Guitar Wisdom

I have culled the following ideas from an article in the Sept/Oct 1989 Bass Player magazine. Yes, the article and its ideas are over ten years old; but the information they convey is timeless. The article was credited to "Freff", a.k.a. Connor Freff Cochran. The entire article is worth several times its weight in gold. The rut-breaking suggestions are priceless, and apply (in most cases) to ANY instrument. Freff reminds us that real, memorable music comes from the heart. He reminds us that our attitudes and approaches -- as we strap on an instrument -- will shape what we "have to say" on our respective instruments far more than any exercise or hardware can. Please take a look at these thoughts and suggestions and get a good chuckle. Even if you don't TRY all of them, the simple act of considering what it might be like to try them will tap creative elements in your soul.

• [On soloing] What it comes back to is the difference between "how" and "what." Between saying something--anything--and actually having something to say.
• In a few billion years our sun will go nova and bake this place dead as a cueball. Meanwhile, there's room for a hell of a lot of bass solos.
• As for hardware and the emotional mysteries of soloing--well. If I sit down to write a love letter, my choice of pen and ink are by far the smallest part of the point.

Reassuring facts, factoids, tips and outright cheats

• If it doesn't work the first time, do it again (brevity may be the soul of wit, but repetition is the soul of recognition)
• If it works the second time, go for three.
• If it works the third time, do something else. You're a guest in your audience's head, and the adage about fish and visitors applies.
• There are no wrong notes, chords, or rhythms. Only incomplete ones.
• When in doubt, play forcefully. When assured, play light.
• If you have a trick you especially love, DON'T USE IT.
• Use effects sparingly, like pepper in rich soup.
• Rhythm is notated movement. So move!
• Melody is what happens when you write a sentence using notes.
• Harmony is what happens when "words" in your sentences have two meanings.
• On the bass guitar, harmonies are for folks with really big hands or really sharp wits. If you don't qualify on these two counts, don't bother. All the obvious chords are clichés.
• Structure is what happens when other people think you know what you're doing, whether or not you really do or not.
• Your mother will still love you at tempi below 160.
• Do that other thing. You know--that one.
• Everything being equal, and your heart at ease, you have nothing to fear but the gear itself.

Stuck in a Rut?

• Listen to a bass player that you hate, then never do anything that they do.
• Listen to a bass player that you really really like, then never do anything that they do.
• Study the bass role in other musical forms: like the bass clarinet and bassoon, or trombone and tuba, in orchestral writing; or the bass voice in choral works (Handel's Messiah; anything by the Bobs, the Nylons, or Bobby McFerrin; any doo-wop groups or barbershop quartets); or the synth bass in dance music.
• Build yourself a washtub bass. Play it. A lot. (use good twine and a splinter-free broom)
• Break your favorite solos down into small sections. Put those sections on flash cards, shuffle the cards, and follow their lead
• Sing in unison with what you are playing.
• Sing in opposition to what you are playing.
• Play a hi-hat or bass drum with one foot while playing your bass. When this is no longer challenging, play both.
• If you like to move when you play, sit very still. If you like to sit, get the longest cord you can find (or go wireless) and don't stop moving.
• Play while sitting in a tree.
• Focus on smaller and smaller elements. Play a single note for 15 minutes and try to pull some meaning out of the rhythmic and timbral variations. Play quarter-notes at a relentlessly slow tempo and search out melodies that are interesting to you any way.
• Remove one of the strings. When that gets too easy, remove another.
• Deliberately play one semitone out of consonance. On every note.
• Set yourself challenges, like playing against sequenced music with chord clusters so massive there is no clear tonal center, or changes in tempo or rhythm that are tough for you to track. And, of course, as soon as they get easy--make 'em worse!
• Play beat the clock. Set a timer and give yourself five seconds to improvise a valid musical statement. Record all attempts for later assessment, embarrassment, and enlightenment. Give yourself more and more time, in five second intervals, until you can hold a coherent musical thought for a full 60 seconds. Then go back to the short stuff.
• Set up a loud, simple drum machine riff in a time signature you're not comfortable with, and play along with it. For hours.
• Borrow a bass from somebody you respect so much that you'd be afraid to leave fingerprints on their property. Then play that instrument instead of your own (the one you have come to take for granted).
• Tape one or more of the fingers on one or more of your hands together.
• Wear a blindfold.
• Lay your bass down on a desk and play it using a bottleneck slide (left hand) and soft mallets (right hand). Then reverse.
• String your bass in reverse.
• Flip it and play with reversed hands.
• Play it the way you'd imagine a character from a book or movie might play (Luke Skywalker, Raymond from Rain Man, Captain Ahab, Charles Foster Kane, Joan of Arc, Louis XIV, all three Musketeers or all three Marx Brothers).
• Stare at your bass for 15 minutes without playing it.
• Stare at someone you love all night long.
• Go stare at the moon.

For a hilarious take on bass players, check out this book excerpt by Tony Levin called "The History of the Bass". The excerpt is from Tony's book "Beyond the Bass Clef: The Life and Art of Bass Playing". I know this isn't acoustic guitar related, but the story is honestly TOO funny not to include here.

There are three types of guitar people. Guitar owners, guitar players, and guitarists.