Building the P-Bass-Man PART ONE
Building the P-Bass-Man takes me back to when I first started playing music outside of the school band program. Maybe it's because of the history of the Fender Precision Bass—the first of it's kind and still the industry standard… but, more likely it how this particular P-Bass came my way.
The P-Bass was a gift from Jim on my 22nd birthday. I answered my basement apartment door and he was standing there with a red bass guitar. He handed it to me saying that he was inspired by Wolfman to learn bass, but hadn't yet and didn't expect he would.
Jim and I were horn players—him tenor and me, trumpet. In addition to the high school band program, we played in a ska band together, Captain Chewie and the Space Skadets. Jim started getting things organized in 1996 and on New Year's Day 1997 we had our first practice.
For the length of the band we seemed to have a new bass player every few months. Ric was the third bass-man to play with us and he was mind blowing. A big guy in his mid-twenties, he was something of a beast when he played—massive hands slapping and plucking at the strings—steam rising off his bald head—we called him Wolfman. We were all 16-18 years old except Wolfman and then eventually we just couldn't get a hold of him—I imagine he got sick of hanging out with kids. And, we were on to our fourth and final bass player.
Some of Ric's exceptional bass playing in Captain Chewie's The Card from 1999:
So why was a tenor player giving a trumpet player a bass? Well, I've left out some details (and several banalities). Around 2000 Captain Chewie split up as we all started moving away to college and other endeavors, so I took up bass. I was teaching myself through the tried and true method of hunting and pecking—essentially playing horn lines on bass. First, in a quintet called Echolalia, which split into a trio called The Dynamo Theorem. Eventually the trio became a quartet with Jim on tenor, changing our name to Ladyradio.
Up to this point I was playing a Squier P-bass. Originally a pretty cream color which I chipped off, leaving just the bare wood (I mention this as a bit of foreshadowing—despite being part of the same company, a Squier paint job is nothing compared to a Fender paint job). I'd taken to writing things on it—real gems like "Rebellion is Cliché."
Here is Ladyradio's This Will Be Our Homecoming from 2003
That's how this P-Bass came my way, but what about the P-Bass in general—a fretted, electric, bass guitar… part two will be along shortly.
Building the P-Bass-Man takes me back to when I first started playing music outside of the school band program. Maybe it's because of the history of the Fender Precision Bass—the first of it's kind and still the industry standard… but, more likely it how this particular P-Bass came my way.
The P-Bass was a gift from Jim on my 22nd birthday. I answered my basement apartment door and he was standing there with a red bass guitar. He handed it to me saying that he was inspired by Wolfman to learn bass, but hadn't yet and didn't expect he would.
Jim and I were horn players—him tenor and me, trumpet. In addition to the high school band program, we played in a ska band together, Captain Chewie and the Space Skadets. Jim started getting things organized in 1996 and on New Year's Day 1997 we had our first practice.
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| Captain Chewie and the Space Skadets, 1997. |
For the length of the band we seemed to have a new bass player every few months. Ric was the third bass-man to play with us and he was mind blowing. A big guy in his mid-twenties, he was something of a beast when he played—massive hands slapping and plucking at the strings—steam rising off his bald head—we called him Wolfman. We were all 16-18 years old except Wolfman and then eventually we just couldn't get a hold of him—I imagine he got sick of hanging out with kids. And, we were on to our fourth and final bass player.
 |
| Too young to play bars in Beloit, WI—except for Ric—who doesn't look too happy about driving to Wisconsin for a picture. |
Some of Ric's exceptional bass playing in Captain Chewie's The Card from 1999:
So why was a tenor player giving a trumpet player a bass? Well, I've left out some details (and several banalities). Around 2000 Captain Chewie split up as we all started moving away to college and other endeavors, so I took up bass. I was teaching myself through the tried and true method of hunting and pecking—essentially playing horn lines on bass. First, in a quintet called Echolalia, which split into a trio called The Dynamo Theorem. Eventually the trio became a quartet with Jim on tenor, changing our name to Ladyradio.
 |
| Hunting and pecking in Echolalia, 2001. Courtyard Cafe, Champaign, IL. |
Up to this point I was playing a Squier P-bass. Originally a pretty cream color which I chipped off, leaving just the bare wood (I mention this as a bit of foreshadowing—despite being part of the same company, a Squier paint job is nothing compared to a Fender paint job). I'd taken to writing things on it—real gems like "Rebellion is Cliché."
 |
| Singin', horn playin', and bass strummin', in The Dynamo Theorem. Mike and Molly's, Champaign, IL, 2002 |
Here is Ladyradio's This Will Be Our Homecoming from 2003
That's how this P-Bass came my way, but what about the P-Bass in general—a fretted, electric, bass guitar… part two will be along shortly.
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