So much Bass. I don't know what I would be doing if I didn't play the bass guitar. Whether I'm in my room running scales or practicing/playing gigs with my band, the bass is always in my hand. It is my tool, and it lets out whatever I have to say. I'm not good at letting my emotions out or talking to people about my feelings, but if I something was bothering me, I'd turn to my bass. When I'm angry, I strum hard, and slap the bass... It's dissonant. When I'm sad it's slow, more melodic, ambient. And when I'm in a good mood I could just make up some groovy slap line, or just play something that made me smile. Where would I be if I didn't play the bass, haha.
I started playing bass when I was about 13. Before that I was a pretty big geek that had every Metallica shirt imaginable, they were my favorite band for an extremely long time. I remember when my Mom and Uncle got my the first three Metallica CD's, Kill Em' All, Ride the Lightening, and Master of Puppets... I was just blown away, haha. Cliff really stood out to me, just hearing his bass on such songs like For Whom the Bells Toll, Orion, Call of Cthulu, No Remorse and many other tracks, and I watched a ton of his videos. I wanted to be like him and play the bass guitar. So that Christmas I got this red Peavy bass with the practice amp and everything. As soon as I got it I ran to my room and started messing around, didn't know how to tune it at first (learned about 2 days later) but I was so god damn excited.
My Mom got me a book with my bass, it was probably just 20 pages long, but it had a ton of little bass lines, everything from Seven Nation Army but the White Stripes to Kashmir by Led Zepplin, I never put down that pass for the longest time. All I did was play, and teach my self Metallica songs, no matter how hard they were, I wanted to be just like Cliff Burton. I was pretty much obsessed with anything Metallica, it was nuts, haha, but hey, we were all like that at one time.
Oh man, The first band I was ever in was awful. We were called "For Whom the Bells Toll" (hahahaha) and all we did was learn greenday songs... It was beyond lame, good thing it never left my buddy's garage. But that lasted about 4 months, no one besides me were very dedicated to playing music in that project. We'd "practice" for like thirty minutes and then everyone would go upstairs and play Halo. So around that time I just stuck to learning metal songs and practicing in my room for a long time.
Either a year or a year and a half later I traded in my Peavy bass for this old Suzuki bass, and I liked it, cause it looked like a fender bass, and it had the sun burst finish and everything. Around the time I got that bass I was getting into Death Metal but I also stumbled upon bassists, or should I say musicians, like Victor Wooten, Stuart Hamm, and Billy Sheehan... those guys changed my world for ever. I never knew the bass could go into those extremes, and I never knew that the bass could be used as a solo, or soloing instrument, it was nuts! So then, practicing continues. I began to be more aware of slapping, tapping, and rapid finger style. I would watch a ton of Victor's videos and Stu Hamm, they were just gods to me!
So I just played, and played, and played, and played. I did some research on the bass but I never learned theory, or any of that, I just learned how to play the songs that I really liked. Before christmas, maybe when I was 15, I really wanted a brand new bass, and I found it. It was the B-55 5 string bass by ESP LTD. It was just $199 and my mom immediatly purchased it. I was pumped, my first 5 string bass (and I still have it today! The best part was the neck was so thin, and reaching to play the B string wasn't that much of a pain. It was the best bass I ever owned.
That summer I went to Summer Slaughter 2006, and my buddy and I were walking around I just hear... "THIS ONE IS FOR ALL THE LADIES OUT THERE... THIS IS, FUCKED WITH A KNIFE". I was so amazed that some band would play and say such brutal stuff. It was the first time I actually listened and saw Cannibal Corpse... and that also changed my life forever. After seeing them I started to listen to more of their material, and I was loving it! then I started getting into more death metal bands and it just continued. This Music was incredible and I wanted to play it. I remember the first Cannibal Corpse song I ever learned was Stripped, Raped, and Strangled, it was probably one of the easier ones but it's so catchy, and in my opinion... The Bleeding is the best Death Metal record of all time and CC is the best Death Metal band of all time.
As I was expanding my knowledge of Death Metal, I was also listening to a lot of Jazz, Funk, Fusion, and Classical. I remember my Uncles friend telling me that "Metal is fun and all, but to really get into your instrument you should learn different genres of music". I definitely needed help since I couldn't read music, I didn't know what the scales were and all that stuff, so I got a few books on music theory. I mostly learned scale patterns and modes, did lots of hand workouts, which helped a lot. and then in my senior year of High School I took a Music Theory class. It sucked at first, I mean that was beyond hard, but as soon as I got the feel for it, it was a piece of cake, and it was fun.
During my senior year I got a job at a local restaurant washing dishes and my friend's older brother worked there, Rayne. I remember ages ago he let me borrow Black Seeds of Vengence by Nile and other great death metal cd's, but we would talk at work and stuff, and one day he mentioned that he was in a death metal band (Naegleria) but it wasn't really working out so we were going to form a black metal band with his friend Matt. We started jamming out in Worcester with a couple guys but it just wasn't working out, so then Rayne brought up the idea of bringing Naegleria back.
Naegleria (the second time around) started out with just Rayne, Matt, and I, and I think we had about 3 songs down by that summer. I think in the late summer or early fall Rayne's other friend Joel started to so vocals. We jammed about 2 days a week in this tiny, concrete room in a sketchy part of Worcester from The summer of 2009 to about January of 2010, then we were kicked out of the room by the guy who really owned it. We were on a bit of a hiatus for awhile until we started looking for a new band room. Finally Rayne found one down the street for where we lived, it's this old storage facility, full of empty rooms, and the room we got, and still have, is massive. And by that time we got Tom, from Enochian. Finally by the summer of 2010 we were a full band with about 6 full songs.
October 22nd 2010 was our first show and we've been playing shows ever since. For being the first real band I was ever in, It's going fantastic. Our first EP will be out in a couple weeks, we're playing a couple fests, and loads of shows this summer. Things are really looking up, and playing this kind of music my bass playing has never been better.
I've rambled for such a long time, and I bet no one will read this but I had a fun time writing this all out, brought back some awesome memories, and it makes me look forward to the future. Naegleria's future, and the future of my bass playing and career.
Where would I be without the bass guitar.
Peace.
Jake Ryan.
