Reverend Ken's Blog: October 18, 2012

October 18, 2012 (Thursday)
(Post 632, Day 292 of 2012, 657 days since 1st post)

Daily Comment

I had some fun last night sitting in with a bluegrass band. They liked it, too, and offered me the bass chair - if I could play upright.

That's that. I don't play upright, and have never owned one.

Towards the end of the last century, I tried to buy one. Unfortunately, I got scammed trying to purchase it on eBay, and lost a lot of money. Lesson learned, but I was gun shy and never tried to buy another one.

Which is sad, because before I even knew what a Fender bass was (that's what they called electric bass guitars back in the day), I really liked upright basses. I had heard them in jazz and classical settings.

If I have any ambition left after I find a new post-retirement spot (that's a big "if"), it might be to learn to play upright bass and (maybe) classical guitar.

Learning new things - a language, a musical instrument, pretty much anything - is a good way to stave off cognitive decline due to aging, and I intend to do this. In fact, learning the local language of my new home - when I have a new home - is something I'm going to try.

The difficulty of learning Thai is one of the primary arguments for staying in the Americas (Spanish is one of the easier languages to learn), rather than moving to Thailand (so far, it is not enough to knock Chiang Mai out of the top spot for retirement).

One of the main reasons to learn classical guitar and upright (acoustic) bass, is that the learning and practice is a solo activity - whereas my current bass philosophy is pretty much entirely ensemble playing. It is possible that I won't have the opportunity to play bass with others, at least for a while, in my new overseas home.

We'll just have to see what presents itself.

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