Basscapades, ep. 2: Influences

With my pending foray into the world of bass, I've been thinking a lot about bass players and the ones that I most want to emulate. Just as my guitar playing is influenced by a mix of several guitar players to make my style, such as it is, my bass playing will most likely be the same. Everyone has influences, everyone takes bits and pieces of other players' styles and adds some of their own flavoring to make their individual style.

Here, in a particular order, are my top five bass influences. I'm not saying this is a list of the best bassists of all time (although each one deserves a place on such a list), but it's a list of the players I most want to emulate, starting with number five.

5. Steve Harris - Iron Maiden

Despite my progressive rock tendencies, there's more than a little bit of metal in me, and to me, Steve Harris is the quintessential metal bassist. His playing is authoritative and technical and he does it all on a P Bass, no need for fancy 5- or 6-string basses. Plus he writes most of the band's music.

Basscapades, episode 1: The bass comes home, goes away, comes home again

As you can probably tell from the title of this blog, I decided to call my new bass series "Basscapades." This first installment will focus on the arrival of the new bass, which, as you can see from the picture on the right, kicks massive be-hind. Sure it's just your average Squier Affinity J Bass value package, but I love it. It has a beautiful deep blue finish and is surprisingly well made for something so cheap. It's also my third Indonesian-made instrument along with my two Ibanez RGs, and I have to say, Indonesians really know how to make stringed instruments.

I ordered my bass from Guitar Center on October 30 and it arrived in the mail this past Wednesday. Although there's a GC close by in Fort Collins, I got it online because they didn't have a blue J Bass pack in stock, just black, and despite the fact that Geddy Lee's signature bass is black I wanted a blue one.

The bass in the picture is not that bass.

On Saturday, I decided to open up the package just to make sure everything worked. Even though this is a Christmas present, I wanted to check it out now just in case anything was broken so I could return it if need be. I'm so glad I made that decision.

After unpacking the contents, I checked out the bass first. I tuned it up and played it a little and I was impressed. It had no blemishes and everything was bolted together quite well. Then I took out the amp, plugged it in, and turned it on.

Nothing.

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife!

Today is my beautiful wife's birthday. It's the best day of the year for me, better than Christmas, or New Year's Day, or any other day. It's the day when I celebrate the life of the person that means more to me than anything. She's been there for me through everything, and put up with all my musical escapades.

I love you sweets! Happy Birthday!

(This song always reminds me of her.)

New incoming gear and a new series

This weekend, my wife and I completed our Christmas shopping for each other. We do things a little different than most people - we order our presents online, together. That means there are no surprises, but it also means there are no disappointments either. It works out quite well.

We usually get one big-ticket item, and this year, my big ticket item is a bass. Or more accurately, a Fender "Stop Dreaming, Start Playing" Bass Pack, complete with a Squier bass, a nice Fender Rumble 15 amp, and a wad of accessories like a gig bag, cord, strap, and tuner. I have to say, I haven't been this excited about a new gear purchase in a long time.

I decided to go with the Jazz Bass instead of the P-Bass, despite the fact that I think the P-Bass looks a lot better. There's just something about that shape that just looks right to me. Still, the Jazz Bass has the kind of tone that I prefer, plus Geddy Lee plays one, so what else do you need?

I'm also going to start a new series to coincide with the new bass that will chronicle my bass learning experience. I'm trying to think of a good name. I was going to go with something cheesy like "Bass Emotions" but I may just call it "John Learns the Bass." When I make my first post, you'll know what I picked.

Since buying the bass, I've also been listening to music differently. It's like a whole new world is opening up to me. I listened to my "guitar" playlist on my iPod - the one that has all the songs I can play on guitar - and the songs sounded different to me. I heard the bass, not the guitar. Sure the guitar was still there, but it moved to the background. I was locked into the bass lines and I heard things I've never heard before, even on songs that I've heard hundreds of times. I hope that my actual experience playing the bass is as good, because I feel like this may be My Thing. I feel like I may have missed my calling all these years. Perhaps that's why it has taken me so long to improve on the guitar. Perhaps I was meant to be a bassist. At least I'm a prog fan. I can't think of any other genre except maybe funk in which the bass is given such a prominent role.

The bass pack will arrive in the mail within the week, but I won't open it until Christmas. I really don't know if I'll be able to wait that long. Shortly after, I'll start the new bass series. I'm looking forward to re-learning the songs I already know on guitar, and beyond.

I was wrong. I do know that I won't be able to wait until Christmas. Help!