The Book of Five Strings has been the bass book I’ve wanted to write for the past 15 years, and as I indicated in my last post, will be the basis for most of my writing on this blog. Taken from Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, my goal is for this to be a practical and philosophical resource for both aspiring and active bass players.
This isn’t about playing a 5-string bass; while I play 5- and even 6-string basses on occasion, in my mind a base bass is 4-strings. The “strings” which will be in the subject headings will serve to identify the category of the post right away:
First String – Earth String: About instruments and equipment, the solid, physical tools we use to make our music.
Second String – Water String: This heading will be about theory and playing techniques, the essential ingredients to making music, regardless of what genre of music you play.
Third String – Fire String: These posts will be about my inspirations, bass players and musicians who fuel my passion to pick up my inspiration and add my few bars to the symphony.
Fourth String – Air (Wind) String: Posts on the Air String will be dedicated to the music that floats through the airwaves – posts about playing in specific styles of music, or about specific songs or albums that bass players (or anyone interested in good bass playing) should be familiar with.
Fifth String – No (Empty) String: At times, these may be the most common posts – getting into my philosophy of bass and of music, our relationship to it, and how it connects us to the eternal and the universal.