Rhetorics of Craft – Midterm Proposal

Most of my research revolves around notions of music listening/production practices. The way I’ve approached this topic previously has focused on my own passive act of consumption, and description of the production choices of others. For this midterm, I will attempt to take on the role of an active participant in the act of playing a musical instrument. The instrument I’ve chosen is the bass guitar.

Throughout my high school years, I started identifying myself with the groups that engaged with numerous subgenres of rock music, both in English and Spanish. The one common language was the musical component. But as a good counterculture punk rocker I didn’t want to learn to play the guitar, I wanted to play bass. So I asked my dad, the one that could afford it, to buy me one. In New Jersey, he bought me a starter kit, Fender’s cheaper version, a Squire, and a practice amp. He also paid for ONE lesson. Back in Puerto Rico, I would practice on my own, playing the Blues progression that I was taught, but would get bored easily and attempt to figure out the bass tunes in songs like Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s “Otherside.” I never figured out the entire song and stopped “playing” after a year. I would like to start practicing that blues progression once again, but this time I will actually pay attention to the notes that I am playing.

My goal is to learn what each note is called, and be able to identify all of these (or as many as can) as I play them. This would potentially help me to be able to “jam” with other people. Another goal would be to learn an entirely new song. In which case I may have to do some more research to identify what particular song that will be. In learning to play this instrument I envision myself tapping into my memory skills simultaneously with auditory, visual, and tactile senses. Paying attention to one particular component at a time might not be possible, but perhaps I will be able to concentrate on one or the other at different times. While I’ve already been asked if I needed help, perhaps I should attempt this project on my own to better discern my own bodily knowledge in my development as a bass guitar player.