Background History
For as long as I can remember I have been involved with listening to music and making noises with musical instruments
When I was very young (age 5 through till I was about 11) listening to music revolved around an old dansette record player (it stacked up to 7 singles and played them one after another) and a load of singles that I had "inherited" from my older brothers and sister. These singles ranged from Booker T and the MG's, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding through to Cliff Richard and the Wombles..... It was Cliff's Thrash Metal phase as I remember (ahem).
Whilst I was at primary school I played the recorder (in fact there is photographic evidence of me standing next to my future wife at a recorder festival when we were both aged about 6). However formal musical education and me fell out when I moved to secondary school (aged 11).
Despite attempts to get me to take a leading part in school productions, I staunchly refused, something to do with keeping the musical integrity of my aspirations or something (I think it was fear actually). It wasn't until I had left secondary school and gone to sixth form (aged 16) that I took an interest in music again, this time there was a motivation - girls!
I started off on the drums but soon found that I was too damned lazy to get any good at playing such a physically tiring instrument (plus there was a lot of competition with more talented/committed drummers in the area). I then took up the electric bass figuring that a decent sense of rhythm would stand me in good stead (I hadn't realised that a sense of rhythm is an optional extra with a lot of bassists).
Having played bass exclusively for about 14 years I took up playing the guitar with (semi) serious intent at the start of the millennium. My bass playing covers a variety of genres from Heavy Metal through to funk and also jazz. My guitar playing, though, has stayed firmly in the Heavy Metal arena.
The music I enjoy listening to is more eclectic than that which I play, covering heavy metal, jazz, classic rock orchestral and medieval renaisance. Maybe one day I will release an album of jazz/metal fusion interpretations of Dowland's lute music from the 16th century?
Whilst I have played in a number of bands in the past work responsibilities tend to get in the way of being able to commit to such fun and games and so I am very much a home recordist these days. I mostly record direct from my Behringer Bass VAmp Pro or my Marshall JMP1 pre-amp into the Audigy soundcard on my PC. Drum tracks are laid down using the MIDI sounds from either the soundcard or external MIDI modules.