One of the most knowledgeable, talented, and nicest people out there on the net, Marlowe (Thomas Risell) has a wealth of experience to draw from. Like me, he teaches bass online, on youtube, and through his own personal site, which can be found here:

http://www.playbassnow.com

Thomas has a brilliant knowledge of theory that I don’t, to be frank, have…I thoroughly recommend his lessons.

Here is a vid of MarloweDK laying it down (He has so many great ones, it’s hard to choose!)

And onto the ten questions with MarlowDK. Take it away, my friend…

1. What are you up to right now, musically?

Well, not that much on the livefront right now , just finished a small tour in Denmark with Henrik Hall – a danish solo artist, and a few funk gigs with Al Campos & SoulHarmonic. But I have many plans bass teaching wise , of course maintaning my website playbassnow.com, writing a bass groove book and perhaps getting a bass lesson DVD together. I really dig teaching people what i myself would have wanted to learn when starting out

2. Who are your main musical influences and why?

I guess the usual suspects, but Larry Graham, Louis Johson, Marcus Miller and Rocco Prestia are on the top of the list
I always been into the funky stuff even though i also love hard rock 70′s style

3. What made you want to play bass in the first place? What did you dream?

Well I didnt, I wanted to play guitar (everybody wanted to play guitar, ) , but the band needed a bassplayer and someone had to do it. Sucked untill i discovered Earth Wind n Fire and realized that i didnt have to be “the guy in the back, you first notice when he stops playing” Ok, i like being that guy as well, but it was nice to stretch out funky style as well.

4. What equipment do you use? Is good equipment important to you?

Never been much of a gear freak but i just got a great new amp with cabs from a danish producer, cant say the name yet, but its very promising, and the amp can be used both for live gigs and recording into my computer. Other wise i have Ashdown and Hartke amps, Peavy 4×12, 1×15 cabs and assorted fx: Boss octaver, MXR envelope filter, Rat distortion and some other stuff

5. Have you exceeded what you thought you may become when you first started to learn the bass?

Noo, i thought i would better better by now… I guess you never stop learning.

6. If you have one, what is your favorite technique?

Right now im practicing the thumbplucking/picking technique and having a blast with that, but i also like to slap the hell out of my basses.

7. Do you have any good practicing tips for newer players?

Practice your time and feeling – if thats in place, you will work and prosper – but I know when we are young , we want to impress our immediate enviroment (read: girls), so we practice playing fast and complicated (i know i did)
Play to your favorite records and try to mimic the masters feel.

8. Do you ever get stuck in a rut, or get “writers block”? Do you do anything to remedy this horrible dark place?

All the time, but i have a lot of different basses, so a grab another one for some fresh low end inspiration

9. How can you see the bass evolving?

Im a bit oldfashioned and think many players are too focused on the solo performance thing – i mean nobody other than other bassplayers listen to that kind of thing. We still need to get the ladies’ butts moving – now thats what i would love to be part of.. ehhh… evolving

10. Any parting words of wisdom for other bass players?

“Oh my god, bassplayers do go deeper!” (heard in the room where noses gets powdered)

Great interview, thanks Thomas!

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