thebassmandave

I'm left handed and have always played left handed. I know there are a lot of lefties who play right handed, but I never even considered the idea of trying to play right handed at the time because it just felt so natural for me to play left landed. The first bass I played was a right handed no name P bass copy. I asked for the strings to be swapped around so I could play it left handed. Eventually got my first left handed bass a few months later - it was a Roland G5 I think. I know only too well what you are saying about the difficulties of getting left handed models, and when they are available, the extra charges sometimes incurred for it being a left hand model. I think that there are more instrument companies now than before that are trying to offer left handed models for the same price as right handed versions. I know Musicman did when I bought 2 Stingrays back in 1997. When I moved to Los Angeles 3 years ago, I thought I'd have no trouble at all finding another lefty P bass to go with the one I had brought with me. The music stores out here are massive (compared to the ones in England) and although they have massive selections of instruments, it's the same old problem for the lefty. I was told on more than one occasion that if I wanted to try a lefty bass which they did not stock, then I would need to put down a 50% deposit so that they could order it for me to try. I was never comfortable with that arrangement and so I just carried on looking in the stores until I eventually found another P bass. One thing about Fender that does bug me more than the price difference is their lack of options regarding the lefty American Standard Precision. It's like they've done a Henry Ford and said "left-handed in all models as long as it comes with the S1 switching system."

I saw Skid Row back in 1991 when they supported Guns N' Roses at Wembley Stadium. Could be wrong, but I seem to recall Rachel wearing a pink leather suit and doing a bit of crowd surfing. One thing I do remember is them playing the song "Get The @#$% Out" despite the warning petition from Brent Council forbidding them to play that song.

Ah! This brings back some fond memories. Walking back from the junior disco , passed a music shop and had one of those "moments" like you see in the movies. Sitting right in the middle of the shop window was this gorgeous sunburst P-bass no name copy. It was love at first sight - didn't even notice any of the other instruments in the window - just this one: like a spotlight had just been shone on this one bass (que harps and angel voices) Had the shop assistant swap the strings over for me as it was a right handed model and I play lefty. Shop assistant hacked into nut with stanley knife to accomdate E string into G string space and folded up a pice of paper to wedge the G string into the E string space!!!!! Despite this somewhat crude method of string conversion, (and being played upside down) this bass felt really nice to play and sounded warm and growly. I eventually sold it, but wish I had kept as it was the first bass I owned and played.

Can't beat that Whigfield one either but...... One time I was playing in a rock covers band and our drummer couldn't make the pub gig, so we were desperately looking for someone to sub. Don't know how he managed it, but the guitar player got Les Binks (who used to play with Judas Priest) to sub on the gig. Talk about a stroke of luck. Needless to say, Les didn't need to rehearse with us beforehand, knew all the tunes, just turned up and played and took the whole band's playing up a gear. My Dad had a cool one too... Back in the early 60's he was in a pub in Richmond where a young band was playing. During the break, he's talking to the singer at the bar (who my Dad described as "a scruffy bugger who didn't look like he had two ha'pennies to rub together" ) Anyway, my Dad got talking to this young man and felt sorry for him ('cos he really looked broke) and bought him a drink and they chatted a bit about his band and their ambitions. My Dad said to the guy, "don't worry Mick, I think your band will make it!" Turned out he was talking to Jagger.

Took me a few years of playing before I played my first gig. Started playing bass by taking lessons at the beginning of 1985. Within 2 or 3 months I was playing in my first band whilst attending college. Parental pressure ("this is all very well for a hobby, but you need to concentrate on a proper job, career, qualifications etc.."), and a severe lack of confidence in my abilities, put the mockers on my bass playing activities (even sold all my gear), until my wife at the time (bless her) gave me full support and encouragement to go out there and get another bass and play. This was at the end of 1991. I started taking lessons with a guitar teacher who also taught bass. The good thing with that was that he had guitar students who were looking for a bass player and so he would pass me their phone numbers and we would get togther and play. Played in 2 bands through this teacher, who also taught me some 12 bar blues patterns and other bits and pieces and would record guitar accompanyment on a tape so I could practice along with it. Those bands didn't last too long and I wanted to gain more playing experience, so I would check out "bassist wanted" ads in the local music shops and the classified sections of things like The Loot and Guitarist Magazine. I got to play in quite a few bands that way, but all of them were at the rehearsal stage, always talk of gigs, but they never materialised. A couple of years later, my Dad had a band play at his 60th Birthday Party. The band was made up of some cousins and friends who were all very experienced and had been playing and gigging for many years. Beforehand they suggested I bring my bass along to the party and maybe jam with them on a song or two. I agreed to do this, and when it came time, I was called up onto the stage to play. Now this was scary enough for me as I'd never played in front of an audience before, but even more scary was that I didn't know what we were going to play and had never rehearsed with these guys before. I wanted to back out, but couldn't - it really felt like sink or swim and I felt I was setting myself up for a fall which was being videotaped for all to see - fluffs 'n' all! Anyway, I went up there, plugged in and we started to play some rock and roll numbers. I quickly pulled out and made best use out of all the standard 12 bar blues patterns I had been taught and surprised myself somewhat when, it seemed to be working, all these people in front of the stage were dancing away, we must be doing something right! I felt so relieved that I had got through what seemed a mini ordeal at the time, and managed to get through everything including "Move It" by Cliff Richard - a song I had never heard or played before. I think someone must have been watching out for me that night. Fast forward a couple more years and a few more bands. In 1995 I audition for an original band who were a lot more experienced players than me. They had written a bunch of songs complete with some fairly tricky bass parts which I needed to learn. The singer/songwriter/bandleader etc was very particular about everything being exactly note for note how he wanted it and if a note was played wrong, he heard it straight away, and would pull on his small sulky child face and attack the culprit with dirty looks. I really wanted to play with this band and it felt like a stretch for me to learn their songs - I also learned about patience and being a team player within a band as there were a few "hairy moments" here and there. That same year I got to play my first gigs with this band. I had already decided through my small baptism of fire (a couple of years before), that I loved being up there and playing onstage with a band, and although it took me a long time to get there, I was really pleased once I had. I also found that I made some of my most noticeable progress when playing with musicians who were a lot better than me - took me out of my comfort zone and gave me a challenge, something to reach for. I know this is a long winded reply, but I just wanted to say (and use 200 hundred words when a few would do ) that it takes some people longer than others to get there, but IMO it's about all the things you learn along the way. In my case I was glad because it gave me quite a bit of playing experience beforehand so I felt a little more prepared. Worked for me then and still does to this day. Good Luck! Dave

Welcome to the forum mate.

[quote name='WalMan' post='106169' date='Dec 18 2007, 12:35 PM']Hi & welcome from one of two members here in LA - sadly that means Lil' Ampton & not LA so rather than But we call it home That was one helluva "Sodit I'm changing my life!" move you made there. Good on you Al[/quote] LOL - like it! Hi Al. Thanks. Cool pics. Yeah, England will always be 'ome to me though, and one day my wife and I will move back. My wife is American, but has visited England several times and loves it there. She knows that I get homesick from time to time and we have agreed to move back in a few years. Funny thing is, whenever I meet people here who have visited England, they have visited more places and know more about the country than I did in the 36 years' I lived there before coming to the States! Amazing. Then again, when things are there, I guess I figured, "well I can visit such and such place anytime" and not really thought given it any more thought. Interestingly enough, I grew up in 'ampton - and it was little: town - Hampton in Middlesex. Cheers! Dave

Hi Guys. Thanks. I had always dreamed about studying at MI ever since I started playing bass in the mid '80s. It was the first place I had heard about where you could study the electric bass full time instead of just taking private lessons once a week, which I used to do. Now there are a lot of schools set up around the world offering similar courses with top notch teachers, players. I would have to say that personally I'm really glad I had this opportunity to fulfill a dream I had for a long time. I think that's what I really got from it, completing something from start to finish which was a challenge for me from Day One. Although I got an Arts Associates degree in Bass Performance at the end of the course, it was really the experience of doing something like this for myself and seeing it through to the end which was really the reward. The amount of playing experience, technique and different styles of music which are taught (I'm told it's 10 years' worth of stuff compressed into 18 months) seemed to blur past me. I had a tremendous amount of support from teachers, fellow students and not least family and friends all of which contributed in my determination to do the best that I could. Kept thinking "I've got one shot at this, got to give it everything I have and make the most of this opportunity". It came about at the right time for me to really apreciate everything entailed, as well as to afford the costs of tuition and living out here. It's kind of difficult for me to say whether I'd recommend it to someone else, because my circumstances influenced my decision to come here (when I did) and really give it everything I had and focus all my energies on it - at the time I was going through a divorce and sold my share of the house, gave up the job I was in for nearly 20 years and left behind all my family and friends to go study in another country where I didn't know anyone. I found the transition hard, but exciting and challenging at the same time. It depends on what your goals are. I think that I would say if you are lucky enough to study music full time and are prepared to put in the work, and can afford it, go for it whether it be at MI or any of the other music schools. I saw a lot of people come out to MI and just drop out for various reasons- some didn't realise how much work would be involved and couldn't keep up with it or just wanted to party the whole time, others couldn't afford to keep up with the tuition costs and others hoped they could come out to Hollywood, make some contacts and become rockstars or whatever, and when it didn't magically happened as they hoped, they left. I think if someone is determined enough (and lucky sometimes) anything is possible. Out of the my BIT class which started in Fall 2004, I think there was half or less that were there when we graduated in Spring 2006. My goal was and still is to become more proficient on bass guitar, and this is a lifetime goal. I am still using materials from my course at MI - (finally have a chance to sit down and digest the info at my own pace) as part of my practice schedule as well as studying with private teachers and playing in a covers band for fun. Having that degree may help if I want to teach private students as it would be included on my resume, but IMHO it all comes down to playing the right part for the song and being able to fit in as a team player in any situation. Hope this helps give a bit more insight and answers your questions. If the moderator would like this part of the post to be moved to save space (and keep the topic relevant) for the introductions post, no prob, please bump/move and I will be happy to answer any other questions . Cheers! Dave

Hi Crazykiwi. Thanks. Actually, for the most part, I just studied like crazy when I was at MI. The classes were a challenge for me from Day One, so I really had to put some graft in to keep up with it all. Did go to one or two "interesting" parties in the beginning though before I got serious with my studies and this one came to mind: Every weekend one of my fellow students were always throwing a party and this particular one, for some reason everyone ended up on the the flat roof of the apartment building. Anyway, one of the tennants a grumpy old lady was none too impressed at the noise and 30 or so students up on "her" roof. Needless to say, she the security/doorman chuck us all out of the building. Anyway, I'd just got out the lobby when I hear this tremendous ruction going on a few yards behind me. I turn around and see the security/doorman getting himself involved in a full on punchup with a small guy who is punching the crap out of this doorman. "Wouldn't like to be that doorman copping several "unfortunate ones" of that geezer", thinks I. Anyway, on a second look, turns out that it's this very slight looking (but hard as nails girl) that has just bashed the crap out of the doorman. Turns out that he took a little bit of a liberty and used a bit of over-excessive force in removing a few people from the party and sprayed this girl and her girlfriend in the face with pepper spray. Hence the retribution - he wasn't hurt just a bit stunned, probably saw a few stars. Don't know if that qualifies for interesting, but it was kind of amusing at the time. Cheers! Dave

Greetings Fellow Low Enders. I discovered this great forum yesterday and just wanted to drop you a line to say "Hello" First started playing bass (a no name P bass copy turned upside down 'cos I'm a lefty) back in 1985 after hearing the basslines played by IHMO the great Deon Estes on Wham!'s first album Fantastic. Studied privately for a few years and played in a lot of bands and then was very lucky to have the opportunity to study the bass (BIT) programme at Musicians Institute in Hollywood - a 20 year old dream realised. Gradated last year and have been living in the States ever since. Love the weather and the people here, but get homesick for family and friends (can't say I miss the cold weather too much though!) and like to fly back to England whenever I can. Looking forward to reading more posts on this board and hopefully having a chat with some of you. All The Best Dave

Hi. Great forum. This is my first post. I was really inspired to play bass after hearing the basslines (mostly played by Deon Estes) on the first Wham! album Fantastic. To me, it sounded like the basslines, Deon added to tracks was like "fairy dust" or something. I thought he was a brilliant player, very inspired (and taught) by James Jamerson. Shortly after purchasing my first bass (a no name Precision copy) for the princely sum of 69.00 quid, I took lessons from a great local bass teacher called Barry Evans. On my first lesson, Barry taught me my first bassline, "My Jamaican Guy" by Grace Jones played by Robbie Shakespeare. I thought it was great that I could come away from my first lesson with something like that and if any of you know (or are lucky enough to study with Barry - used to live in the Kingston/Ham, Surrey area), please put him in touch with me via this forum. I owe him a lot and would like to pass on my thanks to him for getting me up and running. Cheers! Dave!