Jean Baudin

You might know Jean Baudin from his 11 string bass version of Super Mario Brothers, Jean is a multi-stringed extraordinaire and I asked him to answer some questions for your reading pleasure.

Me: How did you start and what inspired you to make music?


Jean Baudin: At first, I tried to play guitar but I had broken a finger that had set wrong, so I couldn't do chords. A friend suggested I try bass because I wouldn't have to play chords. I was inspired to play music because I liked the covers of Iron Maiden albums.

Who are your major influences?


When I was younger, Steve Harris, Fishbone, Bad Brains and Bach. Nowadays, I like listening to music that has just solo music... stuff like Art Tatum or Joe Pass.




What advice do you have for people who want to be a bassist?


I think you just need an instrument to be a bassist. If you want to be a GOOD bassist, you need to put some time in and practice.

What can you tell me about your instruments?


I mainly basses with 9 or more strings. I have custom instruments from Ken Lawrence, Conklin Guitars and JP Basses.


When I first started playing a 4-string bass my immediate reaction was "Where are all the notes?" - I've always felt the instrument was comfortable to play, wide string spacing, longer scale length, bigger frets but I never liked the fact that it had such a limited "speaking" range. It's kinda like the bottom notes of a piano.... I always wanted the range of the piano but on a fretted instrument.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing?


When I started adding more strings, I started to incorporate more tapping into my playing. I still like to play fingerstyle (and slap) but I feel I can take advantage of the range more with two-handed tapping.


How can people gain access to your music?

I have lots of recordings available at  www.jeanbaudin.com My album of solo pieces "Solace" is also available from iTunes and Amazon. I also have an instructional book on tapping called, "The Mechanics of Tapping" available from my website as well.




Any last words?


Thanks for the interview and good luck with your blog!




Photos from jeanbaudin.com

Crazy and Wacky Basses

This is gonna be fun!

Lets start with this one, its owned by Basdyret from the Talkbass forums, check it out if you haven't already!

Its a Ritter platinum fretless with blue strings. The guy who makes these wacky groove machines is a German dude named Jens Ritter, his basses usually fetch a high price. I'm talking $5000+.

This bass is a Conklin Pacman Bass, with 9 strings! Its owned by a solo bass player by the name of Jean Baudin (you may know him as the guy who plays Super Mario with a 12 string bass on YouTube) He has done all sorts of cool stuff and has some truly amazing basses so check him out here.

jeanbaudin.com

This one seems to be a Dean explorer type bass, a ZZ Top signature. It kinda looks like a mad scientist from an 80's hairband fused a poodle and a bass together, i cant say I'm a big fan. It probably doesn't sound that great with all that fur but if being flamboyant is your thing then I'm not gonna judge.

http://www.deanguitars.com/zztop/images/zz3_jpg.jpg

Aah the classic washtub bass, not that wacky considering it was once extremely popular but i still think it deserves a mention here.

Snake Bass, pretty self explanatory huh?

Wait! it seems to have eaten a small foot....

A backwards 2 string bass, now this is creative! It belongs to Stig Pedersen from Danish rock band D-A-D. Stig designs his own basses with only 2 or 3 strings because he only ever used the E and the A strings anyway.

Suggested by kenfxj on the TB forums this is a pretty interesting bass. I think its just a cheap Ibanez with a whole lot of stickers on it but hey, it sure is creative. I really like what people do in modding and converting basses into completely different things!

Koi bass and skull bass. Don't know anything about these basses but they were suggested by Ursus Tyrannus from the TB forums.

Now this is really groovy, made by Washburn, its a replica of Bootsy Collins space bass. While it looks cool, I'm not sure how comfy it'd be to play this sitting down :p








washburn.com

And this is the most insane bass collection I've ever seen. Belonging to John Turner from the TB forums, this is a multi stringed force to be reckoned with.

jeanbaudin.com

Here's another Jean Baudin, with 11 strings and incredible tone woods this one is simply stunning, its probably a little heavy though.

I know there are heaps more insane basses out there but these are just a few of my personal favourites. Happy Bassing Everyone!!!