Stu Hamm will be all about that bass in Spanish Fork clinic
Bassist Stu Hamm will be conducting a clinic at Boothe Bros. Music in Spanish Fork on Friday.
Stu Hamm will lay down the truth about bass playing on Friday at Boothe Bros. Music in Spanish Fork.
Soloist pioneer and electric bassist Stu Hamm will conduct a music clinic at Boothe Brothers Performing Arts Center on Friday and goers also can sign up for private lessons with Hamm.
The renowned musician makes a solo stop in Spanish Fork before embarking on his “Stu Hamm Band Tour” days later. Hamm will perform, teach and entertain during the workshop, a 90-minute event where he also shares insights to his own creative process.
“The bass is the most important instrument in the band, because it unites the harmony and the rhythm, and I demonstrate that very clearly in my clinics,” Hamm said during a Friday telephone interview from San Francisco.
A bass player typically heads both the rhythm section and lead guitarists by playing the foundation of the chord progressions and tempo of each tune. Guitarists then take the chord progression the bass player creates and extrapolates from those musical ideas. Same as the drummer, who takes the rhythm of the bass player and expands on it.
Hamm began pursuing solo bass as a musical idea when he dabbled in adapting several compositions from piano pieces he had played as a young musician.
“Solo bass playing is so completely different, 180 degrees from my main role as a bass player,” Hamm said, “and what I’m trying to do when I play a solo bass piece is to tell a story.”
Hamm’s unconventional performance technique stems from a cross between a keyboardist and guitarist. He said it’s difficult to captivate an audience by just playing bass on stage, though he continually impresses with his unique take on the rising genre of electric bass soloists.
“I don’t have tracks, I don’t have a looper I’m playing,” Hamm said of soloing. “I didn’t learn these techniques to be stand-alone techniques. I use them, learned them so I can create a more interesting vocabulary to hopefully tell more interesting stories when I play a solo bass piece.”
In Hamm’s clinic, he shares the power of the bass, along with music composition performance. For example, if the melodic instruments in a band play C, E and A notes simultaneously, a triad chord, and the bass player then plays a C note, it creates a major sounding chord and listeners hear a “happy” chord.
“But if the keyboard player plays those same three notes and I move my hand down an inch and a half, three frets to an A, then it becomes an A minor seventh chord — everyone feels sad,” Hamm said. “So that’s the power of the bass, to make people feel happy or sad by moving my finger an inch and a half.”
Boothe Brothers Music will purchase the gear Hamm will perform on during the clinic and offer it back to attendees for sale. The bassist will provide private one-on-one 30-minute music lessons for $60 and slots are available from 1-5 p.m. on Friday.
An open stage awaits fans after the clinic where they are welcome to jam with Hamm. He invites attendees to a meet and greet after the event where Hamm will offer autographs to music fans and respond to questions from the group.
Creedence McNabb III serves as a bass instructor for the Spanish Fork music center and said Hamm will share insights to his creative process. When Hamm gets an idea for a composition, he’ll share with those at the workshop on how he hashes it out and how he translates it from an idea into something to be played on an instrument.
“(At) Boothe Bros. Music, our strongest drive is the community,” McNabb said. “We’ll sit here at the retail sytem all day, ‘Like, OK, I got all these orders done now, how can I teach a kid something new.’
“And so to have Stu Hamm call us up and be interested in coming, we saw that as such an inspirational event that could inspire a lot of original students we already have and a lot of new students out there of really any instrument.”
STU HAMM
What: World-renowned electric bassist conducts music clinic
When: Friday at 8 p.m.
Where: Boothe Brothers Performing Arts Center, 165 N. Main St., Spanish Fork
Tickets: $10, clinic. $60 30-minute private lessons with Hamm
Info: (801) 798-7650, boothemusic.com