|
Solid observations, thank you.
Peter Hook's bass has always intrigued me-- like Chris Squire, you can *whistle* the bass part.
The truth is I've had guitars/basses sitting around the house for my whole life. I've picked them up and quickly realized I don't have the discipline for the learning curve.
With a marginally useless instrument like the Bass VI, it's no pressure. I can pretend I'm a teenager whose favorite band is the Cure, learn like two songs and play them for a month. After that, if I've developed some muscle memory, I can decide if I really want to pursue playing stringed instruments.
More: the Bass VI isn't much for chords, it really wants single notes. Robert Smith's melodies, on thick strings, with chorus, have more body-- they occupy more space. I won't get bored learning to navigate the fret board, because single, picked notes are the best-sounding thing I can play.
I could side-man on open jams and noodle around, trying to find little melodies. Use the bass-cut switch and run straight into my mini-PA. I could learn a bunch of chords, then pick single-note melodies out of the deconstructed chord notes, like a jazz guitarist on a hollow-body?
(I don't actually want to learn the bass... all I want bass players to do is play fundamentals.)
__________________
******************
There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there
it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your
expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever
gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio
|