My new bass guitar

One big advantage of not taking piano lessons is I don’t have to practice if I don’t feel like it. One big disadvantage of not taking piano lessons is I don’t have to practice if I don’t feel like it. This is coming into play this week, because I just obtained a brand new electric bass guitar, and now, I have to start being serious about learning some stringed instruments other than the ukulele. All this came about because of my considerable skill at writing reviews in general, but also because I am a musician who can apply those review writing skills to things musical. Add to that I am a beginner guitar player, and I was ideally suited and positioned to be one of the first people to test and evaluate the new beginner’s bass by Mitchell.

My Mitchell bass guitar, hanging on the wall, photo turned 90 degrees

Coincidentally, I had an opportunity a few weeks back to review an amplifier, but I decided to pass on it because all I could think to my grand piano owning self, was, “When will I ever need an amp?” Turns out the answer was, in a couple of weeks when somebody gives you a guitar. Anyway, I’m a musician and I’m not completely unconnected from the community of my fellow musicians, so I was able to get my hands on an amp and run this bass through its paces. Here’s what I’ve learned about bass guitar in general, and this bass guitar in particular.

Hanging up facing away, turned again

Playing bass is, for the most part, like playing a horn. Many lines are linear, and there is rarely any call for playing chords (although you can do that on any guitar, bass included). Bass is also fairly simple to play. Once you’ve got the strings and the frets down, there’s nothing to it. Playing it well, however, is a different matter, mostly because like any musical instrument, there is a certain feel and a certain intuitiveness that must be built up to. I did not get very far in that department, only because I played enough to experience the bass, not enough to become a bass player.

That looks Corvette red to me...

This one, which was given to me to sample and evaluate by Music 123, a seller on Amazon, among other place, is targeted for beginners. The “transparent red” (see photos) puts me in mind of an exotic sports car, and the angular shape of the one-piece body and the sharp cut of the head are cool and modern looking. Fortunately, it came with strings on, close to being tuned, and even a battery installed, so it was ready to use right out of the box. I even still had my Kliq aircell guitar strap that I was also asked to test (which I did with my acoustic guitar originally), so I put that on and I was ready to rock.

It's got some gizmos...

This bass has a solid, strong sound. My borrowed amp wasn’t the greatest, so I had to keep the volume high, but when I started to play with the tone adjustments, I was quickly able to get a wide variety of different tones, attacks, and finishes. The best thing about the knobs is, they have a “center” where they sit in a noticeable (by feel, invisible to the eye) groove for the most neutral, clear tone. If you play with a knob and don’t like the result, you can just twist it back to the center and get back to where you started. I experimented with the knobs quite a bit, and noticed they sometimes had a very pronounced effect, and sometimes not, and sometimes it made a big different on some strings, but not so much on some others. It’s like having a small effects box with reverb, echo, feedback, and “twang” built right in. If you open them all up, you get a big huge rock guitar sound, but my playing was too feeble to do much with it, so I kept everything more in the middle. I had “Stand by Me” and “Another One Bites the Dust” going pretty good, but I never could catch on to “Billie Jean”. Maybe someday.

The one design "flaw": A jack that keep you from putting the guitar down on the floor. That's a good thing, I guess.

I like that my wide ranging product reviews are starting to help me get some focus in the music area. Hopefully this one will catch on, get some popularity and attention, and make me more of a tester and evaluator of cool musical products. In the meantime, if it helps me to decorate my music room and broaden my musical horizons, so much the better. It may even get me to sit at the piano a little more, who knows?

Pick me, Mr. Brown! Pick me!

I haven’t played with a whole lot of jazz bands and ensembles, but one thing I noticed when I did: As long as the band had a good bass player, I was able to hold my own, and even (on rare occasions) shine. I suppose the fact that the piano is part of the rhythm section along with the bass, but I just think that when the bass is driving the song, whether lagging or tipping, it’s one less thing the piano player has to worry about, making his job much easier. I think this compendium of hits from Ray Brown demonstrates that fact.

Taken from a 23-year stretch, five of some of the best jazz pianists of the last fifty years are here: Monty Alexander, Cedar Walton, Gene Harris, Benny Green, and my personal favorite, Geoffrey Keezer (who I happened to meet a few years back). It doesn’t hurt to have drummers like Jeff Hamilton and Elvin Jones, or soloists like Terrence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Stanley Turrentine, but ultimately, this music shines for me because of Ray Brown letting the piano players ring out.

Notice how Mr. Brown takes center stage, but thoughtfully includes the drums and piano in the shot. He's part of the rhythm section, and I think it's great that he acknowledges that.

Probably my favorite track is Gene Harris’ take on Summertime, which he turns into a rolling, vamping, boogie-woogie blues that is utterly fascinating. (The crowd goes wild!) That’s saying a lot when you have competition like Monty Alexander on Blue Bossa, Gene Harris on Have You Met Miss Jones, and Cedar Walton doing Horace Silver one better on Sister Sadie. These in turn have to compete with even older standards, which may not even have been standards the first few times Ray Brown played them, like Cherokee and Caravan. There’s just so much great music here, and I love being able to study how the bass frees up the other instruments while also dictating to them the terms of the song. I hear it a little differently each time.

Thankfully, I’m sort of kind of sticking to my New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve actually been playing piano a lot more of late. Maybe I’ll run into Mr. Brown before long and I can cajole him into playing with me. (Okay, no.) But I will say, the next time I run into a capable, dynamic bass player, I’m going to see about latching on. You never know who the next Ray Brown is going to be, but I do know one thing: He’ll need a piano player. And one more thing I know: I play piano. (Kind of.)