Thunderbird Classic-IV PRO
In my last blog post HERE I discussed my first bass guitar. I plunk around on that thing off and on over several years, through a couple serious relationships and while raising kids, but I never took it seriously or really took the time to learn how to play it. Then I got divorced and I bought a cheap acoustic guitar! We became close friends for a while, me and that guitar. I could strum several chords and throw in a few bass runs here and there and got to where I could sing (badly) and play at the same time. I always knew bass was the instrument I wanted to play and it shows in my guitar playing, which is still very bass centric.
As some point I picked up the bass again and this time I was determined to learn how to play it. I bought a course on learning how to play bass in the style of James Jamerson, and delved into the program. I learned serval concepts that have really helped and transitioned well to the Bassanjo! This shouldn't be too surprising as Jamerson's style of play was a transition from stand-up bass to electric.
I would noodle around and occasionally I'd play with friends, trying to implement the concepts I'd been working on. It was a work in progress but I was having fun and didn't totally annoy everyone all the time. Then one day, I broke a string on the ole dumpster diver! So, off to buy new strings I went. I was tired of my strap falling off all the time so I wanted to pick up some strap locks too! I prefer flat-wound string and they didn’t have any when I went and they didn’t have any strap-locks either, but they did have a used Epiphone Thunderbird Bass on the rack that had flat-wound strings and strap locks. I didn't have the money for a new guitar but as my friend that was there with me said, ‘I knew you were going to buy the guitar the moment you picked it up”. Apparently I was thunderstruck!