Bass-ically Speaking

Hello Troubadourians! In previous columns I’ve written about playing baritone guitars in addition to my regular guitars. This time I’d like to go a little lower… like bass lower. Most people don’t know this, but I’ve played the bass guitar almost as long as I have played guitar. Here’s my story…

Trigger finger: A recent condition got me thinking about playing bass. Almost a year ago I started experiencing pain in the middle finger of my left hand. Initially, it was only when I would first wake up in the morning. Then it progressed to where my finger would curl and lock up while I was sleeping. It would hurt enough that it would wake me up, but it would go away after I’d been awake for a while. Then, for about nine months, it would lock up anytime I curled my fingers. Needless to say, this was a scary thing for a guitar player to have happen to his fretting hand. I asked my chiropractor about it, and she told me it was a condition called “trigger finger” and that it was relatively common. She said that there wasn’t really an effective “cure,” but she recommended that I wear a finger sleeve when sleeping or when I felt it was necessary to relieve the pain. I bought a finger sleeve that had a built-in rubber splint that restricted the finger from extreme bending, and it did help to relieve the pain and prevented the locking up at night and when I wore it during the day. More on this later…

Initial attraction: My initial attraction to the bass guitar started after I had been playing guitar for a few years. I was taking guitar lessons at Valley Music when a beautiful Fender Precision Bass showed up at the store. I would play that bass every time I went for a guitar lesson. My teacher said that it was a good thing to know how to play more than one instrument, and the bass seemed fairly easy for me to pick up.

Pros and cons of being a guitar player first: When I first started to play the bass, I had an advantage in that I already had the dexterity in my fretting hand and since the bass is tuned like the bottom four strings of the guitar—although an octave lower—I already knew the scales for the chords in all the positions. I also was an accomplished finger picker, so playing bass the “proper” way was easy. I was also quite capable of playing the bass like a guitar, that is to say that I could—and did—play way too much, sometimes even with a pick (!). All that overplaying soon lead me to the next step…

Taking lessons to learn how to play like a bass player: It didn’t take long for other players to tell me that I was overplaying, so I figured it was essential for me to take at least a few lessons from actual bass players to learn what they did and, more important, why they did it that way. I was able to convince a couple of accomplished bassists to give me some lessons. I didn’t study the bass enough to learn to read bass clef notation or get anywhere near a formal bass education, but I did learn what to do—and not do—if I were asked to play bass in a professional situation. First, listen to the drummer and lock into that feel. That was foremost. Second, stay out of the way of the vocals and chordal instruments. That was a subtler lesson as that changes from genre to genre but knowing to not take up so much space makes for a better sounding band. And, finally, choosing the correct tone is as important as choosing the correct note. Not too muddy, not too bright. Just clarity without being “out front.” Support the pocket….

Playing for the jazz choir: For many years I played guitar in a youth choir at my church. The choir director, Lyle S., was also the choir director at Serra High School. One of his choirs was a jazz choir. One Sunday afternoon at choir practice he told me about it and asked if I knew any good bassists. Cheekily, I said, “Yeah, me.” This was in the late ’70s and I had been playing bass for about a year, mostly messing around using borrowed basses. Lyle said, “Okay, can you be at Serra High at noon on Monday?” I showed up with my borrowed bass and my guitar amp. That was my audition and I ended up playing with them for three years. I never owned a proper bass amplifier; I just used my Music Man HD115 guitar amp. The Music Man had 130 watts and a single 15” Electro Voice speaker, more than enough for accompanying a choir.

Getting my own bass: At first, I played with the Serra Jazz Choir for about a year, using a series of bases that I borrowed from friends. Everyone thought I had this eclectic collection of basses… I’d show up at various times with an Epiphone EB2, a Fender Precision, or sometimes a Fender Jazz bass. Eventually, I bought a Music Man Stingray bass brand new. I still have it. That bass is special. It’s a ’77 and the neck is unlike any other Stingray I’ve ever played. Other bassists who have played it have said the same thing. I have no idea how or why that one is so different. I’m the original owner and it is a stock, unaltered bass. Not a custom order or anything. It’s definitely a keeper.

More choir work: As I said above, I played with the Serra Jazz Choir for three years. During that time, we played in about two or three competitions a year, including one in Reno, Nevada where we competed against college level choirs. We won every time. By the time of the Reno competition, the accompanying trio of piano, bass, and drums had been playing together for over a year. We were tight and in addition to our choir winning the overall competition, the trio won Best Accompanists for the competition. That was a high honor. But for me, personally, an even higher honor came when I was asked to play at a Martin Luther King Day celebration at Serra High School. One of the faculty there was active in the African-American community and asked me if I would feel comfortable playing with a youth gospel choir that she was having perform as a part of the celebration. She told me I’d be the only white person on stage and asked if was I okay with that. Wow, how could I turn down such an opportunity, and I immediately agreed. We had one rehearsal about an hour before the performance. The young man playing piano was an amazing player and that made my job easier as all I had to do was to stay out of the way of his left hand. Such a joyful experience both musically and spiritually!

Occasional clandestine gigs: In the ensuing years I continued to play bass, mostly filling in for friends on club gigs. One friend played regularly at a restaurant in Orange County, and their bassist would have occasional medical issues, so I’d get a last-minute call to come and fill-in on bass. I had a few other semi-regular fill-in gigs locally playing rock, country, and blues. Most of my clients didn’t even know I played guitar.

Playing in the band at work: In the ’90s, I played in the House Band at Maxwell Technologies. Much like my introduction to the choir gig, I was approached by the leader of the band who said, “I heard you are a musician. Do you play bass?” That band played mostly blues and roots music with some new wave-ish pop thrown in. Again, they had no idea that I played guitar… I think that actually made thing easier for everyone.

Sucking at slap style: One thing I never excelled at was slap bass. It sounded so cool when somebody good did it, but I never felt like I was doing anything but making noise…

Sporadic session work: I have continued to play the occasional recording session, mostly when the scheduled bassist couldn’t—or didn’t—show up. I do find it difficult to switch back and forth between bass and guitar at the same gig or session. I can move from guitar to bass easier than going the other way. After playing bass for a song or two, I played poorly on the guitar for several songs after switching back. I suppose I could get used to it… eventually.

Conclusion: My problems with trigger finger have passed just as mysteriously as they appeared, and I’m very grateful for that. While the condition didn’t affect my guitar—the hand positions weren’t extreme enough to cause my finger to lock up—it was still scary to think that I might not be able to play the guitar. At one time I darkly joked that I’d have to become a bass player, not mentioning that I already was one. So, while I’m happy to keep playing guitar, I’m not dismissing playing bass in the future. Just in case…

Need to know? Just ask… Charlie (ask.charlie@hotmail.com)