Monday, March 2, 2009

Couldn't Wait Until Friday

I have a very short video I'd like to post, and I just couldn't wait until Friday to do it!

I've been playing bass for over 16 years now (wow, I just did that math...wow). One of my favorite bass players, and a guy I look up to and learn a lot from is Victor Wooten. He's amazing, and has really helped revolutionized the role of the electric bass. He's forever talking about music being a language...a way to express yourself. He says techniques and music theory are like letters in the alphabet or grammar. He talks about how when we speak to express ourselves, we don't think about the letters, we just use them to make words, use the words to make sentences, and so on.

I've gotten to a point in my bass playing where I feel like I'm past thinking about technique very much. Not that I'm a master at the instrument, but I do feel better able to express myself on it than I used to. I look forward to that level of proficiency in martial arts...that level of artistic expression. Victor's advice in the clip that follows reminds me of a Bruce Lee quote: "Remember, you are expressing the technique, not doing the technique."

There, you've gotten a Thursday Thought AND a Friday Night Video on a Monday! Could it get any better than this?!?

1 comment:

Patrick Parker said...

You are DAYS ahead of your time! That makes you a blogging prodigy ;-)