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Author Archives: Bruce
Hall of Fame #2
Having seen the post about Duck Dunn below, my buddy Jeff Owens at Fender sent me a YouTube clip of Ryane Askew’s cover of 5ive Gears in Reverse — a bass part of mine wholly modeled on Duck Dunn’s playing. So I thought it might be appropriate to have a couple more clips of bass covers on the site. (Although no-one seems to have picked up on the fact that the repeated melodic figure at the end of this track … Continue reading
Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn: 1941-2012
Perhaps the greatest rock and soul bass player of them all passed away in his sleep today, aged 70. Duck Dunn is rightly regarded as one a handful of truly great bass guitar originals for his work as a Stax house musician playing for the likes of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Albert King … and as a member of Booker T’s ‘Memphis Group’. He later played with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Neil Young … and appeared as himself in … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Bass Guitar, booker t, donald dunn, duck dunn, soul, stax, the mgs
18 Comments
I Never Knew That!
The following is a new interview I did recently for Jon Liebman’s For Bass Players Only magazine. JL: Tell me about your musical upbringing. BT: There was a piano in the house and it came as a great surprise to me when I started hitting the notes that a tune didn’t come out at all, just a racket. After all, I was only doing what I’d seen everyone else do when playing the piano. But my mother had a good ear … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Writing
Tagged Attractions, Bass Guitar, Elvis Costello, Mick Moody, Paul Rodgers, Roadrunners
28 Comments
Seeing is Believing
Do you see the triangle that’s not actually there? You see it because your mind fills it in to create something familiar. In fact, it’s harder to un-see the triangle. But at other times we can fail to see something that really is there, even something truly remarkable — as the following story reveals …
Bruce’s Hall of Fame
When I posted the clips for my new Profile Signature Model Bass on YouTube, I found quite a few bass players who’ve taken the time to cover some of my parts … because they like them. Here’s a selection of some of the best … Nice playing, one and all …
Posted in Music
Tagged accidents will happen, bass covers, Bass Guitar, Bass Lines, Bruce Thomas, hall of fame, lip service, love went mad, oliver's army, Profile, pump it up, this year's girl, tko
49 Comments
A Roll of the Dice
How many of us have been sitting somewhere on a dreary winter’s afternoon, looked out the window and thought, ‘There has to be more to it than this’ — or felt the impulse to leap up from where we’re sitting to stride off into some great adventure? In 1971, Luke Rhinehart wrote The Dice Man — whose subheading announced, ‘This book can change your life’. One day, Rhinehart is inspired by an intriguing coincidence and, bored with his job, gives over his … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged chance, Dice Man, divination, Luke Rhinehart, random, synchronicity
14 Comments
Fighting Fit
When he was only 17, Bruce Lee wrote in his diary … After 4 years hard training in kung fu, I began to understand the principle of gentleness — the art of neutralizing the opponent’s effort with the minimum of one’s own energy — which must be done in calmness, without striving. It sounds simple, but the actual application was difficult. The moment I engaged in combat, after exchanging a series of blows or kicks, all theory of gentleness was … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged body feel, body mind and spirit, Bruce Lee, kung fu, martial art, training
2 Comments
The ‘Salmon Pink’ Myth
Few things in the vintage guitar market are as confusing as the custom guitar colour often referred to as Salmon Pink. To understand why, you have to go back to Fender’s paints of the 1950s and 60s and realize they were also the automobile paints of the time.
Posted in Music
Tagged Bass Guitar, Bruce Thomas, Custom Color, Fender, Fiesta Red, Profile, Salmon Pink
15 Comments