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.
Showing posts with label naegleria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naegleria. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Friday, April 22, 2011
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
Thursday, April 21, 2011
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.
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.
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