Music (and Bass Guitar Playing)
Music
I'm not about to give some treatise on the history of music. We all know that it is composed and performed for many purposes. All of us listen to it and have our own tastes. Music moves us.
I credit my Dad and my Uncle Mike all those years ago for turning me on to the music that I listen to. Beginning with Elvis and Johnny Cash, it was in my blood to start off listening to that "Memphis Sound" that first came out of Sun Records with Rockabilly and then the Rhythm and Blues of the 1950's to the Sweet Soul Music of Stax Records in the 1960's. Someone took me down to Strawberry Fields and I discovered the Swinging Sixties and that Liverpool Beat. I took a detour at Haight and Ashbury went over to Woodstock and discovered that Clapton was God, Jimi was the Man and Jim "Mr. Mojo-Risin'" Morrison was the Poet. Maybe I'm amazed... but all of this music came out before I was even born.
In the early 1970's, my mother played me Bob Dylan's soundtrack to the movie PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID in order to soothe me to sleep with "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". By the time I was nine years old, the Blues Brothers Briefcase Full of Blues album was often playing on my dad's turntable. This album opened the door for me for most of my musical tastes as I would discover the blues.
I came into my own in the early 1980's. Sure, I was discovering those sounds that my dad and uncle had listened to as they played records for me to listen to on my own. My dad introduced me to Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, the Surf music of the 60's, Motown, the Mamas and the Papas, the music of American Graffiti and the Beatles.
My Uncle Mike picked up the baton and furthered my musical education on the music of the Beatles as I discovered Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, the White Album, Let It Be and Abbey Road. Then my world opened up even more with John Lennon's Imagine, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Paul McCartney and Wing's Band on the Run. I would spend most of my teenage years listening to every Beatles related album (solo and together as a group) that was put out and I discovered the world of bootleg unreleased recordings that fascinated me with those songs that weren't mean to be heard... but I somehow had to get my hands on those recordings as I snuck into used records stores to buy them under the table.
Uncle Mike also introduced me, as mentioned above, to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. I also first heard Chicago, Cream, Blind Faith, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and the Allman Brothers due to him.
Somewhere in the early 1980's, I went "Radio Ga-Ga" as I began listening to the music of my generation with the likes of Queen, Men At Work, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, U2, Van Halen and this band I first listened to in 6th Grade called The Police. I would stay up late on the weekends to watch "Friday Night Videos" on NBC.
"I Want My MTV". Like most of us who grew up in the 1980's, life changed when we got M-TV. Video may have killed the radio star as "I Can't Drive 55" was the first music video that I watched when M-TV was first piped in through our cable television. Now I was introduced to bands like INXS, Squeeze, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, the Clash, Madonna, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Prince, John Cougar Mellancamp, et. al.
I "discovered" Paul Simon, David Bowie, Steve Winwood, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd and others... not really realizing at first that they were musicians from a generation before me. I'm just touching the tip of the iceberg of those performers I enjoyed. By 1988, one of my first jobs was working in a record store at White Oaks Mall called JR's Music Shop where my eclectic and wide tastes helped me serve the customers.
When I went off to college in the summer of 1989, my musical world was ripped wide open as I was introduced to alternative music with the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Daniel Lanois, and Nine in Nails. I began listening to indie label music and a million one-hit wonders and those college bands that never made it to the big time. As I graduated college, I was turned on to Beck, Sheryl Crow and a few bands here and there. But the music I listened to were mostly one-hit wonders to me. I've got literally hundreds of these one-off singles on my iPod from bands like Sublime, Black Crowes, Blind Melon, and Third Eye Blind. Somewhere, M-TV lost its soul to reality television and mind numbing programs. M-TV forgot to play music videos. Rap music turned into some sorta Gangsta Hip Hop and every white teenage boy walking around was wearing their cap on backwards with their pants falling down to show their boxers.
What happened?
"I hope I die before I get old," lyric reverberated through my mind as I asked that question to myself. As the music industry was taking what seemed a decade long different route that I wasn't willing to go on, I decided to take a different musical journey on the crossroads and headed south.
Somewhere a dozen years or so ago as I was having lunch at the House of Blues in Chicago, I looked at the walls of the restaurant/concert hall to see rows upon rows of faces of blues musicians from over the past seven decades or so. Something clicked. The Blues Brothers. Led Zeppelin. Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix. I was already listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Robert Cray. All these guys were paying homage to blues musicians before them. Like some archeology expedition, I started listening to the original music that these guys were re-playing and the world of music opened up to me. About this time, my Uncle Mike played a Robert Johnson CD for me on one of my visits to Memphis and then I started to get it.
The blues, man. The blues.
For the past decade or so... I've been listening really heavy to the blues and enjoying it. I started with the three "Kings" -- Albert King, Freddie King and B.B. King. From there, I found Muddy Waters and Lightnin' Hopkins. I'm a huge fan of B.B. King and I've seen him in concert now three times. He introduced me to Louis Jordan. George Harrison pointed the direction to Elmore James. The Blues Brothers pointed the way to Cripple Clarence Lofton, Delbert McClinton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Freddie King and John Lee Hooker. Clapton (and Uncle Mike) had pointed me to Robert Johnson. I just started listening and finding other blues musicians that slip through the cracks of obscurity. And I'm enjoying the blues as it has helped me many times make it through the day.
My tastes are everywhere. I'm a guy that can enjoy Norah Jones and AC/DC. I can enjoy 70's Country and 70's Punk. And then put Mozart on. Most days though, I’m listening to Bluesville on XM Radio.
Yes, I have my favorites. Sting has been a constant favorite for 25 years. But it is that rhythm and blues that gets to me...
Bass Guitar
In high school, I used to play bass guitar in a "basement band" that never left the basement. While most of my friends wanted to play a "regular" guitar, I always loved and wanted to play the bass guitar. Some of my favorite musicians have always been bass players – Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, Donald "Duck" Dunn and this one particular fellow named Sting.
The three other guys (Mike Riseman, Tim Russell and Jan Hunter) that I played with all went on to be true musicians and performers. Me? I just dabbled with it in high school as an enthusiast and decided after the band broke up just before high school graduation that the visual arts were my true calling. I decided back then that I'd rather concentrate on my art studies in college as I recognized that I didn't have it what it takes to be a true professional musician.
My younger brother Steve and Me with my White Fender Squire "Bullet Bass" Circa late 1988
So, for all you fellow Beatleologists out there, I took the 'Stuart Sutcliffe' approach to it all and walked away from music to pursue art and the girl of my dreams. My all-white Fender Squire "Bullet Bass" sat in the corner of my apartment bedroom during my college years where I would fiddle with it every now and then for fun. I never found another band to play with back in those days. So when money became tight in 1992, I pawned it off to get the cash necessary to help pay for Roxie's wedding ring when I decided I wanted to ask her to marry me.
After we were married, I would mention in conversations every now and then that I missed playing bass if music ever came up. Over the years, I unintentionally made Roxie feel guilty until I eventually made her mad as if I blaming her that I sold the bass guitar. That wasn't the case and I sincerely apologized to her. She told me that if I wanted to play bass again, then go out and buy it. And for me to quit complaining. She was right.
So, back in 2002, I started eyeballing a few different bass guitars. I knew that I wanted an authentic Fender Precision bass guitar. I didn't want a Squire nor some other brand or Fender knock-off bass. I wanted the real deal.
As I was shopping around, I started lusting after this one particular bass that caught my eye. It was an exact reproduction of Sting's 1953 Fender Precision bass with a sunburst ash body and maple neck. This wasn’t a plain vanilla bass guitar like the one I had as a teenager. But I went into sticker shock with the cost of it and many other bass guitars out there that I was looking at during that time period. I just couldn't convince myself to buy one at the time. Way too expensive.
Then, in November 2006, I went down to Memphis for Thanksgiving and caught the bug again to play. My Uncle Mike and my cousin Mac were jamming down in the basement before Thanksgiving dinner. My uncle is an excellent guitarist who helped me pick out my first bass all those years ago. His son (my little cousin) can play the drums like it's nobody's business. They encouraged me to pick up a bass guitar that day that they had in the corner. I joined them in an impromptu jam session. I was intimidated with plugging it in and found out that I was very very rusty when I did. I was horrible. I had forgotten how to play.
When I returned back to Illinois after that trip, I kept thinking about playing the bass again. I had the bug again. I wanted to buy a bass and re-learn to play it properly this time.
So, back in February 2007, I started going into guitar shops and started looking online to see what was available for sale. Since the “Sting Signature” bass was a 2001 model that I had been lusting out after almost five years ago, I assumed I'd be out of luck since it was a limited edition release. I was instead eyeballing online this beautiful blizzard pearl (almost silver) 60th Fender Anniversary P-bass online. It was a standard modern P-bass with silver tones.
But before purchasing one online, I decided to head over to the local music shop here in Springfield to see if they carried this silver P-Bass just down the street. I like supporting local businesses. They didn't have it. That was a good thing for me because right there in the shop was a Sting signature bass like the one I wanted five years ago. I held it and played it. Man, it had that vintage tone and sound. Like Donald "Duck" Dunn's bass. Forget the blizzard pearl bass. I wanted to buy this '53 Sting Signature Bass that was in the shop.
The clerk tried to show me a less expensive midnight wine colored P-bass in my price range that was the same color as my car back then, but my mind kept coveting that Sting Signature reissued '53 Precision bass guitar. I decided to sleep on it because it cost a pretty penny. Almost a grand. I didn't want to impulse buy that one.
I did my homework and studied up on basses… and in particular with this one retro-single coiled '53 style “Sting Signature” Fender bass that was a limited edition. With all the “extras" that I wanted to customize it with, I knew that it was going to add even more to the cost going well over $1,300. I couldn't afford that. So, for shee-yits and giggles, I looked one last time on eBay and couldn't believe my eyes when I found it. It was THE bass guitar of my dreams.
For less than half the cost of what it should have been, I found on eBay a barely used Fender 1953 "Sting Signature Series" Precision bass guitar. Just like the one in the guitar shop that I had almost bought on impulse for a $1,000… except this bass had already been hot-rodded by a professional. It was as if he had read my mind and put it up for sale on eBay just for me. The fellow that originally owned this bass purchased it in December 2006 and only played it at two gigs. He took beautiful care of it. He said it ended up being too heavy for him and hurt his back. For all extensive purposes, it looked and played like a $2,500 custom Fender bass guitar. I clicked on "Buy It Now" and spent $600 on it. It ended up being hundreds of dollars less than the one in the store or the manufacturer's retail price. And all the customizing and time I would have done would have cost me so much more. I got a deal. It was synchronicity indeed.
I spent the next two years relearning the bass and worked on shaking the rust off my playing. I just enjoy playing. I'm playing bass again with truly the bass guitar of my dreams.
Customized Fender "Sting Signature" Reissue of 1953 Precision Bass
This is my primary bass guitar that I bought in 2007. This is (an almost) reproduction of Sting's 1953 Fender Precision bass with a sunburst ash body and maple neck. This is an old-school 50's bass with a single coil pick up and a two-color sunburst finish. It has that pre-1957 neck and vintage style pickguard.
It is part of Fender's 50th "P-Bass" Anniversary Series. Fender started (re)producing a series of signature model basses that were reproductions and/or reissues of some very famous bass guitars and this "Sting Signature" bass guitar was one of the series based on what he frontman of The Police plays in concert and his albums. It even has Sting's autograph in the 12th fret set in pearloid.
This retro-single coiled '53 style "Sting Signature" Fender bass has been modified from what was sold with the release of this limited edition. My bass was given a new coil pick up. The stock single-coil pick up was changed to a Seymore Duncan SP3 pickup for a much better sound which greatly improved midrange punch. The stock bridge was replaced with a Badass III bridge instead to improve the sound. Another modification made is the addition of a 1950's-style chrome bridge cover, a coil pickup cover and a replacement pearloid pickguard that was added to give it some pizazz with "the look" that I always dreamed of having if I had ever owned this model bass guitar. It is somewhere a mesh of a 1951 and 1953 model. I just love that classic 1950's stock look with all the chrome.
Even though I am a Sting fan… I wasn't necessarily trying to emulate having an EXACT replica of Sting's famous bass. From what I've even seen in concert with Sting in person and in some of his videos this past decade, he has removed his white pickguard these last few years to leave just the exposed wood. Sting's bass didn't have the 1951-style chrome covers like mine has. Sting's bass is also nicked to death.
A note of interest, Sting's bass had a thumbrest and the Fender reissue of Sting's signature bass did NOT have a thumbrest. My bass was customized and given one. I'll use it if I'm picking (which is a rarity) or if I'm slapping a little funk to make my bandmates hoot and holler.
Pictured just below the bass is my Fender "Rumble 25" bass amp with tweed Fender guitar strap and a heavy pick that I rarely use. I mostly play with my fingers only. Not pictured in a retro 1950's tweed case with plush red carpet lining. The guitar case matches my strap.
This is the primary bass guitar that I play on most of the time and covers all genres of music well. Goofing off with my pal and fellow bandmate Ken Reese, we've nicknamed my main squeeze by calling her "Comfort". He gave me a pair of "Ernie Ball" guitar strap locks so it would quit popping off the strap during our shows when we played out live. Mr. Reese also fixed my amp. Good to be friends with such a handyman and fellow karateka!
I could not dream of having a better bass guitar than this one. This was the one that I always wanted and I could never top. This one gets me through the night on my bass playing.
As I got my life back together in 2007, I started training in karate once again with the Yoshukai Karate Alliance. It was around the same time that I picked up the Fender Precision Guitar that I wrote about above. Throughout that year, I practiced on my own, playing my bass guitar in my studio at home while listening to my music on iTunes where I would play along with the tracks.
In October 2007, life took another unexpected turn when Sensei Scott Bottrell and Mr. Ken Reese, both black belts and musicians themselves, invited me to bring my bass guitar over to Sensei Bottrell's house after a Halloween bonfire out in the country. That evening, we jammed for the first time downstairs in a basement as a few of our fellow karatekas sat in to listen.
Over the next two years, we continued to jam together several times. In my mind, this was purely for fun as we were all practicing our craft, having a good time and just enjoying times when we jammed together. On occasions, friends would come over to join in and/or listen. In the summer of 2009, Sensei Bottrell and Mr. Reese opened a new karate dojo/antique shop/and music shop in Elkhart, Illinois. The music shop was named The Rambling Elk Music Sanctuary where we jammed most times.
Life took that unexpected turn when on October 24, 2009, the three of us played in public for the first time at Talk of the Town, a restaurant bar and grill, in Elkhart, Illinois. At that moment, we became an official band and adopted the name The Rambling Elk. As you can tell, the name was also inspired off the name of their shop. We've added many new songs to the repertoire and played many shows.
Hofner Bass
In September 2009, I picked up a second bass guitar on a whim after playing BEATLES ROCKBAND for about a month straight on the Wii where I had purchased a Wii version of the Hofner to use specifically for the video game. I had a taste of playing a virtual Hofner on the video game and I wanted to play the real thing. So, I put a lowball bid on a flawed Hofner bass for sale on eBay and was surprised that I ended up winning the auction. Hofners were going double or triple the cost of what some of the generic other brand violin basses were selling for. But if I was going to get a Hofner Beatles Bass, I wanted a genuine Hofner and not an off brand. After all was said and done with shipping, I paid just a little over $300 for this impulse buy.
My second bass is a Hofner Bass guitar like the one that Sir Paul McCartney plays. This "Beatles Bass" is part of Hofner's Icon Series. It is a "right-hander" version, unlike McCartney's "left-handed" original. Mine has a tortoise shell pickguard. McCartney has owned a few different Hofners. A few with and I believe one that was without a pickguard.
I repaired the flaw on it myself which ended up being a cosmetic nick on the back of the neck of this guitar that some wood putty and a minor touch up of paint fixed. You can't see it from the front and would probably not notice if you were glancing at the back. I probably saved $300 because of that minor, fixable ding.
I took it to a professional luthier and he changed out the strings on this bass guitar and added flatwound strings like those McCartney uses on his infamous bass. He set the bridge for me and made sure the bass played correctly and was tuned just right. The flatwound strings that I had him add gave the bass a much smoother feel to it and made it have a much more distinctive sound. The strings were much more smoother than the one I use on my Fender P-Bass that feels like the grooved coin edge of a quarter. The Hofner is semi-acoustic and is so much lighter than the Fender. This Hofner has a different sound than the Fender. It makes that distinctive Beatles "thump" in play and sounds great when playing with my acoustic guitar playing partners.
I also added the teacup tuners like those used by McCartney. I used some paint remover to remove the cheesy "Beatles Icon" logo that I thought detracted visually from the head of the bass. I also got a replica leather shoulder strap that is a replica of what McCartney used during the Beatles heyday in the 1960's. I also picked up a hardshell custom fit Hofner guitar case that looks like the one McCartney toted around.
Nothing was better in my mind than my reissue of the '53 Fender Precision Bass that I already had, but the Hofner Beatle Bass was always my "second choice" and it was the "other" bass that I had always wanted. I don't mind "cheating" on the Fender P-Bass every now and then. I'll pick this up to play if the mood is right or I need that distinctive Beatles sound.
Joking around with Ken Reese, we've nicknamed my Hofner "The Mistress" while my Fender P-Bass is nicknamed "Comfort". Heck, if B.B. King can name his "Lucille", why couldn't I name mine?
Things cooled a bit in 2010 and the fellows were taking care of some things in their lives, but we’re going to get back together and play again soon.
As I write this, I cannot imagine wanting a third bass guitar, though if I ever find a Red Fire Glow Rickenbacker 4001 Bass that needs a home, I may snatch one. Otherwise, these two should serve me well for the rest of my life.
