and a Bass Player was Born

Hi everyone,

Deano here,

It’s been said that “you are either a bass player, or you’re not”. I heard this statement at my very first Bass guitar lesson back in 1981. My teacher, Jose McLaughlin was the original Bass Player from the 60’s British Pop band “Jerry and the Pacemakers”. It took me a while to fully grasp the statement but I have come to fully understand the truth behind it.

I was originally a guitarist and had never really bothered to listen to the Bassist in any of my favorite bands. I was always too focused on the guitar tones to hear anything else. Like many bass players I first picked up the bass because of an ad at the local music store cork board. “Wanted, Bass Player for serious rock band” Call Paul, (Tear off the phone number) … Mmmm, I thought, “How hard can it be to play bass? These guys sound like they want to do something with their musical passion, so do I.”

I purchased my first bass guitar, a Westone Thunder 1 from Gary at Tweed Heads Music for $360.00. It was an unusual looking thing but sounded good to me. Turns out it sounded good to Jose too. Phew!

Wisdom from my Bass Mentor

Among the many statements and discoveries of that first lesson was this. Jose said to me, “listen to as many different styles of music as you can, and in particular listen to the bass. Then try to figure out what they are playing,,, and most importantly WHY they are playing it in the context of the music and the drums.”

I revisited my favorite albums…. WOW!!! How come I had never heard this amazing instrument before??? I realized the strangest thing. All my most favorite songs all had awesome bass grooves. It was my epiphany… and A BASS PLAYER was Born… Deano Bass,,, this is who I became… I loved it.

The whole world of music opened. Many bass players are misunderstood and underestimated in their musical ability. One of the beauty’s of being a bass player is that you must hear EVERYTHING that the band is doing. After a while you develop a great appreciation for the sounds and tones of all aspects of the band including the drums and cymbals. Bass players hold the band together as the connector of the rhythm section to the rest of the band. Perhaps this is why many great sound engineers are bass players.

Sure there are some guitarists who can play really great bass licks, but few will ever master the bass groove like only a true bass player can do.

My definition of Groove: Being in the groove is when you bypass playing from your head and connect and play from your spirit. You may be playing the same notes but “being in the groove changes the atmosphere of the music”.

Deano