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Saturday, December 01, 2012

advent

with christmas just around the corner and advent calendars springing up i thought i would join in the spirit of the whole thing with my very own advent want list.
it is a want list so very much different from a needs list, or a 'well i would really like that as i can use it'. or even 'hey that's a cool thing to have'.

this is a list of things that well i just desire. some of them i know i would never use to begin with but still want. some i know i would never use to their full potential but hey who cares - this is my wants list and i will do what i want with it.

i love rock music.
of all the dream professions i wanted (policeman, fireman, astronaut - to name a few) being in a rock band was right up there. everyone wants to be the singer, it's a cool role, you are the front man, you are the star, the focus is on you. plus all you have to carry around with you is a microphone. how easy is that? however that wasn't for me as i couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.
that also meant being a drummer was out of the question - stuck at the back and all that gear to carry around. no thanks.
that left guitar or bass.
i quickly discovered that my fingers were too fat for guitar - pesky six strings. bass it was, just four strings on a big chunky neck. easy.

now it is not like i was running to the bass because it was easy. no some of my favourite musicians are bass guitarists. players such as geddy lee of rush or chris squire of yes. the bass plays an important part in rock - it helps drive the song along, it is the backbone of the sound. so i was going to be a bass player.
i could play bass. write epic lyrics. rock the world.

well that was until i discovered that i was pretty shit at keeping time. (this will come as no surprise to anyone who has agreed to meet up with me - i have a fluid concept of time). malcolm gladwell talks of the 10,000-hour rule to become an expert at something, i may have devoted that much time to air guitar but i never quite got that close to spending a 100 hundred hours practicing on the bass.

that doesn't mean i don't still lust after a bass guitar.
when i occasionally wander down denmark street i still look in the windows of the music shops and drool.

so as my first lust item i have chosen a bass, but i have gone for a stand-up electric bass. for no other reason than it looks pretty sweet.

i want the slb200 silent bass (though i do hope it isn't silent as i might as well just stick to air guitar), it has a retail of just £2669. 




oddly as my music taste has broadened over the years i can now think about making ambient noise or drone. maybe i can get away without having 10,000 hours behind me?

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