Basis

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 12:49 AM | Posted by Juwen






There has been a lot of bass influences throughout the years that I've attempted at bass, anywhere from bass legends like James Jameson, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller etc. but if there's one person that has pushed me to actually take up the bass, it's this guy. David Labruyere (or DeLa to some people). Few people know him in comparison to who he played for, John Mayer. Back when No Such Thing was the hit song from the then emerging John Mayer, the first thing that caught my attention to the song was the opening bass lines just opened up a whole new level of possibilities for bass playing. Before I used to think that great bass playing was mostly restricted to jazz, funk and motown, great stuff but something that it is a bit out there, not achievable to this musically handicapped man. But when great bass lines came to acoustic pop via DeLa, that was when the jaw hit the floor and great bass seemed accessible. How on earth can a two man team, a guitar and a bass, be adequate? Or how is it that funky bass lines exist outside the realms of jazz, funk and motown? Listen to the bass lines of the videos and try not to listen to the singing or the guitar, crank up the subwoofer, whatever and you might discover something that usually goes unnoticed by others. John Mayer's music, to me, will always be about the bass (as evident by DeLa and Pino Paladino) first then John Mayer himself. Just like how I got into his music all the way back in 2001.

For the record, I took up bass in late 2002.

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