Attendees: left to right Karl Vaughn, Paul Bower, Michael Hicks (stinky) Grandon Westlund (Bass Kahuna), Jarod Hummer (bigdumbanimal), me (oldfclefer)

The uglyfest is a manifestation of the bass player’s online community at the http://www.uglybassplayer.com forum. Uglybassplayer.com is a community of bassists who understand that by and large the bassist is the forgotten musician in many bands. The vital role of the bassist is often overlooked by the general public and even many other band members in certain situations. A pair of online entrepreneurs known to the uglies as Slade and Webmaster (Webby) parleyed the unique circumstances surrounding bassists into the forum that many of us now call home when we’re online.

The uglyfest was born and began to take shape as a resultant byproduct of the forum. The concept of the uglyfest was originated by a group of ugly bassists from Colorado who gathered just to meet one another and put faces and voices on those with whom they’d been exchanging ideas, tips and wisecracks on the forum.

Because of the good natured concept of the forum, and the sense of fellowship of its members, the uglyfests were a great success, and the Colorado uglies began to find other reasons to gather: for instance, at a particular member’s gig or at a concert. Many of us who didn’t live near Colorado had discussed such a gathering, and the idea that uglies from other regions of the U.S. should come together continued to float around the forum with no results until the Indiana Uglyfest came up.

Grandon Westlund (Bass Kahuna) had moved from Colorado in the early summer of 2005 and had taken up residence in a northern suburb of Indianapolis. His experience with previous uglyfests in Colorado, and the resultant fellowship of those gatherings, was most likely his primary motivation for volunteering his home for the Midwesterners.

Initially, the Indiana Uglyfest was Bass Kahuna’s (Grandon’s) idea. He suggested to the rest of the uglies that he’d be willing to host a Midwestern Uglyfest at his new home in West Lafayette, Indiana. The idea caught on, and the date was set for November 12, 2005.

Kahuna is a luthier and the founder of GW Basses. GW manufactures custom basses and several uglies have purchased Grandon’s beauties. More information about Grandon’s business can be found at http://www.basskahuna.com

On the uglybassplayer forum, Grandon answers even the most technical questions with élan and detail. His knowledge of the electric bass is obviously fired by a deep love and respect for the instrument. He had earned the adoration of the Colorado uglies who helped him to make the move to Indiana. Those of us in the Midwest were more than happy to become part of the regional gathering that was Kahuna’s brainchild.

I responded almost immediately to Grandon’s post on UBP. The Colorado uglyfests looked like so much fun that I wanted to encourage others from different regions to gather as well, and when Grandon suggested it, I jumped at the idea. Grandon set the date, and the wheels began to turn.

I live in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio which is less than 20 miles from the Ohio/Indiana border. I-74 is about 2 miles from my house and would take me to within 50 miles of Grandon’s place.

I called him on the 11th to see if there was anything that he wanted me to bring. We had PMed one another concerning P.A. equipment, and I had offered to bring mine, but he had found some to use.

So I packed my rig and basses and headed west on I-74 for a day of uglyfest with the one and only Bass Kahuna a few other fellow uglies.

I loaded the ugly Buick for the trip.

It took me about 3 hours to find Kahuna’s home. He lives about 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis near the city of Lafayette which is the home of Perdue University. As it turned out, I got turned around on the interstates in Indianapolis and wound up on I-65 which was actually the shorter way to get there from my home (damn Yahoo maps). I had to stop and get directions a couple of times, being a clueless Buckeye and all, but the friendly folks in Indiana were happy to help an old ugly find his way.

Once I got into Lafayette, I was able to contact Kahuna who gave me the final directions to his home.

The Kahuna family reside on a four acre partially wooded lot which is nestled on a hillside not far from the banks of the Wabash River. Their home is larger than average, and very cozily situated along a country lane not too far from Lafayette. When I arrived, I was greeted by BigDumbAnimal (Jarod Hummer) and the Bass Kahuna (Grandon Westlund) who helped me get my gear to the downstairs room where the uglyfest was held.

Indiana Uglyfest

First off, I want to thank Grandon and Cheryl Westlund and their family for opening their home to us and welcoming us in such grand fashion. The Westlunds are obviously still in the process of organizing their house and grounds from their recent move, but they accommodated us with grace and class. The Colorado uglies have always held Kahuna in high esteem, and Grandon is obviously a class act; but that is due in large part, I think, to the support of his loving and understanding family.

The room where we set up was appropriately colored brown. Brown carpet and brown paneling silently tolerated our brown notes as we began to jam soon after my arrival. Our stinky for the day was Michael Hicks who hammered out a tremendous beat for us to groove upon as the jam commenced. Another local ugly who was on hand was Karl Vaughn who joined in the jam along with Bigdumbanimal and me. Kahuna was in and out, joined the jam for a few moments, but was obviously preoccupied with getting a meal ready for the gathering uglies. Soon, we were joined by yet another local ugly named Paul Bower.

Bigdumbanimal Jarod Hummer playing his ESP 4 wire. His rig rocked!

Bigdumbanimal is a great ugly. He built his own six string fretless bass and brought along his ESP 4 wire as well. He is a natural on the bass instrument. He told me that he doesn’t know a lot of songs, but he knows a lot of riffs. He had no problem picking up on any of the jams and started quite a few. I was impressed that this young ugly was able to show me some stuff by greats like Wooten and Sheehan.

Karl Vaughn. His rig, though small, cut through the mix.

Karl Vaughn’s energy and openness cut right through the brown mix. He launched into every jam with enthusiasm and drive. He had a small pedal board of stomp boxes and the least equipment of all of us, but he kept up with the jam with apparent ease.

Mike Hicks. Something stink around here?

Equally impressive was the stinky Michael Hicks. His energy drove our jams, and in typical stinky style, got us through some rough spots.

Strung upside down lefty Paul Bower's Rick sounded fantastic.

Paul Bower was awesome. I’m an old school ugly, and Paul’s precision and ability to improvise impressed the hell out of me.

Bass Kahuna Grandon Westlund just flat out grooves.

Bass Kahuna is the epitome of ugliness. He has nearly flawless technique, and his knowledge of gear and vast experience are evident in the apparent ease with which he performs even the most complex passages on the bass.

UGLYBURGERS

Then Kahuna rang the dinner bell and stood aside as we stampeded up the stairs and set upon a luxurious layout of food that included the now famous uglyburgers which consist of beef, bacon and cheese ground together and shaped into patties. We ate our meal outside on the deck and swapped stories for about an hour.

Never get between an ugly and his burger

Kahuna digging up some spices for the meal

We ate out on the deck and swapped stories (some real whoppers, too!).

Let me say that the egos were either checked at the door or didn’t exist in the first place. It doesn’t matter which, it was among the most pleasant conversations I’ve ever had with musicians. In reality, we didn’t know each other from Adam, but we carried on an exchange of ideas and stories as if we’d known each other for years. What a great group of people.

Kahuna showed us some of his recent projects. This bass an an old Eko EB0 knock off that he's going to supe up.

Turns out my Kramer is the evil twin to Paul's XL8

Paul's rig sounded awesome.

Kahuna's gear. Damn.

Jammin'

After the meal, we retired to the downstairs to get down to some serious jamming.

Bigdumbanimal kicked off the jam, and I was amazed at the level of play of all the uglies and the stinky. I joined in for a few of the jams, but I stopped and listened for most of it.

In all, the jams were nothing short of totally awesome, and I was really happy to be a part of them. Nothing but low end and stinky: it doesn’t get better than that.

Head for home

Then the time had come to leave. We helped each other load up our gear and thanked the Westlund family for allowing us to hold the uglyfest in their beautiful home. Just as I was about to leave Helstar (Mike Orr) pulled in the drive. It was really good to meet him, and we made tentative plans to meet up at a Freekbass concert in the near future.

Helstar Mike Orr

In all, the Indiana Uglyfest was more than I had expected that it could be. It was a true honor to meet the individuals who attended, and to be welcomed into the home of the great Bass Kahuna and his lovely family. Before I left, Kahuna and I spoke of the next Indiana Uglyfest. Oh yeah, I’m there.

Use Your Voice

Many of us who play bass aren’t all that flashy. Traditionally, the bass is an accompanying instrument. Oh you get a few who can really light up the instrument, but a lot of us will never get to be on the level of a Wooten, Clarke, Bootsy, or Graham. We learn parts and if we’re lucky, write our own parts; but most of the music that we play is based upon the limitation of our ability or our willingness to learn a particular piece.

In my case, I’m your basic lunchbox-carrying-blue-collar-type bassist. Point to the song, and I’ll play it to the best of my ability. I’ll practice until my fingers are too sore to continue, and after all that, if I can’t play the tune, I’ll tell you straight up.

Technically, I’m a steady, but unremarkable bassist, and that’s probably why I figured out how to sing and play at the same time.

For me, it was my brother’s band that needed a singer, and that’s why they asked me to play bass for them. At that point, I worked out how to do both at the same time. I’d watched Paul McCartney enough times to know that it could be done, but I had to find out for myself what I had to do to sing while playing. It’s a skill that has paid dividends for me as far as my earning power as a bassist. I still sing lead and backup in my current band.

Singing is one thing that any bassist can do while playing bass. That’s not to say it’s easy. Few of us are likely to become a stunning lead singer like Sir Paul, but if we’re able to provide an appropriate harmony part or help share the load as lead singers, we increase our contribution to the music and the band which makes our role more valuable.

There are steps that you must take to get to the point where you can sing and play.

I learned how to sing independently of learning the bass. I was in a church and school choir. Also, I was fortunate to have a stepmother who understood the basics of two and three part harmony, and when we used to sing Christmas carols, she would take the harmony as we sang the melody. All this experience was extremely valuable to me as a singer.

Based on my own development, I would say it’s best to learn to sing independently of learning an instrument.

So I would say the first step to becoming a singing bass player is to take proactive steps such as singing lessons or joining a choir. You’ve got to know what range your voice sings in. Are you a baritone, tenor, alto, or soprano? In what key(s) are you best suited to sing? What are the notes that you can sing clearly and with strength, and where are they on the scale? Can you develop your falsetto? Again, I think singing lessons or choir are the best ways to find out about your voice.

I think the second step is learning how to sing some songs that you want to play. I would start on cover tunes. Play a tune from a CD in a place where you’re by yourself, like in a car. Can you sing the melody to a particular song? Are the notes in your register? Can you hit every note with strength? If so, you might have found a song you can sing while playing.

Memorize the words of each song while singing them, it leaves a mental impression that you will bring up whenever you think about the song from that point forward.

Any song that you intend to sing on, I recommend that you learn the bass part separately. Listen to the song as it plays back and take note of what the bass is doing when a line begins, proceeds, and ends; and where particular words and notes are being sung as the bass plays its notes in a particular part of the song.

Next, practice putting your voice and bass to work on the song at the same time.

Certain songs are almost impossible to perform on bass while singing. Most of those songs are written by someone other than a bassist. That’s why I started with the Beatles. Their bassist was one of their principal songwriters. So I’d also recommend that you begin by learning some songs written and sung by bassists.

After that, it’s just a matter of where your talent takes you. If it turns out that you can’t carry a tune, at least you’ll know for sure. I’ll also note that if you can’t sing at all, your chances of becoming a successful songwriter aren’t as good. Just being able to join in as a harmonist is a great plus for a bassist, but if you can sing lead on some songs, it’ll get you a lot more gigs.

So, in summary, I’m saying that almost all of us have a voice that we use everyday. Just about all of us can sing on some level. Training your voice not only helps you to become a better musician, you can become a better songwriter as well, and this added contribution will increase your value to any band. That can only help you to build on your musical career.

Ron

Feed-Back Buster by Kaman Music

an amazingly simple solution to the feedback problem of an amplified a/e bass.

I own a Dean Performer acoustic/electric bass. I enjoy playing it as part of my rotation of instruments. I play all 4 of my basses whenever we play out, and I woodshed with all of my basses to break up the routine.

The biggest problem I've been having with my a/e bass is whenever I plugged it into my rig, I had to stand in a certain position and keep the strings covered to keep it from going into wild feedback. It's nearly uncontrollable, and I was getting kind of bummed because I really like this bass, and I wanted to use it as much as any other in my collection; but feedback was allowing me to use it less and less.

This has always been a problem when amplifying acoustic-electric guitars and basses for live music. When attempting to play at amplified stage volume, the hollow bodies tend to resonate, vibrating the strings, then picking up the amplifier’s signal and lapsing into a feedback loop. The instrument will continue to feedback on its own if you don't watch your volume, your position relative to the amp, and your string-dampening technique.

I can’t play like that.

So I went to a local music store and got to talking with the sales dude about what was going on with my a/e. Turns out, Dude was a country guitarist and had dealt with the problem on his a/e guitar.

What he showed me was a Kaman Feedback buster

The F-B Buster is a neoprene plug the size of the sound hole on most acoustic guitars and basses.

The F-B Buster reminds me of something you would use to stop up the drain on a sink or tub.

The principle is to control the resonance of the hollow body by simply closing the sound hole. The Back Buster snaps and seals the body shut.

Not all a/e guitars and basses have the same sized sound hole, but the Feed-Back Buster fit my Dean Performer perfectly. I would also advise removing the Back Buster between uses to allow the body to breathe.

It cost me less than ten U.S. dollars to acquire at a local music shop.
I was concerned that it might change the tone and guttural thump of my a/e, but it didn’t.

After a field test at a gig playing a local pub, I can say: this little unit works!

With the Feed Back Buster installed, I am able to play at the same volume level with my a/e as I am with my solid and semi-solid bodied basses. The ability to put my a/e in rotation with my other basses gives me more choices of sound to employ for a particular piece of music. Like any amplified instrument, the “busted” a/e will feedback if pushed to it, but only if a choose to push it. The difference is now I can play it in a live amplified setting as I would any other type of bass: without the annoyance of runaway feedback at stage level, and I can use it like any of my electric basses.

The Feed-Back Buster by Kaman Music is an amazingly simple and affordable solution to the amplified a/e feedback problem.

After I set my a/e feedback free, it rocks through my rig now!

Order the Feed-Back Buster by Kaman Music From Music 123

By Ron Liggett - October 2, 2005

I've been playing bass in local clubs for over 40 years. When everything clicks, it's great to be a part of what's going down with the band, let alone how the audience reacts to the groove you're laying down. After all the tedious practice sessions, hauling the band's gear into the place and setting up, sound check, and finally getting everything up and running; there's no better feeling than knowing that it's all coming together, and your audience is diggin' the vibe. Having said that, there's no greater buzzkill than breaking a bass string and making your band and audience wait while you restring and tune your instrument. Chances are, in the 5 minutes or so you'll spend doing that, much of the energy you've been able to create will dissipate. The band and the audience will cool off so it takes awhile to get back to where you were groove-wise--if you ever do.

In most cases, when I broke a string (which was about once a week) we took a break, and I fixed my string; but on the good nights, bands like to choose their break times and having to force that can bring everything to a grinding halt. Some shows are shorter and without a break so a broken string can be a complete bummer.

That happened to me about 20 years ago. I was in a band that was playing almost all originals and a few covers that we'd arrainged to sound like our own. We had a great sound, and an agent booked us into a 1500 seat venue as the opening act for the Canadian band Honeymoon Suite. The gig was supposed to be a showcase, and the agent had invited several important people in to look at us. In the third song, I broke an A string: absolutely the worst string to break on a 4 wire bass. It hadn't occurred to me that this situation could arise, and I was completely unprepared. I wound up sprinting down a set of stairs backstage, finding my case, locating an A string, sprinting back up stairs, restringing and tuning my bass. By the time I got everything together, we only had about ten minutes left. Needless to say, we came off okay, but we didn't blow anyone away. Our agent was disappointed in the pause my string breakage had caused, and the biggies he'd brought to see us left without a word. A blown opportunity? Who knows?

How could I have avoided this situation? Easy: a second bass. Point is, if I'd anticipated the problem, I would have had another bass, even a borrowed one, on hand; but I didn't. I always have since then.

A second bass doesn't have to be fancy. Just something to finish off the set if you break a string. Having even a real cheapy tuned and ready to grab can save the moment and keep your set seemless without interrupting the groove. A $50 bass can be a lifesaver. Something used or even a beginner's bass will plug the hole until you can get your regular bass restrung.