• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Your light-bulb moment

#5
I've been playing guitar for nearly 20 years now, but lately just haven't even been interested in it at all. One day about a year ago, I was listening to "Boat Dreams From the Hill" by Jawbreaker, and I could hear the bass thwacking along so clearly, and I thought dang, I want to be able to do that. About 6 weeks ago, I finally had the money and the time, so I dove in. It's been great - I've played more on the bass this week than I did with my Strat over the past 3 years.
 
#7
I've had many ligh bulb moments but my first was when I was 12 years old and heard Geddy Lee, I knew then that I wanted to be a bass player. The second was at around age 23 when I first heard Ray Brown and realized that upright was a great sounding instrument as well. I knew then that I would like to learn more about jazz..I have been playing and studying jazz since then and I still have light bulbs flickering all of the time. I'm 41 and it's amazing that I'm still playing the bass after all of these years, and I still love it as much as I did when I was 12.
 
#8
My light bulb so to say was the general revelation that I wanted to be a bassist for my career. I can thank John Paul Jones for that. But I agree with the process of discovering my "inner bassist", because I am getting a lot of that lately, and my god to me it's better than sex!!~~~
 
#15
My Dad was a jazz and society band bassist from the 40's thru the mid 70's. When I was a little kid, I just knew thats what I wanted to play. I used to see him off to gigs on Fri and Sat night in the tux and all and thought that was really cool.

I also remember the sound of a bowed open E or F on my first 1/2 size student upright when I was 8 or 9 years old (3rd grade) .. it was the biggest sound in the grade school orchestra one of me could balance out a room full of violins. That sound just vibrated right into my soul and that was that.

Been playing for nearly 40 years now and still get more pure personal joy out of playing than just about anything else I do in life.
 
#17
My lightbulb moment?


I knew I had to become a bassist after hearing Birdland in grade 11. I was playing for less than a year at that point, and a teacher told me to check out this cat named Jaco, and told me to download that song.
So, I put it off, and I was bored. So I downloaded Birdland.


Changed my life!! I literally didn't sleep until I got it. I went to school the next day, with no sleep (literally. it took me about 6 hours to get those damn pinch harmonics down) and I showed the teacher who showed me.

Also, talking to Stew McKinsey so much has helped. He's a great friend, and a huge inspiration.
Thanks Stew!
 
#18
Seeing Rocco and Tower of Power.
It so much wasn't about his left hand or the notes he played, at least for me. It was all his right hand and the massive groove he set up.
I was playing in a blues/R&B band, and my bandmates were there with me. After the show, none of us could even talk. We were all blown away. We all just went to our rehearsal space and played until about 3 a.m. Just working on grooving hard like that. It was probably 2 hours into playing that any of us said a word.

It was one of the most profound musical experiences of my life.
 
#20
My biggest 'lightbulb' moment was something so incredibly simple - dynamics. That first bass riff in Temples of Syrinx on Rush's 2112 remains the most crushingly heavy thing I have ever heard. It's all in the overdriven, pounding riffage right after the flighty acoustic bit and a bit of Geddy's soft warbling. That really drove the possibilities of dynamics home for me.

Another big 'aha!' moment for me was finally getting what one of my teachers meant when he said 'leave some space - some music might fall out' In the heat of the moment, particularly during a solo, this advice often falls on deaf ears. I think good old school funk is some of the best stuff to illustrate this concept. Lots of space between those staccato hits. Very effective.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back