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What changed your life(bass related only please:))
- Thread starter Jack Butler
- Start date
playing with better/real musicians. no gear/ax has done more for me than the lessons i've learned from the 'chops-with-wisdom' class. most of that happened when i was younger: cats who played piano, or drums, or a horn...they weren't bass players. but they were great teachers.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,236
- 45,144
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
1. A bellydancer girlfriend handing me a doumbek (Arab drum) when I was 20. Suddenly I *got* rhythm and how the bass functions.
2. A month or so later I told my guitar teacher that I was thinking about playing bass. He said "Great! I need a bass player and you'll pick it up quick. Let's go down to Jensen Music and you can get a bass". And he drove me there. Within 2 weeks I was playing in 2 bands...
3. Committing to fretless. Getting my Zon helped but it was really going to fretless that was life changing, not the instrument.
4. Seeing Tower of Power live. Rocco just rethreaded my head.
5. Giving up slap. I had spent a lot of time developing slap technique, and I could imitate a great bass player pretty well (that is, flashy and with groove) but I overdeveloped technique and underdeveloped musical understanding.
6. Victor Wooten's Bass Nature Camp. I was returning to bass after 15 years away (raising family, career, etc.). I barely knew who Victor was. I was going because Chuck Rainey was on staff. I got so much great musical inspiration, and realized just how much my "fear of playing a wrong note" was holding me back.
2. A month or so later I told my guitar teacher that I was thinking about playing bass. He said "Great! I need a bass player and you'll pick it up quick. Let's go down to Jensen Music and you can get a bass". And he drove me there. Within 2 weeks I was playing in 2 bands...
3. Committing to fretless. Getting my Zon helped but it was really going to fretless that was life changing, not the instrument.
4. Seeing Tower of Power live. Rocco just rethreaded my head.
5. Giving up slap. I had spent a lot of time developing slap technique, and I could imitate a great bass player pretty well (that is, flashy and with groove) but I overdeveloped technique and underdeveloped musical understanding.
6. Victor Wooten's Bass Nature Camp. I was returning to bass after 15 years away (raising family, career, etc.). I barely knew who Victor was. I was going because Chuck Rainey was on staff. I got so much great musical inspiration, and realized just how much my "fear of playing a wrong note" was holding me back.
Many, probably the most important is hearing myself on a play recording for the first time.
"Whoa, I sound like THAT?"
That made me improve more than anything.
"Whoa, I sound like THAT?"
That made me improve more than anything.
1 - 1964 went from a Fender Jazzmaster gutiar to a Gibson EB-2 bass and got a Fender Dual Showman (2x15) and bass entered my bloodstream for the first time.
2 - 1967 played with Lazy Bill Lucas, recently in Minneapolis after leaving Chicago and the Chess Studios.
3 - 1969 forced to sell amp when in the Army because my Mom wouldn't store it for me. Some Moms aren't...
4 - 1987 a close friend in advertising got the GK account. Following that intro I bought the GK400RB and 410 and was back in business.
5 - 2019 smashed a finger in shower door and couldn't play 6 string guitar, but could play bass much sooner. By concentrating on bass, I realized it was my true love. Fender announced an American Mustang and I tried a Sadowsky NYC and bought both. Yahoo.
2 - 1967 played with Lazy Bill Lucas, recently in Minneapolis after leaving Chicago and the Chess Studios.
3 - 1969 forced to sell amp when in the Army because my Mom wouldn't store it for me. Some Moms aren't...
4 - 1987 a close friend in advertising got the GK account. Following that intro I bought the GK400RB and 410 and was back in business.
5 - 2019 smashed a finger in shower door and couldn't play 6 string guitar, but could play bass much sooner. By concentrating on bass, I realized it was my true love. Fender announced an American Mustang and I tried a Sadowsky NYC and bought both. Yahoo.
Joining a salsa band opened many musical doors for me, forced me to learn:
- to read rhythm
- to play 3 hour gigs from charts
- that understanding a style means understanding the whole rhythm section's parts
- most 'simple' styles go much deeper than I think
- there is a level of deep musical expression beyond the mere physical execution of my part
- to read rhythm
- to play 3 hour gigs from charts
- that understanding a style means understanding the whole rhythm section's parts
- most 'simple' styles go much deeper than I think
- there is a level of deep musical expression beyond the mere physical execution of my part
seeing tony levin on gabriel's so tour in 1987 at the age of 15 and thinking it was the coolest s--t i'd ever seen
A huge change for me was the realization that poor speaker cabinets were preventing me from getting good tone no matter what I played through them or how I set the tone knobs. Poor-sounding speaker cabinets are quite common, so it is possible to try several and think "I guess it's not the speaker." A good speaker cab is 15% of your tone, a bad cab is 90% of it.
1) playing through speakers that were all the same size
2) setting my EQ flat (or close too it)
3) adding an HPF to my signal chain
4) learning to play guitar (I know... but it seriously helped my approach to bass playing and musical understanding in general to understand the chord structure from a guitar standpoint)
2) setting my EQ flat (or close too it)
3) adding an HPF to my signal chain
4) learning to play guitar (I know... but it seriously helped my approach to bass playing and musical understanding in general to understand the chord structure from a guitar standpoint)
Chris Wolstenholme.
He may not be the first bassist to split his signal but he was the first bassist I listened to that inspired me to experiment with my effects pedal signal routing. I sought more depth from my tones and learned to build unique tones from the standard Guitar Center fair (even if they weren't always good tones it was always fun)
I've spent years routing out various parallel signal chains to get the most out of my effects and it's all thanks to him.
He may not be the first bassist to split his signal but he was the first bassist I listened to that inspired me to experiment with my effects pedal signal routing. I sought more depth from my tones and learned to build unique tones from the standard Guitar Center fair (even if they weren't always good tones it was always fun)
I've spent years routing out various parallel signal chains to get the most out of my effects and it's all thanks to him.
There are many moments that I've had where I learned something new that just "clicked" in my head and made my playing better, but if I had to choose, I would say:
1. Learning how to read/interpret standard notation, because it opened up a whole new world of resources.
2. Switching to low-tension strings, because they allowed me to become more expressive.
3. Learning the "Wooten" style of thumping. My slap-technique has never been more consistent.
1. Learning how to read/interpret standard notation, because it opened up a whole new world of resources.
2. Switching to low-tension strings, because they allowed me to become more expressive.
3. Learning the "Wooten" style of thumping. My slap-technique has never been more consistent.
1) Bobby Vega Pick technique
2) Building my own bass
2) Building my own bass
Discovering Tele, then shortly after, early slab P basses. It was a way for me to get Fender built quality and still be able to differentiate myself from all the other Fender players. I was home.
I learned the opposite. Played guitar first, but the concept of arpeggios first resonated when I played bass. Bass also helped my singing, with the concept of "safe" notes and passing tones really helping understand melody.
Learning about drums (I'm not coordinated to perform on a kit... so not playing drums kept me from doing this) was a huge benefit to the concept of rhythm, which also helps my bass playing. EVERY instrument is a rhythm instrument, bass even more than drums in some genres.
We talk smack about each other in pop and rock bands, but we all have challenges. I think really understanding the other parts informs your own all the more.
Learning to play the piano and guitar. Both really helped me to understand chord structures and bass movement within progressions.
Also, my sophmore year in high school, I was selected to play bass with the showchoir. The school's bass was a 1971 Fender Jazz, and it was so easy to play.
Also, my sophmore year in high school, I was selected to play bass with the showchoir. The school's bass was a 1971 Fender Jazz, and it was so easy to play.
my first 6 string. it was a cheap piece of garbage, but i knew i liked those extra notes. i literally almost always play 6 string basses even still.
only other life changer i can think of is tech 21 VT bass. nothing like it.
only other life changer i can think of is tech 21 VT bass. nothing like it.
A growth spurt when I was about 10. As a result, the elementary school orchestra director moved me from cello to...........bass!
