Global Bass Online January 2001
Global Bass Online January 2001
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Chemistry By Timmer Blakely
f
you’ve experienced it, you know exactly what the term means.
If you haven't experienced it, you may have heard other players talk
about it but you aren't sure what all of the fuss is about.
If you aren't sure whether or not you have experienced it, then you
haven't experienced it. Chemistry is when two or more players get together for
the first time and sparks fly (the good kind).
Everyone plays beyond their normal capabilities.
The sum of the total is greater than the individual parts.
A form of telepathy takes place and all of the fills are totally in
synch, the groove takes on a whole new depth, and you know where your band mate
or mates are going two measures in advance.
So how do you create it?
You don't.
It happens on it's own when two or more of the "right" players
get together. It's
just a matter of finding the "right" players.
And "right" isn't used in this context to describe the overall
abilities of a player.
Two outstanding players can get together and make good music, but the
music doesn't exceed the abilities of either player if the chemistry isn't
there. When
two outstanding players who have a great chemistry get together, the world opens
up before them.
They can play things that they have never played before.
They can hear and apply ideas that have never occurred to them before.
And they play as one.
So if you can't create it, how do you find it?
It's a matter of finding the players that you have a great chemistry
with. And
the only way to find anything is to look for it.
You have to play with as many musicians as possible, eliminate the ones
with which you have no chemistry, and keep the ones with which you have good
chemistry.
It's a lot like dating.
If you go out with someone and it's just not happening, you usually don't
go out with them again (unless the sex is really good, but even that wears thin
over time). You
keep dating other people until you find that person that you really click with.
And when you find that right person, you hold on to them with both hands
(in-spite of the restraining orders and stalking laws).
The same goes with musicians.
If
you click, you stick.
Now you have a list of people with which you have great chemistry.
How do you use this to your advantage?
Make every effort possible to work with these people.
If your band is looking for a new musician, pull a name off of your
chemistry list.
If you are building a new band, pull a name off of your chemistry list.
When you are working with someone that you have a great chemistry with,
you sound better, they sound better, and the band sounds better.
If you want to build a reputation as a great musician, play with the
people that make you sound the best.
It increases your odds for success exponentially.
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