LGM Bass Room,
Starting this thread for three reasons
- Bass Room has been quiet lately, so let's chase some of the crickets out of here
- I am hoping that as others post info and questions here, it will generate ideas for topics for the Bass Room
- I thought it would be good for you all to know more about this particular moderator, my thoughts on gospel music, bass as an instrument, and my thoughts on our roles in the church
So, here's All About....Malthumb
I'm originally from Buffalo, NY but I've lived most of my life in Michigan. I've lived in Flint, Ypsilanti / Ann Arbor, and since 1995, Detroit.
The only instrument I play is bass. I never learned to play another instrument, but sometimes wish I had learned piano. Both my kids play piano as a secondary instrument. The oldest is a guitarist and the youngest is well on his way to becoming the best bassist in our household.
I've played bass in several churches since the mid-'90s, but I actually do not actively play bass in any church at the current time. I lead our contemporary choir (Praise Connection) that leads service twice per month. My voice is needed a lot more than my fingers and thumb, so my youngest son holds down the low notes for us. I pick the music, manage rehearsals, and on some occasions teach my son the bass parts. Those occasions are becoming less and less frequent. My older son, who is a rather odd but talented mash-up of BB King, Jimi Hendrix, and Gary Clark Jr., handles all the guitar work. My only instructions to him are pretty much limited to "a little more of.... a little less of..."
I tend to work from any of 4 hymnals for the "structured" music in the service (Opening Hymn, Congregational Hymn, Invitational Hymn, Closing Hymn).
We also do two selections that I choose. Usually I pick from Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Hez Walker, Donald Lawrence, Joe Pace, Jonathan Nelson, Jason Nelson, Kurt Carr, etc...
I can read music pretty well, but typically have to study and walk through stuff, rather than read on the fly. In general, my theory is "rusty" but still somewhere in the memory banks. I learned to play first then learned to read. Sorta like learning to drive, then learning to ride a bike.
I have absolutely NO ISSUES with the idea of musicians getting paid to play in church. I have played at some churches and gotten paid. I have played at some churches and not gotten paid. I have played at some churches and got paid, but put the same amount back into the collection plate. In my view, none of these approaches is THE CORRECT approach. They are simply different approaches. Both my sons play in the choir I lead. I pay them, the pianist / vocal director, and the drummer.
I have NO ISSUES with church musicians who play Secular on Saturday - Sanctified on Sunday. I'd better not, since that's who I am. I assume people are grown ups and know where to draw the line, content-wise.
Most of my playing these days is with a secular group (Stroller Goat....stupid name...don't ask). We play a wildly varied set of music because we are a wildly varied set of people. The guitarist / band leader / person who chose the name is Dominican, a Blues fan, has a man-crush on John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr and is awesome at booking and negotiating gigs. Our drummer is a white guy who is into Mainstream Rock, Modern Country, and seemingly knows every rock band, song, and who the drummer was on the song. Serious music encyclopedia. Our singer is a white girl who is into Pop as well as a lot of '60s - '80s female vocal stylings and brings a HUGE crowd with her to most of our shows. She's the youngest in the group (by far) but sometimes brings in some of the oldest music ("Into The Mystic" - The Doors). So if you come to one of our shows you are likely to hear something from Muddy Waters, The Zak Brown Band, Bruno Mars, and Marvin Gaye. I like the mix, because I get to play a lot of the music I grew up on and I get to learn a lot of music I might never have otherwise bothered to try to listen to. Who knew that I would like Grace Potter and the Nocturnals?
As far as equipment, I need to be careful here and try not to come off as a gear snob. The instruments I own (there are a lot of them) range from pro-quality to pretty expensive. It's sorta like this.... Because I do not make my living from playing music, I feel totally unencumbered of having to have the"expected" instruments for the job. Over years and years of playing this, buying that used, selling a few and bundling some extra cash, I have managed to obtain the instruments I want and like. A lot of session bassists feel like you have to have a Fender Jazz, a Fender Precision, and a Music Man Sting Ray to cover the waterfront of what recording engineers are looking for. Even though I have done some light studio work, I have always just felt like "I'll play what I want to play and you can accept that or you can ask the next guy". Self centered, yeah, but remember....I'm not doing this for a living. I personally own 6 basses, my son owns 3 basses, and we share an electric acoustic. We do, of course, have full access to each others basses, except he does have to ask if he wants to take one of my Alembics out of the house. The answer is always "only if I'm going, too".
Of my 6 basses, 3 are 5-string, 3 are 4-string. Oddly enough, all are active basses, so I run through a lot of 9V batteries. Two of the 5-strings are custom ordered, so I will likely NEVER sell them. I doubt anyone would ever meet my price on either. I am pretty sure I am out of the bass-buying business, unless something amazingly awesome comes along. My last purchase, for example, is a bass that sells for about $1,800 new, about $1,150 used and I paid $800 cash for it. I didn't need it, but because I happened to be standing in the right place at the right time, I made a great deal. If I find that I totally hate it (I don't) I could easily turn it around and get my money back and then some.
A few years years ago I went through a major change in my amplification. I was using a rackmount set up with a Crown power amp, an Alembic preamp, and other do-dads in a 60+ pound rack, plus various combinations of 85 pound SWR Triad cabinets and 45 pound SWR Goliath Jr cabinets. Then my band started playing in this place called Basement Burger Bar. It is a bar, that specializes in burgers and is located in a basement. Other than being a cool and descriptive name, it also meant that I needed to carry my equipment down to the basement. Even worse, I had to bring it back up after 4-hours of playing. I sold all that stuff and bought a lightweight MarkBass combo and extension cabinet. I can now carry the combo in one hand, the extension cabinet and instrument stand in the other hand, and two basses in a gigbag on my back. Going up and down the stairs suddenly became easy. Ironically, we don't play there much anymore, but I think the experience helped me to see the light (pun intended).
So that's all bout me......what about you?
Peace,
James Martin
