Back in late August I was spending some time with a friend who was in town on business. He and I are both very much into the hunt for treasure that is antique and thrift store shopping, and on this particular day we stopped at one of my regular antique store haunts; one I’ve picked up several typewriters from over the years as well as some other oddities.
Recently one of the booths has had a few guitars, and while they interested me I never went for one, as I just didn’t think I’d really enjoy playing again or that it would be worth it to get back into it all. On this particular trip there was just one instrument in this booth – a 4 string bass guitar, along with an amp, for a very reasonable price together.
This was one of those moments that just felt right. I picked up the bass just to mess around and the moment I hit the low E string, I felt something I hadn’t in over 15 years — an excitement in holding an instrument and a desire to maybe, just maybe, really try again.
I want to go over the whole story in detail, but in short form back in high school, specifically the later half, so 2001-2003 or so I played guitar and, more importantly, bass. I started, like most everyone, with a guitar my family had gotten me as a Christmas present and enjoyed trying, but I would soon learn, as I watched music videos and listened to the bands I liked at that time, that my real calling was bass, and I would eventually get a nice 5 string bass, only to in the Summer of 2003 have it, and quite a bit of other stuff I owned, stolen.
Now, one of my guitars did survive, but I never really played it again. Over the time since then I’ve had a few guitars and I did play them a bit, but I never really had that same drive — the bass, quite simply, was where my heart was, and with it stolen the drive was just gone. With a friend I’d even go to guitar stores from time to time, and even play some really nice basses, but I never thought to go on and invest again. Perhaps it was because my life was in quite a long stage of transition back then, and I didn’t want the risk again, who knows.
Whatever case, that day everything felt right, and that bass and amp came home with me. Now, let’s get something clear – I was never that good at playing anything back in high school. Honestly, I was kind of terrible, but that was okay. I didn’t have any real training, I had to learn as I went and so many common knowledge elements were lost to me. I didn’t have reliable internet access back then, either, so I couldn’t just look things up.
All those years later, things have changed. My life is pretty damn stable and good. The internet is always present, and I’ve got a whole house to keep equipment in. Whatever exactly was concerning me for years about maybe getting back into playing, they were gone.
Needless to say, the bass and amp came home with me. Now, I knew the bass wasn’t anything super special. It’s dented, had old strings on it, and the knobs had clearly been (poorly) replaced but the thing felt good even with these issues. The amp was a guitar amp, a little punchy 15 watt affair, but for some more straightforward home bass playing it would do the job nicely.
Naturally, once I finally had time to spend playing and practicing I began looking up tabs for songs I like and began trying to play bits from them. That’s when a feeling hit me, a happiness I hadn’t felt in a long time. I was immediately having fun just playing around. Practice wasn’t a chore, like it had felt on guitar for so long. The bass felt right to me.
3 months later, I’m still playing. Constantly. I practice at least somewhat nearly every day and, in fact, that’s been something that’s eaten up time I normally would have spent writing here. Instead of creating content for my site, I’ve been creating music for myself.
Over these 3 months I’ve definitely gotten better – far better than I ever was all those years ago. I’ve still got a long way to go to being where I feel confident in my skills to play, and for good reason — I know I’ve got plenty I can improve on, and I know one never really stops getting better or, at least, learning. My technique is sloppy, my understanding of music theory, while better since I’ve been reading up on it here and there, is still terrible, but the improvements I have made are great on their own.
Of course, this has caused me to appreciate music more, including different styles I didn’t previously take interest in. Playing bass has also gotten me more into the mood to play guitar, and a month into owning the bass I went on and purchased a new guitar alongside a good proper bass amp and some other things that just make sense. I’ve spent hours trying to repair one of the guitars I had back in high school (sadly to no avail, I think it’s just too far gone to focus on right now) and learned enough about the nature of how these instruments work to feel confident in making the adjustments necessary to keep them playing as good as possible. My confidence in all this is also increasing, so I keep trying new things, within reason of course, so that I can be the best musician I can be, if even only for my own sake and personal enjoyment.
Expect more to come on the subject of guitar and bass, alongside the other stuff I write about here.