Freedom of Press is limited to those who own one - H.L. Mencken

Friday, February 22, 2008

I had a really great day. I took the day off because after three years of begging, I finally scheduled a bass guitar demonstration with my daughter’s first grade classroom. This is one of those things that eats at you for not doing it so it was good to get it done. Plus, after my daughter being so supportive of what daddy loves to do, I owe it to her. Nonetheless, I was a tad nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was afraid I’d say something stupid or slip an F-bomb or something. I trip about that shit. Anyway, it couldn’t have turned out better.

I set up while the kids were at recess. When they came in I heard all kinds of words like “Wow” and “Cool”, mostly from the boys. This got me pumped. They all gathered around on the floor and I proceeded to explain the bass and ask them if they heard the bass in the music they listened to. I was amazed at how much they knew! I demonstrated the different ways to play it and eventually asked if they wanted to make up a song. I have a loop pedal that can record anything I play and create a loop that I can then add to and play over the top of. So I just started improvising and they really dug it.

I started taking requests and was impressed by what they asked for. These are six and seven year olds. I was hearing things like, “Play some blues!”, “Beatles!”, Jazz, jazz, jazz!”. I obliged by running through some walking lines and some 12-bar patterns. Then, out of the blue, some kid yells, “Play some Scorpions!”. I shit you not. Some six year old kid requested some Scorps. This is interesting because Scorpions riffs are some of the first riffs I learned back in the day. I asked him how he knew the Scorpions and he told me he played Guitar Hero. There you go. The legend lives on! I proceeded to bust out with “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and he turned to his friend and said, “That’s it!”. Wow. It simply warms the heart.

Anyway, they all thought I was a rock star. They lined up for autographs (WTF?) and I spent the remaining time drawing bass guitars for them. These kids were amazing and later my daughter said it was the best day of her life. You and me both, sweetie.