Years ago I thought I had to give up making music and earn a living. So I gave away my 1972 Fender Jazz and Kustom amp and cab.
It took me decades to realize I had it wrong.
A few years ago, a group of young whippersnappers in our church started a contemporary service. I loved the service and music, but pitied the poor guitar payer who had to play bass. "I can help you with that." Borrowed my brother's MIA 1980s Fender Jazz, a Crate practice combination, and got back to playing again.
But I still wasn't playing the bass outside of the occasional practices and services. I realized it was because it wasn't my own. So I got my unplayable Kay upright fixed and setup. I bought a Charvel by Jackson model 2B (1986) and a 1990s Peavey TKO 115 S. (Though more recent than the last time I played, they were both sold as "vintage!") Had my brother's Jazz setup and returned it to him.
Now I'm loving playing again.
Back in the day, it was enough to plug in, turn all the knobs to 11 and be in on the "one." 1-4-5, with a few leading tones, took me as far as I ever thought to go. "Setup" was plugging stuff in. "Intonation" was spinning the tuners. "Tonality" was a knob. "Equalization" was not being louder than the guitars. Tube amps were what the old guys played on - all the cool kids wanted the new solid-state amps. With most bassists I knew being self-taught refugees from guitar-world, I found my long classical training on the string bass gave me plenty of skills and theory to apply to the bass guitar. Two fingers picking was as edgy as anyone got (besides Stanley Clarke, of course). Never heard of this, how you say, "Jaco." Picks were only used by guitar players and other bad boys (never heard of Carol Kaye, either).
Now I've got to figure out what all these knobs and switches are on my amp and what they do. Going back and forth between P & J and contours and eq-settings and loving it all. Going to buy some picks and see if I can make them work. Love the slap sound and want to learn me some of that. Learning how to use more fingers than two and getting the thumb in on the fun (Victor Wooten is my hero, but he's an alien.)
I have a lot to learn.
I learned that the Charvel that makes me a "pointy-head." First time I took it to the church practice the young guys said we're going to have to add some Judas Priest or Iron Maiden to our repertoire.
Looking forward to getting more theory, relearning modes, more chording, building up my callouses and finger strength, getting my bow technique back, and of course, working my scales.
I feel like Bela Fleck when he told Victor Wooten he was going to play with Chick Corea: Victor told him, "Dude, you'd better practice."
Having spent some quality time on Craigslist to get the Charvel and the Peavey, I've now got GAS bad. I already have a fretless (my Kay), but I want to know what the mash-up of fretless and guitar feels like. Already have my acoustic (again, my Kay), but am jealous of the geetar players who always have a guitar they can just pull out of the bag at home jams. Already have my electric (my Charvel) but already see how different setups, scale-lengths and pickup configurations would work better for slap and pick and I don't want to mess with my perfectly-setup Charvel. Interested in a compressor, but want to get my technique cleaner before using technology to cover it up. Still don't know what other affects pedals do or why I should want one - "overdriving" sounds like something unsafe to do in a car.
Looking forward to learning tons. That's why I'm here!
It took me decades to realize I had it wrong.
A few years ago, a group of young whippersnappers in our church started a contemporary service. I loved the service and music, but pitied the poor guitar payer who had to play bass. "I can help you with that." Borrowed my brother's MIA 1980s Fender Jazz, a Crate practice combination, and got back to playing again.
But I still wasn't playing the bass outside of the occasional practices and services. I realized it was because it wasn't my own. So I got my unplayable Kay upright fixed and setup. I bought a Charvel by Jackson model 2B (1986) and a 1990s Peavey TKO 115 S. (Though more recent than the last time I played, they were both sold as "vintage!") Had my brother's Jazz setup and returned it to him.
Now I'm loving playing again.
Back in the day, it was enough to plug in, turn all the knobs to 11 and be in on the "one." 1-4-5, with a few leading tones, took me as far as I ever thought to go. "Setup" was plugging stuff in. "Intonation" was spinning the tuners. "Tonality" was a knob. "Equalization" was not being louder than the guitars. Tube amps were what the old guys played on - all the cool kids wanted the new solid-state amps. With most bassists I knew being self-taught refugees from guitar-world, I found my long classical training on the string bass gave me plenty of skills and theory to apply to the bass guitar. Two fingers picking was as edgy as anyone got (besides Stanley Clarke, of course). Never heard of this, how you say, "Jaco." Picks were only used by guitar players and other bad boys (never heard of Carol Kaye, either).
Now I've got to figure out what all these knobs and switches are on my amp and what they do. Going back and forth between P & J and contours and eq-settings and loving it all. Going to buy some picks and see if I can make them work. Love the slap sound and want to learn me some of that. Learning how to use more fingers than two and getting the thumb in on the fun (Victor Wooten is my hero, but he's an alien.)
I have a lot to learn.
I learned that the Charvel that makes me a "pointy-head." First time I took it to the church practice the young guys said we're going to have to add some Judas Priest or Iron Maiden to our repertoire.
Looking forward to getting more theory, relearning modes, more chording, building up my callouses and finger strength, getting my bow technique back, and of course, working my scales.
I feel like Bela Fleck when he told Victor Wooten he was going to play with Chick Corea: Victor told him, "Dude, you'd better practice."
Having spent some quality time on Craigslist to get the Charvel and the Peavey, I've now got GAS bad. I already have a fretless (my Kay), but I want to know what the mash-up of fretless and guitar feels like. Already have my acoustic (again, my Kay), but am jealous of the geetar players who always have a guitar they can just pull out of the bag at home jams. Already have my electric (my Charvel) but already see how different setups, scale-lengths and pickup configurations would work better for slap and pick and I don't want to mess with my perfectly-setup Charvel. Interested in a compressor, but want to get my technique cleaner before using technology to cover it up. Still don't know what other affects pedals do or why I should want one - "overdriving" sounds like something unsafe to do in a car.
Looking forward to learning tons. That's why I'm here!
