Fans Of The Ventures

General Category => Bass and Bass Players => Topic started by: wstagner on December 27, 2015, 10:47:45 pm

Title: Good bass players are tuff to find.
Post by: wstagner on December 27, 2015, 10:47:45 pm
Tell me about it.
Our group, http://www.bongostraits.com has cycled thru 3 bass players over the past few years.
Playing our favorite music not only takes skill, but dedication to actually learning the material.

We're not talking 1-4-5 blues here, boys/girls.

We've used http://www.craigslist.com to find 2 bass players.  Our current one found US at an open mic nite in his home town.
He was tired of playing the sameold/sameold and thought what we were doing sounded interesting and challenging to him. :)
Title: Re: Good bass players are tuff to find.
Post by: wstagner on December 27, 2015, 10:50:58 pm
Anyone wanting to experience some good bass playing should consider attending The Ventures Fanfest 2016.
Some details can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/939961449397613/
Title: Re: Good bass players are tuff to find.
Post by: Jeff Green on December 31, 2015, 08:08:06 pm
It may seem difficult to find a bassist now, but it was nearly mission impossible back in the early to mid sixties.
Back then everybody wanted to play lead guitar, but fortunately, by way of attrition, many guys switched to bass.
A very few though, like Grant continued to play lead, rhythm, or bass, and excel at each. A rare bird for sure!
We played from early 1964 through mid 1966 before we finally landed a bassist. Roger Stolar was the lead guitarist
for The Minutemen, but he traded away his guitar for a Kent bass and a Silvertone amp to join us "Quests".
That worked out to be a longtime solution.  Roger was a Ventures Fan and was with us until his passing in 1998.
(We all did play in other groups through years, as when Roger and I were together in "Party Lights, John and Grant
were members of other bands.)  But we 4 guys always got back together, our camaraderie was magnetic.
It is to be noted that in the early years of Bob Spalding's group "The Nomads", they had the same problem, no bassist...
Apparently, back then(early 60's), there was a nationwide shortage of bassists. In these times, that situation is resolved.
However, there forever remains the problem of finding the right player that fills the bill of requirements.
These searches are a tough assignment, we all hope for the best that you find the perfect player for your group,
and that this will be a player that sticks long term.

Title: Re: Good bass players are tuff to find.
Post by: Rich Miller on February 25, 2016, 08:28:18 pm
Tanks for the complement Walt. I do miss the bass playing but distance limits the possibilities now. It was a great ride and thanks for all of the recording you've done to keep those moments alive.

Rich Miller