mentors) and the time came for me to go back home but I had no gig lined up. A couple of fill in dates turned into a couple of months on the road, and the experience was priceless! There could only be one bass player; but there was an open spot for auxiliary keyboards (strings & horns.) As long as I wasn't at the record table, this was better than going home.
I was down, I never really cared for keys but I loved key bass and I knew my way around a keyboard. I was given a thirty minute crash course on horn and string lines, with a couple of cords. I make it sound simple, but at that time it was one of the hardest things I set out to do. I didn't remember half of what I learned but I knew how it was supposed to sound.
At the next gig I'm on keys, and my job is to make it through the set playing my parts. I ended up pulling through and securing a gig; not on bass, but I wasn't going home. A bonus was that I got to travel alongside my mentors and gain on the job experience. Once I was confident with my parts, it made the overall sound of the band full. DMD refers to horns as Bamps... and that was the position I was playing, so I was named.
Lesson: I could have turned down playing keys, simply because I didn't like it or because it was a challenge to learn in such a short time. Or I could have been a loc with illusions of grandeur, thinking it was beneath me to play anything other than my bass. This is what that experience taught me… Do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to! I was diligent in bamping until I was able to do what I wanted, which was playing bass. Now I’m a better man for it, and one of a few who can alternate between the two
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