There is no limit to what you can do! When is the last time anyone said that to you Mr. or Ms. Bass Player?
Of course we know ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:13) and that is first and foremost. It is Jesus who is the one who gives us the fortitude and power to move forward with our dreams.
When it comes to playing bass, do you have any dreams? Or are you just going through the motions (Matthew West shout out) and playing what comes your way at church this week?
Dreams are important. From my perspective you need to have goals on the type of player you desire to become. I remember this advice in reading an interview with Stanley Clarke (if you don’t know who he is you need to spend some money on CD’s like ‘School Days’, ‘Journey To Love’ and ‘If This Bass Could Talk’) many years ago. He said that it was always his goal to be like Ron Carter (perhaps the greatest upright acoustic bassist ever to pick up the instrument-check out his playing with the Miles Davis Quartet). That is a high goal!
I always wanted to be like Stanley Clarke. And that has kept me busy for a long time. It takes practice and hard work to achieve high goals. The bible says ‘A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40 NIV)‘. One of your goals should be to get ‘fully trained’. Reading this article is a start. Studying with a master is the time honored way of being ‘like your teacher’. In Pittsburgh, I had the great opportunity to study with Jeff Mangone (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Basset, Wheeling Symphony, Duquesne Univ.and Slippery Rock University) for 5 1/2 years. Bass players who live in medium to larger cities will almost always have at least one great player in town who is the best teacher as well. Make it a point to study!
As I said at the opening of the article, there is no limit to what you can do. But it takes work and vision! First, crystallize your vision. Write it down. Share it with others. Then get to work. Study. Play every gig you can, not just the ones at church. If you play in a church that does only CCM type of material, you will never get good at jazz (which should be a goal for most players) if you don’t venture outside of the walls of the church to play. And what better way to share Jesus than with those that you have something in common with?
Have you ever seen the bass lead worship? Have you ever seen a solo bassist lead worship? If you are interested, check out the video on the front page of my ministry’s website at http://encouragingangels.org The video gets ‘pitchy’ for a couple of seconds when the zoom was activated-that darn little camera! But it is a good video (if I do say so myself-with Christian humility-did I just oxymoronize myself?) to help let you know that there are -great- possibilities with the bass and praise and worship that have barely been scratched yet.
God is good! Practice and work so that you will be a good (how about great) bass player. And let God’s grace through the finished work Jesus Christ make you good in your pursuit of trying to be like Him.
Contact me at stan_szymanski@me.com
In His Power,
Stan Szymanski
