Pamparo in Toronto

Bass players are the most under-appreciated member of a band, especially in worship ministry. Most people don’t even know why the bass exist. To some, it doesn’t matter much if the band have one or not. I tend to disagree with this and here are some of things I noticed on how a lack of a “good” bass player affects the “rhythm section” of the band.

1. Drummers
Drummers main tasks are keeping time and providing groove. You can ask drummers how a bass player is essential to grooving. There are a lot of things that can be done with drums, but without a good bassist, it’s just doesn’t sound right. Drummers need the bassist to help enforce the groove and the feel of the song. A drum beat/pattern can easily transform into different things with different bass grooves.

2. Guitarists
As a guitarist, it’s easy to say that a job of a bassist is easy. But as guitarist who also plays a little bit of bass, I can attest that it’s not as easy as we think. I am often limited to what I can do without a good bassist. Inversions, chord substitutions, triads/diads and modes can easily be taken out of context without the bassist enforcing the key and chord changes. Most times, I find my rhythm patterns are also limited to some degree. Either I get stuck with a bottom-heavy tone and/or I’ll play more power-chords and arpeggio with the root all the time. Not a good thing for a guitarist.

A lot of people may argue with me on this. That’s OK. This is what I notice and experience whenever we don’t have a bass player. Some band may be lucky to have a keyboard player who can play the bass parts.

So there it is. This is an appreciation to all the bass players out there. We need you, you are important!

Last week, the Persians celebrated their New Year and I had the privilege of playing bass for the service that was held at Bayview Glen Alliance Church by our Farsi-speaking community. And if you live in Toronto and know how to speak/read Farsi, you can visit their website at http://mohabat.org

I really enjoyed playing with these guys. Have a listen and even though you can’t understand the words, I hope that you will be blessed by the music. Without further ado, here are the tracks:

• Come, Now Is The Time To Worship
• Hayatee Tazeh
• I Could Sing of Your Love
• Kalaamat
• Shout To The Lord
• Rooneh Oo Dar Mast (Heaven Is In My Heart)
• Sarayeem Isa Khodavand
• Shokr Bar Nameh Isa

Many thanks to the following musicians for making my life so much easier:

Ramsin Youhanna – Vocals, Piano, Keyboards
Luis Vasconez – Guitars (Electric/Acoustic)
Zee Nasser – Drums/Percussions
Sean Pinage – Drums/Percussions

And of course, to Daniel Nasser for not only for managing the soundboard for us but also for sending me these audio tracks that he recorded using his iPod! Don’t you love technology!

I have been blessed to see Marcus Miller live last night at the Opera House as part of the annual Toronto Jazz Festival. The man is a beast! Marcus did not only show us how technical and melodic he can be on his solo lines, but how he also put emphasis on the importance of keeping a tight groove. The rest of the band were all great. The stand-out for me is the harmonica player. I have never heard harmonica in a different context than country-style music. It was an ear-opener!

Marcus played a few bars in the keyboard and a song using a bass clarinet. What can I say, the man is gifted! It was one memorable night!