4 Stringed Magicians
Saadi Khan
By Rumman R Kalam
In the land of bassists, you'd often find people who failed as a guitarist and picked up the bass or lazy-asses who play bass cause it's easy. Finding someone who loved the bass as an instrument and not as an excuse to be a musician was pretty difficult; let alone finding someone who could channel his passion through four strings. We were lucky enough to find just the right person—Saadi Khan of Green Tinted 60's Mind and Crayon Collections. One of the most talented bassists of our generation, he has proved why being twenty makes no difference when you groove.
So, Saadi. How did you end up getting into music itself?
When I was a kid, I just heard what my elder brothers and sister listened to: stuff like Gun's N' Roses, U2, Metallica, Def Leppard, Micheal Learns to Rock, Soul asylum and Skid Row and such. And I really liked the combinations of the different instruments together forming music. That just amazed me and it was the sole reason behind me loving music.
When and how did you start playing he bass?
Me and my elder brother Simon used to be in a band. I used to love how he played the bass in the band, I used to play the guitars back then. One fine day, all the groove and funk just made me pick the bass up.
Aside from music, what other influences do you have?
My girlfriend influences me a lot with music and supports me in different ways . Four of my best friends whom I grew up with helped me with pretty much with everything in life and the friends I met through music were the bested friends in many different ways. There's a lot that I learned from Incubus. While Rage Against The Machine was there to give me the drive. Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers did it for me. If it wasn't for Flea, I wouldn't even have considered the bass.
It's pretty much known that you're into basketball with you playing in the LCLS Basketball team. How does that passion influence your life and music?
It made me realise that you should always do what you like. Y'know, do your own thing and love it because I came across the greatest people God has ever made through basketball. It gives you different perspective into life.
What do you have to say for anyone who's starting out as a bassist?
Like I said before, do your own thing and make sure you love what you're doing.
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Rifat Zabeen Khan
By Rumman R Kalam
Bass is not a common instrument for youngsters to pick up; it's not a common instrument for most people, even. Breaking that stereotype AND the so-called gender stereotype, we have Rifat Zabeen Khan(16) from Bangladesh International School telling us about herself and her bass.
What made you consider the bass ?
Back in 5th grade, my brother used to play bass, right? I just decided to play his bass and there I was.
Not to be judgemental but most people don't notice the sound of the bass at such an early age. What made you get into it?
Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. When I first heard Parallel Universe, I went crazy about the sound of Flea's bass and I NEEDED to know what it was. Soon after that, I figured out it was Flea doing his thing. He is a huge inspiration for me.
Have you ever felt undermined by being a bassist? Like how they rarely get the spotlight?
Big time. All my friends felt superior cause they played the guitar and drums while I played the bass. They labeled me as an emo kid cause I chose the bass. Some even called me a hipster.
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By IBRAHIM
One of the stronghold names of the underground scene, Drex is a familiar face of our country's evolving music scene. It's not much of a surprise to see him up on stage with his bass, grooving away. Drex is currently playing with the Dhaka Blues Society. RS caught up with him between basslines to get his two pence worth.
What influenced you to play what you play? What was the progression of your influences; one after another?
I'm a blues lover. Playing blues music aint an easy task.The blues form is basically ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the 12 bar blues chord progression is the most common. It is variously a feeling, a mood, a nameless threat, a person, a lover, a boss man, a mob, and, of course, the Devil himself. It is often experienced as both cause and effect, action and reaction, and it can be used both as a hex and counterhex, poison and antidote, pain and relief. As you know, blues is all about feel. For me, as I play the bass, it feels great and you can express what mood you are in: whether you feel happy/sad/frustrated. The most important thing I do when I play blues basslines is catch the groove and the flow of the music before the groovin' begin. Recently, I've been playing blues with lots of great blues musician here in Kozmo blues jam. It makes you feel challenged everyday when you jam with these musicians.
You've been known to experiment a lot during playing. How do you feel when you play something that's more going with the flow. Do you have to hold yourself back?
Yeah, I do love to experiment with music. I am more into rock n roll, blues rock, pop rock and soul/funk music. Music is something you keep on learning every day. From a musician's point of view, it has no limit. What you need to do is ensure that whatever you play makes the hair on your arms stand up. That's what I try most when I play something going with the flow.
What are your future plans with music?
My future plan with music is to explore music more and more and start working on my own compositions and go wherever music takes me.
***
By Sami Tahsin
Lacey Mosley? Kathy Valentine? Jeanne Sagan? Esperanza Spalding? Ring any bells? Ever heard of anyone of them? Anyone?
These are the top in their field and gender, and yet the most undermined artistes known to music as per the general public. They are bassists. And that too- female.
Safa Tasneem. 23.Student of BBA at Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University.
Alter ego- the bassist of an alternative rock band named 'Seventh Floor Basement', a mixed rock band with her class mates titled 'Project 1/22', and her very own all-sisters' heavy metal band “MotorBreath”(yours truly being the drummer).
. Safa started playing the acoustic guitar in 2007, right after her O levels. After a year, she went into a study break for my A levels and after getting done with it, she resumed doing music- this time picking up the bass guitar. “Learning to play the guitar first helped me in bass playing a lot” she said,” I got to skip the basics and focused more on a variety of genres (e.g. rock, reggae, blues, jazz, etc.) and techniques (e.g. slap, pop and tap).”
The movie 'School of Rock' was the first impetus for Safa - the bassist in the movie was a girl, which made it more real to her.
Cliff Burton of Metallica was a great inspiration too. “My bass idol is Cliff Burton, one of the greatest bassists of all time. I used to get goose bumps whenever I listened to his bass instrumental titled 'Anasthaesia- Pulling Teeth'.
Now the most hackneyed issue- why did she pick up the bass?
“When I was in class nine, I started to listen to hard rock and metal. I became a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Deep Purple, the Scorpions, Aerosmith, etc. and loved the very thought of playing instruments and giving electrifying performances on stage. I thought- why not give it a try? I decided to pick up the bass guitar because firstly, I found it extremely cool (mainly because both the instrument and the style of playing look sensuous) and also, the groovy sound of it was something I would die for. “
Has she ever felt undermined by being a bassist? Especially how they rarely get the spotlight?
“Simple answer- yes. I have heard people say that the bass is something inaudible, so doesn't matter if my amp's sound is high enough or not. That used to get me frustrated at times and made me determined to do justice to this amazing instrument- that really got me going.”
Atta girl!
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