Introduce Yourself

[g.]

Yeah! I - EDIT: WE - often neglect to do what basshappi always so kindly does but it certainly needs to be said. Just jump in anywhere and realize we all salute the spirit!

[jimbojones]

Hi,

 

I'm James. My last name is not Jones, but Jimbojones sounds pretty pimp. I've been playin bass for 4 years, and guitar for 2 years. My birthday is 5/10/89. I'm from San Francisco. I like candlelight dinners, sunset walks on the beach, and poop. I own a spector NSCRFM Czech republic black and blue four string bass guitar. I play metal, jazz, classical, and a bunch of other stuff but I'm too lazy to mention them right now.

 

By the way, Long time no post! Nice to see you all again!

[Bender69]

Thanks basshappi and congrats on the degree. It's a big accomplishment and well worth it.

[Basshappi]

Time for a bumpola!

 

Hello to all the new folks! Welcome to the Lowdown!

 

Tell us a little bit about yourselves.

[abaguer]

Hi I'm Arturo Baguer, 43, play upright and electric. These days it's mainly touring overseas, no longer than a month at a time and doing local gigs and club dates in NY tristate area. Trying to sustain that balance.

[Björn Fröberg]

Hi, I'm Björn Fröberg. I was born in 1985 in Finland, where I still live. I first picked up a guitar about four years ago, a few months before I began my studies in sound engineering, which lasted two years. There, being in a music school, I also learned music theory, history and a lot more music-related stuff. After the two years, I worked for a year, and got money to buy instruments, including an Ibanez GSR200 bass.

 

This fall, I went back to the same school I studied at before, but this time to study music. I was meant to play guitar, but since there were 7 guitarists and only 1 half-time bassist, I decided to play bass instead. The more I learn now, the more I come to the conclusion that I've found my own instrument. Since then I've fell in love with the sound of a fretless bass, and bought myself one, a Yamaha RBX270F.

 

I've hanged around these forums for about a year, mostly at the guitar-forum, but nowadays I go through Antertons, the guitar, for the band and of course lowdown forums. I mostly just read, but if I feel I can (and have the time to) contribute something, I will. But I must thank you, 'cause I learn quite a bit from you guys!

 

Well, what more could I say? If you're wondering about something, then ask me.

[theheftyman]

Hi, I'm Dave Heft, 42. I have been playing Bass for about 4 years. In my youth I played a bit of guitar but was never in a band. I now play in a couple of Praise and Worship bands, do a bit of classic rock, and am trying to learn enough to get into jazz.

 

My main Bass is a Carvin B5 fretless though I recently bought a Brice 6-string fretted to try out.

 

I just recently started hanging out at the Lowdown forum and am impressed by the level of sharing and knowledge.

 

Thanks,

theheftyman

[Basshappi]

Welcome to the Lowdown!

[E Locrian]

My name's Tom and I'm a 19-year-old martial arts instructor/English major in the SF bay area of California.

 

My dad is a classically trained musician and the most proficient guitarist I know. I initially picked up the bass when I was in Junior High, not really knowing what it was. I figured that I would learn how to play with four strings first, then six. My dad said "cool" and gave me a bass guitar (and later handed down his elctric guitar when he replaced it). When my dad saw I was progressing really quickly, he wanted to fuel the fire in me and introduce me to good rock bass players like Geddy Lee, Stu Hamm, and Chris Squire. At that point, I was pretty much hooked.

 

Sure, I play guitar as well, but I'm far more passionate about (and proficient with) the bass. I find that it makes me more unique; everybody plays guitar, it seems, whereas a competent bass player is pretty rare in comparison.

 

I have played on-and-off for a while now, though every time I get back into it, I stay with it longer and make greater strides as a musician. Most recently I've learned how to read and about 5x as much theory as I previously new and had forgotten. I've also been cleaning up my technique and working as much as possible w/ Mr. Metronome. Currently, I'm saving up for a workable rig and practicing hard before I start looking for a band to join and gig with.

[Basskickerboy]

Hi. I'm KJ, 16 years old and a beginner at bass. I am in a band, still searching for a style to play. Also still searching for a name. But we do have a song, which is why I say I'm in a band. We pretty much now do worship stuff for church. We're childhood friends except for one guitar, but we're best friends now. So the band is us four guys (2 guitars, bass, and drums) We still haven't claryfied vocals.

 

I have a Peavey Milestone IV, a Peavey microbass ampm that came with, and my new baby, a Fender Rumble 100 Bass Amp, with these tight little blinking lights on the bottom.

 

I think that's it.

[Basshappi]

Welcome aboard! It's great to have you all here!

[harleyboy]

Hi! My name is Curt and I have been playing bass in a variety of bands for the past 29 years. I started out in a country band with my dad at 13 years old. Through the years I have played in 50's and 60's rock bands, 70' and 80's rock, jazz, big band, metal, and about anything else you can think of. I have always been a local weekend player but my real job just changed and I have to work every other weekend so for now I am taking a break from performing until the right thing comes along. Right now I enjoy getting the call to fill in for local bands. It presents a challenge that I really enjoy! I also like to work the front of house mix for some local bands from time to time. Alot easier there than trying to play bass and do it from stage! With that I will leave you with my only connection to fame and that would be that I used to perform in a band with Gretchen Wilson's drummer. (www.rickbrothers.com) Oh! I also enjoy singing! It helps me to get the gigs over non-singing players!

Sure enjoy the forum and look forward to sharing info with you all!

 

Later!

harleyboy

 

p.s. I also love harley davidsons in case you couldn't tell!

[cloclo]

what to tell? my name is Joris, i live in Belgium and will be 30 in about 3 weeks. bought an electric bass when i was 17 and have been hooked ever since. learned myself how to play and got me an upright (front and back are solid, sides are plywood, gutstrings if my financial state allows it) a few years later. as most guys here (or so it seems) i play a bit of everything: funk, jazz, fusion, avantgarde classic mixed with gypsy (excuse me?), krautrock, poprock, hip-hop, hard-rock...

 

i sometimes replace a bass player here and there (because of illness or whatever) and play in 3 groups myself. i studied to be an animator and have been working as an independent ever since. i do video installations, commercials, websites etc... .

 

pay isn't great and i sometimes have to wait for 6 months before i have enough money to buy new gut-strings but i tried working in a hierarchy. not for me thankyouverymuch! this squashes any attempt at getting G.A.S. from the outset. uhh, so i guess that's good

 

ooh yeah, i have a soft spot for fender p-bass

[Eric VB]

Hi from the new guy! Started playing guitar at 9 and picked up bass at 10. The P-bass I was borrowing was a bit big, so I got a Fender Musicmaster (3/4 size). Later I plugged into a Peavey TNT100 (100amp 1x15 combo). I dragged that rig around for years until I wanted more pain and traded the Fender for a Peavey T-40, a.k.a., "the heaviest bass ever made". Eventually sold the Peaveys and borrowed a Jazz, then a Ric 4003, and finally bought the Ric. (Yes, there was a Chris Squire, early Geddy Lee influence there.) I decided to experiment with amps and set up a stereo system: two Hartke 3500 heads each with a Hartke 410TP cab. The nicest part is versatility (can set up as one head w/both cabs), but leaving one rig at practice means less back pain. Although I could get stereo directly from the Ric-O-Sound port, I use a Zoom BFX-708. (It's not for every sound, but like I said, versatile.)

 

A bass player is more (or sometimes less) than his/her gear. Other than school jazz bands I've mostly never made it out of the basement, even though I've recorded 2 and a half CDs (one only has 4 tracks), all originals. Earliest influences were John Paul Jones, Tom Hamilton, and Gene Simmons; then Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, and Michael Anthony (yawn); and then back to jazz with Stanely Clarke. Recently I've discovered Stu Hamm, Les Claypool, and of course, Jaco. From rock, blues, jazz and classical (via tuba) roots, I've moved into "contemporary Christian".

 

What's really inspired me lately is a local guy, James Simonson, formerly with the brothers groove (www.thebrothersgroove.com). His soloing technique really lit a fire under my arse to get my own thang going. Good thing, too, because I recently found myself sans band.

 

Currently I'm trying to record all MY stuff (for once), not someone else's. I feel really free and liberated musically. I'm also trying out for a contemporary gospel group, which is proving quite a challenge due to my lack of experience in this genre.

[haggard]

Welcome home Ric, from another Rick player (in Switzerland). Also an earlier Squire influence, actually, and even earlier MacCartney's. Enjoy life!

[owens hound]

I've been reading from this forum and recently registered to answer a Canadian qustions and thought I'd introduce myself as well.

My name's Jason and I've been playing bass for 2 years in a gigging band. I started on drums in public school then in highschool I heard Van Halen and forgot about drums. I've played guitar for 20 years and was playing in an acoustic trio when the other guitar player got an electric and the keyboard/singer got a drum kit (both had played these in bands in years gone by). The drummer had a bass lying around so I decided to play that. Last Christmas, my wife bought me an amazing Godin BG4 that I love to play. Great sound, weight and neck radious.

It turns out that after only 2 years, I enjoy bass much more then guitar. I still play guitar often (daily) and currently have 3 guitar students that are learning anything from country to rock to folk, they tell me the songs they want to learn, I learn the songs in question and teach them, as well as teach them to learn them on their own.

I'm not in the gigging band anymore (conflict with the drummer, and me not enjoying the music, the gigs or lugging a rock band's worth of gear every weekend) I have recently gotten together with a friend who wants to sing and we're currently working on 20 tunes to play in coffee house type spots in the Mid Northern Ontario city I live in. Once we have about 40 ready, we'll get some gigs and see how that goes.

Even though I play a lot of guitar, once I started bass, my midset about music changed and I finally began to understand what different parts do to add to the feel of songs.

I've relistend to The Who, Led Zeppelin and Rush for a totally new and fresh appreation of what these bass players were actually doing and the impact that they had and still have. And to lock in with other musicians and hold down the groove is a great feeling. To get a crowd going with just a few well placed notes is a total rush.

I also record at home and enjoy using Acid Pro for loops and beats and like to record directly to it with good results so far.

I also try to keep an open mind with music and enjoy some more then others but get truely inspired by someone playing well regardless of the type of music.

[groover]

I don't believe I ever introed myself so here goes...

 

Hi, my name is Mike and I am a recovering keyboard/Guitaraholic. It's been more than two years since I've played keys or guitar at a gig, on my honor. I started playing organ (yes organ!) when I was 5 and acoustic guitar when I was 13. I took classical piano lessons in my late teens. After high school, I teamed up with other musicians and played keys but never got very far. Did some studio stuff and some private parties. Played synth on the worship team at church.

 

Around 11 years ago now, my wife (who was just my girlfriend at the time) bought me a used Yamaha BB300 for my birthday. That event changed my life forever! The church I attended needed a decent bass player and they were offering to pay for lessons. I started playing bass at my church and the next thing I know, other musicians are coming up to me and asking me to audition for their bands. At the time I didn't consider myself a very accomplished bass player, I just consentrated on playing the roots and hitting a groove and before I knew it I wasn't playing keys or guitar hardly at all anymore. More over I discovered that I loved playing bass and I seemed to connect with the bass more than keys or guitar. I have now fully seen the light of my keyboard and guitar playing folly and have discovered the hidden bass player that was in me.

 

Today, I still play on the same worship team and have been in and out of a few bands. Mostly now I just free lance with some friends doing coffee houses and studio stuff. My three keyboards and two guitars are collecting dust and my four basses and my living room upright grand piano get played on a dailey bases. I still own that BB300, although it is now fretless and has a jazz pup at the bridge, my wife wouldn't let me sell it so I modified it into something I would use. My other basses are an 80's Fender P-bass, '71 Gibson EB-0 (heavily modified) and an OLP MM3 five string.

 

Well, that's it. Thank you all!

[Basshappi]

Well, as the self-appointed guardian of this thread I felt that it was time for a bump. I see we have several newbies on the forum of late.

 

I want to extend a warm welcome to all of you and encourage you to post a bit about yourselves (even if you want to just cut and paste your original "hello" post. That way we have you in the "official gallery" as it were.

 

I think that this thread serves more that just a "howdy" function. I occasionally re-read through it and am often amazed (and a bit saddened) by the many folks who go "missing" and that we forget about. If any of you MIA folks are lurking please pop up and say "Hi" every once in a while.

 

Anyway, in the mean time Hello again to you new folks, I'm very glad that you're here!

[Basshappi]

[Rick Hoffman]

Hello

Those of you who don't me, my name is Rick from Long Island. I now play bass for a band called Magus Beast.

I've been playing since 7th grade, with a long break in between where I played guit** exclusively. Actually doing that helped me become a better bassist somehow. I picked up the bass again about 2 years ago and I've been playing almost very day.

I also sing and play some keys here and there.

FYI my forum name is just my first and middle names. I was never one for making up clever names, like Basshappi. Thats a cool name...

[Basshappi]

Thank You, Rick

 

Welcome to the Lowdown!

[Basshappi]

[ATM]

Yes, this could be a sticky.

 

ATM

[Magpel]

Hello, as my post count suggests, I'm hardly a new MP forumite, but most of my time is spent at the Keyboard corner. My handle is short for Magnificent Glass Pelican, the audio theater/comedy troupe for which I've been a writer/producer/composer for about 15 years. My professional gig is as a freelance writer and college English teacher.

 

I'm mostly a guitarist and a writer/composer type but I've started picking up work as a bass player, for which I've always had a certain aptitude. I'm facing all kinds of bass challenges these days as I really begin to dig the subtle challenges of the bass role in the various styles I'm playing, which include rock and jazz/latin situations.

 

Not that all my bass challenges are subtle. My rig more or less sucks; my time, which I always thought to be above average, is proving itself somewhat erratic, my technique is literally painful, and, of course, I'm fighting a lot of blatant guitaristic tendencies, which make me cringe even as I play them. Par for the course, I supppose.

 

But I f^&%ing love playing bass, I love the "bass ethic," and I love what playing bass is doing for my harmionic grasp of the fretboard, among other benefits. All this is why I've been lurking and beginning to post here.

 

Great forum, btw.

 

Magpel (John Burdick)

[tucker71]

My Name is Luka.

I live on the 2nd floor....

[moot]

My Name is Luka.

Thanks a LOT!! That song is now an earworm that won't go away.

[Davo-London]

Hi, my stagename's Davo. I work in the oil industry, which has got me round the world and back again to my birthplace: London. I've got 4 daughters, which eads nicely to the 4 weddings and a funeral tag. I am a newbie to the forum.

 

Classically trained on woodwind then switched to bass. Been playing bass for 30 years. Played in Jazz, big band, rock and worship bands. My heart is in Jazz and improvisation. Musicians describe my style as funky, but that's only part of it.

 

Love the interplay of other musicians and their fellowship. This forum is excellent.

[Basshappi]

Lots of new "faces" so we need a ^BUMP^!

[Phil W]

Phil Wain, I play mostly fretless and mostly my Wal Custom - she's 19. I've been playing bass for 22 years and I haven't always owned that instrument.

I started out in reggae and blues - my main inspiration for starting bass was listening to John Paul Jones on my record player and the bass bins at the reggae clubs downtown.

My main thing is jazz, of its many hues (most of which I enjoy) but I love a good grooving bassline Don't we all) especially Funk (Slave, EWF, Bootsy) and Soul (esp.James J.)

I've played most styles except (heavy metal/rock - which I love - I hust never played it).

Various experiences include years gigging and touring with a London based pan african/ghanaian group, leading my own funk-fusion band, church gigs, work with singer songwriters, gigs without chordal instruments (tough), standards stuff, street-soul, reggae, cover bands and more.

I took three years off gigging when my son was born and stayed home to woodshed and play lullabies.

Now I'm back and revitalised thanks to funding I got hold of (from a City institution) to take 10 weeks off work and spend some of that time studying bass in Pasadena at Los Angeles Music Academy. This is a great place I'd recommend to anybody, particularly people wanting to get serious in the music business. It is a smaller, friendlier place than some but the standards are very high. I had inspiring lessons with Steve Billman, Ed Lucie, Lynne Davis and Jerry Watts.

Currently I'm back in London - looking for a teacher (anybody?) and gigs (apart from an occasional cover band.

This is a cool place!

[DafDuc]

Jay Ricketts. I'm a keyboardist who gets called on to do the left hand thing or the pedal thing once in a while. Having been called on again, I'm hanging out here once in a while, as well as at the Keyboard Corner, where I've acquired the bulk of my post count.

 

Just bought an Ashdown 300/410 MAG combo, but Zzounds sent the wrong thing (just a 410 cab) so we're in the middle of doing the return authorization dance.

 

I collect synths (and hymnals, LOL), have about 20 (50ish hymnals), and have used most for bass at one time or another. My current preferred bass module is a Yam VL70-m, a physical modeling unit. Never thought it had enough bottom, but then I finally ran it through a bass amp - what a difference! I am frustrated by the monophonic thing, though. May need a second module for when I have to do 2-note parts.

 

In addition to playing in a small jazz combo (not working yet), I'm also music director at my church, which takes a LOT of time - 3 masses a weekend, 15-voice choir. It's a labor of love, though - if only it paid well enough to ditch the day gig.

 

I write a lot of music too, mostly but not all church stuff.

 

I'd like to learn to play a real bass, but Cap'n, I must have more time!!!!

 

Daf