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Might as well get some of the standard questions out of the way...

What's up with the bass, dude?

It's interesting. I figured, "What the hell! Why not?"

Why a bass, and not a regular guitar?

The bass has fewer strings (four, as compared to six on the guitar), the frets and strings are farther apart on a bass (easier for my big fingertips to find), and bass players typically play one note at a time (as opposed to chording and strumming and finger-picking six guitar strings at once).

The bottom line is this - I think the bass is easier to play than the guitar. Like all engineer types, I'm lazy. Besides, I'm more the "bass player" type than the "crazy lead guitarist" type. Crazy I am, yes, but in a funky, fedora-and-shades kind of way.

Are you any good at it?

Not really, no. Not yet. Maybe never - so THERE!

Can you read music?

No. Next question...

Why the sudden interest in playing an instrument?

Actually, I've been noodling around on various instruments for most of my life. I've got a certain amount of native ability for picking out notes and intervals, but I've never had the discipline to sit down and learn how to play anything very well. I debated trying to learn to play keyboards for some time, thinking I could make a whole variety of sounds on a synthesizer - but even that is pretty daunting, involving lots of multi-finger chording and dizzying music theory. Other than the kazoo and the spoons, the bass seemed like an instrument that might be reasonably easy to play and a lot of fun to boot.

So, are you going to be a rock star?

Not bloody likely! Assuming I achieve some level of competence, I may be able to rumble out bass lines for some of the simpler praise choruses we do in church - but I have no aspirations past that point. I may also be able to teach the kids how to pick out stuff on the bass - that would be fun.

So, what's your motivation?

It's hard to explain. There's just something satisfying about making music with my hands - something tactile and organic, something I don't feel even on a piano keyboard. I spend all my "work time" dealing with abstract digital creations (servers, Web sites, databases, and software), stuff that I can't feel with my fingers or hear with my ears. When I pick up the bass, I get the immediate feedback that this music (if you can call it that - it's pretty rough, right now) is a variable, touchy, ephemeral thing. The music is sensitive to my mood, my energy level, and my overall "focus" - much more so than any piece of software I've ever written. Moreover, the music is impermanent and not reproducible; unlike software, music created with fingers and instruments never sounds exactly the same way twice.

So, what type of music do you play and enjoy most?

At this early stage, I have to say my favorite type of music is the blues. Why? I enjoy the improvisation - not so much on my part, yet, since I'm not good enough to improvise much in real time - I get an enormous bang out of playing along with folks more skilled than I and listening to them get comfortable with a bass line and then take off into the sky, creating castles in the air in one way and then another. I'm sitting there winding my way along a musical foundation, and they're flying kites - doing simply amazing things.

I thought you were a drummer - huh?

I like to beat on things, I've got some rhythm - actually a surprising amount of rhythm, for a white boy - and I'm drumming for the church praise band. I've been doing it for a while, but I've had no formal training or instruction. I work at it, trying to get better, and I take my role in the praise band very seriously. I don't plan on retiring my sticks any time soon, but I need a form of musical expression that involves (not to put too fine a point on it) actual pitches and notes.

Yes, yes, yes, I know - drums have pitches, too. Still, it's a bit difficult to pick out Christmas carols on a drum set. Marimba, maybe - but not a drum kit.

Actually, I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from playing the drums. When the team gets tight and we really make music, my hair stands on end and I'm grinning like a fool. I love that feeling - it takes me outside myself, and it makes me feel like I'm a part of something larger than myself.

Come on - admit it - you're living out a fantasy, right?

All right, dammit - I give up. I'm going to learn to play the bass so that I can reinvent myself, dye the gray out of my hair, and start touring the world in a gold-plated 747. Wherever I land, tens of thousands of college chicks will fling moist undergarments at me while I fumble my way through the first few notes of "Smoke On The Water." I'll be a cultural icon, a veritable Household Name, and I'll be rich beyond the wildest dreams of avarice.

Next question?

Whoa, dude - don't be harsh!

Fine. I won't be harsh, and you stop being stupid, m'kay?

What's your fantasy - your ultimate dream?

I reserve the right to change dreams, of course - but right now, when I let myself grin and think about wild impossibilities, I see myself in a dark, smoky room. Blues, or maybe jazz, playing. I'm there on the back of the stage; slacks, wingtips, jacket, fedora, and shades. I'm playing an upright bass - those things don't even have frets, you understand; you REALLY have to know your stuff - and I'm playing my heart out, running my left hand up and down the neck and plucking with my right. The music just rolls out, and it is GOOD. It's powerful, and it's ephemeral; everyone in the room knows and understands that this particular thing happens only once in a lifetime. The other players know me and trust me, and together we create something memorable. I'm not the star - no spotlights on me - but I'm providing a baseline, a sturdy foundation. All of us grin when we see castles in the air, magical constuctions of sound - and we give it all we've got, knowing that the beauty is transient. Tears in our eyes, sometimes; we hear and know that this is something special. The great thing is this - we can work hard to get to this point, and then we can let it go - let it float out into time and space, never to see or hear it again. And... that's perfectly all right!

[interview ends]