Although I scarcely ever go out anymore into the bar music scene, I ventured out this past weekend to check out a band that I had been wanting to see and to scope out a room for its future show potential. I ran into a friend there who invited me to sit at a table full of friends of my friend, none of whom I knew. I sat next to a gentleman and we chatted about music and our jobs for a while and he asked me who my favorite bass players are.
Tough question. I thought for a minute and told him that I don’t have any one favorite; I have a few in my top favorites, for various reasons. If we’re talking about classical music, J.S. Bach would be my all-time favorite. His 16th-note bass runs, where he effectively did the meringue on the pipe organ pedals, were no less than stunning in their composition and a true gymnastic feat in their execution.
I then told him my three favorite more contemporary bassists, and why I liked each one of them: Paul McCartney for his melodic and perfectly structured playing; John Entwhistle for his flash and very cool demeanor whilst playing with thunder, and Jack Bruce, my earliest influence and for his raw feel delivery.
The man seemed surprised that I would count McCartney in there. As a lay person he probably thought of Sir Paul as just another pretty faced pop player who happened to be in a famous band before Wings. I challenged him to listen to McCartney’s bass lines on any of the Beatles really creative period stuff (‘65-’68).
It brought to mind a recent video I had seen on the YouTubers, where a bassist went into a well presented deconstruction of Paul’s bass lines in arguably one of the best love songs ever written (and not written by L&M, I might add), Something. Pure genius in that track. Melodic, never oversteps the lead vocal focus, and locked dead-in with the drums.
I stayed for most of the first set, enjoyed the band and assessed the room, bid my farewells and headed home. And all of this talk about creativity and what’s good about music set me to thinking. Thinking about my career and what I’m doing. Or maybe not so much what I’m doing, but why I’m doing it. Music is tough, and insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.
I tried to reduce it all down to basics, and this is the whys I was able to reconcile (let’s limit the nots first):
If I’m doing it with my primary focus on money, then I probably shouldn’t be doing it.
If I’m doing it with my primary focus to gain recognition or accolades, or anything ego-aggrandizing, then I probably shouldn’t be doing it.
If I’m doing it with my primary focus in hopes of getting that big recording contract, I shouldn’t be doing it. We;ve got a drawer full of unsigned terrible deal offers.
If I’m doing it with the primary focus to be the fastest player, the greatest technical player, to get on the cover of any mass-marketed or peer-focused publications, that’s the wrong reason.
If I”m doing it with my primary focus to get chicks, then I definitely shouldn’t be doing it, lol. Chicks yes, quality chicks, not so much. Been there, done that. Unfulfilling.
So why do I do it? Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong for anyone in pursuing any of these things, provided they’re not, at least for me, the primary reason.
If I do it because that’s what I am, come hell or high water, that’s the right reason.
If I do it because it’s something that moves me emotionally, that’s the right reason. And the emotion can be happiness, whimsy, lamenting, whatever, as long as it elicits something relatable to me on some level.
If I do it because I want to create something new, or at least in a way that’s presented in a different way.
In short, it’s got to be a fun, positive experience. Music is about the love of music, if the love ain’t there, it’s not really worth it. I’ll continue to play, to create, to love music, to have my hand in the game.
If any of those other secondary reasons mentioned above are realized in the process of keeping first things first, so much the better. But first the love and passion’s gotta be there.