Sweethearts Candy Blog's

Argh, I haven't posted since last Saturday.  On that day my band hosted a party for friends, supporters and other musicians.  The result was food, fun, friendship and a lot of music.  On Sunday I started thinking about my music goals and where I want to go with them.  Today I started making a list of all of the best band songs in various categories, i.e. jazz, blues, R&B, classic rock and country and western.  I put the lists into different tabs of an Excel spreadsheet and will add more songs to each list as I discover them.

Then I downloaded a bunch of songs of Harry Connick Jr. from Itunes, picked up my upright bass and tried to fake my way through them all.  I will get the sheet music to all of the songs I really want to learn, then really learn them, chord by chord.  Where I really want to go is to mellow jazz and jazz standards, though I doubt that I could ever give up classic rock and blues.  I love them too much.

Harry Connick Jr, like Michael Buble, is a young and hip guy who is walking in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra and other greats who specialized in romantic music, jazz and jazz standards.  Here's a video of Connick singing "All of Me" with his orchestra in a live performance.



And here's another: "The Way You Look Tonight":

Ah, a personal goal at last accomplished.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the friends of my band, who also plays bass, was contemplating buying a string bass.  He asked if I could bring one of mine to our practice location in San Jose, so that he could try it out.

I own a couple of string basses that had been gathering dust in my music room at home, largely unused, as I rely on my bass guitar for practices and gigs.

I brought my Palatino laminate bass to the practice room.  It is a cheap bass, though constructed well and nicely set up for easy playing.  I also have a fully carved bass that I hope to play in future gigs.  It is much more expensive and has better tone, and I surely wouldn't want to leave that in the practice location.

My friend tried the Palatino bass and I haven't heard from him since.  I think he decided an upright string bass is not for him.  However, I decided to leave the bass in the practice room and use it for some songs.  The band was fascinated with its appearance and was keen to try it out.

My first attempt was to play the bass part to "Stray Cat Strut" and the wife of one of the band members videotaped it.  The band loved it.

Last night we practiced again and I played the string bass on several songs.  Again, the band loved it and felt that the string bass has a much better sound than the bass guitar.  We will use the bass at a party on June 11th, not for all songs but on several of them.

I am now practicing string bass daily at home, using my carved bass (a Calin Wultur Panormo), and I'm excited:  I have always planned to play string bass with a band...someday.

Someday has finally arrived!

I've been playing and practicing with this band for a year now and have learned a lot about playing bass.  Below we are playing Van Morrison's great song, "Moondance."  We were playing for a Christmas party and there is a lot of background chatter and noise; our singer is new and inexperienced; and we are not all that fantastic nor are we ready for prime time.  Nevertheless, I am pleased with my progress after a year and look forward to learning a lot more.

I am on the left in the video, in back, playing a red bass guitar.  If you listen with headphones you can hear my bass quite well.  Without the headphones you can't hear me at all, not on small computer speakers.

In order to smoke my cigars, I am obliged to sit outside in my backyard spot so as to avoid stinking up the house. But baby, it's cold outside...

Our Christmas lights went up on the house today. Tree's not up yet, though.

My band is playing for a Christmas party on the 14th and another on the 21st. So I am learning to play some Christmas songs. I love it.

What do I want for Christmas? I'd really like to get a decent, high definition video cam. I want to make a lot of YouTube videos in 2011 -- I figured out how to do it this year, and it isn't that difficult with the Windows movie maker application, but I do need material. I want to make some music vids most of all.

This year, 2010, I advanced my musical abilities exponentially (I play bass), but I have much more to learn, and learn I will. I'd also like to take some lessons on upright bass from a good professional jazz bassist, but that will require an actual income. I have a tax preparation job lined up for the tax season (Feb 1 through April 15); the pay is lousy but the experience will add to my resume. I am a CPA but my background is in audit and accounting, not so much in tax.

Then if I was to find some fantastic windfall, I'd like to buy a fretless Fender Jazz bass; I don't really need one, I'd just like to have it!

Wifey is still grieving over her mom's death on November 10th and this Christmas will be a bit sadder than most. Her brother the Catholic Priest returns to the Philippines next weekend and we won't see him again for three years.

Still, I think it is time to shake off my melancholy and lethargy and try to squeeze as much living as I can out of life. I want most of all to just play bass, and play it very well, at a professional level. I am late in life and wish I could add 30 years to my life span, just so I could study music and achieve the professionalism that I desire. However, I will play until my fingers bleed until the time I die, and then they will have to pry the bass from my cold, dead fingers!

Merry Christmas!