Step Post Project Reflection

Project Title: Adding Range To My Music: Learning Bass

Student: William Gilicinski

Advisor: Mary Pohlschneider

The main goal of my STEP signature project was to learn how to play bass guitar, with sub goals being able to read bass clef and record a song using my bass skills. I learned how to play under the instruction of Steve Perakis out of Music and Arts.

Through my time learning bass guitar, I have learned I listened to music in an incomplete

way, and I found that practicing basic skills and fundamentals doesn’t always have to be boring. I have been playing the trumpet for the past eight years of my life, and due to this, I found I listened to music and entirely focused on the melody. Not only is it easier to understand what’s going on, as melodies tend to be singable, catchy, and high enough in pitch that it sticks out from the rest of the instruments, but that part was the only part I was wondering how to play. As a trumpet player I was never curious on how to play the bass part of a song, instead I would learn melodies. A large aspect I took on this step project was to add range to my music, something I meant literally in my ability to play bass and soprano parts. But I realized that not only can I play lower, I listen lower. So many songs I had tuned out the bass, but to tune out the bass leaves songs incomplete. Like forgetting the foundation of a house. Therefore, I found I listened to basslines with more and more intent to understand not only the bass part itself, but to how it aided with the rest of the song.

Also through playing trumpet for so long, I had gotten bored with practicing. Everytime I pulled it out I detested playing scales and fundamentals; waiting to practice the more challenging and exciting pieces. However, on bass I found that although I needed to practice my fundamentals and scales to get better, I still found it exciting and challenging. It was something new and challenging to focus on, and I learned that complacency and repeating the same thing over and over again can really lead to boredom and switching it up can bring back what I used to find exciting.

My time with my bass instructor, Steve Perakis, over the summer inspired me to keep on pushing through the barrier many beginners have when learning an instrument due to his unbound passion for the instrument and music in general. When learning a skill for the first time, especially learning an instrument, the first steps are hard and unrewarding. No fun comes out of repeating the same steps with the same failures; however, Steve was a model on what a true bassist should aspire to be. He has been playing bass for more than 40 years, but still loves it. He would know bass lines from many songs I talked about, he would constantly test me over the names of the different parts that make up the instrument, or what a note was called on the fretboard, but he would also just talk about what makes good music. A lot of the lesson time wasn’t even just about learning bass, but learning other aspects of music such as theory, or different approaches on how to play bass over the same chord changes or song. And the biggest lesson of all was that I needed to listen as hard as possible, even if it meant failing along the way. I had been so used to reading music that the idea of listening to a part, then trying to transcribe it by ear and play it was foreign to me. However, that listening aspect gave me another approach to how I enjoy music.

While I was starting out in the first couple months, my friends and I planned to have a jam session. This experience was new to me as I’ve only ever played with others in a formal setting such as a concert or marching band, but playing in a tight group is very different. Most of us had never jammed before, so the process was rough and satisfying in the beginning; however, as we began to understand how to communicate ideas with each other, and settled on what we wanted to play, it quickly became fun. At the end of the day, I had the most enjoyment just playing quarter notes at a steady rhythm, as I wasn’t skilled enough in the beginning to play anything more fancy or interesting, but even playing the easiest bassline felt satisfying and harmonious the way it supported the parts my friends had come up with. I realized that the fundamentals could still be fun in the right settings, and it gave me a great appreciation for my favorite bands such as Rush and how they are able to come up with such complex music.

With learning any music genre or instrument, listening is the biggest way to learn. Music is akin to learning a language, such that surrounding and engrossing yourself in the language is the fastest way to learn. My instructor would tell me to learn a bassline for the next lesson and it was up to me to search for a song with an easy enough bassline to play. He wanted me to not just follow the basslines he wanted me to play, but to explore my taste and dig deep on songs I wanted to learn. Because of this, my Spotify playlist quickly grew with great songs with pretty simple or easy basslines. Frequently I would try to estimate how hard the bassline in a song would be in stores, the radio, or wherever music was playing. Quickly I realized I would listen more to the bass out of every other part, especially because most speakers have pretty poor bass quality, making listening even harder. Through this method of constantly listening, I would almost relisten to the same songs I love with new ears.

This attentiveness to listening to different instruments or parts in music I believe is significantly valuable to my life in that when I try to digest songs by listening or relisting, they become more meaningful and interesting. Many bands and musicians have great craftsmanship and attention to detail that are overlooked during the first listening, or by simply listening to it as background noise. I believe that every part in the song matters, including the simple and monotonous. Although this might not be a revelation, I think this project has helped solidify that every detail matters.