looking back to my earliest years of playing something had occurred to me. like so many kids in high school bands my house became the jamb house. it was the house than any one of the several bands any one of us were in at the time would end up practicing at on the weekends. and for convenience reasons a drumset was basically on permanent loan by one of our friends, bill, who was basically the drummer in all of our bands. since it was at my house i'd mess around with it after school and whenever i felt like it. i'm no drummer, and wasn't then either, but i learned enough to do some standard beats. 

i remember the day i learned how to syncopate the kick drum. it was some afternoon after school and i was messing around on the drums. i had MTV on in the background and the latest green day video had come on. at that time it was Brain Stew/Jaded... so like late 1996/97 or so, would be my guess. it just has a super simple 1e...3e.... kick pattern and snare on 2 and 4. simple but it grooves. i could basically only play 8th notes so it was a challenge. i started trying to mimic the drums before the video ended and it was awkward until *pop*... coordination kicked in and i had a new trick in my toolbox. 

bass player with amplifiers
i remember how good it felt, i mean literally how physically pleasurable it was, to play something that had a groove to it, regardless of its simplicity. it was from that point forward that drums made a lot of sense to me. i connected the physical feeling to the performance. when you were on, it felt good. 

i didn't continue with the drums more than just messing around, but that feeling stuck with me. i feel it with the bass for sure. when playing something i can't not move in some way. a given is my foot is tappin'... i'm a heel tapper, not a toe tapper. i find the feeling on the downbeat is accentuated by the weight of my whole leg. but i'm also doing some other goofy movement and probably look ridiculous when i'm playing, but in reality, whatever i'm playing always pockets better if i'm moving. if i'm sitting there still and just tapping my foot, i may be in time but i feel like it ends up sounding stiff. i like that i can't help but move in some way while playing. i'd say it's a sign i'm doing something right.

i think this in one of the reasons i always came back to bass from guitar. don't get me wrong, guitar is awesome and stuff, etc. but i never felt anything when playing it. even when playing something that's more rhythmic, it just doesn't have the same feeling to play. bass just feels better to play. and sounds better. and is better. i guess what i'm trying to say is i like playing bass.