whatever happened to intros

[Jason Hoyt]

Bravo GB, Bravo...*golf clap*

[jeremy c]

I want to add some more thoughts about styles.

 

Many styles which we take for granted now did not exist a few short years ago. I know I am old, but when I began playing bass there was no such thing as:

 

Heavy metal

Thrash

Punk

Hip-hop

Smooth Jazz

New Age

Disco

Reggae

Zouk

Soca

 

just to name a few.

 

the music that is called classic rock was just starting to be created.

 

I think if you are studying the bass, what you need to be concerned about is:

 

What do all these styles have in common?

What is a good bass line?

How do I fit in with the other instruments?

 

I try to teach my students what they need to know so that they will be prepared for the next style that comes along.

 

Students come to me and then they are afraid that "they don't want to change their style."

 

I know this sounds cold, but as far as I am concerned someone who has been playing for 3 or 4 years does not have a style, what they have is a lack of knowledge of how to play anyway other than what they have figured out so far.

 

I know that I made a radical style change at the age of 23 after playing for 7 years. You can read a little bit about that in my post on "records which changed my life". I had to learn songs in a style I was not familiar with and in the process fell in love with the style.

 

Right now, I would say that my favorite style to play in of the many styles that I cover is jazz-funk. This style did not exist when I began playing. (I suppose you could say that it did...Horace Silver was playing funky jazz...but I was not aware of him until much later...and his music doesn't much resemble music like David Sanborn's, although I will admit there is a connection).

 

Even now my style continues to evolve. Recently I have been playing with some Middle Eastern musicians and learning a whole new vocabulary. My jazz walking is changing as I decide to incorporate concepts which I knew about but did not use previously. My soloing is starting to include more melodic ideas as I learn the melodies to all the songs I have played bass on for many years.

 

Having one's own style is very difficult. My brother, a guitarist, has his own style. He has never played a cover tune in his life, he only plays his own original music, he does not study other guitarists or musicians and does not let anything else influence him. However, when we play to together, I accompany him. He can't really accompany me on my music.

 

I play many, many styles and have played thousands of cover tunes. Having my own style means that no matter what kind of music I play and what kind of song that I play there is something in my playing which makes it still sound like me. I hope that after 37 years of playing bass I am finally getting to that point.

[Jason Hoyt]

originally posted by jeremy c: I know this sounds cold, but as far as I am concerned someone who has been playing for 3 or 4 years does not have a style, what they have is a lack of knowledge of how to play anyway other than what they have figured out so far.

 

I understand what you are trying to say here, but I think a newer player has an EVOLVING style, as most of us do. While we would all like to think our style is ever-changing as we make progress, I see how alot of major changes in ones playing occur after they fully grasp the instrument and understand it in a way that allows them to find thier own "voice". However, I also believe that there are certain character traits that usually are transposed through their playing, and are probably the beginning signs of a players signature on an instrument. To say that a player of 4 years has no style is like saying a 5 year old kid has no speech patterns IMHO...

[Jason Hoyt]

originally posted by Jeremy C:I know that I made a radical style change at the age of 23 after playing for 7 years. You can read a little bit about that in my post on "records which changed my life". I had to learn songs in a style I was not familiar with and in the process fell in love with the style.

...And not to argue for the sake of arguement, but doesn't this statement imply that you did indeed HAVE a style, even after playing for only 7 years?

[jeremy c]

bassape,

of course you are right.