Today, a TV station allowed us to record an hour's worth of our little combo's music (not just audio but video), and they also recorded us on a live (??) Tuesday afternoon show that covers local events that the station calls "Six in the City". Maybe it's broadcast at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays "Six"...??), but I think it's broadcast live at 2:00 p.m., so I really don't understand the name... I didn't ask any questions.
I also don't understand why they were willing to record an hour of our music without charging us any money prior to the television program (which involved four interview segments of some people promoting local mostly charity events - with us following up each segment with one of our tunes - four of the same dozen or so tunes that we also recorded before lunch, but played yet again during the program
...???????????????
The band leader, I'm learning, formerly mostly played bass with his little band, but would put the bass down sometimes and play trumpet, flugelhorn or keyboard, and he's brought me in so that he can spend all of his time (now) playing those instruments.
Again, the first couple of times he hired me it was just a play some Dixieland jobs on tuba and sousaphone, but somehow he figured out that I used to be a bass player (I'm thinking from listening to the types of lines that I would play on the tuba).
He complimented me again today by saying this:
"As much as I enjoy playing bass, I enjoy listening to some of the lines that you create even more."
That's a pretty nice compliment
, but I suspect that - if he were to hear a direct feed of every single thing I play, he might not be so complimentary, because my playing (now in the year 2026, having not played since forever) is far from perfect.
I'm still not comfortable playing electric bass like I was several decades ago. It's sort of like when I first started playing B-flat tuba in my later 60s after not playing it since I was in the 12th grade (after forsaking the C tuba a few short years ago).
The bass guitar has been under my bed since the '90s, and actually it's been under my bed mostly since the mid 80s.
Bit by bit, things are getting smoother, but I remember very well how I used to play compared to now.
(It's anything but second nature again/yet. Of course, part of the issue is following some of these wild charts that were probably written out by him in his special type of shorthand for bass players who don't read music to look at and memorize, rather than try to read on the fly. I don't think - LOL - his particular way of writing bass charts was ever meant to be sight-read, yet - mostly - he was actually writing them for himself.) All of that said, I learned several decades ago that - whether I'm playing tuba or bass underneath a combo of 4 to 7 musicians - playing the the very best possible choices of pitches at certain times (and absolutely in the midst of changing keys) makes all the difference as to whether some combo sounds like a jam band or a band that actually has its own special arrangements (whether or not those arrangements are written down in notes or not).
Finally, it's sort of hard for me to get myself to sit down and practice playing the electric bass, other than some hot licks and quick repeated patterns in some of the funk and disco tunes that we play (and I've noticed that I can actually play these patterns better and more easily when they're written out in bass clef instead of some sort of "code").
If I do actually practice, I might pull out a Rochut/Bordogni book and start playing some of those vocalises, so I can work on reading, NOT staring at the neck, and executing smooth shifts as well as hammer-ons and pull-offs. Otherwise, I'll think of some older popular hit songs that might have fairly complicated melodies and chord changes and play the melodies to them (by ear).on the bass (not the chord changes), as the band leader is actually sometimes pointing at me to play choruses on the bass
, and solo choruses are going to sound better when I have command of melodies to songs, rather than just command of their bass lines.
Finally, I think it's probably good for the human aging mind to do things outside of its comfort zone that require more thinking and working synapses that aren't normally worked, so I believe that I'm doing this as much for my own mental health as for anything.
(It's anything but second nature again/yet. Of course, part of the issue is following some of these wild charts that were probably written out by him in his special type of shorthand for bass players who don't read music to look at and memorize, rather than try to read on the fly. I don't think - LOL - his particular way of writing bass charts was ever meant to be sight-read, yet - mostly - he was actually writing them for himself.) All of that said, I learned several decades ago that - whether I'm playing tuba or bass underneath a combo of 4 to 7 musicians - playing the the very best possible choices of pitches at certain times (and absolutely in the midst of changing keys) makes all the difference as to whether some combo sounds like a jam band or a band that actually has its own special arrangements (whether or not those arrangements are written down in notes or not).