I stopped into Guitar Center the other day and came away with a short-scale Ibanez bass guitar. The time spent providing bass lines at Steve Rothery’s music camp got me back into thinking of buying a bass guitar. I knew I would need a short-scale, because it took quite a bit of adjusting the strap for me to be able to play the full-scale bass adequately. At Guitar Center, I originally was looking for a whammy bar for the guitar I bought from my late friend Robert. Finding one that fits that guitar has been a challenge. I did end up buying one but will be returning it. I searched through my Facebook chat history with Robert and was able to find a link he had sent me to a Wilkinson whammy bar available on Amazon, so I ordered that, and I’m hoping that I’ll finally have a whammy bar that fits! As for the bass guitar, it was one of the few short-scale basses in stock at the store, but it fit comfortably and was a good, budget-friendly price, especially since Ibanez is a good brand.
I don’t have a bass amp yet, so I’ve been plugging it into the 10-watt practice amp, taking care to keep the volume from being too high, since the deeper tones of the bass can damage the amp speakers. Picking up this bass inspired me to try my hand at a few bass lines: “Forgotten Sons” by Marillion, and “Get on the Floor,” “Off the Wall,” and ” Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson. Those are all memorable bass lines that aren’t overly complicated, at least in my opinion.
I have another concert this weekend in downtown Omaha, to see the Beat project featuring Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin, and, this time, Terry Bozzio. I saw the first lineup in 2024, when Danny Carey was on drums, and absolutely loved it. I heard that this tour is going to focus more on 90’s-era King Crimson, while the first tour was more 80’s-centered. It doesn’t matter to me, though, because King Crimson are one of those bands where I like everything they put out, so they can play whatever they want, as far as I’m concerned!
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