Date : 23rd May 2005
Time: 19h00
Venue: Marshall Music, Woodmead

Attendance 15:
Steve Crozet, Kerry Hiles, Doggit, Carlo Mombelli, Martin Simpson, Trevor Muller, Michael Brown, Graeme Currie, Richard v/d Ordell, Laurence Sale, Johann Kruger, Dave Askes, Ike Onwuagbu, Rixi Roman & Dave Jenkins
Apologies : Concord Nkabinde, Kai Horsthemke, Wesley Chetty, Greg Gibb, Philip Raath, Gerhard Kok, Gerrie Lubbe & David Houghton

The meeting was held at the 4-day-old, newly expanded Marshall Music store in Woodmead. Dayne Marshall welcomed us all and thanked Martin for organising the evening. A little short of chairs in the new PA and Bass Amp section, Dayne invited us to "grab a combo" for seats if we weren't comfortable on the carpet. (Go check out the "new" Marshall Music store and feast your ears on a range of bass guitars and amps to suit every taste. In the Total PA section, bass amps will be set up so that you can test the sound of any make in-store, without even using the sound-room facilities. Like Dayne said, "Bass doesn't freak people out", whereas guitar and drums do. You see, further proof that the bass is just the bomb when it comes to touching the soul!)

The workshop on this particular evening was delivered by Graeme Currie with Lawrence Sale on drums, demonstrating some of the pieces Graeme had played for his Master's Recital in Durban. On his Fender Jazz Bass and through a David Eden 4x10 with a 400 head, he played a really tricky 15/8 piece that featured harmonics and a salute to Jimi Hendriks.

Graeme said that he wasn't comfortable with solo-ing or improvising ("I'm just a Bb meat-and-potatoes kinda bass player") and that every bass player finds improvising difficult, but that we all have to do it at some point. His whole approach to his Master's pieces was to challenge his own abilities and stretch his personal boundaries.

Advice from Graeme when improvising:
1. Learn the melodies and chord scales of the pieces you are playing.
2. Transcribing is the greatest thing you'll ever do - transcribe everything: the bass, horn parts, guitar riffs...this will teach you how to phrase properly, among other skills.
3. When practising, start your scales from the lowest note on your instrument.
4. Just learn all the lines and string them together.

The second number was a blues on the upright, through an Ashdown amp, and this song emphasised the need to "play from the heart". Graeme's opinion is that Blues has the most expression and emotion of all styles of music. His demonstration also illustrated the use of tension and tension-release notes in improvisation, as well as the concept of consecutive approach notes (approach from semi-tone below and tone above or tone below and semitone above).

Carlo Mombelli was very interested in the upright and had a lot of questions to ask, like: "do you see everything on the upright the same way as on the electric?". Graeme answered: "You know where your ears and knees are. That's how I know where Db is. "Other key notes about upright playing were that tone is produced in the hands
- the more flesh on the string, the more tone. Singing along and linking your breathing to your notes helps you to put everything into your playing.

Graeme said that in this country, to survive as a bass player, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades. It makes it difficult to carve your own identity, but it is possible. Also, he stressed that the most fundamental responsibility
for a bass player in a band is to remember the form. You are the glue that holds everything together, so you'd better know where you are! The most important ability for any musician to develop is the art of listening. If
you're lost - LISTEN. If you can't hear the melody, you're too loud.

A final number (Roxanna?) from Graeme on the electric and Lawrence on drums, and it was time to call it a night. A great evening all round, although I did hear later that Graeme felt he hadn't played well enough. That's not what it's about, brother bass player! The fact is, you got up there and we supported you and we all had a good time. Thank you for that! And well done to Lawrence too - great, sensitive playing! (He's missing playing regularly, so get his details from Graeme when you need a killer man on the kit.)