more on: revisiting electric bass (after leaving in the case for 3-1/2 decades)
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 2:19 pm
No...I'm certainly no Carol Kaye (nor any of the other past bass gods and goddesses)...but I'm trying to teach myself some oldies (by ear, off of youtube) that I never played "back then"...
...since the band that's been hiring me is basically an oldies band (but also does dixieland occasionally).
I haven't played much pop/rock/country/crossover/movie themes/disco/funk/dance music/ballads/etc. since 1980.
After that, I mostly only played old 20's - 30's jazz on bass and (when touring with the tuba) electric bass.
I've been trying to smooth up my touch, my rhythm, and smooth my shifts back out.
Early on (happily, during this "new era"), I weaned myself off staring at the neck.
This is not a tune that this band has called up (yet) on a gig, but I'm going through a whole bunch of years' most popular tunes (in the genres reviewed above) so that I can circumvent and intermediate against being surprised/caught off guard.
It's sorta fun...Back then, a much larger percentage of various genres of popular music was actually pretty good music.
As much as I advise young players to avoid publicly posting their "works in progress", here's a work in progress:
LOL...$90 Motorola android phone's mic, and you can see where it was sitting. 80W amp w/12" speaker (bought new in 1982 - for touring through Europe).
I couldn't start right at the beginning, because Carol's intro lick (on this other person's youtube upload) starts RIGHT AT 0:00
Am I going to make a crappy recording every time I teach myself another oldie? LOL...I'll probably take down THIS one.
...since the band that's been hiring me is basically an oldies band (but also does dixieland occasionally).
I haven't played much pop/rock/country/crossover/movie themes/disco/funk/dance music/ballads/etc. since 1980.
After that, I mostly only played old 20's - 30's jazz on bass and (when touring with the tuba) electric bass.
I've been trying to smooth up my touch, my rhythm, and smooth my shifts back out.
Early on (happily, during this "new era"), I weaned myself off staring at the neck.
This is not a tune that this band has called up (yet) on a gig, but I'm going through a whole bunch of years' most popular tunes (in the genres reviewed above) so that I can circumvent and intermediate against being surprised/caught off guard.
It's sorta fun...Back then, a much larger percentage of various genres of popular music was actually pretty good music.
As much as I advise young players to avoid publicly posting their "works in progress", here's a work in progress:
LOL...$90 Motorola android phone's mic, and you can see where it was sitting. 80W amp w/12" speaker (bought new in 1982 - for touring through Europe).
I couldn't start right at the beginning, because Carol's intro lick (on this other person's youtube upload) starts RIGHT AT 0:00
Am I going to make a crappy recording every time I teach myself another oldie? LOL...I'll probably take down THIS one.
