Improv Track: "Alaska"

This was recorded on the spot in my friends (Tyler Aucoin) room. Let me know what you think!

Jake.

My Recent Vinyl Finds!

It's been a really long time since I've posted on here, and that's going to stop. I have been writing non stop, and now my thoughts need to hit this very neglected blog! Also, for the past few months I've been spending my Sunday mornings at the "Dudley Doo Right Flea Market" in my town of Dudley. It's a very interesting place, packed with vintage goodies. It has everything from World War 2 memorabilia to vintage toys to $2 DVDs etc etc. But the main thing I was focused on everytime I do to the flea market, is picking up incredibly old records. Lately I've been striking gold with such albums by "Weather Report", "Stanley Clarke", "Chick Corea", "Al Di Meola", and many many more. Last weekend, I hit the mother load of pure jazz-fusion and rock gold. The vinyls I ended up finding were:

Chick Corea - "The Mad Hatter"

Stanley Clarke - "Journey To Love" and "Modern Man"

Rush - "Fly By Night"

Al Di Meola - "Cielo e Terra"

and last but not least, my favorite out of last Sundays finds: Weather Report - "Heavy Weather"

And all I spent was just $11. Not bad! These albums are truly incredible, and I can't believe I found them right here in my own town. Truly amazing.

I'll be posting many upcoming Music/Movie/Art purchases, so please, Stay Tuned!

Jake.

"In a relationship with: Music"

I really wish I can be in a relationship with Music on facebook, it would just make so much sense. I'm constantly playing listening and playing music, and I'm literally surrounded by tunes 24/7. At Work, the Gym, at Home, in my Sleep, I always hear music. Although I am doomed to be single until I find the right girl, I still have Music by my side to keep me happy and sane. Trust me, I get lonely from time to time, thinking how awesome it would be to be with some great chick, cuddling on the couch and watching a movie, but I forget all about being lonely when I pick up my bass, or when I put pandora, or a CD on. Music has always been there for me (well besides my friends and family), and Music will never tell me that I'm boring, or my taste in movies or music sucks. Music will also never lie or cheat on me, or tell me I'm worthless. I do love having the company of a woman but whenever they leave... Music is there.

I don't mean to get all gooey on you. I just felt like writing down my thoughts.

Jake Ryan.

Conflicting with my Self.

My life is at a stand still at the moment. I've quit my band, as much as I didn't want to, to save money. Still looking for a job, had a couple interviews but nothing definite yet. Losing my interest in going back to school, but that's probably the best option. Slowly losing my mind as I spend most days sitting in my dark room listening to slow jazz and some jazz fusion. I haven't touched my bass in weeks, it's been sitting in it's gig bag since then. Ever since I quit Naegleria my ex-band members haven't talked to me since, and it's a shame that I had to lose those guys as friends. They may dislike me but I don't dislike them, I wish the best for Naegleria.

Ever since I quit I'm afraid of losing my interest in music. I've been really un-motivated to even play my bass lately, and I've been turned off my Death Metal (still a few bands I'll never stop enjoying). I've always said that music is my life but what's the point when nothing in my life is going well at all. The band was the only thing that truly made me happy and now its gone. I'm a broke, jobless, high-school grad and life is shitting me. Some days I can wake up happy and take life by the balls, take the bus apply to jobs all around Dudley, Oxford, Auburn, and call up those places several times each and get nothing... it's really hard. I feel like a loser cause I live with my grandparents, and I don't pay for anything. Back when I had a job I payed my bills, and had a little extra to have fun once in awhile, but that's gone.

If I could just work full time, be able to pay my bills, get a car, and then eventually get my own place with a friend and take night classes... I'd be the happiest person alive. This is where I slap my self and tell myself to stop being a mopey little bitch, but that could change tomorrow, and the next day. I'll never stop conflicting with myself about life, it's always on my mind.

WELP, I need to get back on Job Quest (if it actually works this time) and keep looking for jobs. Until next time.

Jacob Ryan.

MP: Mark King

Mark Friggin' King, the mastermind behind the band Level 42.

Mr. King was a true pioneer in the slap/pop style, especially adding the style to pop music in the 80's. At the age of 19 he moved to London and ended up forming Level 42 (as a drummer) with Mike Lindup, and brothers Phil and Rowland Charles Gould in 1979. Mark then switched to the bass guitar cause he felt that Phil was a way better drummer than he was, and when the band started, Phil already had a kit, and Mark didn't. Also, at the music shop that Mark worked at, they didn't sell drum kits, so he had no way of practicing in the mean time. Nevertheless King's natural rhythmic intuition probably contributed to his distinctive bass playing style, along with the popularity of jazz funk in Britain at the time.

"At one of their first gigs, at the La Babalu club in Ryde, Level 42 were spotted by Andy Sojka, the head of small independent record label Elite and signed. The next year they were signed to Polydor and King spent the next nine years recording and touring with the band. The first Top 40 single, "Love Games", was released in 1981, heralding the band's first appearance on Top of the Pops. The big breakthrough came with the release of "The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)" in 1983. While in Level 42, King found his bass-playing services in some demand. He was invited by Nik Kershaw to play on his second album The Riddle (1984) and by Midge Ure to play on his albums The Gift (1985) and Answers to Nothing (1988). Level 42 supported The Police in 1981, followed by tours with Steve Winwood in 1986 and Madonna in 1987. In 1986, King and Lindup performed alongside Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler and Elton John at a Prince's Trust charity concert. They released the album Retroglide in 2006 and a European tour followed." - From wikipedia

TECHNICAL FACTS: Mark King helped to develop and popularize the slap and pop style of playing the bass guitar in the 1980s. The slapping and popping style was developed in the 1970s by funk bassists such as Larry Graham and further developed by jazz fusion bassists such as Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller. King developed a rapid playing speed using this technique, and introduced technical elements that enabled him to produce a mix of percussive effects while still playing a bass line. Mark's bass playing style is largely based on continuous 16th notes (aka semiquavers), sometimes described as "machine-gun" style. This "machine-gun" style consists of playing rapidly using a combination of thumb slaps, pops, hammer-ons, and fretting hand slaps.

INSTRUMENTS: Thumb Jaydee Mark King Signature, Alembic Mark King Signature, Status Graphite "The KingBass" Mark King Signature

At the ripe age of 53, Mark is still touring with Level 42, does his own solo gigs, and performs clinics all over the world, and he doesn't plan on stopping soon. Check out this video of Mark with Level 42 in 1983, THAT THUMB IS GOING NUTS.

Thanks for reading! Jake Ryan.

Bass Lessons!

Hey Everyone!

For a while now I've been trying to make a few extra bucks giving bass lessons. So far I've been doing them out of the Slamatorium (Naegleria headquarters) but now I am set to do video lessons via Skype and I have linked my personal email, jakeryanplaysbass@gmail.com, to pay pal. Now since I have all of the technical stuff out of the way let's talk about my lessons!

Lessons are $15 an hour, plus $5 after each extra half an hour. I can teach Beginners how to change strings, tune (showing you how to use a chromatic tuner, harmonic tuning, 5th fret technique, etc etc), finger placement, bass placement while sitting/standing, The Economy of Motion (the use of all of your fingers on the right hand whether if it's just chromatic playing or scales). I'll also get into Music Theory and that includes Scales, Modes, Chords and Chord Progressions, Arpeggios, and more!

Techniques I'll display will start by getting your finger strength up to par, both right and left hand, then we can get into the good stuff, and that includes 2 handed tapping techniques, slapping techniques, sweeping, different right hand picking techniques including the 3 finger gallop and the rapid Alex Webster 3 finger tremelo technique. If you're also interested we can get into more exotic scales including The Hungarian Minor, Pelog, Kumoi, and many many more.

I'll have tabs/sheet music, charts, powertabs, and some mp3 examples that I can send you during these lesson.

Anyone taking lessons must have their own bass (that should be obvious, haha), tuner, and metronome. If needed I can supply cables and a small peavy practice amp, and a tuner. All lessons are done at my bands practice space (email for address if interested) and for skype users you obviously need a webcam, and your own gear. For skype lessons you can email me and we can negotiate on a day we can do a lessons and it can be payed via paypal.

If you would want to know info you can email me at jakeryanplaysbass@gmail.com and maybe we can set up a lesson!

Have a great day :)

Jake Ryan.

Here's My Top 5 Favorite CD's

These 5 CD's I'm going to present you with have been played back and forth for the past couple months. I guess once I start buying more CD's I'll do this "Top 5" thing more often, but for now, here is my Top 5 Favorite CD's (right now).

1. Michael Manring - THONK



THONK is a jazz fusion masterpiece in my opinion. The CD includes a lot of MM's classics including Monkey Businessman, My Three Moons, and The Enormous Room, but in my opinion, they are all truly fantastic songs. On some of the tracks, MM has various guitarists, drummers, and a pianist play on the tracks. These Musicians include Steve Morse and Alex Sklonick on Guitar, Tim "Herb" Alexander and Steve Morse on Drums, and Philip Aaberg on Piano. I wish MM still put out material like this, even though everything he comes out with today is still just as incredible as THONK.

2. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black



I really wish I was exposed to Amy sooner... I really would of loved to of seen her live after listening to this CD (I also have Frank, and her last release, Lioness). This CD is just beautiful. Amy has such a brilliant voice, which can be comparable to vocalists such as Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald, and her sound was very 50's and 60's doo wop and r&b. Every song on here just brings you on this crazy emotional rollercoaster. You go from one song being happy, the next song is a bit more pissy, then next is sad... she was really a genius when it came to incorporating emotion into her music, which I thing is rare nowadays with a lot of the pop trash coming in. When Amy Winehouse died I think we lost another 30 to 35 years of great music. I think if she was still alive she would become one of the greats. RIP

3. Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society



I think Esperanza Spalding really changed how people see jazz today. A lot of people find jazz boring, just these typical jazz standards, running through scales like a madman type playing sometimes (although of love old school jazz), but Esperanza does a lot of different things on this CD, "Chamber Music Society". The CD has the jazz roots, but she expands from that, adding in a lot of r&b influence and South American influences. After listening to this CD you'll know why she won a grammy for best new artist last year.

4. Cephalic Carnage - Misled by Certainty



This CD really releases the bass nerd in me because Nick Schendzielos is such a fantastic bass player. CC as a whole rules, but lately I've been having a bass crush on Nick. Before I bought the CD I listened to the song "OHRWURM" and I think my head exploded. The tracks begins with Nick doing a very "Wooten" sounding double thump progression, and I think that's where my head exploded... then the song still remains to be awesome, just like this whole CD.

5. Dying Fetus - Descend into Depravity



Dying Fetus really gets my Death Metal loins in a bunge. This CD is not only their most technical CD, it grooves harder than 95% of all the death metal out there. Before I bought this CD I watched the video for "Shepherds Commandment" and immediately started to throw my head back and forth... it was fucking brutal. I then bought it, and listened tot he whole thing and fell in love with it, but I think my favorite track on the whole CD is the last song, "Ethos of Coercion". The whole album punches you in the face, every riff, every slam, every cookie monster growl... it's such a killer CD.

Thanks for Reading,
Jake Ryan.

Happy Valentines Day!

I just want to say Happy Valentines Day to everyone, and I hope that everyone has a great a great holiday today. :D

2012 is going to be the BEST!

First off I'd like to say sorry for slacking on this blog, I've just been kinda lazy when it comes to this but that will change! I just got a ton of CD's so I'll be posting more blogs my favorite musicians over the next few months.

The reason why I say 2012 is going to be the best is because I'll be setting off for my first tour in June with Autonomy! The tour will be 15 days long, and we'll also be playing the Las Vegas Death Fest this year (8th day of the tour). Autonomy also just recently confirmed for the Building Temples of Death Fest in Texas with the legendary DISGORGE!

Naegleria is working on a few songs and we'll be recording and releasing a new record this summer, date TBA (hopefully July), and we'll have new merch available. We are also trying to fund a possible tour in the fall (which would be killer!).

Another thing that is going to happen is that I'll be recording my first solo bass record! Still working on songs and it'll hopefully be released in October or November, and I am truly excited about this. I'm going to try to put it out on CD, so major funding is definitely going into this project.

So that's it for my Musical Adventures, lol (for now!)

Other greats dates this year, July 24th I'll be 21, and August 4th will be Megan and I's one year anniversary being together!

I'll keep you posted on more exciting things happening in my life later on.

Have a great one!

Jake Ryan.

Kaki King

I've been a fan of Kaki King for a few years now. The first album I ever bought of hers was called "Dreaming of Revenge", and to this day I listen to that album in it's entirety a few times a week. The Album is just a piece of art in the sense that you can to one song and capture one thing, listen to another and it gives you a totally different feeling/image. After I bought that back in 2008, I needed to hear more.

I've listened to everything by Kaki King. Everything from "Everybody Loves You" to her 2010 release "Junior" and I love it all. All of her pieces, whether it's from an album of hers or a soundtrack she's worked on (Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" for example) it's all beautiful.

Kaki is known for her percussive playing, jazzy melodies, intense live shows, interesting tunings on her guitars and lap steel, and her diverse range in different genres.

Kaki King is definitely an artist that must be listened to.

http://www.kakiking.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kakiking

Have a good one!

Jake Ryan

Esperanza Spaulding

It's the end of the month, and I'd like to end this month with an artist I'm really crazy about. She's a very talented singer and bassist by the name of Esperanza Spaulding. Some of you may know her by her Grammy win for Best New Artist (beating out Justin Bieber, Drake, and Florence and the Machine), but I remember the first time I heard of her was seeing her perform her version of "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder for the president (on youtube of course). Her voice is incredible, and she is a fantastic bass player. Her Albums "Esperanza" and "Chamber Music Society" are both amazing, and I believe her next CD, "Radio Music Society" comes out in the first quarter of 2012. It's really hard to say what "genre" of music she plays, because her music has such a wide variety of different music styles. Some songs have more of a jazzy feel, or maybe r&b, funk, lounge, brazilian... it goes on!

Some fun facts about Esperanza: When she won her Grammy for Best New Artist she was the first Jazz Artist to ever win that. Almost immediately after graduation from college later the same year, Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music, becoming one of the youngest professors in the institution's history, at age 20. She has also played for president Barack Obama four times!

If you've never heard of Esperanza Spaulding then look her up, listen to a couple songs, and then buy her CD's. She is a brilliant musician, and I believe everyone should listen to her.

Have a good one!
Jake Ryan.

Jaco Pastorius

A couple weeks ago I took the bus to the mall, and I had quite a bit of extra money with me that day so with extra cash equals new CDs. Like I stated in my last blog I've been on the hunt for other music besides Death Metal, and as soon as I walk into the Jazz section I see Jaco Pastorius's self titled CD (re-issue). If someone you know who plays bass and doesn't know who Jaco Pastorius is... Slap him in the Head! Jaco is considered to be acknowledged to be a virtuoso, doing many things your normal bass player wouldn't. His solos were intricate and he was the first to make his bass "sing", which was achieved from his fretless bass. Seriously, if you've never heard of him, look him up.

So getting back to the CD. The CD is magnificent. The bass line on "Come on, Come Over" gets me into a deep groove, and the song "Portrait of Tracy" is probably the most beautiful piece of music ever written on the bass (tied with "The Enormous Room" by Michael Manring, imo). But this CD needs to be purchased by not only bass players, but all musicians. I bought for $6 at FYE so it's very affordable. Don't download it, BUT IT.

RANDOM FACT: Pastorius was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988, one of only four bassists to be so honored (and the only electric bass guitarist)

Have a good one!
Jake.

The Stanley Clarke Band

I have been playing this CD non stop since I got this. I purchased this CD about a year ago from FYE at the Auburn Mall. For a few years I've been in search for some different kinds of music, especially looking records including very talented bass players. So one day I go to the Mall and head to FYE, and I'm just looking through all of the Jazz CD's and I found some Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, etc etc, but then I stumbled upon "The Stanley Clarke Band". Ever since I've started playing bass names like Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, and Stanley Clarke have been running through my mind, so I was very interested in picking this CD up. The CD was about $17, and it was way worth it.

The CD is made up of 11 tracks, genre's ranging from rock, funk, and jazz fusion. Two of the tracks happen to be solo pieces (beautifully written, obviously). The CD features another fantastic musician by the name of Hiromi. Hiromi is classically trained pianist, and I must say, I was incredibly amazed. On track 6, "No Mystery" (originally written by Chick Corea, and it's my favorite song on the CD) was first of all Incredible, Hiromi's piano work was so tight, and if shred was a term applied to pianists... she shreds.

Lastly, I just want to say that Stanley Clark is a genius. The way he uses Emotion, with everything he does is just incredible. I wish I saw him back in March with The Victor Wooten Band.

So get up, go to FYE, or some online store, and buy the CD. Don't download it, But it. haha.

Have a great day.
Jake Ryan.

Jean Baudin, Musical Genius

I've had Solace by Jean Baudin for awhile now but for the past 2 weeks it's all I've been listening too. Simply one of the best records I own, and in my top 5 solo bass records. It's just one of those records where all the songs are just incredible, and the best part is that all the songs have their own different feeling to them.

Please check out this amazing musician, buy the CD, he also has a tapping book out (which is incredibly helpful!).

Jean Baudin

Thanks!
Jake Ryan

Writing some solo pieces.

Recently I've been working on ideas that have been flowing around in my head for awhile. I really want to release a few songs by the fall or maybe even an EP of some sorts. It would just be cool to release something that isn't death metal for once, haha, just something totally different. I hope people react well to it too. I don't think their are any solo bassists from where I'm from so getting my music out to the public will be pretty interesting. Thats all the news I have for now about my personal music, more news to come though!

Stay Tuned,
Jake Ryan.

ESP LTD D-4 Bass

The ESP LTD D-4 bass guitar has a natural merbau body and neck-through design complemented by active electronics. The sustain and resonance of the neck-through construction and choice woods are further enhanced by a string-thru-body bridge. Includes volume and balance controls as well as active 3-band EQ.

ESP LTD D-4 Bass Guitar Features:
Merbau body
Neck-through-body construction
5-piece mahogany-maple neck
34" scale
Standard 42mm nut
Rosewood fingerboard
24 XJ frets
Black nickel hardware
Grover tuners
ESP BB-604 string-thru-body bridge
ESP SB-4 pickup set
Volume and balance controls
ESP ABQ3 3-band active EQ

^^^ Taken by MusiciansFriend.com

The ESP LTD D-4 Bass is my newest bass, and it is the greatest bass I've owned so far. I remember seeing this online ages ago and just based of that natural finish I needed it, haha, and it was very affordable at the price of $399. The tone I get on this, whether playing death metal of fusion, is just great, and the sustain was wonderful, those notes could ring out for an eternity. ESP is always great at making instruments with really thin necks, and it's perfect for playing the music I do with Naegleria, since I'm already going all over the fretboard.

All in All this bass is perfected for not only Metal, but for Jazz, and even Funk (with a set of nice DR's on it... MINT.) So please! check out this bass, and more ESP LTD gear! Links to the sites are below.

http://www.espguitars.com/home.html

QX String Quartet at Clark University

So today I was invited to see a free classical show at Razzo Hall, which is around Clark University, and I didn't know what I was going expect. Normally I'm not a classical kinda guy but I was willing to check it out. QX String Quartet was the name of the group playing and it's comprised of Violinists Krista Buckland Reisner and Rohan Gregory, Violist Peter Sulski and Cellist Jan Muller-Szeraws.

The first half of show consisted of two pieces of music, the first was Kreutzer Sonata by Leos Janacek, and the story behind that was that this man killed his wife because she was playing Bethovens "Kreutzer Sonata" with another man. As the band started playing you can hear the intensity, the shear terror of this man just killing his wife in the music, but it was also very beautiful. From start to finish I was just blown away, and I felt the story behind the music being played. The Second piece was String Quartet No. 3 by Viktor Ullman, and that had to do with a man living at a concentration camp, and in revolt the Jews who were there would make art and music. Same as the first when it came to my reaction, I was simply blown away. Then they had a brief intermission.

The third and final piece was called String Quartet Op. 96 by Antonin Dvorak, and compared to the first two pieces, It was very happy, cheerful, and bouncy. Watching these musicians play was just incredible, you could just see that they were very into what they are playing, kinda like how a metal musician head-bangs while they play, these guys were jerking their whole bodies around, haha.

In Conclusion, QX was incredible and I had a great time. I'll post a link below if anyone is interested in listening to this talented group of musicians.

http://www.qxstringquartet.org/

Peace,
Jake Ryan.

Bass, Life, Bass, Life. (Bio/Ramble)

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.

Hey There!

Another attempt at makeing a blog and keeping it up to date! haha. Hopefully this one will do better, since I'll be blabbing mostly about my Musical life, talking about bass gear, new albums I got, yadda yadda. Well, Stay tuned! more stuff coming up later!

Peace,
Jake Ryan.