Twang! It is not just the sound of my bow, but I did start with archery slightly before I picked up a bass in the late 1960's, archery I had to give up due to an arm injury a few years ago.
I had a Burns Sonic London Model short scale bass, my father took me around the guitar shops in Glasgow looking and trying basses, the pBass in my little 13year old hand was a nope and I did look at a Hofner violin 4001 bass but again it was not me, that plus dad did not want to shell out that kind of money. So an advert popped up for a s/h Burns bass and we went for a look and it's short length fitted with my body size and a deal was struck, think it was £15 or £16 we paid for it, and I had to pay that off by working in my dad's garage.
Bass lesson book in my hand and the bass plugged in to the amp on my reel to reel tape deck I plucked away forward a few years and a house move and I found a bunch of guys that wanted to start a band...
I was at this time a shiny new service engineer with a radar company that had just been let go due to the market collapse, I got a job in a recording studio servicing the studio equipment and in quality control on the cassette tape plant.
While I knew my bass well I had never had to integrate it into the sound of a full band before it was a bit of a learning shock for me, but I and the rest of the band got better and we got some gigs at local bars and dance halls life was great. We played some pop, a lot of rock n' roll and some heavy rock as well as Jock Jumping music (Scottish Country Dance)
Things came to an end, the young lad that was our rhythm guitarist got killed in a hit and run accident, that and I got married so I hung up the bass, I took it out a few years later but the neck was so bent that you could put your hand under the strings, there was no coming back.
Now 50 years later that bass itch is getting under the skin again and I am off to look at a Hohner Pro JJ bass this weekend.
That is where I am at just now
I had a Burns Sonic London Model short scale bass, my father took me around the guitar shops in Glasgow looking and trying basses, the pBass in my little 13year old hand was a nope and I did look at a Hofner violin 4001 bass but again it was not me, that plus dad did not want to shell out that kind of money. So an advert popped up for a s/h Burns bass and we went for a look and it's short length fitted with my body size and a deal was struck, think it was £15 or £16 we paid for it, and I had to pay that off by working in my dad's garage.
Bass lesson book in my hand and the bass plugged in to the amp on my reel to reel tape deck I plucked away forward a few years and a house move and I found a bunch of guys that wanted to start a band...
I was at this time a shiny new service engineer with a radar company that had just been let go due to the market collapse, I got a job in a recording studio servicing the studio equipment and in quality control on the cassette tape plant.
While I knew my bass well I had never had to integrate it into the sound of a full band before it was a bit of a learning shock for me, but I and the rest of the band got better and we got some gigs at local bars and dance halls life was great. We played some pop, a lot of rock n' roll and some heavy rock as well as Jock Jumping music (Scottish Country Dance)
Things came to an end, the young lad that was our rhythm guitarist got killed in a hit and run accident, that and I got married so I hung up the bass, I took it out a few years later but the neck was so bent that you could put your hand under the strings, there was no coming back.
Now 50 years later that bass itch is getting under the skin again and I am off to look at a Hohner Pro JJ bass this weekend.
That is where I am at just now
