Yes, this may seem a strange thing to say as I run my own bass forum (with a community of great people, I must add!)

I visit a very famous bass forum called Talkbass. I like it there. I’ve met some great people, including the admin and other forum regulars. They were nice enough to sticky my bass lessons, and I have gathered a nice following from there. I liked them so much that I paid to become a supporting member (very cheap), and I will continue to do so.

As an archive of brilliant advice, there is no better on the internet.

But we have a problem. The thing is about this music stuff, is that it can be made up of two extremely opposing opinions about it. One being that it is an art form, used for creativity and expression, that uses the senses to express. The other is that it is a mathematically explained technique that has rules for construction.

The truth is that the best road to walk is to achieve a mix of both. Like anything in life, you need balance, and only you can work out what you need to put in each scale (excuse the pun).

And, it’s subjective.

Some people enjoy the magic and adventure of happy accidents, just for the sake of the sound…

…but those happy accidents can always be explained by the wizards of theory.

But not all wizards are dreamers.

So back to the forums. I’ve noticed a lot of opposing opinions about what I’ve mentioned above, and have also noticed that each person is convinced they are right. Not only with this subject, but with musical tastes, technique, speed and a whole plethora of other bass related subjects. The arguments can be quite upsetting, for me, because I see us all in this together. I mean, it’s music! It’s fun! It’s life…

The truth is that we should never say something is wrong, or that someone shouldn’t do it, as long as we, as bass players maintain the low and keep good time. It’s as simple as that.

Maintain the low, and keep good time.

Oh, and be considerate of your fellow musicians.

Anything else after that is fair game. Some people hate theory. Some people love theory, just as an example. it’s important people are allowed to do what they want to do. Each to his own. We are all individual. We all have different characteristics, and are all in it for different reasons. If people didn’t try new ideas, then we’d never evolve. We’d be stuck. We would go no-where.

I went around the houses with this post, but my point is that we should all try and be more understanding of other people’s tastes and dreams.

So next time someone remarks on what you like, or how you play, remind them that theirs isn’t the only opinion. Nor the right opinion. Remind them that Hitler didn’t win world war two, and most of all remind them that we all had different idols and reasons for picking up this great instrument of ours…

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