How'd you get started with music?
I started when I was 11 and I wanted a guitar really badly. I wanted my parents to get me one for Christmas and they really couldn't afford it. I'd kind of given up. Christmas 1966, I was 11 years old. Christmas morning, I open my Christmas present-and there it was! An electric guitar from the J.C. Penney catalog. Included an amp, a strap, everything. It was $99 for the whole thing. Took them a year to pay off. I played 'til my fingers bled.
 
Why did you want the guitar in the first place?
The Beatles were coming on! The Beatles came out, like, in late '63 and early '64,  and from that time on I wanted to play. I guess every kid of my generation did. About age 12, it occurred to me, a lot of people were playing guitar but very few people were playing bass. So it occurred to me: if I took up bass, I'd probably always be able to be in a band. So that's what I did. Switched over to bass and I've been playing ever since.
 
You never went back?
I still play six string. I've got several guitars. I fool around on them occasionally, but not very often. I'm not great. I can play rhythm, hang in there with somebody.
 
Is there something specific about bass, other than the practicality of being in band, that really drew you to it?
Well,  of course, now I understand musically that it's really a percussion instrument. It's really a foundation instrument. A lot people think of it as one of the guitars.  But truthfully, it locks with the drums. I also played drums, later on. I picked up drums and played in some bands as a drummer. Which was a real easy transition. Because you're head is there and you understand the rhythm patterns. But I like it because it gives me more opportunity to improvise, and I like to play improv. I don't read music. I read key signatures, but I don't read music.
 
Were you the type to practice constantly?
When I was young? Yeah. I'd practice all the time. I was in little combos and we'd practice several nights a week, play little sock hops and dances and stuff like that. And it was cool because we were the only kids in my school that were, you know, older than us. But we were in junior high and we had a rock band, so that was nice. [Laughs]
 
How many bands have you been in over the years?
Six or seven probably. A couple of bands in junior high. Two or three in high school. But once I got to college I just didn't have time. Then I got married, kids came along. Picked it up occasionally. Sold a lot of my stuff for a long time, when my first child came along... Man, I had some great stuff. Could've paid my kids college tuition with that stuff if I'd kept it. A '67 Gretsch Tennessean. And a Fender Jazz bass.

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