Dec '25 • General discussion
Start From Scratch and Yesterday’s Trash
Well in true ADHD fashion, something I’ve been doing for 35 years and I don’t know where to begin. So how about the beginning? For me it started with my dad’s baritone ukulele when I was about 8. He showed me how to strum without a pick using my index finger on the down stroke and thumb on the up stroke. (There’s a joke for the true funk soldiers in there, like I said in true ADHD fashion, IYKYK) then I picked up drums, some guitar (but it wasn’t really my thing) some saxophone in school band, and then Bass. SRV was what I was trying to get under my fingers when I got my first bass. So naturally I tried to strum his tune Mary Had a Little Lamb on the bass, as one does… Not! Then came drumset lessons from Dr. Al Gardner in college. He bombarded me with about a dozen drum rudiments my first week and they must not have been entertaining for my upstairs neighbor because I got a noise complaint working on them. So I put down my sticks and picked up my bass (unplugged to keep the peace) with the rudiments still in my head. With my right thumb slapping the open string E and my left middle finger hitting the fret board as a percussive mute, I started playing a paradiddle. Not trying to brag but what came out was a groove that gave me a bit of the ole stank face. Frankly, I dug it. Next we’re triplets. Those two served me well always having been a fan of slap bass.
I was an ADHD kid who drummed on anything and everything available always and forever. My teachers hated it. I’d have to keep my mind occupied to concentrate during a test. It was automatic. When I would concentrate on something I’d drum on something. I couldn’t not do it. Like I had to throw the dogs a bone to keep them quiet so I could hear myself think. I think that’s why the bass stuck with me (or probably more accurately dug a trench in me). I could drum on the strings while thinking of what notes to play and it was allowed and although not ever really encouraged by anyone it satisfied something in me that couldn’t be ignored and had never been utilized in a beneficial way. So I put that monkey on my back to work.
The next semester I met my bass professor, John Reid and he fed a me a feast of bass knowledge twice a week for the next two years. More than I could eat much less digest all in one sitting. He was (is) a great bassist but he was admittedly not a slap guy. He empathetically knew I had a sickness for it though and did introduce me to the basics and also to Victor Wooten and his music (literally. Yes seriously. I met and was critiqued by Bass Jesus himself, Victor Lamonte Wooten). After that took it upon myself to attempt everything I learned in slap style also. Scales, walking lines, classical style finger style, harmonics, all of it. I at least attempted to slap everything I learned.
Then a couple of years later. I had a 22 day stretch doing sound for a rockabilly band from Ennis, Texas called Hillbilly Café that had an upright player who played a mean doghouse (slap style) bass. There were other members of the band (I think) but focused on his playing. almost exclusively and picked off all the ear worms I could when I got home (that may sound disgusting but it’s much more sanitary than it sounds trust me, it’ll make sense soon enough if it doesn’t already).
Those were the building blocks that shaped my playing the most and structured the technique I developed. From my head through my hands, these are the fields I trained on. Rhythm is a jungle gym and this monkey has been swinging on them ever since. In many ways Its the sort of thing that no one ever told me couldn’t be done so I didn’t know I couldn’t do it. Don’t ever let anyone tell you can’t. Especially someone who hasn’t.
I’ve never put that into words before but bet, if anyone’s interested I’ll talk about bass ‘til I’m blue in the face. I’m making this up as I go along so feel free to ask me anything you want to know and I guarantee it’ll put me on an ADHD side quest to answer it faster than you can say Les Claypool. I figure if you’ve read this far you’re probably a little slap happy too. I’m happy to cover any basics and need you to have some understanding of fundamentals of bass guitar and music to be able communicate the more fun stuff. So like any good player knows, there’s plenty of wax on wax off to be done Daniel San. I believe that learning what you want to learn, what you like, what you’re interested in, what dream about playing along side the boring stuff crucial to long term dedication to any craft. I think it’s just as important as learning what you need to learn early on and along side it. It makes learning exciting and gives perspective on WHY to learn things. I can’t teach you to play like you want to play. The most important thing I can help you learn is how to teach yourself. Music is supposed to be fun and cool and expressive and social among other things so I’m not a believer in bogging students down with only fundamentals, scales, theory, technique etc. I'd prefer that you want to see why they’re important for you to learn for you to be able to play how you want. If you’re playing bass guitar you’re not in a symphony orchestra which means you’re free to create, make mistakes, experiment, and explore and you should. But you should also learn scales and theory etc. so you can understand what been done before you, how to communicate it with other players and be able to learn the music you want to learn faster and more easily. There’s a lot more uncharted territory for bass players than for guitarists for example. There’s fewer of us and the bass guitar hasn’t even existed for a century yet. Anything you learn musically will make you a better player. The more you learn the easier it becomes to learn and the better you will occupy the space for the bass.
J
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Start From Scratch and Yesterday’s Trash
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