I love playing bass and I love playing the blues.When I started out playing the bass I was lucky enough to find and study under the critical eye of Adam Blake.
Adam is a great guitar player and a wonderful teacher.
He taught me about the necessities of a respect for the music and traditions of the blues.
Every hour I spent with him was part music lesson, part history lesson.
Adam was trying to teach me not how to play the bass but instead tried to teach me how to be a bass player and there is a difference!
Adam gave me the foundation from which to work with and an appreciation for the role of the bass in the blues and in the band, and for me, it’s not about playing like 'this guy' or 'that guy' because they're popular and well known.
For just over a year I was very fortunate to have played with BlueHeat550, a blues band in London trying to cut its teeth in the very competitive London music scene.
Now, back in Auckland, New Zealand I have formed The Jukes.
The idea for this band is to continue playing the blues as it was and to bring something different to the New Zealand blues scene.
Ok, (as I confessed in my first post) I haven’t ever picked a bale of cotton with the boss man paying me less than the mule, but I sure have seen some evil, and I've had my fun too.
At a gig it's not about me It's not about the "hey look at me aren't I good" type of players, of which there are a few.
It's all about the audience and hopefully giving them a good time.
It's about making sure I do whatever I can to help the audience have that good time.
That is why I (and I'm sure the band too) want to give our audiences the best performance that we can.
If people at a one of our gigs are having a good time and leave smiling then hopefully we have accomplished our goal.
Playing with the bluesI wish I could play more and I wish I could play much, much better.
