I had no idea that my childhood tap dance lessons would come in so handy. Apparently all the shuffle ball-changes, flaps and time steps made a mark on my rhythmic brain that’s been very helpful for bass playing.
I started playing almost 2 years ago. Bill, my partner, had been in a variety of bands from the time I met him to most recently, Sweet Sunny South. Just being exposed to so much music around the house must have got in my head and when Bill encouraged me to get an upright bass, the instrument I’d always been most drawn to, I took to it right away.
We had the thought of playing kid’s music since we had kids and it would probably be pretty easy for me to play. Cory and Rob who also played with SSS joined us and we had a blast. We recorded a short CD and made some fun music.
Eventually, things changed for SSS and I became the new bass player. We had already been playing a bunch together and had created a sound of our own that everyone in the group liked. We got ready to go into the studio.
Being relatively new to bluegrass and music in general, I feel so lucky I am able to play with such a talented and hardworking, nice bunch of guys. I have learned so much and owe a lot of it to the support of my band-mates.
What I really like about playing music is that it seems to make people happy. It has an emotional effect on us that I’ve always felt listening to music, but being on the side of creating music that has that same effect in people is really awesome. I feel like I’m doing some good. And it’s fun.
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