officially added me to their roster about a week ago after an audition, a few rehearsals, and a trial gig.
So, that’s a very truncated version of my bass story (believe me, there’s been enough drama to make a Netflix series, lol).
As for equipment, my daughter’s bass (which I’ve basically stolen) is a Torino green Gretsch Junior Jet (30” ss), which I love. (If someone will tell me how to join clubs, I’ll sign up for the short scale group.) I’ve also got a Squier Jaguar Classic Vibe with PJ pups, which is a 32” medium-scale (another club to join). Both are strung with flats, which are all I ever plan to play. (This means I’ll probably be shopping for rounds within a week or so, lol. I’m kind of like that.) I’ve got mostly Chromes on the Jag and mostly LaBellas on the Gretsch. “Mostly” because I actually swapped the E strings between the two; so yes, I’ve got the LaBella E on the Jag and vice-versa. It just sounds better; don’t ask me why — haha! For amps, I have the Rumble 40 and (drum roll, please) the new Rumble 800 combo due to arrive later this week! (I’ve been all over the Rumble club pages, but how does one officially join a group?) I even have a modest pedalboard build on the Nano+ platform: Fender Compugilist for compression and dirt, and MXR Poly Blue Octave mostly for octave but also has fuzz and modulation. (I like multiFX to save space, and this stuff works well on guitar, my original instrument. Yes, but please don’t hate me, lol.) A tuner, a looper, an expression pedal… Everything can be hauled back and forth in one load — except that I bash into door frames, hahaha!
I’ve been reading TB forums ever since I got started with bass (my favorite instrument now, btw), but somehow I had never signed up until now. So, here I am at last!
So, that’s a very truncated version of my bass story (believe me, there’s been enough drama to make a Netflix series, lol).
As for equipment, my daughter’s bass (which I’ve basically stolen) is a Torino green Gretsch Junior Jet (30” ss), which I love. (If someone will tell me how to join clubs, I’ll sign up for the short scale group.) I’ve also got a Squier Jaguar Classic Vibe with PJ pups, which is a 32” medium-scale (another club to join). Both are strung with flats, which are all I ever plan to play. (This means I’ll probably be shopping for rounds within a week or so, lol. I’m kind of like that.) I’ve got mostly Chromes on the Jag and mostly LaBellas on the Gretsch. “Mostly” because I actually swapped the E strings between the two; so yes, I’ve got the LaBella E on the Jag and vice-versa. It just sounds better; don’t ask me why — haha! For amps, I have the Rumble 40 and (drum roll, please) the new Rumble 800 combo due to arrive later this week! (I’ve been all over the Rumble club pages, but how does one officially join a group?) I even have a modest pedalboard build on the Nano+ platform: Fender Compugilist for compression and dirt, and MXR Poly Blue Octave mostly for octave but also has fuzz and modulation. (I like multiFX to save space, and this stuff works well on guitar, my original instrument. Yes, but please don’t hate me, lol.) A tuner, a looper, an expression pedal… Everything can be hauled back and forth in one load — except that I bash into door frames, hahaha!
I’ve been reading TB forums ever since I got started with bass (my favorite instrument now, btw), but somehow I had never signed up until now. So, here I am at last!
