This fall for me marks exactly 25 years since I picked up the bass guitar. My love for this instrument has really shaped my life and marked me so deeply as a person. It was September, 1987 that my mom finally gave into my begging and bought me my first bass. She wasn’t sure that I was particularly serious about the instrument, so my first bass cost about $200 and was a deep purple-red, suited to those hair metal times. I also got a crappy 50 watt Gorilla amplifier. I was ecstatic. Ever since I had learned what the bass was, I had been obsessed with it and to finally have my own instrument made me so happy. I immediately sat down to practice it and quickly figured out my favorite song at the time ‘With Or Without You’ by U2. No matter how tech heavy I’ve gotten since then, or deep into digital music and production, in the end my favorite thing is to feel that wooden body and those metal strings against my fingers. So thank you, bass guitar, for giving me so much joy over the past quarter century.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4svuV3IPQE[/youtube]