A Very Bass Channel Thanksgiving
It’s at this time of year that people give thanks for what they have and what is important to them. I can hear what you’re saying though. You’re saying, “Doug, you missed American Thanksgiving by a week and Canadian Thanksgiving by whatever a month is in metric. And I know that. This article is coming in late in honor of the first thing all bass players are thankful for- our drummers.
What else are we thankful for? Throughout this article I’ll list some things the other members of The Bass Channel sent me, but I think it’s important to start off with something that has been keeping this website alive- accessible bass players. A quick scroll through our Interviews tag shows that I have been able to exchange emails with some interesting, thoughtful, big time bass players. Getting to see how Joey Vera gets his tone, how Michael Manring thinks about crafting a song, how Paolo Rossi plays so damn fast, and that Nick Beggs still thinks he doesn’t practice enough has been so inspiring. These are guys in big bands (except Manring, who is as big as a bass solo act gets) and to a man they could not have been open and friendly and willing to give me their time. It’s so cool to get to talk to people you admire about what they do, and to find out they love talking about it on top of it? *chef’s kiss*I have a lot more of these coming hopefully.
Another thing I’m thankful for is local musicians who are finding ways to keep the music going in a trash fire of a year. I’ve gotten to talk to a small Portland band called Tall Darky Whimsy about their efforts to play streaming shows and how that goes, because it’s the future of music for the foreseeable future. I also got to talk to Ben Bennett, who’s tech death band Xoth is still finding ways to write and just put out a vinyl of their newest album. Big bands are great but there are a lot of up-and-comers out there who were fighting to stay above water when you could play gigs. Bandcamp has been really important to all these people.
Speaking of, I’m thankful for Bandcamp. One of my favorite games when I’m up late with the pandemic insomnia is to pop in earbuds, open the Metal tab of Bandcamp, and play “Guess The SubGenre”. It’s fun, you can do it too. Using only the album cover you have to guess the genre of the band. Swords and horses? Power metal. Illegible logo and crappy black and white picture? Black metal. Gore everywhere? Death metal. Weed? Doom metal (I mean, every doom metal band. Come on guys, try another drug or something). Then you click on the album and listen. This game is how I discovered Xoth. Remember, from the above paragraph?
Throwing to Will, one of The Bass Channel players, his list goes
1) My Health
2) Music
3) All the opportunities TBC gives us
4) My friends and family
5) My personal growth
credit- https://images.app.goo.gl/oqDgtVDR6KnQE7vSA
Another thing I’m thankful for? People with bass clef tattoos. This isn’t even a joke. I really like that tattoo, I think it’s fun. I also endorse any tattoo that will confuse some people, and shout out to everyone with that tattoo who has had to answer “Why do you have a frowny face tattoo?”
I’m thankful for Zzounds, who have hooked me up with a bunch of pedals to test and review since I started writing for The Bass Channel. No joke, a week in and a box showed up at my house with four Darkglass Ultra pedals. What? And after that two Way Huge pedals- the Pork and Pickle (which I fell in love with) and the Swollen Pickle (which I didn’t). I look forward to a continued relationship with them, and they’ve always been quick to respond. Check ‘em out.
Brother Nick gave me not one but two lists for you all-
1) Everyone who takes time to watch our videos
2) My family and friends
3) Music
4) Leo Fender
5) E N V E L O P E F I L T E R S
and his alternate list-
1) Ampeg SVT Heritage w 8x10
2) Fender DIx J Bass
3) New ltd green Aguilar amp with 8x10
4) Shit, this isn’t supposed to be a Christmas list
5) Boss Metal Zone
Hard to argue with either list.
I’m thankful for our Lord and Savior, Geddy Lee and His works in all their forms. If you have to ask why you’re on the wrong website.
image credit- me, that’s some of my collection
I’m thankful for vinyl records. I’ve been a vinyl nerd for a few years now and I love it. I’m not going to get into if it sounds better or not, even though it does. The real reason I love vinyl is how it forces you to interact with the music. Vinyl is for albums (I know, there are singles, shut up). You don’t listen to The Hit on vinyl, you listen to the whole thing. You have to get up and flip it over. You have to be careful with it. You own vinyl. If Google Music or whatever it’s called now or iTunes goes down when Skynet takes over I won’t lose my music collection. And to go along with this- local record stores. There are two in Portland I love- Jackpot Records and Music Millennium. Friendly staff, great selection, willing to ship during a pandemic. Shopping for vinyl in person is only better than shopping for basses in person because the odds are higher I’ll bring something home from the record store.
Bass Beast Josh, master of the cover on the channel, brings this list-
1) All of us at TBC
2) The opportunities of TBC
3) Every piece of gear he owns
4) Growing as a player
5) Staying healthy and being able to play daily
I’m thankful for Josh’s covers, because Thunderfingers is inspiring as hell to watch play.
I’m thankful for any low B string that doesn’t turn into spaghetti the second I try to tune down to A. Bass is a tactile experience and playing on shoestrings sucks. How can I pretend to be Orion, pounding out Behemoth riffs and spitting blood on the audience, if my bass strings are made out of Wookie fur? I can’t, that’s right.
The last list comes from Bass Channel head honcho Chris-
1) All of TBC contributors
2) The channel’s growth
3) Clint Wells’ invite to play in Lunar Satan (check out the kickstarter here)
4) The fact that my “day job” is fun too.
5) My house
And lastly, I’m thankful for all of you, the dear and loyal readers of TheBassChannel.net. Launching a website isn’t easy, and I know the popular knowledge is that people would rather watch videos than read (lucky for them we have that covered too on the channel), but I appreciate everyone who comes to check out what’s new here every Wednesday. And if you hadn’t realized that was the posting schedule- new posts go live on Wednesday! Please keep coming back, bring your friends, and comment down below what in the bass world or in the world in general you’re thankful for.
Doug Robertson is the editor of The Bass Blog, the blog component of The Bass Channel, your one stop YouTube channel for all things bass. His number one is a Mexican Geddy Lee Signature Jazz and his boomer is a BEAD tuned T-Bird. Find books by Doug here. If you’re interested in contributing to The Bass Blog please reach out to Doug at doug@thebasschannel.net. We would love to hear from you. He’s also thankful for The Satanic Temple, hail Satan.
