- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,237
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
I guess I'm about 18-19 in this pic, my first "good' bass, a '73 4001 that I bought as N.O.S. from Mike Lull in 1976, my band mates Chris Swanson and Tim Martin.
It was about this time 50 years ago (I know, WTAF) in 1974 that I got my first bass, it was a Japanese copy of an EB-0. My folks were pretty reluctant about buying a bass for my B day, but the local music shop would let you "rent to own", meaning that if you needed to, the bass could be returned if I lost interest. Obviously, that didn't happen, I wanted to try and learn the music of the bands I liked, Slade, Bowie, T-rex, Mott, Alice Cooper, Kiss et al . I drove my folks nuts playing that stuff trying to learn it. I played at parties and keggers all through high school and in real bands afterwards for several years. I went back to school in '86, got married, bought a house, played in some informal bands, got divorced in '97. It took time, but I came out and by 2003 I had met most of the folks that would be in The Nasty Habits, which, of course has been my band ever since.
I can tell that I'm slowing down a little, it takes another day or two to recover from playing a strenuous 3 set show, my hands cramp sometimes and hurt, and the days of doing nothing but straight downstroke 1/8ths are long past! I probably have another two years or so, after which I think it'll just play for the fun of it again, and other things in life like travelling with Frank and just spending time with him will be much more important.
One of my fave shots, this isn't my oldest bass. but it is the one I've owned the longest, since it was new in 1989.
It was about this time 50 years ago (I know, WTAF) in 1974 that I got my first bass, it was a Japanese copy of an EB-0. My folks were pretty reluctant about buying a bass for my B day, but the local music shop would let you "rent to own", meaning that if you needed to, the bass could be returned if I lost interest. Obviously, that didn't happen, I wanted to try and learn the music of the bands I liked, Slade, Bowie, T-rex, Mott, Alice Cooper, Kiss et al . I drove my folks nuts playing that stuff trying to learn it. I played at parties and keggers all through high school and in real bands afterwards for several years. I went back to school in '86, got married, bought a house, played in some informal bands, got divorced in '97. It took time, but I came out and by 2003 I had met most of the folks that would be in The Nasty Habits, which, of course has been my band ever since.
I can tell that I'm slowing down a little, it takes another day or two to recover from playing a strenuous 3 set show, my hands cramp sometimes and hurt, and the days of doing nothing but straight downstroke 1/8ths are long past! I probably have another two years or so, after which I think it'll just play for the fun of it again, and other things in life like travelling with Frank and just spending time with him will be much more important.
One of my fave shots, this isn't my oldest bass. but it is the one I've owned the longest, since it was new in 1989.
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