Brief and bass lives

Bass and electric guitar
Photo by Juan Montana on Unsplash

I have been doing that dangerous thing called thinking and it revolves around getting back into making music again after a long spell away. All of this listening to postpunk/darkwave/synthwave/coldwave has gotten my brain tick-tocking (with the occasional disturbing click) and I very tempted to go out and buy myself a new, not piece-of-shite, bass guitar, lay out some drum machine tracks and go to town on writing a couple of new songs in that vein.

Although I don’t know how many folks remember the Neddies (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin), but the thing that made them interesting is that they used two (2) bass guitars for much of their music. While I’m not looking for that Midlands 90s sound, I think it would be fun to steer things in the direction of old school postpunk with double bass guitars, one playing rhythm and the other playing the melody (think ol’ Hooky, especially with New Order where he played the melody while Bernie or Gillian sequenced the rhythm bass).

I’m just realizing that the above two paragraphs might be complete nonsense to the uninitiated. But think! Think! How cool that might sound as long as you got the sound punchy enough so that both bass lines didn’t end up in the mud!

Now plotting how to add a “good enough” electric bass to my collection of instruments…


7 responses to “Brief and bass lives”

  1. Laura Lyndhurst Avatar
    Laura Lyndhurst

    I am uninitiated in the music you mention, but I approve heartily of you getting into making music again. We can never have enough music in our lives, whether we’re playing it ourselves or listening to somebody else doing it. 🙂

    1. michael raven Avatar

      Weirdo stuff. 🤪

      I always go back to making music. I just need a longish break sometimes. We’ll see if it amounts to anything worth sharing. 😆

  2. chrisnelson61 Avatar

    At least you’re not planning to compose on a computer!
    Yes, double bass (as in 2 bass guitars) is a good feel. Play on, as the Bard once said.

    1. michael raven Avatar

      I might do a bit of both. We’ll see.

      Maybe I’ll do a stepwise/evolution-of -a-song type of series of posts. Not that I’m any kind of genius, but someone might be interested in the process. Maybe. Probably not, but it keeps me out of trouble when I do such things.

      1. chrisnelson61 Avatar

        All about the process.

  3. shredbobted Avatar

    Love the bass. Played trombone in high school, so I can probably still read bass clef, or could learn again. I’ve thought about picking one up too, except for the damage it would do to my relationships with my neighbors. You take lead, I’ll take rhythm? My faves are Scott LaFaro, Charles Mingus, Tina Weymouth, and Jaco. Love his work with Joni Mitchell, and there’s great footage of him playing Slang on her Shadows and Light DVD. I’ll tell you straight up I’ll never be a hundredth as good as any of those guys and gals. Maybe next life stuff?🙃

    1. michael raven Avatar

      Ha! I can’t read a note except (maybe) to save my life. And then, only if you give me lots of time to count off the respective clef.

      They make plenty of headphone-oriented amps these days. You could pick one up and only your wife would hear the strings then (while you are blowing out your eardrums). I’ve often not bothered with amplification when I’ve played instruments, guitar or bass. I can hear it well enough to tell if it sounds good without.

      I’ve never and will never amount to much. My bass heroes were John Taylor from Duran Duran, Simon Gallup from the Cure and Peter Hook from Joy Division/New Order. I maybe can figure out how to play similar to the last two, but John is way too technical for me to mimic. Jazz… I could never do jazz because — well — I am the perpetual amateur. 🙂

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