Wednesday 27 / November / 2024
1. Why do you love playing guitar?
I love music in general, and love playing any musical instrument that I can get my hands on. I have always been obsessed with bass guitar all my life. I’d listen to the bass sound in every piece of music and dream that one day I will be able to do that. The bass is a key instrument in almost all types of music, and bass guitar in particular enjoys a special status, so to speak, on stage. Some people would refer to the bass player as “the coolest guy/girl on stage”, while others would describe him/her as “the mysterious guy/girl on stage”. Whichever way you look at it, the bass is a fascinating instrument to play, and to watch others play.
2. How did you get into it?
I started playing music at a very early age. I was about five years old when my father got me a small keyboard, and it started from there. For the most part of my life I played the keyboard. But I also play a number of other instruments, including the oud, accordion, bongos/percussion, trumpet (long back), and my latest adventure is the saxophone. As I mentioned, bass guitar was a childhood dream, so as soon as I got an opportunity to try it with a new band, around the year 1999, I jumped into it, and I’ve been playing it ever since. A friend of mine then asked me if I would play bass in his new band, and I said “yes”. I have never played it before, not good at least. So I started learning it “on-the-job”.
3. How can one get into it?
Unlike any other musical instrument, bass guitar is fairly easy to start playing. But it is the most difficult instrument to be really good at. I always tell people who aspire to play bass that they need to be bass players before they could become bass players. A paradox? Not really. The point is, you need to be able to isolate the bass sound in music, be able to sing the bass line in any piece of music, be able to “create” your own bass lines in your head, for any given music, all before you ever touch a bass guitar. That is what makes a good bass player. It starts way before you grab the instrument.
4. What’s your pro-tip?
The No. 1 tip I’d give to any bass player, new or experienced, is to listen, listen, and listen to any style of music possible. This actually goes for all instruments, but it is crucial for the bass. A good bass player needs to understand complex relationships between the drums/percussion and the bass, for instance. The more musical styles you listen to, the better your vocabulary becomes. Bass playing comes from the heart, not the fingers.[email protected]
There are a good number of music schools here in Muscat.
These are normally a good place to start.
Classic Music & Arts Institute
Call: +968 2456 0025
Email: [email protected]
Kalabhavan Muscat
Call: +968 2455 1295, +968 2449 2287
Talentz Enterprises LLC
Call: +968 2478 3443, +968 2479 1948
Melody Music Institute
Call: +968 2448 6647, +968 2470 3130, +968 9941 8267
Email: [email protected]
Harmony Music
Call: +968 2447 5620
