I had been playing Aric’s crappy pawn shop bass for several months. Likewise, he was becoming proficient on my cheap ass pawn shop guitar. I want to take this moment to clarify that at no point do I ever consider myself a musician. To me a musician is somebody that understands music as it applies to playing an instrument. A musician knows about things like musical Scales, Keys and Time Signature. That is not me. I got familar with notes and the bass clef and the fretboard but never got to be a musician. I consider myself a mimic. I can listen to a bass line and if I can hear it clearly enough and if it isn’t crazy ridiculously Geddy Lee hard, I can usually figure it out and eventually play it. This is fine for just messing around but it is not practical for playing in a band unless theband plays all the songs just like they are on the album.
By the time I decided to buy my own bass, I had a reasonably good sized set of songs in my command. Aric and I went to a place on Harrison Street called Triad I think. I don’t know why we chose that play, maybe they had a deal going on or something with financing. I don’t really remember much about that day. How many bass guitars did I look at? I know I ended up with a glossy black Ibanez Destroyer III. I wish I could recall if there was a runner up. Why the Ibanez? I know that I liked the arrangment of the pickups and the neck was slender and comfortable. I have to believe that the body shape was a big influence though. I was still deep inThe Metal Years and this bass look metal for the time.
A funny thing about this so called Metal Bass is buying was the beginning of the end ofThe Metal Years. As we got better at playing our instruments for the girls that would visit us, it became apparent that they would rather not listen to us play AC/DC or Motörhead songs. So we changed gears and soon were playing songs like these.
Sammy Hagar – Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy
The Cars – Just What I Needed
Robert Palmer – Addicted To Love
Foreigner – Urgent
Billy Idol – White Wedding
Boston -More Than A Feeling