The Ric Bass
As mentioned yesterday, I got my Rickenbacker bass in the mid-90s for this one band I was joining. Back then, you could walk into a store and there’d be a couple to choose from. They weren’t really crazy desirable. I picked the best of two.
It’s still probably my best-playing bass.
Anyway, there were a couple good bands in my peer group, and I just couldn’t get anything going with anyone. I was actively super jealous and not really aware of why I wasn’t getting the calls. Real fussy about it too.
This was still in my days of being able to play partial parts of songs, but no full songs, which is always the problem when you’re a younger musician.
Anyway, if I could give my younger self any advice, musically, it would be to read Foundation. And think of the world turning via Hari Seldon: things are gonna happen. You can make micro changes, but generally, if you’re going with the flow, listening to the world, and concentrating super macro instead of micro, you’re just gonna be able to figure it out.
I think between that and Professor Jiang Xueqin’s Predictive History, that’s really the way it goes.
The Rickenbacker outlasted everything I was worried about.
Through home robberies, crazy 20s poverty, multiple roommates and houses. A wife, two kids, hundreds of gigs.
Although I’d be fine if it left me for whatever reason, it’s my #1 possession, and it’s seen every adult version of me.
Glad it can’t talk or anything like that.
I will say, I do not know if I would do anything differently with or without it, and this is a good place to be. Glad I’m not tied to it, but happy and grateful I’ve still got it.
Wonder which kid it will go to.