January 21, 2005
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I have started working out on the electric bass again! When I really started playing music again back in 1998, I was playing bass in the praise band. Then, when another bass player came into the congregation and joined the praise band, I kind of let the bass slip and started concentrating on guitar. And, of course, my instrument with the Starfires is the guitar. Roger does very nicely, thank you very much. But I have these nice basses which have just been sitting there! Well, I have decided to do something about that, even if it’s only in the privary of my computer room! There is this cool website, http://users.cis.net/sammy/lyric.htm, which has a whole bunch of tunes on there which I can play along with. I have to admit, that there are some songs on there with which I am not familiar, but a lot of them I know. Sammy has done a great job with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which has always been one of my favorite songs, and there are others which really get my nostalgia button pushed: ABBA, Stealers Wheel, etc, even some disco!!. So, anyway, it’s fun! Of course, I can always download some songs through iTunes. What’s the old Martin Mull song, something about getting licks off of records? Yeah, that’s me. I guess one problem I have with the younger folks who can do all these blazing riffs on their guitar or basses, is that they can’t sit down with a bunch of guys/gals and play a whole song! Wha hoppen to the jam session? You know, if you listen to a lot of blues, you discover that many of the songs are done over a three-chord progression. I recently bought the DVD of the ”Crossroads Concert” that Eric Clapton did last summer in Texas with a lot of other renowned guitarists. Great stuff, but a lot of it relies on three-chord progressions. Nothing wrong with that! It’s just interesting!
I read somewhere in one of the bass magazines that one bass player recommends that bassists play some guitar, too. There is a lot of wisdom in that. Having the background in guitar really helped me in learning the bass, and prevents me from doing just the I-V pattern, although that is a good pattern to know and use. But I “walk” quite a bit, just doing guitar riffs on the bass. It gives me a different groove.
( Who’s this guy Kilo Ali, anyway?
