[Dixielandjazz] Answer to the Million Dollar Question

[Patrick Cooke]

Bill Sargent wrote:
>>>Once again . . . People LISTEN more with their eyes than they do their
ears.<<<

     The same is true for musicians!  They can look at an instrument and
tell you they like or don't like the way it sounds before you play the first
note.
      I started playing acoustic stand-up bass in 1942 (you do the math).
That was before amps were even available!  Along the way, I got an Ampeg
Baby Bass, which is also a stand up bass, but not acoustic. The body of it
was foam-filled fiberglas.  It was easy to play, easy to schlep around, more
or less weather proof, and great for outdoor jobs especially around humid
swim pools or aboard boats.
     It was accepted, because it was played standing up much like the big
bass.  However it had an adjustable neck joint that flexed a little whenever
a string was plucked.  This killed any sustain the instrument may have had.
You hit a note, and it just went "bonk".  No sustain, hardly even
musical....a terrible sounding instrument.  Yet this bass was accepted by
the trad elite, and most everybody else, because "it looked right".
        When the Fender bass came on the scene, the rock players all played
them, so they must not have been any good...right?  The Fenders started
moving into conventional bands, but most trad aficianados still would rebel
at the sight of one. They had heard rockers play them, and they didn't like
them.  I knew they were listening with their eyes.  Somehow it was believed
that all Fenders sounded alike.  Heck...even the acoustics don't all sound
alike.  I call your attention to the fact that you can buy a cheap plywood
bass for about $1,200, or you can pay up to $15,000 and more for a real
carved wood bass made by a violin maker who knows what he is doing.  Just
because you saw one like it before, doesn't mean you know what it will sound
like before you hear it.
        Well, it took me a while to get used to playing Fender bass.  I had
thought it would be a lot easier than it was.  Now, some years later, I
actually prefer playing the Fender, and yes I like the way it sounds better
than my cheap plywood acoustic bass that I bought new around 1949, and still
have..
          Before you start sounding like you know what you are talking about
(and unless you're a bass player, you probably don't); let me remind you
that the type of strings have a dramatic effect on the sound of a
bass....acoustic or not, but especially the Fender.....and I haven't even
started to talk about the pickups or the amplifier yet.
          So, when you SEE a bass player pull a Fender out of the bag, wait
till you hear it with your EARS before you.......you know...
            I'm ready for the flack..
         Pat Cooke

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Barbone" <barbonestreet@earthlink.net>
To: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 2:48 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Answer to the Million Dollar Question


> Bill Sargent wrote:
>
> Once again . . . People LISTEN more with their eyes than they do their
> ears.
>
> Hear hear. Brilliant. Which is why Kennedy beat Nixon, and/or Eisenhower
> beat Stevenson. The good/impressive looking guy/gal/group almost always
> wins at least the first time around. The eyes hear at least 60% of what
> you say, play, do. Us bad looking folks know that only too well, which
> is why we develop "personality".
>
> Want to be loved? Then look him/her/them, squarely in the eye and tell
> him/her/them, that you love them. Words or ax, both work.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
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