Bass Day L.A.!

   I’ll tell you a little secret;

   I think I’m a pretty good bass player. In fact, I think I’m damn good. There are times that I get just enough warm up time, and the tone and volume are just right, and I feel like anything I try is going to work. Crazy stuff, too. On top of that, my groove is good, too. And I understand how songs work, and how the bass works within a band. I’m at the top of my game!

   So naturally, it’s time for a beat down.

   In 2006 I attended the School of Bass in Arizona. I had come off about 8 months of touring the world, and thought I was the King of the Bass. Being around all the instructors and clinicians adjusted my attitude in about ten minutes. I saw things that had me questioning whether I was actually even playing the same instrument as the faculty that was assembled for that event.

   I’m expecting the same experience this weekend at Bass Player Live in Los Angeles. I’ll be there as a guest of Bobby Vega, who will be promoting the new EMG X pickups, presenting Tower of Power’s Rocco Prestia with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and just generally being an amazing guy. Bobby called me and thanked me for my recent interview, and said he felt that things were really taking off for him and was grateful for my efforts.

   Yeah. My efforts to hang around my favorite bass player and soak up pointers and playing tips! That was hard! (Read my interview with Bobby here; http://kennanshaw.com/bobbyvega.cfm)

   So I’ll be rubbing shoulders with a ton of great players, manufacturers, and general practitioners of the bass this weekend. Notes will be taken, information will be absorbed, hands will be shook, business cards will be exchanged, and in the end, many, many things will be written!

   By Monday, at the Good stuff Guitars Blues Jam at Armando’s, I probably won’t be feeling like the awesome bassist I am right now, but I’ll have a little better idea of how to get there.