I noticed a jet fighter for sale on-line. It was a Soviet-era trainer with a tag of $5 million, not including flying lessons. What gave me the laugh was the cockpit, which resembled a P-51 Mustang. Trivia. China now has the largest and most modern air force in the world. Their fighters are a copy of the Soviet Sukhoi-27s, the plane than can accelerate straight up. As for the world in another 30 years, more people in China speak English than in the USA. Electric bass repairs. My rosewood fretboard would cost more to repair than a new bass. That’s a mis-statement, it doesn’t need repair, but it is worn behind the frets. This, from thousands of hours usage despite my rather light touch is making my spotless bass look grungy from some angles. I tried to smooth them out with steel wool this morning with some success. I’d hate to give up my favorite; this bass has lasted me through 20 bands and 7 girlfriends.
I’ve dug out my Ibanez six-banger and reviewed all the chords as I can know them. I’ve noticed that guitarists play specific inversions, but I don’t have that option. I can play eight distinct beats and my music must fit into those eight. Mind you, Eddie, that is seven more than I’ve seen some guitarists do on stage. I may not have discovered all the guitar things I talk about, but nor have I seen them studied and spelled out for the next learner, either.
Without knowing the technical names, I refer to my beats by the song I learned them from. I know the Bo Diddley, the These Boots, The Lonesome Me, the Folsom Prison, etc. One initial advantage (and I’m a huge fan of initial advantages) is that I learned to sing while playing bass. That weird, almost disjointed, brain disconnect that has to take place before you can do such a thing is making the guitar chops easier.
Put another way, once you begin singing (and I did not know this before I sang) you have to focus on the lyrics and presentation, not playing the accompaniment. That’s the reason, I propose, why so many quit playing the right chops soon as they sing. I have to struggle with each song, but once you break that persistent mental bond, it becomes rather like singing alongside a very cooperative guitarist who never, ever, misses a beat and knows exactly how you take your morning coffee.
Since the world is ending on December 21, 2012, I need to sell people some one-way tickets. Do you have any destinations in mind? Is the 20th the day to run up your bar tab? Jimbo’s has offered free drinks all day on the 22nd. Maybe business will pick up, because we just had another record slow bingo. Seven players. The Moose people will be returning in November, but it’s a lean and mean stretch until then.
Deciding not to wait until I can afford the $25 per hour lessons, I got out the sewing machine and put cuffs on two pairs of trousers. Cut-offs and jeans, actually. I broke two needles and burned my fingertips but that can be described as inexperience. The first needle I had no idea wasn’t strong enough, the second because I have no work table and the weight of the jeans hanging over the edge of my kitchen table was enough to snap the steel. The iron I have experience with, but forgot that when I ironed a seam held by a pin, the pin stays hot a lot longer.
