Tuesday; I Love This Bass! G&L L2000

One of the primary tools I used for this blog over the past eight or nine weeks has been a G&L L2000 bass. It has been my go-to instrument for practice sessions and for playing with our worship band. Granted, I did play different basses on a few occasions, but primarily this has been my workhorse. 

Love at first sight-- via G&L's Facebook page

If you don't know about G&L, the initials stand for George Fullerton & Leo Fender. Yup-- that Fender, the guy who invented the production electric bass and pioneered guitar amplification. He sold his Fender guitar company to CBS in the 1960s then in the 1970s started a company called Music Man. After selling that to Ernie Ball, Leo enlisted his buddy George from the early days of the Fender company and together they created G&L guitars in the early 1980s. Those who know about G&L consider them to be the real Fender guitars and basses, despite the other company's marketing.

I first saw it on the G&L Facebook page in the spring. The post mentioned it was shipping to Bass Northwest in Seattle. The day is vivid in my memory; I was studying for my statistics course in our dining room-- the unofficial study area-- surfing the net during a lunch break. And there it was. I didn't have any money at the time, so actually being able to buy it didn't seem possible. So I figured I'd sell some excess gear to raise the funds. Surprisingly the gear sold quickly, but wasn't quite enough to think about bringing this blue-burst beauty home.

Bass Northwest, on the edge of historic Pioneer Square, Seattle WA. 

The last piece of gear that needed to sell in order to fund the bass came a day after our 10th wedding anniversary. This instrument became a marker of our anniversary, and is now referred to as my anniversary bass. I gave Bass NW a call to see it was still there... and it was! I made arrangements to visit that week and battled Seattle traffic to make my way to Pioneer Square-- home to Bass NW.

The owner happened to be there and took the instrument off the wall and handed it to me after plugging it into a 6-foot tall Ampeg amp. It felt great, sound incredible and the finish is a knock out-- a blue burst with deep-purple sides. After playing it for a few minutes the owner asked what I thought and after chatting a little bit made me an offer I couldn't refuse. "Pack it up!" I said with a huge smile. As I was leaving, we shook hands and he said, "go make some good music with this, eh~" That is exactly what I have done.

G&L bumper sticker declaring the truth

So aside from sounding great, what is it about this bass that has become my go-to instrument? 

First off, it weighs less than most basses I've tried-- a good medium weight instrument, which makes it more comfortable sitting on my leg during those long practice sessions, but still has enough weight to provide more than enough oomph to it's sound.

The controls are the best I've found on any other bass. G&L calls it the Tri-Tone System; the knobs are volume/treble/bass. The three switches include 3-way pickup selector/ series-*single coil*-Parallel/ treble boost- active mode- passive mode. The pre-amp is powered by a 9-Volt battery (opposed to 18-volts in many others). One of the things I like most about this system is that the player can choose passive or active mode. Lets say I'm playing on the active system and the battery dies. No worries, I just flip the switch to passive and keep on rockin.' The pickups are humbuckers, but with the attrition of the "K" wiring I can select single coils. This has got to be the most versatile bass on the planet! 

A much appreciated characteristic of this L2000 is that it's comfortable to play on stage. It is balanced just right on the strap, so there aren't any problems with the neck diving. The neck is shaped just right-- chunky and rounded, but not so much that it gets in the way. At 1.5" it is the basic width of a Fender Jazz Bass. The frets are medium-jumbos, but are not as tall as most of that size; I'd call them low-wide. The satin finish on the neck makes it smooth to play without any of the stickiness of lacquered necks.

Finally, the bass itself; heck-- you've seen the pictures,... its beautiful! G&L have the best painters in the business, and thats saying something because there are some fantastic finishers out there (PRS, Carvin, Tom Anderson, etc.). This particular one is a burst finish that starts at the edges as a very deep purple and transitions into a translucent blue. What's not to like?!

Sunday; New Gear, and Gremlins

This weekend I had the privilege of playing during our main services on Saturday evening, and twice on Sunday morning.

The calm before the storm

A lot of practice during the week allowed me to focus more on the band than my playing. Everything went well, even when our leader threw us a curveball... He decided to merge the second & third song, changing the chord progression of the third to fit nicely with second.

Sure SRH440 headphones 

Ahead of the practice curve, I decided to get all my gear packed up early so I'd be ready to shlep everything to the church later in the day. That's when I realized I had not yet replaced my crummy headphones. After clearing it with the family CFO, I picked up a pair of Shure SRH440, and a Snark clip-on tuner. Why a tuner? During the last Softer Sunday I played my BOSS TU-2 died. The Snark is a great little tuner and is priced friendly enough at $20

Saturday evening I chose to play the Music Man Stingray. While it sounded great, I really missed my G&Ls. This is kind of crazy, since the Stingray has been a real joy to play... so why was I craving the G&L? Maybe because thats all I've been playing the last few months...? Maybe because the 'Ray favors the mid frequencies and the band had a lot of that already happening (two electric guitars, acoustic guitar, keys...), so I chose to take my G&L L2000 for Sunday morning.

  SN8 Super Tight Tuner

Sunday went well enough, though we did have a few gremlins-- one of our guitarists had a battery die in his pedal board, and struggled to ID the offending pedal then to disconnect it and get back to playing. At the same time, our the leader forgot to turn up the volume on his acoustic guitar-- all of this just as we began the second set. Our guitarist was really down about the problems, but took comfort in the stories the team traded about their own surprise miss-adventures.

Since I had practiced enough the week prior, I was able to take my attention away from the chord sheets and just flow with the music. This was great for most of the day, however, I did unintentionally play a few different chord progressions than the others in the band. Thankfully the progressions I was playing fit quite nicely. 

The band in full swing during Sunday's second service-- third of the weekend

Our sound guys have a new digital board to control things on stage, and even set up a camera to film what we were doing. Our leader has asked us to think more about our "stage presence" while critiquing ourselves on our musicianship. I love the idea of being able to watch the film and identify things to improve upon, but this weeks audio wasn't much help. 

This coming weekend I get to participate with our Softer Sunday service, so it's off to the woodshed with me to prepare~

Wed; Groovin' For Heaven and Other Revelations

This has been a productive week for me-- both musically and on the house purchasing front.

Musically, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the basic scales, until last week when a buddy lent me a copy of the instructional DVD, "Groovin' For Heaven." The instructor mentioned the necessity to have a few basic musical scales under your fingers; Major, Minor, Pentatonic. 

No worries-- I got this!

I've got the Major scale nailed down, and I remember the requirement to turn a major chord into a minor is to flat the 3rd. While this is true, my perspective in this case was limited to chords. I was missing the whole picture-- the need to not only flat the 3rd, but also the 6th and 7th. Doh!!  

From there I went a little further and checked out this handy article on pentatonic scales published Cyberfretbass.com. Here I realized another error in my thinking; I had mistakenly thought of notes in the incorrect degree of the scale. Let me explain...

A major pentatonic scale removes the 4th & 7th from the scale:

C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C
1  2  3  4   5  6  7  1

This means the scale correctly becomes:
C  D  E  G  A  
1  2   3  5  6.  

My mistake was labeling the note G with the 4th degree of the scale... Ooops!

So back to the woodshed with me-- just one of the pitfalls to being a self-taught musician I guess. And score one for the internet by making the info easily available. Technology to the rescue!

A great resource for sharping skills

The instructional DVD was a pleasant surprise in that it encouraged me to view playing from a perspective I hadn't thought of previously. My music stand now contains three pages of notes I jotted down while watching the DVD. Lots of work for me to do over the next few weeks.


Practice:
I spent several hours working on the upcoming weekends song list. One tune in particular is a revised version of Amazing Grace written by the band Citizen. It's a modern take on the classic, and a pretty good one at that. I had the chord sheet, but it lacked any direction for the instrumental. So after a good deal of critical listening I was able to pin it down. Honestly, I was pretty proud of myself and really got the entire song down pat. The other three tunes are pretty straight forward, so no problems there.

House update:
I got the last remaining quote for replacing the carpet today. Now with all three quotes we are much closer to having a closing date. The seller is providing an allowance up to $4k for new carpet... each of the three quotes are well over that mark-- which will come out of our pocket-- so that's finally taken care of.

Also gathered another estimate from moving from our rental to the house. Man, buying a house is expensive! Most of my moves in the past were coordinated and paid for by the Air Force-- all but one, which was a serious PIA! It's a tricky task to find a reputable moving company that won't gouge the customer. Thankfully it looks like we've secured a good one, though it's still an expensive undertaking.

Ron Witwicky providing important fatherly advice

Boxes. Where can we get our hands on a bunch of boxes?! The more we pack and/or move the more we save with the moving company. I hate going to places asking for boxes. This is something that my wife doesn't understand, and I'm having a difficult time expressing why. Maybe because it feels like I'm asking for a handout... still trying to work that one out. I'd be happy just paying for boxes. But not her. As quoted by Mr. Ron Witwicky; "Happy wife, happy life. Unhappy wife, stone-cold misery for the rest of your life." Time to find some boxes...!

Sunday; I Love It Loud-- or Quiet?!

This weeks Softer Sunday went pretty smooth. We didn't have any last minute changes, the songs were all familiar tunes which I've played a lot over the years. And the band, which is comprised of different members each week was locked in pretty well. There was however, one thing which like a bad penny, keeps resurfacing in this service; volume.

"BLF" Bass guitars Before Leo Fender...

The term "softer" in Softer Sunday refers to lower volume than that found in our main services. This service began life as a completely separate gathering of about a dozen, more... seasoned people. The music was made from a piano and upright bass. Over time an us-vs.-them situation began brewing. So in conjunction with adjusting service times the Softer Sunday service as we know today was created. Naturally, some of those in the original small group became disenchanted over the change, while a strong personality that lead that group retired and moved on. 

Leo Fender; invented electricity... mostly

This situation is a great model for studying group dynamics, but I won't go into those details here. Suffice to say there is and will always be-- in any group-- an element who will never be satisfied. There are also those who will complain about anything just for the attention. "It's too loud!" some complain to the pastor. The band is then asked to lower the volume. Next week the band is still too loud, and complaints are directed to the band who again lowers their volume. A few months ago this got so bad that the drummer couldn't hear the bass player (me) and asked our sound guy to turn me up a bit (we don't have personal monitors in this service). The very next moment our sound guy was asked to turn every thing down due to more complaints. 

"ALF" Bass guitars After Leo Fender

This weekend we had the same group dynamic problems-- too loud/too quiet. To please one person another is upset. A lot of churches have this problem, it is not uniquely ours. I do believe however, what is unique to us is this little group of people who wish to return to the days where they have their own little club complemented with nothing more than a piano and an upright bass. A club that could come & go through the side doors without any interaction with anyone but themselves. Then and only then will they be happy.

Thankfully this is not my problem to solve. I am very happy to accept any opportunity to make music-- especially when it praises God. It's also my guess that 99% of the others in the worship arts collective feel the same way. The focus needs to be on God-- not us. If the music truly is too loud, then by all means we are happy to turn it down. However, there comes a point when turning it down any further is counter productive. Unless of course your intention is to replace the band with a piano & upright bass.

Monday. Sad Days; Look Out For Your Wingman

News of Robin Williams suicide was released today.

The reports say he was struggling with depression for many years. I couldn't help but think that if someone was there to help him through it, maybe he would still be with us. I'm sure his loved ones have been there for him many times in the past, and maybe even on this day, but that was the first thing that went though my mind. Then I thought about my own struggles with it... I am so thankful for the support of my own friends & family, and that of another thing-- music. 

Would music have been able to help Williams? What if he was aware of a music therapy program similar to that of Guitars For Vets? Again, maybe he would still be with us. 

Uncharacteristically, this had been on my mind all day. I don't usually think much about celebrity deaths when they happen. Maybe I'm weird, but I never get caught up in the fanfare made of celeb deaths-- though I do have empathy for their families. Not being connected to these people, it's difficult to grieve for them. But the suicide death of Williams struck a chord with me. 

The Air Force has something called the Wingman. It's a flying term-- fighter pilots are always to have a wingman; another aircraft that watches your back, while you watch his. The AF took this concept and applied it to everyone-- pilots or otherwise, as a form of suicide prevention. Each person has someone who watches your back while you watch theirs. "Look out for your wingman!" 

We can get so caught up in our own little worlds that it can be easy to forget about others and what they may be struggling with... 

Who is your wingman? We all need to do a better job of looking out for each other~ 

Sunday; "Ch- ch-ch- ch- changes..."

Changes happen. Either you learn from them and grow, or you get left behind. This is true in so many areas of life, as it is in music.

Our Softer Sunday song-list has been available through our web-bassed planning center for well over a week. Saturday evening as my wife and I were driving home from a day trip to Whidbey Island, I got a call that there were changes to two of the songs-- mainly changes to the key signature. Also there was no way the services leader would be able to post the new chord sheets as he didn't have access to the online program.

16th Annual Whidbey Island Highland Games

Having spent many years in the USAF, I have a keen understanding for what it means to be a leader. A leader needs to make decisions-- sometimes unpopular decisions. A leader is required to equip his/her people with the tools they need to accomplish the mission. A leader inspires his/her people.

These particular last minute changes really got under my skin. Unfortunately, it has been common practice for the weekends worship leader to make last minute changes to our song list ranging from changes in key to completely different songs. I've been struggling with this lack of professionalism since joining the team several years ago. My wife reminds me that most of the people there are volunteers who have never been in the service, and that the civilian sector is much different than the Air Force. She's right of course... It's just another struggle for me to overcome in my reintegration to civilian life.

The changes to the songs were easy enough that I was able to spend a few hours before bed working out new chord sheets for the next mornings service. What bothered me the most was that these changes were made at the last minute, without regard for the others on the team. It just made me want to take this person aside and with a stern voice say, "Dang-it Airman! Whats wrong with you? Now get your act together! You were trained better than this!" But of course this person isn't an Airman, and hasn't been trained for this. There are times when I sorely miss the military...

Sunday morning arrived and after stopping at the Starbucks for my morning coffee I was on the stage and rehearsing our newly changed songs before I knew it. I rolled with the changes, we made it work and after voicing my concerns with the leader, moved on. Likewise, I am rolling with the changes of becoming being a civilian.

Through music, a person can learn a lot about life...

Saturday 9 Aug; I'm Feelin' Good

It's been a productive week; the house buying adventure appears to have taken a positive turn, with the seller agreeing with everything in our last counter offer. So, it looks like we've bought a house! There are a number of things that have to happen before we can move in, but we hope to close by the end of the month.

The essentials of my practice sessions: bass of choice,
Carvin amp, Boss tuner; chord sheets w/ lots of notes

Musically, I'm on the schedule to play with our church band for the next four weekends, which should help keeping me on a steady practice routine. I've spent the last few days working on this weekends song list and feel pretty confident with it. 

Now, back on track with my practice schedule I've noticed there are sections of the fingerboard I usually overlook. These tend to be the open positions and the "D" & "G" strings. So I've been working on using these areas in the songs I am practicing. Sometimes they work great-- as in the case of "Your Grace is Enough" (the key of F) in which I am playing the verse in the open positions as much as possible. We'll see how that works with the band on Sunday.

Keeping it fun, I've been working on the James Brown classic, "I Got You (I Feel Good). The old tunes from Motown, Stax, and Muscle Shoals (to name a few) have always been my favorites. Maybe it's because I was born in Detroit right around the time so many great tunes were recorded... there was something more than simply one-part hydrogen and two-parts oxygen in the water back then-- you can hear it in the music. Anyway, It's my way of keeping practice fun. 

Week 6: The Importance Of Keeping It Fun

So I haven't picked up the bass since last weekend's Softer Sunday service. I know, that's counter to the whole idea of this project, but this turned something I enjoy into a chore-- so I decided to take a break and reassess my approach. Now I'm ready to get back to it.

As I write this, we are still in negotiations for the house we are trying to buy; today is the deadline for their latest response to our post-home inspection offer. I imagine we will be volleying offers all week. Two moving companies will be visiting today to provide us with quotes for moving across town. The first rep is due to arrive in 30min or so...

These guys know how to have fun!

Each of the next four weekends I'll be playing with our worship band-- mostly Softer Sundays. All the songs have been posted and I've got the chord sheets for each tune. Typically though songs and keys change throughout the week, which means I've got enough to keep me busy for the next month or so.

Since I took a week off from practicing, I'll extend my project a week-- after all, the long term goal is to improve my skills-- right?!

One thing is sure-- I've learned the importance of keeping it fun~