De-Load and De Bass, Mon!

After skipping the last few de-load week, I decided it was time to take one. I've had quite a few niggling little aches and pains. My lower back has been tight for the last couple weeks and I've been having trouble falling asleep. Little signs that tell me I'm heading toward staleness or injury.

SQ - Bar x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 5
BP - Bar x 5, 95 x 5, 115 x 5, 135 x 5
I really didn't have the energy for any accessory work.

I've picked up the bass guitar after a long time. I played bass in a band in high school and two years after while I went to junior college. This was in the early to mid-eighties. I was never much of a talent but I could get by playing the root notes and fifths and octaves for fills. We had a moderate following playing gigs. We even went into the recording studio to record a demo. We were given a discount because it was from midnight to 8 a.m. When I decided to go away to school, I sort of started bailing on my band. I had become unreliable. The guys eventually decided to go in a new direction. They brought in a new guy. Only thing was, he didn't have very good gear. I ended up letting him use my stuff while he paid me in installments. I needed the money and he needed the equipment. The shame of it was I sold off a sweet Fender Precision Bass and Peavy bass amplifier. I worked hard to buy that bass to just sell it off so cavalierly. About 20 years ago, I picked up a Mexican made Fender Jazz Bass. I hooked up with my old friend and band-mate a few times at his band's practice space in a big old rat-infested warehouse in Wicker Park where a bunch of other bands rented space. Nothing ever really took because it pretty much an excuse to get together with an old pal, drink, smoke weed and reminisce about our glory years.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I stumbled across an old portable practice device called a Rockman Bass Ace. My parents had gotten it for me for Christmas one year so they can get a break from all the noise. The original headphones were long gone, but when I put some new batteries, plugged in my fancy noise cancelling earphones and bass in, it worked!  In fact, I was able to plug into my laptop, too. There's some great instructional stuff on youtube and it's so much easier than wasting my parents' money and blowing off my weekly lessons. It's also easier than trying to cue up and album or trying to follow along to a Mel Bay lesson book. Will I keep it up, or will the bass end up in storage for another 20 years? Only time will tell.