INTRODUCTION
I started playing bass guitar in bands as a hobby since 2000 and was active for around 14 years. My first band was called Leeson. We played alternative and indie rock, and we were active from 2000 to 2009, putting out two EPs. My second band was called SHELVES. We played power pop and indie rock, and we were active from 2009 to 2014, putting out one LP in 2012, and one EP in 2018. Currently, I am taking a break from writing and performing music.
PLAYING STYLE
My writing style is pretty simple. I ask myself, “What would John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) do?” McVie is my favourite bass player because of his approach to melody and groove when writing and arranging for bass. They are creative, simple and economical. Using these elements, I try to write bass parts that serve the song, and arrange in such a way that affects the dynamics of the song, and the band, to achieve more as a creative unit, rather than as just a single musician. In essence, the way I hear McVie respecting the song and band dynamics lets me also approach a song with a sensibility of whether I am overplaying, or underplaying.
When I started playing for SHELVES, I started to play with a plectrum and I have a preference for wide and thick ones. Ultimately I settled on the Jim Dunlop TORTEX® TRIANGLE PICK (1.14mm), which had the right amount of grip and surface area to hold, as well as to attack the bass strings during performances. I say attack because my playing style during performances is somewhat aggressive, and I do believe that some of that aggression gets picked up to deliver on a particular tone and style that I wanted to achieve in that creative output.
As a self-taught musician, I never really took my practice beyond what I needed for the bands I played in. Meaning I never practiced my scales, dexterity, notations or sight reading. I would like to achieve some level of mastery on the instrument though. As such, my warm up routine before each gig was to simply have some beers to loosen up.
MAIN INSTRUMENTS
I would say that my main bass guitar over the years would be a cream-finished CIJ Fender Precision, which ironically I am not very precise with. I treat it as a blunt instrument, and I acquired it (second-hand) because I did not want to over-tinker my approach to music. It has a single tone knob and a single volume knob, and I strung it with Ernie Ball Super Slinkys (45–100) roundwound strings. It did what I needed it to do, and I love it for doing that.
For the moment, I would not purchase anything beyond of a higher workmanship than what I currently have, because of something a friend said that really shaped the way I see and view instruments. His advice at the time, was that he was only purchasing what his skill level needed at the time, and what was needed to do the job, rather than acquire what was desirable. That approach to the craft really shaped my thinking about seeing instruments as tools, and you respect the tool by forming a partnership with it at your current skill level and what you want to achieve with it.
Having said that, I also acquired a CIJ Jazz Bass, a Yamaha BB1500A, as well as a Greco Precision Bass strung with flatwounds to suit my toolbox at the time because I was also playing in other side projects as well.
OTHER EQUIPMENT
My main pedal board consisted of a tuner, to an MXR M-102 Dyna Comp compressor, to an MXR Bass DI+ (For EQ), into a DNA Analogic Bass Dragger distortion. It was a straight up board that helped a passive bass sound active. I would programme the compressor and EQ according to the venues I played, and would have a bias towards a boosted bass and treble.
At venues, I would typically dial the amp’s EQ to flat since everywhere was different. The compressor was a requirement for SHELVES’ music because of the amount of attack I wanted to control when playing live. Basically, I simplified my tone enough so that I would not be a bother to sound technicians (hopefully), and could give my all during a performance instead of tweaking gear onstage.
OTHER LOCAL GUITARISTS/BASSISTS YOU FIND INTERESTING
One key shaping moment was listening to Victor Low’s basslines on Concave Scream’s Three album. I was probably 18 years old and was still struggling with bass players being the boring ones in the band. But when I heard that album, and Low’s basslines, they were liquid, melodic, driving, pulsing, full of definition and emotion. I suppose the music met me at the right time, because it really changed the way I saw the potential of the instrument. Here I was being taught that bass was supposed to play the root note in quarter notes, and then encountering basslines that sounded like they could be a third guitar that just played in a lower register. That album taught me that you could make the rules your own.
This encounter still continues to shape my appreciation of music today, because it has taught me to be agnostic in my approach music, instruments, tones, genres, and even cultures. Everything you hear has a story behind it, and that is what keeps me listening, even if I am not playing.
PHOTO ABOVE
This is the cream-finished Precision Bass that was mentioned. The bass is special to me because it’s the one that I have used for the bands and projects closest to my heart.