The Five Strings

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.

The Reboot

I am a man of many reboots, and not in the sense of the life philosophy that “every day is a new beginning.” Sure it is, but that must involve a sense of responsibility – it does no good if you almost daily decide that you will “begin” tomorrow.

Today’s post is intended to be a new beginning, with all the responsibility that a new beginning carries. Looking back on this blog, I am shocked at how long it has been since I last posted, and disappointed in the tone of some of the posts. Both must change.

Music is my passion, and bass is where I make my music. While it is easy to tout a new beginning, the conditions are right for me to meet the responsibility: I am not only rebooting the blog, but in the past few months, I have started a reboot of my life, quitting a job which took much more from me than it ever gave, moving hundreds of miles for a new start in a new state, embracing old loves with new energy. My new day job is to keep my head in the clouds and report back my discoveries, but only the diligent reporting will allow me to keep that job.

The focus of my reboot will be my long intended Book of Five Strings, which I will detail more in my next post. But for now, bookmark this page and check back soon. This is the humble beginning of a glorious transformation.

(Note: I also write The Zen Bassist on Blogger; at this time, it is my intent that both blogs will carry the content.  The Zen Bassist blog preceded this one, and I will post to both in an attempt to reach the audiences of both Blogger and WordPress.)