Tracy Hardy Johnson

memberInfo Name: Tracy Hardy Johnson Focus: Jazz Location: Upper Midwest, United States • 21 Lessons • 2 Articles • 1 MP3 • 6159 Messages • 33 Resources • 39 Reviews Peace to all who enter here. Most recent update: August 13, 2008 . . . new gig pic Like my lessons? Click here and bookmark the page (use the little "B" in the lower left-hand corner) to access them quickly. Go to Google Video for a live performance one of my lessons: It's April, Fool! Watch the dancers groovin' to my country cover band: Steve Turner Band at Git R Dun    Me and my Meez! From 1999 to 2008: Nine Wonderful Years The last seven of those years have been spent here. Since I just had to share every milestone I reached :), you can read in the FretBuzz my history as a bass player. Here is this years' update to my AB "blog": Nine years and counting! The more I play, the less time I have to spend here. So it goes. I "introduced myself" to Bass Player magazine in August 2005. Email is mageezer1954 "at" netscape "dot" net. Click on the picture above to read about other women low-enders from all over the world! Not a true interactive community like AB, bassgirls.com is an online monthly magazine of articles, interviews and photos submitted by women artists. Bless your heart! Welcome to my ActiveBass Home Spring 2008 We're trying a concert format as the Pelican Railroad Orchestra once a month at the Wild Rose Theater in the Masonic Temple. Look for extended percussion/mallet work, as well as all of us getting to play our other instruments that we don't get to play at a bar gig. :) Pelican Railroad is taking the weekly Thursday jam to Jammer's Bluenote Ballroom . . . the bar with the most eclectic decor in Northern Minnesota, and the best gourmet meals. The Steve Turner Band, my country cover band, has been learning a wagonload of new songs over the last six months. Between the Turner Brothers' keen ear for lyrics and my good ear for the chord changes, we can pick up most any song off the radio and have it on our setlist in no time. :) Click on the CD thumbnail for the tracks on our demo CD. Pelican Railroad started out as a band that the drummer from the country band put together for a gig that had been booked. In this band he's the lead singer on acoustic guitar. It's an acoustic-leaning electric jam band with lots of old blues and Dead covers. I play Bertha and my flute in this band as well as electric bass. Now on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/pelicanrailroad Drew's Cruisers, my rock/blues jam band, made a studio recording in the summer of 2003 of our originals, a CD called "Naked Fire." I would describe our music as "'Dead-and-Dylan-inspired blues, folk, rock, and jazz." Fellow ABer Donna Grund calls it "Funky hippy JaBlueZ." Same drummer for the country band. Click on the link to go to the band's website for more info on the CD and for ordering instructions. You can sample a couple of the tracks here, or at our SoundClick site, Drew's Cruisers at Soundclick.

DATE/TIME	BAND	PLACE	LOCATION	PHONE
May 17; 9pm-1am	Pelican Railroad	Funkley Bar & Grill CANCELLED	Hwy 71, Funkley MN
Sat May 24; 7 pm DATE CHANGE	Pelican Railroad Orchestra	Wild Rose Theater in the Masonic Temple	Downtown Bemidji MN
May 26-31; 8pm-1am	Steve Turner Band	Shooting Star Casino, Mustang Lounge	Mahnomen MN	800-453-7827

Thanks to Dan Lasley for prompting me to write about my early bass experiences. Read it here: My Secret Life as a Bass Player I have friends in low places I attended Victor Wooten's Bass/Nature Reunion Camp in October 2002 in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm in the front row, 4th from the left, complete with camp shirt and silver streak. There was a guitar-playing dad there with his bass-playing son! One big family! Click here for a photo journal of the camp. I'm a "recovering" classical musician taking up the bass in my "empty nest-titude" . . . because playing the bass is my destiny. I'm trying to get away from the classical model of playing with everyone tied to a sheet of music and being laborers for someone else's idea. Time and temp in Bemidji: This is the first rural public radio station . . . the broadcast is audiostreamed on on the 'Net: Check out my "hometown" newspaper (not bad for an online version): Bemidji Pioneer Online January, 1999 - my first lesson I started taking bass lessons in January 1999 at the age of 44-1/2. (Do the math for my current age!) I've always listened to the bass line and always sung along with it as long as I can remember. I grew up listening to Mozart and Bach, which have great bass lines. While I'm relatively new to the bass, I'm not new to music. With forty (!) years of piano, flute, and bagpipes behind me, I'm just transferring all I know to the bass. (See pix below.) The bass line itself is the draw for me more than any particular player, and I enjoy many different styles. It's where my musical "voice" wants to be!

Victor Wooten's Bass/ Nature Camp, Fall 2000 I had the great fortune to be able to attend Victor's first-ever Bass/Nature camp in the fall of 2000, as well as the Reunion Camp for "Woot Camp" Alumni in the fall of 2002. I've learned a LOT on two years! You can view the official camp photo journal here. Read the book "Zen Guitar" and you will get a feel for what we learned there. Also check out this article in the Washington Post that mentions the Bass/Nature camp. Be always a tourist, and learn to see old things in new ways. The Bass Tree of Life. Necessities Now that I've become more of a gigging musician, I've been able to get more in the way of gear. New stuff is in bold. G&L Tribute L2000 4-string bass, cobalt blue, maple neck/fretboard Samick 4-string P-bass knockoff tuned B-E-A-D with Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pound Pickups Godin A4 Fretless semi-acoustic bass guitar (from ABer Matthew Brown!) Kohr 3/4 size laminate double bass (Bertha) Ary Brazilwood German Bow Samick spruce-top acoustic guitar (well, really, it's my hubby's but if I'm playing it, I'm listing it here! Gallien-Krueger 700RB-II bass amp/GK Neo210 cab DigiTech Performer Voice Processor (Lesa McCabe's from PaydayDaddy!) Shure E4 In-Ear Isolating Earphones(in-ear monitors) SignalFlex A/B Switchbox Casio Sampling Keyboard Yahama PSR-300 keyboard Peavey Basic 112 Combo Amp Ibanez BT10 Practice Amp Zoom 708II Multi-Effects Pedal Fishman Pro Platinum Acoustic/Electric Bass Preamp/EQ/DI box Boss BR-600 Digital 8-Track Recorder Tascam PocketStudio5 Digital 4-track Recorder MycroBass Headphone amp n-Track Studio software on Win98 computer Finale 2000 music notation software on Win98 and WinME computers Ma Geezer through the years

My musical incarnations over the years: Left-1970; Right-1980; Center-2000. Where was I in 1990? PARENTING!

Musical Influences • J.S. Bach/Baroque/Renaissance/Bebop • Dave Grusin/Bob James/Quincy Jones/Miles Davis/Chip Davis/Mason Williams • Victor Wooten/Tony Levin/Nathan East/Ron Carter • . . . and especially . . . Marcus Miller		Favorite Recordings • Current fave: "Into the Fire" Monroe Crossing • Still Love 'Em: The Rite of Strings (Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola, Jean-Luc Ponty) • Basie and Beyond • Handels Messiah - A Soulful Celebration (1992) • Ron Carter: Pick 'em/Super Strings, Chuck Loeb/Listen • Old Friends: GRP Big Band - Live! • Waters of Eden •And the album that changed my life - "Mountain Dance" by Dave Grusin
Favorite Lessons Improving Your Time And Feel - Matthew Brown (9255) Death Grip - Chris Immel (2796) Tired Of The Same Old Funk....? - Gweedo Santana (27)

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