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Fender's Mike Dirnt Video... and some questions for you. Yeah, YOU!


Phil O'Keefe

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I just heard about this recently through the good folks at Fender so I thought I'd share it.

 

 

[video=youtube;GwVKj3whFcs]

 

 

Mike Dirnt (Green Day) Video:

 

 

* Info: The video gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at Mike's bass rig (including the Fender Bassman 800 head) and Mike's life - from musical inspirations and receiving his first bass from Billie Joe to juggling the hectic life of a musician on top of fatherhood. Now with a new sustainable coffee venture with his bandmates, he has even more on his plate to balance. I'm a dad, he says. "I get up. I'm awake before my whole family. Take the kids to school. Kids will balance you from being a dad and a rockstar. They'll humble you real quick, but they keep you young. Kids look at everything like it's the big picture." Mike continues to give back to the music community in Los Angeles. With Fender's support, Mike recently donated 12 bass guitars to Los Angeles Unified School District, broadening student access to quality musical instruments, so kids can continue to learn and grow their music abilities. He's also a huge Star Wars fan. Enough said.

 

(*Per Fender)

 

 

I love that he's donating instruments to the LAUSD for kids to use. I think that rocks. :philthumb:

 

My favorite line in the video?

 

"What drew me to bass in the first place is my ability to play very good mediocre guitar." :lol:

 

 

 

But it made me wonder...

 

 

 

How many of the rest of you play guitar too, in addition to bass?

 

Which one did you start on first - bass or guitar?

 

Do you consider either instrument to be more challenging than the other, and if so, why?

 

And finally, which of the two do you consider yourself to be more proficient on?

 

 

 

Of course, comments about the rest of the video are fine too! :wave:

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I started on bass and guitar at roughly the same time. Guitar was actually first, but not by much - I only knew first position chords on guitar when I started playing bass, and I started really learning the fretboard through bass first.

 

I've always considered myself to be both a bassist and guitarist, although I'm not particularly great on either one. :0

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I thank my father for buying my guitar when I was 14. Then, while learning Beatles tunes, like everyone else, I marveled at James Jamerson's Motown bass lines. If not booming out from the wooden cabinet of my mother's wartime radio, from the juke box at the local restaurant. After trying out a friend's Beatle bass, I bought a cheap bass at the pawnshop. So it was back and forth between guitar and bass as I grew up, and finally getting a double bass.

 

I consider myself as primarily a BP who seconds on guitar. Much later, I picked up a 1922 Leedy plectrum banjo. Like most, I had struggled with the third between the G and B strings on guitar, as compared to the uniform fourths of the bass. But, I was surprised to find the ease of playing the plectrum banjo, even though it is tuned CGBD, as it seems natural to the ear when you play it.

 

​A BP needs to learn a chordal instrument to study harmony. I found Fender bass, double bass, guitar and banjo to be close instruments and each bolsters the other as you learn them over the years. The four instruments allow me to play any music of all styles and from all eras.

 

Adding to one's versatility in the stringed instrument department is a good thing for many reasons, so don't leave that out of your lifelong plans. I should have tried piano, but my hands were full...

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