Practicing at home.
I grew up listening to the jazz greats, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, George Shearing, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. The jazz bassists I really admired were Charles Mingus and Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, and later, Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius.
When I was in high-school, I began playing a "standup bass" but later switched to electric bass.
When I first began to get into pop music, it was bassist Donald "Duck" Dunne (Booker T and the MG's, etc) that caught my attention. His tight, precise style was the sound I tried to emulate.
As pop music evolved, new players grounded in jazz and latin rhythms began to dominate. Carol Kaye or Joe Osborn on bass, along with the legendary Hal Blaine on drums were the formula to success for many years of popular music. I loved the tightness and precision of the Joe Osborn sound, and the creative jazz feel of the Carol Kaye bass lines.
The bass player who has influenced me most is Carol Kaye. More than a superb bassist, Carol has published many easy-to-follow bass guitar lesson books and tapes.
She played on hundreds of the major pop/rock hits of the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's including many TV and movie themes.
I began my professional bass career in the 1960's, and have enjoyed all these years of music.
Over the years I've had the good fortune to play with and record many talented musicians.
Here are a few links to sites of some of these musician's websites.
My good friend, composer, guitarist, and singer Skip Eaton is now performing in Las Vegas.
Into modern Pop music? Check out
The Shins own Site
and
The Shins at Subpop Records
. These guys are good!