My interest in the bass guitar began when I was a hormonal teenager and had the world’s largest crush on John Taylor from Duran Duran. I’ve dated a few bass players over the years and always kind of thought of it as a sexy instrument, but I never once gave any though to trying to play the four-stringed beast!

So, when Mark Saunders set me a bass playing challenge, I thought long and hard about the bass lines that have formed the soundtrack to my musical life. When it came to distinctive and impactful riffs, top of the list was Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. I mean… TOP TUNE!

While having guitar lessons with Dan Joseph for two of my other challenges, I purchased a job lot of lessons and added bass to the list!

Rock chick

As with the guitar, I don’t think I’m a natural, but I enjoyed learning that well known dummm dum dum dum dum dummm dummm (you’re singing it, aren’t you!). And I especially enjoyed donning my sunglasses, and Dan’s leather jacket for some fun ‘rock chick’ photos!

Dan and I took to the stage at an open mic night to make my debut performance. Thanks to Tony Bowen and the folks at The White Horse in Richmond for being so accommodating. I was predictably very nervous, and that always affects my ability to play. I tense up and that’s just about the worst thing you can do when trying to perform. My fingers tighten too much on the strings and I can’t move around the fret board as freely as I should.

All that said, we did it, and it was fun, and Mark was there to witness the performance. As with my guitar playing challenges, I’m now looking forward to doing it all over again but without the pressure. Watch out for a jam night performance coming soon…